The Message

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, can't take the noise
Got no money to move out, I guess, I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
'Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car

Don't push me
'Cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head
Ah-huh-huh-huh
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

Standin' on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
Watchin' all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
A crazy lady, livin' in a bag
Eatin' out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag
Said, she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango
A Zircon princess, seemed to lost her senses
Down at the peep show, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got so saditty
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own

Don't push me
'Cause I'm close to the edge
I'm tryin' not to lose my head
Ah-huh-huh-huh
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

My brothers doin' bad, stole my mothers TV
Says, she watches to much, is just not healthy
All My Children in the daytime, Dallas, at night
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
The bill collectors, they ring my phone
And scare my wife, when I'm not home

Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station
Neon King Kong standin' on my back
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
A midrange migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think I'm going insane
I swear I might hijack a plane

Don't push me
'Cause I'm close to the edge
I'm tryin' not to lose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

My son said, Daddy, I don't wanna go to school
'Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think, I'm a fool
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
Or dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
'Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey

They pushed that girl in front of the train
Took her to the doctor, sewed the arm on again
Stabbed that man right in his heart
Gave him a transplant for a brand new start
I can't walk through the park, 'cause it's crazy after the dark
Keep my hand on the gun, 'cause they got me on the run
I feel like an outlaw, broke my last glass jar
Hear them say, you want some more? Livin' on a see-saw

Don't push me
'Cause I'm close to the edge
I'm tryin' not to lose my head (Say what?)
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

A child is born, with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smilin' on you, but he's frownin' too
Because only God knows, what you'll go through
You'll grow in the ghetto, livin' second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The place, that you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way

You'll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spendin' twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them
Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers

You say I'm cool, I'm no fool
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now you're unemployed, all null 'n' void
Walking 'round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
Turned stick-up kid, but look what you done did
Got sent up for an eight year bid
Now your manhood is took and you're a Maytag
Spend the next two years as an undercover fag

Being used and abused and served like hell
'Til one day you was found hung dead in a cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so young

So, don't push me
'Cause I'm close to the edge
I'm trying not to lose my head
Ah-huh-huh-huh
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Huh-ah-huh-huh-huh
It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
Huh-ah-huh-huh-huh

Yo Mel, you see that girl there?
Yo, that sounded like Cowboy man
Cool
Yo, what's up Money?
Yo, hey, where's Creole and Rahiem at?

They upstairs cooling out
So what's up for tonight y'all?
Yo, we could go down to Fever man
Let's go check out "Junebug" man
Hey yo, you know that girl Betty?
Yeah man

Her moms got robbed man (What?)
Not again man
She got hurt bad (When did this happen?)
What's goin' on?
Freeze

Don't nobody move nothin'
Y'all know what this is
Get 'em up, get 'em up (What?)
Oh man, we're Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
What is that, a gang?
No
Shut up

I don't wanna hear your mouth
Shut up
Officer, officer, what is the problem?
You the problem
Yo, you ain't gotta push me man
Get in the car, get in the car
Get in the God...
I said, "Get in the car"
Why is he doggin' us man?