Hamell On Trial
Big As Life
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Temper temper little cloud, I thought we was in this together
I gotta another 30 miles to go and you change your mind like the weather
But I know how you feel though when that blinding lightning flash
I'm all alone now but I got my guitar
Let's think about some stuff we can smash

I slept last night by the side of the road
I was thinking about the nearest phone
I was wondering if she would accept the charges
I was wondering if I had a banana for a backbone

I had a dream about Count Basie but he wouldn't talk to me
He had a lot of hurt in his face and he had a copy of LIFE magazine
It had Elvis on the cover, it had an article inside
It did not say who it was written by
Closer inspection I noticed Albert Goldman was still writing
and LIFE wouldn't let him die

Well Count Basie opened up that magazine to page 30
He threw at me, he turned around and walked away
I said, "Oh man, that's Count Basie, he's like my hero, we could've hung out"
I had so many questions there was so many things that I wanted to say
But after ten glossy pages of big LIFE magazine format
People with guns and knives smoking crack
I stepped back from that magazine and my mouth flew open
Because all of those people were black

I used to work in a bar in Syracuse New York
We had what we jokingly referred to as an 'incident' most every night
There were drugs sales, there were guns, there were people fighting
But all of those people were white
True story, I pulled a pregnant girl out of the bathroom one time
She was in there over an hour
People were complaining and she was smoking crack
She was white as snow, she was white as blow
And she was most definitely not black

And I think Count Basie was just trying to point out
That if I wasn't careful I might fall into a trap
Because take a look at that magazine, am I on acid or what?
It appears to me someones getting a bad bad rap

Temper, temper little cloud I thought we was in this together
I got another 30 miles to go and you change your mind like the weather

Page 26 and 27 there was a Sony ad
A white family hanging by the swimming pool
Couldn't see the mother, just her reflection in the water
She was holding the video camera
What color was she?
Well let's not be a fool

So there we go, Big As Life
And Count Basie he don't want to talk to me
Miles Davis never rang my phone off the hook
And I'm not anticipating any phone calls from Spike Lee

And Roger Manning says something about hatred
And being any color and being not
But as I look around this whole big world,
Not just this room tonight
Any room in this building
This side of the rairoad tracks
That side of the rairoad tracks
This side of the city
That side of the city
This city
That city
This state
That state
This side of the county
That side of the county
This country
Or that country
It's blue, baby blue
That's the color that we've all got

Temper, temper little cloud I thought we was in this together
I got another 30 miles to go and you change your mind like the weather
But I know how you feel though with that blinding lightning flash
I'm all alone now but I got my guitar
Let's think about some stuff we can smash
Lets think of some stuff we can smash