Bird lives! The brother wrote on the rotted pasteboard wall Next to the sign that read PLEASE DON'T PEE IN OUR HALL And then he reached in his slide And pulled out the tiny transparent bag The one filled with the chalk white powder the junkies call scag Hi sighed as he hit the big vein in his arm And his mind took off on Bird's musical charm Now Brother Bird was blowing Embraceable You Like only he was hip to the secret he knew Wow! the brother said as he slipped off into a nod Bird sure eases the pain Now I wanna hear Brother John Coltrane He tried to get up But his body wouldn't move His mind told him his senses were in a groove Finally Bird was through And 'trane took over in a spiritual debut His heart began to pound As he dug the boss sound Damn! Bird and 'trane sure enough was down And then he looked up and saw That the box wasn't even on And it was damn near dawn I'm high! I'm blind! I'm wasted! If I could only come down There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go There I go Shit! Give me some dough So I can buy me some smack And get back on the fast track He supped off into a nod And the sounds became odd And he could no longer hear trane or Bird He could only hear the loud unspoken word Get Back Nigger, you're black No, but I'm beautiful he said And then he suddenly realized that he was dead And he was being lowered into the ground And couldn't utter a single sound And his family and friends were standing around With their heads hanging down Crying and carrying on 'Cause their beautiful black son was gone No, I'm not dead his mind said Don't bury me 'Cause I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't And then he realized O.D. O.D. O.D. O.D.