Big As Life
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Well now, Tampa Tampa 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 low now but I got my guitar
Let's think about some stuff we can smash
Well, 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
Then I had a dream about Count Basie
But he didn't want to 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 that
Albert Goldman was still writing
And LIFE wouldn't let him die
Well, Count Basie opened up that magazine to page 30
Threw it at me, turned around and walked away
I said, "Aw, man, that's Count Basie, he's like my hero"
We could have 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
My mouth flew open because all those people were black
I used to work at a bar in Syracuse, New York
We had what we jokingly referred to as an "incident"
Most every night, there was drug sales, there was guns
There was people fighting but all 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
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 in a trap
'Cause take a look at that magazine
I might ask it or what but it appears to me
Someone's getting a bad, bad, bad, bad rap
Page 36 and 37 there was a Sony ad
It was a white family
They were hanging out 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, and it's 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
Roger Madden says something about hatred
And being any color and being not
But as I look around this whole big world
Not just this room here tonight
Or any room in this building
Any building on this street
Any street in this city
Any city in this state
Any state in this country
Any country in this whole big world
It's blue, baby blue
That's the color that we've all got
Well now, Tampa Tampa 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 low now but I got my guitar
Let's think about some stuff we can smash
Let's think of some stuff we can smash