The Message Lyrics
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The Message Lyrics

Send "The Message" Ringtone to your Cell

Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, I 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
Junkie's in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
Cause a man with the tow-truck repossessed my car

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

Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
Crazy lady, livin' in a bag
Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag
Said she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango
Sitting on princes seems to have lost her senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got so so so ditty
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 trying not to loose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

My brother's doing bad stole my mother's T.V.
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
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
Midrange, migrained, 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 trying not to loose my head
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
I 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 car in this land of milk and honey
They push that girl in front of a train
Took her to a doctor, sowed 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 last jaw
Hear them say you want some more, livin' on a seasaw

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

A child is born, wih no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling but he is frowning too
Cause only god knows what you go through
You grow in the ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
You'll admire all the numberbook takers;
thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them
Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers
Pickpocketers, peddlers and even pan-handlers
You say I'm cool, I'm no fool
But then you wind up dropping out of highschool
Now you're unemployed, all null 'n' void
Walking around like you're pretty boy Floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you done did
Got send up for a eight year bid
Now your man hood is took and you're a Maytag
Spend the next two years as an undercover fag
Being used and abused, and served like hell
Till one day you was find 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

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

Send "The Message" Ringtone to your Cell

User Comments

14 comment(s) posted

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danram9 25/09/2009 22:40:49
I think you are right with the line "she went to the city and got so so so ditty"


I dont hear "got social security" at all......
danram9 25/09/2009 22:32:12
I think the correct lyrics are "I feel like an outlaw, broke my last glass jar"

Instead of:

I feel like an outlaw, broke my last last jaw
UltimateSurvivor 30/11/2007 16:32:38
One of the songs that started it all. Another 1980s classic that I had forgotten. I can't say this enough, thank you Grand Theft Auto Vice City.
lethalronin 21/03/2006 19:58:38
In the 70th's and 80th's i remember it like yesterday!! I grow up with this stuff,the man is an icon in the business,for me one of best songs of that period ever!
mikerotch6 03/07/2005 05:05:05
A song comes along once in a while that moves a person. This is that song
Lily_Florance 29/04/2004 12:26:45
I think that your lyrics are pretty right on except 2 things

She went to the city and got social sercurity
she had to get a pet she couldn't make it on her own.

and.....

you got to have a con in this land of milk and honey.

I use to think it was car too, but it is definately con.

please reply to tigerlily@wildapache.net

Thank you,
Lily Florance
sinequanonfrey 17/04/2004 19:36:13
I'm pretty sure that when you wrote "She went to the city and got so so so ditty" the actual line is "She went to the city and got social security." I know an 18 year old white boy might not know much about Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, but just trust me on this one champ. one
bigboyg 16/09/2003 06:38:20
Great site - very handy resource.

A few corrections:

It starts with:

"It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under"


An often misquoted section (hard to hear but I'm confident these are the correct lyrics)

"...
Crazy lady, livin' in a bag
Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag
Said she'll dance the tango, skip the light fandango
A Zircon princess, seemed to lost her senses
..."

more:

"...
My brother's doing bad, stole my mother's T.V.
Says she watches to much, is just not healthy
..."

more (not sure here, but again makes sense with the urban description):

"...
Neon King Kong standin' on my back
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
..."

more:

"...
I feel like a outlaw, broke my last glass jaw
Hear them say you want some more?
Livin' on a seesaw
..."

more:

"...
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
..."

next:

"...
You'll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money makers
..."

lastly:

"...
You say I'm cool, I'm no fool
But then you wind up dropping outta high school
Now you're unemployed, or non-void
..."

I know, I'm anal. But it is one of the best rap song ever written, so it deserves it.



R10D2 31/08/2003 16:25:28
Great stuff,and a great source of info, found almost every lyric I was looking for (and still do) but just a brief suggestion/correction on this one

the phrase in verse 5 performed by Melle Mel "Got a smile on you with these burning tooth " must actually be:
"God is smiling on you but he's frowning too"

That's it & that's, that

R-0NE-DEE-TWO
ba11game 24/06/2003 02:54:57
This is to rap as "Rock around the Clock" is to Rock 'n' Roll. The first hit and still the best. If you like this, check out a group from the '60s called The Last Poets.
djcadillac 02/06/2003 15:19:59
Wow,cool song a very good song
It tells the story of life in the street
and in the city
one of my favorites
S.O.A.D. Fan 21/04/2003 20:32:27
amazing song, awesome rhyms, and oh my God, its just amazing!
chaussures10 09/04/2003 19:03:14
Equal to Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"


'The Message' is THE seminal rap song. The lyrics, in the tradition of all great songs, tell a story packed with vibrant, unforgettable, imagery.

With a dark and evocative storyline, the song doesn't rely on the melodramatic, grandiose bragging abour sexual prowess or threats of homicidal violence so typical of cliche-ridden impotent rap songs. (Both these cliche rap themes, wildly exaggerated, sound about as real as WWF wrestling looks and would not even excite a seven-year old to believe in da man an' da rap).

The Message creates a tragedy evolving line by line. The frustration-at-the-edge-of-hope so evident in the haunting chorus, "Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge..." is in marked contrast to the dead-end story. And, the visual and sensory imagery is made vividly alive with the emphatic rap delivery and the minimal background sound.

I was so mesmerized by The Message that I memorized the entire lyrics just to be able to rap them myself. The Message is equal to the best of Dylan's narrative ballads. Period.

Makes me wonder how I keep from going under


...c10
Seven Continents 11/03/2003 19:54:19
THE ORIGINS--WHERE HIP-HOP STARTED!!!!AND NOT ONE DECENT POST...THE BLUEPRINT FOR ALL SOCIALLY CONCIOUS RAP...ive lost all hope for the future generations, the torch has truly been dropped and extinguished...

hIP-HOP(R.I.P.)

All times are in Greenwich Mean Time.
The time is now 03:33:09.

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