JM Flow

[Verse 1]
You built the house with a little room in the back,
Tiny walls, no window, off the track,
Mop, sweep, wash, iron - sunrise to late night,
No insurance, no bonus, just a plate,
Visited sneaking at night by the family man

[Chorus]
This is a slavery remnant practice,
You call it help, I call it cages,
This is a slavery remnant practice,
Still alive behind closed cases

[Verse 2]
You need her hands for the baby's cry,
Brilliant at cooking, brilliant to hide,
Venus with Washington, story in the sheets,
Sally with Jefferson, between the teeth,
Mildred with Arnold - history repeats

[Chorus]
This is a slavery remnant practice,
The family man creeps when the lights get low!
This is a slavery remnant practice,
Small room, thin walls, everybody knows

[Bridge]
Drive temptation out of your home,
Teach your kids to wash their own,
Take your shoes off at the door,
Why you need a servant for?

[Chorus]
This is a - This is a slavery remnant practice,
This is a - This is a slavery remnant practice,
You can organize your own mess,
This is a slavery remnant practice

[Outro]
Cleaning, sweeping, washing... for who?

[Verse 1]
It was September, Schrödinger's wave in the air
I lost the electron the moment you caught my stare
Discreet, focused, assertive, competitive fire
I was her colleague, she was my rare Fabergé
[Verse 2]
You love dance, football, cinema lights
No coke, no smoke, no drinks, that's your life
All-inclusive, Cancun, a poster on the wall
Bar Azúcar, Cubans dancing in white
You said "you might want more" when we hit the beach that night
[Chorus]
I was her colleague
She was my rare Fabergé
A collision, a comet, you re-wired my brain
I was her colleague
She was my rare Fabergé
[Verse 3]
Ottawa nights, meteor showers on the grass
Michoacán, Monarchs, a swarm as we passed
Zacatlán, you talked to a caterpillar glowing in the dark
Then your belly growing, our babies, your heart
[Verse 4]
I saw your loyalty, you gave it all at work
And how they passed you over, just for being a woman, it hurt
You run to leave those demons behind
New day, new fire, you never lost your shine
[Bridge]
Van Gogh in your eyes
Guelaguetza in July
Champs-Élysées in December lights
Neuschwanstein in springtime
[Heavy Chorus / Breakdown]
A day to day life together is trouble, though
Her impulsivity crashes with my passivity
Talking, arguing, confronting versus thinking, isolating, avoiding
But granting, spacing, we unify
25 years and we still survive
[Outro]
I was her colleague...
Now you're my forever Fabergé

I don't remember the first time I saw you
But you fell in love just seeing me
Mother, protection, life teacher
I still smell your colostrum on me

I was the sixth, two toddlers still before me
First day of kindergarten, I cried all morning
You said it would get easier, you were right
Fake smile for my Mother's Day gift, 'cause I made it

I was untouchable
You stood up that kid who bullied me
Teaching catechism in my classroom
Crying for your little old dog

Our house was a farm without a cow
Dad said no, you wanted everything alive
You laughing in church at Pepe and me
Me, lazy, rude, snatching your Julio Iglesias vinyl mid-song

Artist with a bride crown in your hands
Brilliant at business, brilliant at loving

Then a tomography
Lymphoma near your liver
Venom in your veins, you said, those chemos
Anger and resignation fighting inside me

Years of duel
'Cause strong memories don't die
They stay linked to you
Tella, they stay linked to you

17 and a scalpel in his hand
Preaching how a woman should behave
Two little girls in a photograph
Now he's praying they forgive

Built bridges, built walls around his heart
Loud mouth in a classroom full of boys
Now his son brings his boyfriend home for dinner
He's learning how to hold his tongue

We all get what we need
Not what we want

Oh, freedom
Is a long way home
You live it, you break it, you own it
'Til you let it go
Oh, freedom
Isn't free at all

White lines on a perfect blueprint
She drew borders no one could cross
Now her daughter's dancing to a cumbia
With a Mexican man she called "love"

Patricia's three years old
Says she had three sons on a farm before
Roland's 80, eyes closed
No angels, no devils, no more wars
He's ready, he's ready to go
He won't be coming back no more

We are the students
We are the test
We are the lesson
We never learned

Oh, freedom
Is a long way home
You live it, you break it, you own it
'Til you let it go

It's all part of the learning curve
'Til you learn...

I hope she don't see right through me
I hope that attitude don't cloud her mind
I hope I don't smell her perfume before I see her coming
I hope her silence ain't the loudest thing around

I just gotta learn to look right through her
Pretend she's not even there

I hope the wind don't show off every curve
I hope that smile don't steal the whole damn day
I hope her voice don't cut right through me
But it keeps pulling me in anyway

I just gotta learn to look right through her
Pretend she's not even there

I hope the sun don't light up her skin
I hope that wild hair don't dance in the wind
I hope that sharp mind don't mess with my head
But it's already all over me

Hope her hands don't move like birds in flight
Hope that walk don't give her away
Hope I don't get hung up on her
But I'm already gone

And if that cold shoulder never breaks,
I hope death comes knocking — three loud knocks on my door

Driving through the city with my five best friends
They said I got no guts, no authority
So I had to show them who I really am
Saw yellow lights blocking off the road
I said slow down, pull over by the construction
Rolled my window down, waved a guy in a hard hat over

Gotta show them who I am
Tired of being no one in this van
Five friends watching, watch me be a man
Gotta show them authority

I'm gonna report you all
This should've been done weeks ago
You're all just wasting time
You can't get anything right
The poor guy looked so scared and confused
He said we've had no materials since last week

My friends couldn't stop laughing, but I kept going:
Where's the engineer? Fernando owes me an explanation
Can anyone around here make a plan for once?
He hasn't shown up since last week

My friends couldn't stop laughing, but I kept going:
This is unacceptable, people suffer 'cause this road's still closed

Then I rolled my window up like let's roll through

Fake it 'til they believed it
Five friends watching, had to own it
One hard hat, one bluff, you know it
Told you I had authority
Authority, authority
Now you saw my authority

A healed femur in an adult
A story attributed to Margaret Mead asks:
What was the first indication of civilization?
A healed femur in an adult

Not the use of tools
Not the control of fire
Not agriculture
A healed femur in an adult

In the wild, a broken femur meant certain death
A healed femur in an adult meant
That someone cared for a person in need
Someone sheltered and fed that adult

That is what human beings do
That is how one life becomes our own
Together, human beings survived the Ice Age
Because no one survives alone

If civilization began when one life was protected,
Who should protect every life today?
What does denying healthcare to all represent?
What does leaving people homeless and without services represent?
What does neglecting a drug crisis for profit represent?
What does expelling undocumented Latinos represent?
Is this what civilization means today?

India was the producer
The West became the supplier
The empire was pressured
China suffered the opium crisis

Thousands of lives were shattered
Fortunes grew from misery
Opium flowed freely
China suffered the opium crisis

The empire fell
A new regime rose from the ashes
Rehabilitation began
China overcame the opium crisis

Strict internal control was forged
No help from the West
Addiction wiped away
China overcame the opium crisis

History left a warning
Lessons echo through time
But a nation can recover
China overcame the opium crisis