Babel - Lyrics - Baba Brinkman

See now is the time When freestyles combine And wild minds connect To produce miles of rhymes That wrap a thousand times Around this ball of twine Like power-lines Still the tower climbs Encircled in spiral vines As every hour finds Us closer to cloud nine It could all turn out fine In the end like fairytales Where females marry males At the end of weary trails And friends with cherry nails And grins carry the veils But the legendary scale Of it all is very real With a fear I barely feel I can clearly reveal Babel is terribly frail And threatens to unravel If the dictionary fails If we neglect the song Concealed in the lexicon And instead press on In the direction we’ve gone Headstrong, just pawns And can’t resist being drawn Into a festering swamp Where no one gets along And the congested throng Would give its left arm For a second of calm Does the question belong Anywhere in this quest we’re on? This is the dawn of wordplay That serves to straight Purge agitated nerves And gives words what they deserve This world is made of words They were created first And gave us our naked birth And kept our place reserved On the face of this earth Sacred words taught us The way it works From caves in the dirt They enable us to flirt With this elevated perch And make sure that sages lurk And the pages are versed ‘Til they’re like slaves and serfs With an insatiable thirst To rehearse, play with words Narrate and create mirth A job with major perks It’s got my crazy bird Tryin’ to break the shaman’s curse I can’t stay in one place and chirp Stagnation hurts So when my aches converge To where I can’t take worse My legs stir, and there’s No questioning my path I get my things and dash I spread my wings and flap Nothing can bring me back The way I think and act Could be linked to the fact That I’ve been trapped My whole life in English class Where the ink is black And the paper’s white So when I sing this rap That’s the way I take flight And relinquish the past Wide awake late at night On the brink of collapse Less afraid of stage fright With every page I write Ready to grace the mic With a charismatic presence And take rap expression Straight back to its edges ‘Cause it’s fraying at its edges I’ve been taking magic lessons Since my days of adolescence Asking enigmatic questions And laughing irreverently At Catholic confessions But I’m not past lifting My hands and asking forgiveness Or learning surrender I’m having to live with Fire while burning to cinder Summer turning to winter Lumber turning to splinter Wonder turning to cynicism Permanent injury Returning to sender Earning to spend, we’re All churning in blenders Serving currency lenders Currently interest Is working against us Like murderous fingers Like scorpion pinchers Holding us with their Poisonous stingers Hoisted, sinister Over us, quivering Noiseless, dripping And poised to deliver Destroying and limiting Choices like liver Cirrhosis limits Enjoyment of liquor As a boy I was quicker I think I’m growing thicker Stoic I slowly wither And show it; my hope flickers I know it’s a stark change But really there’s no difference When it starts to rain And the flame starts to wane Darkness reigns and sharp pains Plague the heartstrings Harsh things mingle And it’s hard to maintain But the blaze can rekindle If a single spark remains Cymbals clang, bells jingle Simple and plain Babies age from dimples Into wrinkles and veins From the Olympic games symbol To a limp with a cane Some begin to complain ‘Cause they think it’s a shame Every link in the chain Is made to dwindle and fade The only way to stay sane Is to contextualize Whatever gets to arise Is standing next to demise Death moves life Like breath moves rhymes And the flesh we use dies And never gets two tries So it’s best to utilize Every blessing in disguise Respect lies within And proof testifies It’s like, unless you reply You lose; there’s no second prize So guess to get through Surprise tests, but choose wise ‘Cause true lies exist And stress reflects blue light And celestial skies So let the moon rise On the ocean horizon From the coast to the highest Mountain, open your eyes and Don’t be surprised when Emotion flies out and Your throat chokes with sighs And throws your insides out From this explosion of rhymes If you’re doped by the sound And hypnosis arrives And your soul cries out Well then you know you’re alive