歌詞

Mama counts the coins at dawn

One more rent note, one more gone

Foreman says the work ran thin

But the stomach hurts again

Kids got shoes with holes in toe

Soup too light and bills too low

Paper says the war is right

My block don’t sleep at night

Tell me who gets fed

Tell me who gets blamed

Same old hands on the wheel

Same old tricks in the game

Penny on the plate

Penny on the plate

How we gonna live like this?

Penny on the plate

Penny on the plate

We was born for more than this

Brown skin stopped at the door

Steel in words and steel in laws

Brother gone for speaking loud

Sister works and bows her head now

Flags wave high for a distant fight

While the block burns out of sight

If a man can’t breathe out here

What is freedom doing here?

Tell me who gets fed

Tell me who gets blamed

Same old hands on the wheel

Same old tricks in the game

Penny on the plate

Penny on the plate

How we gonna live like this?

Penny on the plate

Penny on the plate

We was born for more than this

Hear the mothers cry out

Hear the workers stand

If they want our silence

They gon’ learn we understand

No more chains in new clothes

No more lies in gold

A hungry nation rising

From the truth we’ve been told

Penny on the plate

Penny on the plate

How we gonna live like this?

Penny on the plate

Penny on the plate

We was born for more than this

Penny on the plate

Penny on the plate

Say it till it breaks the wall

Penny on the plate

Penny on the plate

Ain’t no chains gonna hold us all