What It Means

Album: American Band (2016)
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  • He was running down the street
    When they shot him in his tracks
    About the only thing agreed upon
    Is he ain't coming back
    There won't be any trial
    So the air it won't be cleared
    There's just two sides calling names
    Out of anger out of fear
    If you say it wasn't racial
    When they shot him in his tracks
    Well I guess that means that you ain't black
    It means that you ain't black
    I mean Barack Obama won
    And you can choose where to eat
    But you don't see too many white kids
    Lying bleeding on the street

    In some town in Missouri
    But it could be anywhere
    It could be right here on Ruth Street
    In fact it's happened here
    And it happened where you're sitting
    Wherever that might be
    And it happened last weekend
    And it will happen again next week
    And when they turned him over
    They were surprised there was no gun
    I mean he must have done something
    Or else why would he have run
    And they'll spin it for the anchors
    On the television screen
    So we can shrug and let it happen
    Without asking what it means

    What it means?
    What it means?

    Then I guess there was protesting
    And some looting in some stores
    And someone was reminded that
    They ain't called colored folks no more
    I mean we try to be politically
    Correct when we call names
    But what's the point of post-racial
    When old prejudice remains?
    And that guy who killed that kid
    Down in Florida standing ground
    Is free to beat up on his girlfriend
    And wave his brand new gun around
    While some kid is dead and buried
    And laying in the ground
    With a pocket full of skittles

    What it means?
    What it means?

    Astrophysics at our fingertips
    And we're standing at the summit
    And some man with a joystick
    Lands a rocket on a comet
    We're living in an age
    Where limitations are forgotten
    The outer edges move and dazzle us
    But the core is something rotten
    And we're standing on the precipice
    Of prejudice and fear
    We trust science just as long
    As it tells us what we want to hear
    We want our truths all fair and balanced
    As long as our notions lie within it
    There's no sunlight in our ass'
    And our heads are stuck up in it
    And our heroes may be rapists
    Who watch us while we dream
    But don't look to me for answers
    Cuz I don't know what it means

    What it means?
    What it means? Writer/s: Patterson Hood
    Publisher: CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Hipgnosis Songs Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 3

  • Truenorth from CanadaGreat song, by a great band. I'm glad they're wrote it and wish more bands would have the guts to take a stand. Well done!
  • Mark From Connecticut from Durham I love this song and am very pleased the band is getting more political. They call it like it is. If the bigots don’t like it, too damn bad. Thank mike and Patterson and the rest
  • Marc from CaliforniaI’m a big fan of DBT, however this song (what it means) is not only factually incorrect, but also a crap song.
    The Shooting at hand was justified after Holder and Obama investigated it.
    The shooting in Florida was also justified and the shooter was Hispanic not White.
    Seems like DBT have lost their way and become brainwashed by Marxist Ideology and pushing more division of oppressed vs oppressor. They seem to have started Virtue Signaling their phony Social Justice causes since their move to Oregon.
    Maybe they should write a song about Antifa being real life Fascist and promoting Communism, which by the way has killed 100 million plus people.
    DBT need to get back to their Southern roots.
    I definitely won’t be buying music off this album.
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