Terry O'Leary - Another Cruel Link in their Chain lyrics

1. Beginnings Her babe was her joy, such a beautiful boy as he s**ed at her breast till the end The Ma**a sought cash, bestowed mammy a lash, sold her babe to a gentrified friend It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain With mammy not there, Sammy dared not to dare but to bide near the edge of the night But nevertheless one must always outguess or absorb burning stings of the bite It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain Though learning the rules in the shadows of fools as he grew to a leery lean lad He often defied but he never once cried although whipped at the post whene'er bad It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain 2. Youth The cotton gin broke and nobody spoke, but the Ma**a said "BENNY'S TO BLAME" But Sammy said ‘No... Ma**a, jus caint be so, no 'tain't Benny, 'tain't Benny's sore name' It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain "LOOK, SEE IN HIS EYES HOW THAT N*G*** BOY LIES" - - replied Sam ‘no I's tellin da truth' But daring to speak earned him scars for his cheek and so blemished the bloom of his youth It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain "THE COTTON GIN'S BROKE, AND THAT JUST AIN'T NO JOKE" and he called upon Benny to pay "WELL BENNY'S QUITE DIM, SO I'LL LEARN HIM TO SWIM" which Sam feared the mean Ma**a would say It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain Dark faces soon blanched; Benny bended a branch near the base of a broken oak tree His body hung bare as it swam on the air and the buzzards and crows shrieked with glee It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain 3. Flight Sam's feet were unclad, as befitting a lad as alone as a stone in his path So oft on the run neath the sly sliding sun being followed and feeling god's wrath It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain Surrounded and caught brought his efforts to naught, child in chains at the end of his trek Winds wept as he went, with his spirit unbent, a cold collar of steel 'round his neck It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain 4. Life Sam grew to a man, branded ‘boy' by the klan, as they spat on the trail that he tread If he raises his gaze or he wanders or strays the pack promise to sever his head It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain Once Sam found a wife who they ripped from his life, yes along with the babe at her breast (Was it simply their greed or by heaven decreed? ...) well, with hindsight you might guess the rest It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain 5. Endings From phantoms of fright neath the frail foggy night Sammy soared as he fled to escape He no longer crawled, heeding freedom that called through the darkness, a black hole agape It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain Unleashed! The crazed dogs that hound men through the bogs, (baying beasts neath the bloody red moon) White fangs intermeshed as they mangled Sam's flesh, freedom flayed through the pale afternoon It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain Sam's body was torn leaving little to mourn but there's really no need to despair And there's no need to cry for his spirit won't die, being borne by bound men everywhere It flits like a flash, like a leathery lash, yet another cruel link in their chain EPITAPH SAM Revolted and clashed 'gainst the cruel leather lash and thus chipped a deep chink in their chain EPILOGUE Those parts of the past that we gaze at aghast reveal harrowing questions quite plain - Why people so free, just like you, just like me, were so happy inflicting such pain? Why we bask in the throes of humanity's woes while we wait while the tyrannies reign? And I'm wondering too ('cause I don't have a clue) ... might we each be a link in their chain?