They Play the Rhythm of Our Lives

Dig those crazy cats
As they hold
Hollow brass tubes
Call on Orishas
Pour forth spirit
Make them tubes speak in scat tongues
Blee-do-da-do-wop-weedy
As those ivory keys 
Are banged to Oya's rhythms
As the music strides up spines
Leaving icy freezie-pop trails
And goose-flesh chicken bumps
Because these cats man
These cats can call the spirits down 
Do-do-wop-deedle-do-bah
Call the spirits down from Heaven
Into any smoky seedy
Juke joint
Make them spirits dance on notes
Flow through the air
As these cats wail the tale
Of ancestors they've forgotten
History unknown
As they shoo-boop-de-biddley-bop
Stories of black lives
On gutted gold instruments
They play the rhythm of our lives
They play the rhythm of our lives
Sciddley-boom-do-da-bop-deboom
Play the rhythm of our lives
And we bob our heads
Snap our fingers
Tap our feet
While they play the rhythm of our lives
The sounds of our first kiss
First loss
First abandonment
Play the rhythm of our lives
Explain our feelings in terms 
Of thin reedy be-bop sounds
Play the rhythm of our lives
Scat our blues
Anger
Fear
This gold noise makes black make sense
This scada-boom-dee-doo-wop-a-doo-bop-dee-doo
Makes us feel strong
Feel connected
Feel like we are worth something
They play the rhythm of our lives
As we move ourselves in
The music's crescendo
Play wildly
The griots of endless time
Drums in a cotton club
Blackflash to Africa
Guitars whip up riffs of massah's cotton
And his horns
His horns
We take them back
Screaming 
Screeching
These cats wail our endless freedom cry
They play
They play
They play
They play the rhythm of our lives