Ani Difranco - Hello Birmingham lyrics

hold me down

i am floating away

into the overcast skies

over my home town

on election day

what is it about birmingham?

what is it about buffalo?

did the hate filled wanna build bunkers

in your beautiful red earth

they want to build them

in our shiny white snow

now i've drawn closed the curtain

in this little booth where the truth has no place

to stand

and i am feeling oh so powerless

in this stupid booth with this useless

little lever in my hand

and outside my city is bracing

for the next killing thing

standing by the bridge and praying

for the next doctor

martin

luther

king

it was just one shot

through the kitchen window

it was just two miles from here

if you fly like a crow

a bullet came to visit a doctor

in his one safe place

a bullet ensuring the right to life

whizzed past his kid and his wife

and knocked his glasses

right off of his face

and the blood poured off the pulpit

yeah the blood poured down the picket lines

yeah, the hatred was immediate

and the vengence was divine

so they went and stuffed god

down the barrel of a gun

and after him

they stuffed his only son

hello birmingham

it's buffalo

i heard you had some trouble

down there again

and i'm just calling to let to know

that someone understands

i was once escorted

through the doors of a clinic

by a man in a bulletproof vest

and no bombs went off that day

so i am still here to say

birmingham

i'm wishing you all of my best

oh birmingham

i'm wishing you all of my best

oh birmingham

i'm wishing you all of my best

on this election day