Tailpipe Blues

Wonder why I’m so dark?
It’s ‘cause I live in ya tailpipe.
Wonder why I’m so dark?
It’s ‘cause I live in ya tailpipe.

I crawled out th’ oilpan – it ain’t been drained in hundreds a’ years.
I been searchin’ for a way ta clear out cha ears, but now
I’m siph’nin’ off gas, storin’ it up jus'
waitin’ fo’ tha right time
ta mess wit’ ‘cha injectas an ya fuel line –
waitin’ for the right time ta blow ya sky high
(who’s got a light?)…
I’m dismantlin’ ya crankshaft
rippin’ out cho pistons,
one by one,
an’ I’ma bust cho face open
ta’ see if we bleed
th’ same black poetics,
sing the body ‘lectric.

You wonder why I’m so dark?
It’s ‘cause I live in ya tailpipe.
Wonder why I’m so dark?
It’s ‘cause I live in ya tailpipe.
You wonder why I’m so dark???
It’s ‘cause I live in ya TAILPIPE!

I been sittin’ in the back this whole time, diggin’
th’ heart’s death on “Time Outta Mind.”In tha
backs of classes, gettin’ bombarded by
bull-shit spillin’ outta th’ mouths a
people talkin’ ‘bout shit ain’t related ta Now.
An’ I’m backed in ta a corner, jus’
tryin’ ta get back to that fleshy core of
Soul-singin’Jazz-swingin’Bebop-verse...

I worked my way back over your chassis,
rusted it out ‘till it fell the fuck off –
an’ now, I’m livin’ in your tailpipe.

Tha exhaust I’s suckin’ in burns me inside-out,
an’ I gotta stawt cuttin’ fingers off
so leprotic diseases of ya dead conceits an’ forms
can’t work their way up inta my veins…

If you’re wonderin’ why I’m so dark, it’s ‘cause I live in your tailpipe,
but if you wonder why I’m so black, it’s ‘cause I can’t figya out
how to move out
of yo’ motherfuckin’ tailpipe.