Here's a song that reflects America today:

[SmileyBoy]

Written 22 years ago, but still very relevant to today:

"The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

Broken glass everywhere,
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care
I can't take the smell, I can't take the noise,
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back,
Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far,
Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge,
I'm trying not to loose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

Standing on the front stoop, hangin' out the window,
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
Crazy lady, livin' in a bag,
Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fat-cat
Search and test a tango, skips the life and then go,
To search a prince to see the last of senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps,
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got social security,
She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge,
I'm trying not to loose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

My brother's doing fast on my mother's TV,
Says she watches to much, is just not healthy
All My Children in the daytime, Dallas at night,
Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
Bill collectors they ring my phone,
And scare my wife when I'm not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation,
Can't take the train to the job,
There's a strike at the station
Me on king kong standin' on my back,
Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacrodiliac
Midrange, migraine, cancered membrane,
Sometimes I think I'm going insane, I swear I might
Hijack a plane!

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge,
I'm trying not to loose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

My son said, "Daddy I don't wanna go to school!"
"Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool!"
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I dance to the beat, shuffle my feet,
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny,
You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey
They push that girl in front of a train,
Took her to a doctor, sowed the arm on again
Stabbed that man, right in his heart,
Gave him a transplant before a brand new start
I can't walk through the park, cause it's crazy after dark,
Keep my hand on the gun, cause they got me on the run
I feel like an outlaw, broke my last fast jaw,
Hear them say you want some more, livin' on a seesaw

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge,
I'm trying not to loose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

A child was born, with no state of mind,
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but he's frowning too,
Cause only God knows what you go through
You grow in the ghetto, living second rate,
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay,
Looks like one great big alley way
You'll admire all the number book takers,
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens,
And you wanna grow up to be just like them
Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers,
Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers
You say, "I'm cool, I'm no fool!",
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now you're unemployed, all null and void,
Walking around like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you done did,
Got send up for a eight year bid
Now your man is took and you're a maytag,
Spend the next two years as an undercover fag
Being used and abused, and served like hell,
Till one day you was find hung dead in a cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost,
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad sad song,
Of how you lived so fast and died so young

Don't push me, cause I'm close to the edge,
I'm trying not to loose my head
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

[mark414]

1. one of the greats

not just that song either...plenty more classics came from those minds

it's sad though, 20+ years later and we still haven't really solved anything