Jackie Robinson
Luther Jackson Green
Lived in the apartment above me
We smoked cigarettes on the stairs
Tell me stories that white boys never hear
Like when he found this shine
He moved north in nineteen forty-nine
On his tenth birthday daddy took him to town
To see the Jackie Robinson play.
It was a picture perfect day
In the sunshine and the hate
He didn't understand why all those
People would say such awful things.
His daddy said pay no attention to them
Turnaround and watch the man play
The one black man in the baseball field
Was better in every way
My daddy said if you wanna win in this world
You gotta beat 'em the their own game.
Luther Jackson Green
Went to law school in nineteen sixty-three
In the summer between he worked in Alabama
With Martin Luther King
He met a girl on a summer night
He fell hard when they saw each other's eyes
There were people in town that really didn't
Like that he was black and she was white
They found her in the ditch
A little outside of town
Some stupid man was blastin' about it
So Luther beat him down
He looked him in the eye, spit in his face and
He turned and walked away.
He knew he was better than all the hate
He knew he was bigger than all the pain
He knew there's a time to fight and a time to walk away
He knew until he changed the rules
Ooh yeah they beat 'em at their own game.
He never did lose that feeling inside
You could hear it in his voice
You could see it in his eyes
Luther moved out West to live
When his wife passed away
He lives right next door to his son
So he can watch his grandchild play.
Luther Jackson Green
Watched election night with me.
We put a black man in the White House
A thing he never thought he'd see.
Even though he never cried
I could see tears in his eyes
He had dreamed about this moment
Every single day of his life.
Yeah Luther died that night in his sleep
But he lived long enough to see,
America become the kind of place
He always wanted it to be.
He said you could never forget the day
That we beat 'em at their own game!
Yeah just like Jackie Robinson (just like Jackie Robinson)
Gotta be bigger than all the hate (just like Jackie Robinson)
Gotta be better than all the pain (just like Jackie Robinson)
Gotta find a better way (just like Jackie Robinson)
Gotta beat 'em at their own game (just like Jackie Robinson)
Gotta beat 'em at their own game (just like Jackie Robinson)
Gotta beat 'em at their own game (just like Jackie Robinson)
(Just like Jackie Robinson)
