(Help them. Help our children. Help them. Help our children)
[Chorus]
Will you let them be? (Help the children)
Will you help the children live to see... (Help the children)
A generation's trying (bombs and crack)
Oh, how we're dying
(Dance, help them)
Will you let them be? (Help the children)
Will you help the children live to see... (Help the children)
A better day is coming (we need love)
To keep our lives going
[Verse 1]
Life is here and then it's gone
And what seems right can be oh-so wrong
Let's protect, and not molest... a young girl
And help them live to see... this world
Clearly, as it is
And pray for the mother with kids (kids)
Who's lost control, but not her soul
Many kids will die before they're 20 years old
[Chorus]
[Verse 2]
Pops (pops) where in the world have you gone
I see Momma (momma) by the telephone
Waiting (waiting) but you don't call
Tears on her face and I see them fall
It hurts (hurts) but will go on
You're just another brother who's left his home
And family (family), yeah we cry
Momma says she love you and I don't even know why (why why why)
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
Money and d**h, the lie, the truth
A dime bag of crack, the end of you
Black and white, a constant fight
Years and years, and day and night
There was a right, I've got to stand
To make a better way for a young black man
In a land (a land) where the people smile
Been holding me back for such a long while (while, while, wow, while)
[Chorus]
[Verse 4]
Help them, will you let them be?
Children (children) don't be fooled
And learn about the way that man was ruled
This country (country) where we live
And read about the sixties and what they did
So that we (we) won't forget
And love one another and give respect
When I see (see) a man who's old
A woman who's grey, it touches my soul
Because I know (know) they paved the way
So we could be here and live this way
There was a time (time) not long ago
When in the-front-of-the-bus into the back I had to go
It appears (it appears) that things have changed
Maybe it's in the method but it's still the same game (game, game, game, game, game, game)
[Abbreviated Chorus]