The Message Lyrics - Singles - Grandmaster Flash

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

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

Broken glass everywhere 

People pissin' on the stairs, you know they just don't care 

I can't take the smell, 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 a man with a tow truck repossessed my car 

Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge 

I'm trying not to lose my head, ha-ha 

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

Standin' on the front stoop hangin' out the window 

Watchin' all the cars go by, roarin' as the breezes blow 

Crazy lady, livin' in a bag 

Eatin' outta garbage pails, used to be a fag hag 

Said she'll dance the tango, skip the light fandango 

A Zircon princess seemed to lost her senses 

Down at the peep show watchin' all the creeps 

So she can tell her stories to the girls back home 

She went to the city and got so-so seditty 

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 lose my head, ha-ha 

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

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

My brother's doin' bad, stole my mother's TV 

Says she watches too much, it's just not healthy 

All My Children in the daytime, Dallas at night 

Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight 

The 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 

Neon King Kong standin' on my back 

Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac 

A mid-range migraine, cancered membrane 

Sometimes I think I'm goin' insane 

I swear I might hijack a plane 

Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge 

I'm trying not to lose my head 

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

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' 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 

Or 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 pushed that girl in front of the train 

Took her to the doctor, sewed her arm on again 

Stabbed that man right in his heart 

Gave him a transplant for a brand new start 

I can't walk through the park 'cause it's crazy after dark 

Keep my hand on my gun 'cause they got me on the run 

I feel like a outlaw, broke my last glass jaw 

Hear them say "you want some more?" 

Livin' on a see-saw 

Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge 

I'm trying not to lose my head, say what? 

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

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

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

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

A child is born with no state of mind 

Blind to the ways of mankind 

God is smilin' on you but he's frownin' too 

Because only God knows what you'll go through 

You'll grow in the ghetto livin' second-rate 

And your eyes will sing a song called deep hate 

The places you play and where you stay 

Looks like one great big alleyway 

You'll admire all the number-book takers 

Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money-makers 

Drivin' big cars, spendin' twenties and tens 

And you'll wanna grow up to be just like them 

Huh, smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers 

Pickpocket peddlers, even panhandlers 

You say I'm cool, huh, I'm no fool 

But then you wind up droppin' outta high school 

Now you're unemployed, all non-void 

Walkin' round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd 

Turned stick-up kid, but look what you done did 

Got sent up for a eight-year bid 

Now your manhood is took and you're a Maytag 

Spend the next two years as a undercover fag 

Bein' used and abused to serve like hell 

Till one day, you was found hung dead in the 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 

So don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge 

I'm trying not to lose my head, ha-ha 

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under, ha-ha 

It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin' under, ha-ha