(*Produced by Mr. Dibbs)
[** Originally from Mr. Dibbs' album 'Thirty Seven':]
[Intro:]
Comin' to the stage right about now
We got this crazy son of bitch named uh, by the name of Mr. Dibbs
Go on put something on
[Verse 1:]
Served 18 months out in World War II
European theater for the red, white & blue
He watched from the deck with what remained of his crew
As his home finally came into view
And the segregated Army had made him a Sargent
He came back hard and lookin' like a wood carvin'
Bobby Green, in all his magnificence
Embraced his young bride, she felt so innocent
He try to sleep but he had chest murmurs
And wake up and at night tryin' to bayonet Germans
She would ask him but all he'd tell
Is they ain't never lie when they'd said War is hell
She didn't need to hear about the fires and bombs
And how his young friends used to die in his arms
Man, he wouldn't even know where to start
He kept a photograph in a pocket over his heart
But he could kill strangers with the best of 'em
Every last colored solider got nothing but respect for him
He came home, it's like he ain't even grown
Rent rooms, he ain't even got a place of his own
Missed his daddy's funeral, fighting for freedom
Returned to find out that his wife didn't need him
Cause while the man of the house was vacant
She learned to earn enough to break bread and pay rent
The Army awarded him the Medal Of Honor
He now cleans toilets with a cramp in his posture
Yes sir, no ma'am, kill for these people with his own hands
Can't get respected as a grown man
Now that's what you call workin' poor
Can't afford to bring his woman home, nothing from the store
But on the first Saturday of every month
She can wear the blue dress and eat whatever she want
She's queen for a day
And needless to say
That's the only reason he has to breath in a way
And on that night they were waitin' for a dish
He excused himself from the table to piss
And in his absence
A young bad motherfucker
Step up like he think he James Cagney or something (Yo baby yo yo yo)
She said, That's mighty kind of ya.
But I'm a married woman and I'm here with my husband.
He grabbed her arm and tried to hold firm
She pulled away and said, I already told you sir
He drew back, slapped her face
Got his bar stool back and tossed another brew back
Bobby returned to find tears in her eyes
And she's so shook up she can't tell him why
Gathered her composure, told the story
Bobby kept his wits about him and approached him calmly
Then something happened inside, he snapped
And struck him so hard that his eyes rolled back
And his body collapsed
Grabbed him by the arm pits, lifted him and drug him outside in the back
And right there in the still of the night
Bobby beat the young man within an inch of his life
It might have been what he did to his wife
I imagine that straw would be all it would take to break the camel's back
They all flocked from inside to get a scene
Jaws dropped, they were too horrified to intervene
He had him face down
Naked from the waist down
And what happened next cleared the whole playground
See, Bobby had already did what his hands could
Took the next 10 minutes stripping his manhood
Brutalizing him
He not gay but he had to go inside of him to really take his pride from him
The kid disappeared to who-knows-where
And Bobby and his wife Ethal still live here
And they never spoke about it for the rest of they life
That's all they called it was that night
[Chorus: (2x)]
That night when the pillar crumbled
That night when the stone wall cracked and it all collapsed
That night a desperate person at the end of his chain
Got tired of trying to make sense of the pain
That night when the statue stumbled
That night when the stone wall cracked and it all collapsed
That night a desperate person at the end of his chain
Got tired of trying to make sense of the pain
That night (that night) (4x)
[Outro:]
Yes y'all. Just put your hands in the sky. Just one hand in the sky
Wave that motherfucker. Left, right, left right
Make some noise for the drummer now. Mr. Dibbs!