'Dear Friend'

Indispensable track too in this times of turmoil.
Latest single released, very limitedly, by Massive Attack in a gorgeous vinyl, in September 2016.
These lyrics are telling it like it is!

Massive Attack feat. James Massiah - 'Dear Friend'

Massive Attack Featuring James Massiah Produced By Euan Dickinson & Robert Del Naja

Lyrics:

Dear friend, look at you now All tied up in knots and starting to rot Thought it was alright in the light but now it's dark and it looks wrong But what'd you expect? That's what you get from worshipping moon gods False deities living off reflected glory, like our colonisers Queens and kings reaping the royalties from someone else's story But let's return to yours, you, the author of your own destiny Escaping the demons and bastards of a past life Arm in arm with your wife, a highland type With a big heart and a wise mind It's gonna help you to escape the long arm of the swine Which helps, seeming as you've been tired of, and trying to escape the wildlife Which now bores the young man with the family from the horn Lands wartorn, new allegiance sworn, you're part of the swarm Survive the storm, now withering Raised with worthy morals by an upright mother And a father who slaved days and days to make a wage Chewing cats will alleviate the pain and pressure That came with the career in a country that saw you as a cancer and a casualty Alienated on the way up to a higher education That you were lucky enough to catch Smart and working hard enough to keep You were caught in criminality The catalyst for your change And plenty of it came from the ketamine, the weed and cocaine for the customer Middle class kids on campus were burdens to bear Each of them facing oppression of their own Victims of a different kind of prejudice Their condition: psychosis, mania, suicidal thoughts, sexual inadequacy Academic underachievement, social separation and a desire to fit in The madness of youth that you've medicated All the while dedicated to serving your god When the deities of this life would allow you to Driving through the town, you approach the road to Damascus Blue lights that flash and leave you blind Bound by a belief that the god of your father set you free Weeds plucked, wife covered, 5 times a day, a proud slave Praying for proof that you picked the right way Seeing that your sister's changed, your brother's enraged, on route to a cage You're gonna need more than faith in this day and age You don't need friends, you need facts Don't need poems, you need raps Don't need peace, you need war, and defeat, and a grave to bury your doubts You've got love and a spouse, now you need space A chance to breathe, and time away In time, you'll remember this day When you're 50 years old, thinking of all the fickle things that you would fret over But you're not 50 yet, so take the right steps Unless you wanna be down when you get there This is my prayer for you, my friend, so fly away Be unbound by the ropes and the chains Be set free and escape The demons of your past become the demons of your present Old habits stick, what you learn as a young gun becomes hard to kick Clutch gets stuck and hard to shift Automatically return to the ways of days gone by A bullet in the mind, a beam in the eye And a bitch, yeah, that's life Ignorance is bliss, but wisdom's nice Hopefully it comes with age, 'cause you don't live twice And then you can't live it again, I'm afraid So fly now, be free, make your own way My dear friend