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Ben Harper
Ben Harper


Background information
Birth name Benjamin Chase Harper
Born October 28, 1969
Born place Claremont, California, United States
Genre(s) Folk-Rock
Blues Rock
Reggae
Years active 1992—present
Label(s) Virgin Records
EMI Group
Associated acts Ringo Starr
Fistful of Mercy
The Blind Boys of Alabama
Relentless7
Vanessa da Mata
Website Website



Music World  →  Lyrics  →  B  →  Ben Harper  →  Albums  →  Welcome To The Cruel World

Ben Harper Album


Welcome To The Cruel World (02/08/1994)
02/08/1994
1.
The Three Of Us (instrumental)
2.
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14.
. . .

The Three Of Us

[No lyrics]

. . .


Words and music by Chris Darrow

Well you can need me
Well I want you to
And you can feed me
How I like that too
But don't you lead me
I won't follow you
Listen here
I don't fear
I don't want to be your whipping boy

Oh - you can tease me
Oh - how I want you to
And you can squeeze me
Baby, I like that too
But don't you lead me
I won't follow you
Listen here
I don't fear
I don't want to be your whipping boy

Oh - you can hold me
Baby, I want you to
And you can scold me
Yes, I like that too
But don't you lead me
I won't follow you
Listen here
I don't fear
I don't want to be your whipping boy

Well you can need me
Well I want you to
And you can feed me
Baby, I like that too
But don't you lead me
I won't follow you
Listen here
I don't fear

. . .


Words by Ben Harper
Music by Ben Harper / JP Plunier

You don't believe that I love you
And even if that was true
Why just to keep our unhappy home
I'm gonna try to pretend that I do

And I'm breaking down
I'm breakin' down
I'm breakin' down
I'm breakin' down
My baby she left me
Said she ain't coming back around
And I'm breaking down
Oh - I'm breaking down

And if I thought that it was okay
For a grown man to cry
I would have filled up the whole mighty ocean
When she said goodbye

And I'm breakin' down
Oh - I'm breakin' down
I'm breakin' down
Oh - Oh - Oh
I'm breakin' down
You know my baby she left me
Said she ain't coming back around
And I'm breaking down

Oh - one day you said everything was just right
I don't see how
I don't see how it changed overnight
One day you said everything was so strong
The next day you turn to me and say
It's been wrong all along

Oh - one day you said everything was just right
I don't see how it changed overnight
One day you said everything was so strong
And the next day you say it's been wrong all along

Oh - and now you won't even look at me
You pass me by in the street and you won't even speak
I never
I never
I never meant to cause you any harm
How could two people start so close and end up so far

(I'm) breaking down
Oh - I'm breaking down
I'm breakin'
I'm breakin'
I'm breakin'
I'm breakin' down

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

You say : "What's mine is mine
And what's yours is mine too !"
Now you've got more than you can spend
But all of the money in the whole wide world
Is not gonna help you in the end
Now, while there's still time to be saved
Don't take that attitude to your grave
Might be too late for you I'm afraid
So, don't take that attitude to your grave
Don't you take it there ?

I hear helicopters over my house every day
Shining their lights and flying low
Treat a child like a criminal from the day that he is born
You're gonna reap just what you sow
Now while there's still time to be saved
Don't take that attitude to your grave
Might be too late for you I'm afraid
So, don't take that attitude to your grave
Don't you take it there ?

So you can move your court case way across town
You can move it across the whole wide globe
But it ain't gonna help your court case up in the sky
When you go to put on your white robe
Now while there's still time to be saved
Don't take that attitude to your grave
Might be too late for you I'm afraid
Don't you... they don't want it there...
Don't you take it there ?

You dare the children to stay off of drugs
Now I dare you to stop letting them in
And how dare you point your finger
At a gang out on the street
While it's you who is committing the sin
Now while there's still time to be saved
Don't take that attitude to your grave
Might be too late for you I'm afraid
Don't take that attitude to your grave
Don't you take it there ?
They don't want it there
You know your mother taught you better

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

Waiting on an angel
One to carry me home
Hope you come to see me soon
Cause I don't want to go alone
I don't want to go alone

Now angel won't you come by me
Angel hear my plea
Take my hand, lift me up
So that I can fly with thee
So that I can fly with thee

And I'm waiting on an angel
And I know it won't be long
To find myself a resting place
In my angel's arms
In my angel's arms

So speak kind to a stranger
Cause you'll never know
It just might be an angel come
Oh - knockin' at your door
Oh - knockin' at your door

And I'm waiting on an angel
And I know it won't be long
To find myself a resting place
In my angel's arms
Oh - in my angel's arms

Waiting on an angel
One to carry me home
Hope you come to see me soon
Cause I don't want to go alone
I don't want to go alone
Don't want to go

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

Papa, he left home today
And said he ain't comin' back again
Said he ain't gonna be nobody's second best
Just cause mama's got a special kind of friend

Papa, he left home today
Said he ain't comin' back no more
Said he ain't gonna take no damn back seat
And how could mama do him so low

But mama's got a girlfriend now, boy !
Mama's got a girlfriend now
Mama's got a girlfriend
Mama's got a true friend
Mama's got a girlfriend now

You see mama don't watch your damn football
And your beer drinkin' just won't do
You're just stayin' out late
And you're preachin' the hate
And you never have been true

You see, mama she want her somebody
Who will let her be herself
So she's leavin' you and your stinky damn ways
Cause she's found somebody else

And mama's got a girlfriend now boy
Mama's got a girlfriend now
Mama's got a girlfriend
Mama's found a true friend
Mama's got a girlfriend now

Papa he left home today
He was wavin' his hands and cryin'
You could tell by the sound and the tone in his voice
That his heart was slowly dyin'

But mama said :
"Boy if I ever catch you 'round here again
You ain't never gonna have nobody else
Not a woman or a man"

And mama's got a girlfriend now boy
Mama's got a girlfriend now
Mama's got a girlfriend
Mama's found a true friend
Mama's got a girlfriend now

Mama's got a girlfriend now, boy!
Mama's got a girlfriend now
Mama's got a girlfriend
Mama's found a true friend

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

Not talkin' 'bout a year
No not three or four
I don't want that kind of forever
In my life anymore
Forever always seems
To be around when it begins
But forever never seems
To be around when it ends

So give me your forever
Please your forever
Not a day less will do
From you

People spend so much time
Every single day
Runnin' 'round all over town
Givin' their forever away
But no not me
I won't let my forever roam
And now I hope I can find
My forever a home

So give me your forever
Please your forever
Not a day less will do
From you

Like a handless clock with numbers
An infinite of time
No not the forever found
Only in the mind
Forever always seems
To be around when things begin
But forever never seems
To be around when things end

So give me your forever
Please your forever
Not a day less will do

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

Well Martin's dream
Has become Rodney's worst
Nightmare
Can't walk the streets
To them we are fair game
Our lives don't mean a thing

Like a King, like a King, like a King
Rodney King, Rodney King, Rodney King
Like a king, like a King, like a King
How I wish you could help us Dr. King

Make sure it's filmed
Shown on national T.V.
They'll have no mercy
A legal lynch mob
Like the days strung up from the tree
The L.A.P.D.

Like a King, like a King, like a King
Rodney King, Rodney King, Rodney King
Like a king, like a King, like a King
How I wish you could help us Dr. King

So if you catch yourself
Thinking it has changed for the best
You better second guess
Cause Martin's dream
Has become Rodney's worst
Nightmare

Like a King, like a King, like a King
Rodney King, Rodney King, Rodney King
Like a King, like a King, like a King
How I wish you could help us Dr. King

Like a King, like a King, like a King
Like a King, like a King, like a King
Like a King, like a King, like a King
How I wish... like a King, like a King

Like a King, like a King, like a, like a King
Like a King, like a King, like a King
When we will look to the past
Look to the past to learn ?
I wish...
Like a king, like a king, like a king
Like a king, like a king, like a king

Bye and bye we must go to see the King

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

I'm leaving here on the morning train
And I will never see this world again
Oh - I've felt pleasure
And I've felt pain
And I know now
That I can never be the same

How I wonder why the world can be so cold
And if only good die young
Then left with me cruel here to grow old
Oh - I've felt pleasure
And I've felt pain
And I know now
I can never be the same

And if someday I find my peace of mind
I will share my wealth with all of human kind
Well I've felt pleasure
And I've felt pain
And I know now
That I can never be the same

So if the sun does shine or rain does fall
I give thanks I've had my sight to see through it all
Oh - I've felt pleasure
And I've felt pain
And I know now

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

Oh no
Here comes that sun again
That means another day
Without you my friend
And it hurts me
To look into the mirror at myself
And it hurts even more
To have to be with somebody else

And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away

With so many people to love in my life
Why do I worry about one ?
But you put the happy in my ness
You put the good times into my fun

And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door

We've tried the goodbye
So many days
We walk in the same direction
So that we could never stray
They say if you love somebody
Than you have got to set them free
But I would rather be locked to you
Than live in this pain and misery

They say time will
Make all this go away
But it's time that has taken my tomorrows
And turned them into yesterdays
And once again that rising sun
Is droppin' on down
And once again you my friend
Are nowhere to be found

And it's so hard to do
And so easy to say
But sometimes
Sometimes you just have to walk away
Walk away
And head for the door

You just walk away
Walk away
Walk away
Just walk a...
Walk on
Turn and head for the door

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

Exactly how much will have to burn
Before we will look to the past to learn
We walk along this endless path
Which has led us in a circle
So here we are right back
We can't let the future become our past
If we are to change the world
Won't you tell me
Tell me please
How many miles must we march
Oh - how many miles must we march

When I was a baby I was not prejudiced
Hey - how about you
This was something
That I learned in school
Something they taught us to do
We can't let the future become our past
If we are to change the world
Won't you tell me
Tell me please
How many miles must we march
Oh - how many miles must we march

There must come a day
When a box is not somebody's home
The unfinished work of our heroes
Must truly be our own
We can't let the future become our past
If we are to change the world
Won't you tell me
Tell me please
How many miles must we march
How many miles must we march
How many miles must we march
Oh - how many miles must we march
How many miles must we...
How many miles

. . .


Words and music by Ben Harper

Welcome to the cruel world
Hope you find your way
Welcome to the cruel world
Hope you find your way
Oh - Oh
It's a cruel world
Try to enjoy your stay

Yes it is a cruel world
When you're tryin' to get by
Oh - Oh
It's a cruel world
When you're tryin'
When you've seen the look in their eye
Makes life hard living
But I'm so
So scared to die
Welcome to the cruel world
Welcome
Welcome

Don't know how
We've lasted here so long
There must be more good than bad
Or we'd already be gone
And if you get up to heaven
Before I do
I'm gonna tell ya
Oh - it's gonna be cruel there too
Cruel there too

You can't hide from this cruel world
Cause there is no place to run
You can't hide from the cruel world
There just is no place to run
It's been cruel from the beginning
It will be cruel when we're done

So when I'm gone
I will gladly say goodbye
Yes when I'm gone
I will gladly say goodbye
And if you want to feel me
Put your hands up to the sky

Welcome to the cruel world
Welcome
Welcome
Hope you find your way

. . .


Words by Maya Angelou
Music by Ben Harper

You may write me down in history
With your bitter twisted lies
You may trod me down in the very dirt
And still like the dust, I'll rise
Does my happiness upset you
Why are you best with gloom
Cause I laugh like I've got an oil well
Pumpin' in my living room

So you may shoot me with your words
You may cut me with your eyes
And I'll rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - rise - rise
Out of the shacks of history's shame
Up from a past rooted in pain
I'll rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - rise - rise

Now did you want to see me broken
Bowed head and lowered eyes
Shoulders fallen down like teardrops
Weakened by my soulful cries
Does my confidence upset you
Don't you take it awful hard
Cause I walk like I've got a diamond mine
Breakin' up in my front yard

So you may shoot me with your words
You may cut me with your eyes
And I'll rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - rise - rise
Out of the shacks of history's shame
Up from a past rooted in pain
I'll rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - rise - rise

So you may write me down in history
With your bitter twisted lies
You may trod me down in the very dirt
And still like the dust, I'll rise
Does my happiness upset you
Why are you best with gloom
Cause I laugh like I've got a goldmine
Diggin' up in my living room

You may shoot me with your words
You may cut me with your eyes
And I'll rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - rise - rise
Out of the shacks of history's shame
Up from a past rooted in pain
I'll rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - yes I'll rise

You may shoot me with your words
You may cut me with your eyes
And I'll rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - rise - rise
Out of the shacks of history's shame
Up from a past rooted in pain
I'll rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - rise - rise
I'm gonna rise - I'll rise - I'll rise - rise - rise

. . .


(traditional popularized by Blind Willie Johnson)

... you have got to go by yourself
I don't mind dying
I'm a child of God
Child of God
Don't mind dying
Child of God
Bye and bye, I'm going to see the King
Bye and bye, I'm going to see the King
Bye and bye, I'm going to see the King
I don't mind dying
I'm a child of God
Child of God
I'm a child of God

. . .


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