Born In Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

We came here when I was a child

Before I reached the age of sixteen

I was runnin' with the gang and we were wild

He keeps lookin' but he don't recognize me

Some guy from Lexington or Park

Red beans and rice from kitchen windows

It's supper time and the barrio is dark

No one knows you like I do

Nobody can know your heart the way I do

No one can testify to all that you've been through

But I will

I was born in Puerto Rico and my blood is Taino

Spanish Caribbean, my soul

We came here wearing summer clothes in winter

Hearts of sunshine in the cold

Your family rented this apartment

You'd watch the street lamps from your perch

In the sacramental hour, your stepfather in black

Preached the fire of the Pentecostal Church

No one knows you like I do

Nobody can know your heart the way I do

No one to testify to all that you've been through

But this will

I was born in Puerto Rico

Came here when I was a child

Small change and sunlight

Then I left these streets for good

My days as short as they were wild

Your features blurred in every grainy photo

And fading headline of the Daily News

Wiltwyck School for Criminal Children

Auburn, Brooklyn House of D

Dannemora, Sing Sing, Attica, Greenhaven

Twenty years inside, today you're free

You cannot even read your story

The pages piling up in shame

Before the words released you

The guard would kill the light

The night you took The Capeman for your name

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico