Born In Puerto Rico

I was born in Puerto Rico We came here when I was a child Before I made to my sixteenth I was running with the gang and we were wild. He keeps looking but don't recognize me. Some guy from Lexington or Park Rrd beans and rice from kitchen windows It's supper-time and the barrio is dark. No one knows you like I do No one can know your heart the way I do No one can testify to all that you've been though But I will. I was born in Puerto Rico And my blood is taino Spanish Caribbean in 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 house 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 can 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. I'm Frenchy Cordero, I'm Angel Soto Indio Rivera, 'Baboo' Charlie Cruz The faces blurred in every grainy photo And fading headline of the Daily News Judge's Voice Wiltwych 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 Yo nacir in Puerto Rico All my heart is Puerto Rico All my soul is Puerto Rico