(Solo harmonica intro — slow, bent notes, blue and tired) 🎵 waaah… wah—wahhh… wuhhh… 🎵 Verse 1 (spoken-sung, behind the beat) The ones who went to jail Either needed it Or was mistaken That’s just truth sittin’ where it land But me— I’m feral Like the animals back home Raised on instinct, not instruction So think as you may (harmonica answers, short jazz licks) 🎵 wah—wah… wuhh… 🎵 Verse 2 (looser, jazz cadence) I don’t pace like a sinner Or walk like I’m saved I move how the creek moves When nobody’s lookin’ that way I learned silence from trees And hunger from stone Ain’t civilized enough for your rules Too honest to fake what I owe (harmonica slides, half-valve cries) 🎵 waaaah—wah—wahhh… 🎵 Chorus (call-and-response with harmonica) You can judge me if you want 🎵 wahhh 🎵 Name me wild, name me wrong 🎵 wah—wah 🎵 I ain’t locked, I ain’t lost 🎵 wuhhh 🎵 I just don’t belong I ain’t evil, I ain’t tame 🎵 wahhh—wahhh 🎵 I breathe free, I bite pain 🎵 WAAHH 🎵 Feral like the hills raised me So think as you may Harmonica Solo (jazz, wandering, almost conversational) 🎵 wah… wuhh… wah—wah—waaah… 🎵 🎵 short stabs… long bends… breath between notes 🎵 Verse 3 (low, reflective) Cities put numbers on faces Call it order, call it law Back home, we just know who you are By how you stand when you’re raw Some cages are steel Some are belief I never fit either one I survive off instinct and grief (harmonica moans, minor key) 🎵 wahhh… wuhhh… 🎵 Chorus (quieter, cooler jazz feel) The ones who went to jail 🎵 wahhh 🎵 Either needed it 🎵 wah—wah 🎵 Or was mistaken 🎵 wuhhh 🎵 But me— 🎵 waaah 🎵 I’m feral as the animals back home 🎵 wah—wah—wahhh 🎵 So think as you may Extended Harmonica Solo (free jazz, emotional) 🎵 WAAAH—wah—wuhh—wahhh 🎵 🎵 breath cracks… bends cry… notes almost break 🎵 Outro (spoken, last breath) I don’t need forgiveness I don’t need a cell Just air in my lungs And room to be myself (final harmonica note, held until it fades) 🎵 waaaaaah… 🎵 Verse 2 (jazz cadence, deliberate) They don’t talk about the Panthers in the hollers Black and white, standin’ side by side Poor folks, coal dust, empty pockets Same hunger in a different hide They fed the kids, they named the pain Said poverty ain’t a moral flaw Almost bent the states the way Martin Luther King Jr. did With words, with unity, with law (harmonica bends, call-and-response phrasing) 🎵 wah—wah… wuhhh… 🎵 Pre-Chorus (quiet, pointed) They don’t fear noise They fear alignment 🎵 wahhh 🎵 They don’t crush riots They crush movement 🎵 wah—wahhh 🎵 Chorus (cool jazz, no shouting) Black Panther White Panther Same damn hunger, different skin They almost changed the Appalachian states Before the pressure closed back in No halo, no headline praise Just people tired of jail or bail They buried the story, not the truth So think as you may (harmonica sings the hook, long bend) 🎵 waaaaaah… 🎵 Harmonica Solo I (wandering, reflective) 🎵 wah… wah—wuhh… wahhh… 🎵

Feral breath blues