(Verse One)

Monday morning sun pushin’ on my back.
Phoenix, hot, like a piece of bacon fat.
That’s a fact. Off to work, man.

You know the deal:
pavement hot enough you could cook a good meal

on top of the side walk
where the men talk. They talk
and the fiends go score they rock
where massive battles are fought.
Lessons are taught with a roc and a gunshot.
The chaos don’t stop.

Kids who can barley read
tag graffiti on they block like, “Yo, that’s me.”
Lookin’ at the future like a body
in a casket of broken dreams.
I show my love with poetry.

And my students speak
like they got bullets stuck in they teeth,
holdin’ pens like latch keys.
I tell the class:
“Strike the pen on the pad
like a match.” Please
watch the light in their eyes keeps hatching.
(keeps hatching)


(Chorus)

(I love you. I love you.
But you’re bringing me down)
Hey!

(I love you. I love you.)
My people say
(But you’re bringing me down)
Hey!


Arizona, I love you!
(I love you.)
But you keep bringing me. . . down.

Arizona, I love you.
Arizona, I love you.

[This verse is for the victims of SB-1070
And the ban on Ethnic Studies]

(Verse Two)

I can’t stand how they complain about identity theft.
Now they wanna ban ethnic studies in the same breath.

“Listen, little man.
This is how they call you a crook.
First flip through that history book.
Funny how so few faces belong to Black, Brown, Latinos, and Asians.
Reflections? Mug shots on the evening news
demonize people of color, create fear,
remove the truth.

This is how they book ya.
They write laws in the books,
make money for the prisons,
write more laws in the books,
raid your house and your mom gets took.
You booked out the back window,
but he caught you by the back pack,
so you threw a left hook.
Now you in a cell
readin’ all kinds of books.


(Chorus)

(I love you. I love you.)
My people say
(But you’re bringing me down)
Hey!

(I love you. I love you.)
My people say
(But you’re bringing me down.)
Hey!

Arizona, I hate you!
(I love you.)
Cuz you keep bringing me. . . down.

Arizona, I love you.
Arizona, I hate you.

Arizona, I love you.

Arizona I. . .
Arizona I-I-I. . .

(Verse Three)

At a church in the barrio
everyone holds hands and rosarios.
They say
prayers for the people who were taken away
in broad daylight.
Babies cry for mothers. It ain’t right
how they make scapegoats from the hard workin’ folk.
Man, it ain’t no joke.

I know
a ton of kids who were born across the line,
been livin’ in the states since the age of five.
America sits cold in their eyes. Study time:

watch
how they grow and they shine
through high school.
Their parents pay rent
cleaning hotel rooms.

Kids named Erika, Dulce, Silvia, Lupe,
trying to go to college,
but they’re turned away cuz they can’t pay,
and The Lawman says, “No Financial Aid!”

(Chorus)

(I love you. I love you.)
My people say
(But you’re bringing me down.)
Hey!

(I love you. I love you.)
My people say
(But you’re bringing me down.)
Hey!

And the people say!
(I love you.)
“Lawman, I’ve been here since 1st grade!

And I pay everyday with my pain.
And I pay everyday with my pain.

Since the first grade
and the second grade
and the third grade
and the fourth and the fifth and the sixth grade
and the seventh grade
and the eighth grade
and the ninth grade
and the tenth grade
and the eleventh grade—
man, I graduated in this state!

And I pay everyday with my pain.
And I pay everyday with my pain.”

Say, “Pass the Dream Act.”
(Pass the Dream Act.)
Say, “Pass the Dream Act.”
(Pass the Dream Act.)
Say, “Pass The Dream Act.”
(Pass the Dream Act.)

Say, “No! No!”
(No! No!)
“No! No!”
(No! No!)
SB 1070 Say-say-say-say, “No! No!”
(No! No!)

Ban on ethnic studies.

Say-say-say “No! No!”
(No! No!)

Arizona, Te Quiero.
Pero como me aguitas.