Strange Messengers lyrics by Patti Smith - original song full text. Official Strange Messengers lyrics, 2024 version | LyricsMode.com
Request & respond explanations
  • Don't understand the meaning of the song?
  • Highlight lyrics and request an explanation.
  • Click on highlighted lyrics to explain.
Patti Smith – Strange Messengers lyrics
I looked upon the book of life
Tracing the lines of face after face
Looking down at their naked feet
Bound in chains bound in chains
Chains of leather chains of gold
We knew it was wrong but we looked away
And paraded them down the colonial streets
And that's how they became enslaved

They came across on the great ships
Mothers separated from their babes
Husbands stood on the auction block
Bound in chains bound in chains
Chains of leather chains of gold
Men knew it was wrong but they looked away
And led them to toil in fields of white
As they turned their necks to a bitter landscape

Oh the people I hear them calling
Am I not a man and a brother
Am I not a woman and a sister

History sends us such strange messengers
They come down through time
To embrace to enrage
And in their arms even stranger fruit
And they swing from the trees
With their vision in flames
Ropes of leather ropes of gold
Men knew it was wrong but they looked away
Messengers swinging from twisted rope
As they turned their necks to a bitter landscape

Oh the people I hear them calling
Am I not a man and a brother
Am I not a woman and a sister
We will be heard we will be heard
×



Lyrics taken from /lyrics/p/patti_smith/strange_messengers.html

  • Email
  • Correct
Songwriters: LEONARD J KAYE, PATTI SMITH
Strange Messengers lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Strange Messengers meanings

Write about your feelings and thoughts about Strange Messengers

Know what this song is about? Does it mean anything special hidden between the lines to you? Share your meaning with community, make it interesting and valuable. Make sure you've read our simple tips.
U
Min 50 words
Not bad
Good
Awesome!

Post meanings

U
Min 50 words
Not bad
Good
Awesome!

official video

Featured lyrics

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z