"I Remember" lyrics - THE ROOTS

[Verse 1: Black Thought]
I drew a two of hearts from a deck of cards
A stock trick from my empty repertoire
Another hopeless story, never read at all
I'm better off looking for the end, where the credits are
It's a pain living life against the grain
I'm looking back, and y'all look the same
Troy, Mark, and Lil' What's-His-Name
Memory is rerunning it all
It's the flight of my fall, and it's right on the wall

[Hook: Mercedes Martinez & Tracey Moore]
I remember
Can you remember
How it was? I do
Remember, do you?
I remember
Can you remember
How it was? I do
Remember, do you?

[Verse 2: Black Thought]
I used to ride the train to the same two stops
And look at the graffiti on the rooftops
Like the same song playing on the jukebox
Joint called "Faded Polaroids in a Shoebox"
Regardless to what the cadence is
It can't be forgotten, like auld acquaintances
I realize how depressing of a place it is
And, when I notice my reflection, whose face it is

[Hook: Mercedes Martinez & Tracey Moore]
I remember
Can you remember
How it was? I do
Remember, do you?
I remember
Can you remember
How it was? I do
Remember, do you?

[Instrumental interlude]

[Hook: Mercedes Martinez & Tracey Moore]
I remember
Can you remember
How it was? I do
Remember, do you?
I remember
Can you remember
How it was? I do
Remember, do you?

[Verse 3: Black Thought]
It's only human to express the way you really feel
But that same humanity is my Achilles' heel
A leopard can't change its spots, and never will
So I'm forever ill, now, I can never chill
What's keeping me from breaking out, like Benadryl
When my baptism of fire resulted in a kill
Sometimes, it's as cut-and-dry as a business deal
You gotta 'cause the blood of a close friend to spill
But you remember still