I was born by the river, in a little tent But, oh, just like the river's been a running I've been running ever since It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change is goin' come Oh yes it will It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die Cause my mama never told me what goes on beyond the sky It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change is goin' come, oh yes it will Say! Like I said, I call to my brother Say! Brother, brother, would you help me, please Oh they whine so, that crazy town What goes on, was spendin' me There was a time, thought I'd fall I couldn't learn, alone But I want to thank you Jesus, thank you for For carrying me home It's been a long, a long time coming But I know a change is goin' come, oh yes it will I want y'all to help me now Hey! Like I said, I call to my brother Brother! Brother, Brother, would you help me please! Oh they whine so, that crazy town What goes on, was spendin' me There was a time, thought I'd fall I couldn't learn, alone But I know that you're out there baby, and one day I'll be back home It's been a long, a long time coming But I know, some kind of change I said a change, I said a change A change has got to get underway pretty soon girl A long, long time ago, I wondered if that change was gon' come girl But you know it seems like I tried so hard, to get back where I started from I took about 20 years of very serious smoking A few ups and downs A few trips Little space odyssey once in a while To get back, to get back, to get back, to get back, to get back to bein' a kid all over again Because you know when you see a little boy or little girl runnin' down the street Runnin' to meet the popsicle truck and all the sudden and you get to turn around and say Wow I'll be glad when this cat gets here, all these changes I'm going through Back home again baby Then comes the ages when you start drinkin' wine Takin' care of business at the drive-in-movies And one day your partner gives you one of those funny lookin' cigarettes And says its time to for you, for you to get mellow one more time And after that first hit, the whole world brightens up just a little bit But you know I come from back, way back in Indiana where like we've got outhouses And brothers wearin' pointed toe shoes and carryin 45s But you know there's, there's three kind of people in this world That's why I know a change has gotta come I say there's white people, there's black people and then there's my people Oh got to get on home now Talkin' about a change Has got to get underway, baby I feel it comin', I feel it comin' I feel that it's coming pretty soon Say!