Whatever happened to Carlton Bell? My best friend in the seventh grade We played our snare drums side by side In the middle school marchin' band Disney parade Raised our money to ride the bus to Orlando Knockin' on doors up and down the street Sellin' those bars of the World's Finest Chocolate And splittin' every third one between him and me And his skin was black, and my skin was white And the sky was blue, and the future was bright And our blood ran red in both our veins And wе were lookin' at the world in living color Hе moved away the first year of high school No phones, no internet so we just lost touch But I'd think about him every now and then in marchin' band Laughin' loud, windows down in the back row of the bus And his skin was dark, and my skin was light But all we saw was a friend in each other's eyes And our blood ran red in both our hearts And we were lookin' at the world in living color So I did a little search and I found his picture I recognized his smile immediately He moved out west, raisin' kids, workin' in a factory Got sick, passed away in 2016 Lookin' at his face as a grown man got me thinkin' How different life can be while so much stays the same His friends said he was a good man, loved his God and loved his family Did not surprise me that his good heart remained