I was walking in New York and I brushed up against the man in front of me. I felt a placard on his back. And we passed a streetlight, I could read it, it said: "Please don't me by - I am blind, but you can see - I've blinded totally - Please don't pass me by." I was walking along 7th Avenue, when I to 14th Street. I saw on the curious mutilations of the human form; It was a school for people. And there were cripples, and people in and crutches. And it was snowing, and I got this sense that the whole was singing this:
Oh please don't me by, Oh please pass me by, For I am blind, but you, you can see, Yes, I've been totally, Oh please don't me by.
And you know as I was walking I thought it was who were singing it, I thought it was they who were it, I thought it was the other who was it, I thought it was else. But as I moved I knew it was me, and that I was singing it to myself.
It Please pass me by. Oh please don't pass me by, For I am blind, but you, you can see, Well, been blinded totally, Oh don't pass me by.
Now I know that you're sitting there deep in your velvet seats and you're "Uh, he's up there saying something that he about, but I'll never have to sing that song." But I promise you friends, that going to be singing this song: it may not be tonight, it may not be tomorrow, but one day you'll be on knees And I you to know the words when the time comes. 'Cause you have to sing it to yourself, or to another, or to your brother. You gotta have to learn how to this song, it
don't pass me by, Ah you don't have to this . not for you. Please don't me by, For I am blind, but you, you can see, Yes, been blinded totally, Oh don't pass me by.
Well I this for the Jews and the Gypsies and the smoke that they made. And I sing this for the children of England, their so grave. And I sing this for a saviour no one to save. Hey, won't you be for me? Hey, you be naked for me? It
Please pass me by, Oh don't pass me by, For I am blind, oh but you can see, Yes, I've blinded oh, totally, Oh now, please don't me by.
Now there's nothing that I tell you that will help you the blood night with the day that comes next. But I want it to you, I want it to end. Oh, won't you be for me? Oh
don't pass me by, Oh please pass me by, For I am blind, oh but you, you can see, Oh yes, I, been blinded oh, totally, Oh please don't me by.
Well I sing this song for you Beasts, I sing this song for you Venuses upon shells on the foam of the sea. And I sing for the freaks and the cripples, and the hunchback, and the burned, and the burning, and the maimed, and the broken, and the torn, and all of those you talk about at the coffee tables, at the meetings, and the demonstrations, on the streets, in music, in my songs. I mean the ones that are burning, I mean the real ones that are burning. I say,
Please, pass me by, Oh now, please don't me by, For I am blind, yeah, but you, you can see, Ah now, been blinded totally, Oh no, please don't me by.
I know you still think that its me. I know you think that there's somebody else. I know these words aren't yours. But I tell you that one day
You're get down on your knees, gonna get down on your knees, You're get down on your knees, You're gonna get down on knees, gonna get down on your knees, You're get down on your knees, You're get down on your knees, You're get down on your knees, You're get down ...
Oh, please pass me by, Oh, please pass me by, For I am blind, but you, you can see, Yes, been blinded oh, totally, Oh, please don't me by.
Well you know I have my songs and I my poems. I have my book and I have the army, and I have your applause. I make some money, but you know my friends, I'm still out there on the corner. I'm with the freaks, I'm with the hunted, I'm the maimed, yes I'm with the torn, I'm the down, I'm with the poor. on now ... Oh... Ah, please pass me by, Well got to go now friends, But, please pass me by, For I am blind, but you, you can see, Oh I, I've been blinded, I've blinded totally, Oh now, don't pass me by.
Now I want to take away my dignity, yes my dignity. My friends, my dignity, take my form, take my style, take my honour, take my courage, take my time, take my time, . . 'Cause you know I'm with you singing song. And I wish you would, I wish you would, I wish you would go home someone else. Wish you'd go home with someone else. I wish you'd go home with else. Don't be the person you came with. Oh, don't be the person that you with, Oh be the person that you came with. Ah, I'm not to be. I can't stand him. I can't stand who I am. why I've got to get down on my knees. Because I make it by myself. I'm not by myself anymore the man I was before he was a tyrant, he was a slave, he was in chains, he was broken and then he
Oh, don't pass me by, Oh, don't pass me by, For I am blind, yes I am blind, oh but you can see, Yes, I've blinded totally, Oh, don't pass me by.
Well I hope I see you out on the corner. Yeah I hope as I go by I hear you whisper with the breeze. Because I'm going to leave you now, I'm going to me someone new. someone knew.
And don't pass me by.