Buffy Sainte-Marie - I Been Down Lyrics

I am recognizing that the voice inside my head
Is urging me to be myself and never follow someone else
Because Cree? Is all like voices, we all have a different kind
So just clean out all your ears, these are my views and you will find

Man,
It's been a minute since it's been this nice out
Blue skies out, no clouds, something to write down
I'll have to go home soon and try to pay the bills
If I had a nickel every time they called I'd make a mill
But such is life, and as much as I'd like it
To be different, hard work is how you make your luck in life, right?
For now I sit here, sip beer, and contemplate
Maybe fiending for a smoke, I'm hoping he can concentrate
Out in the sun I think of everything I've done wrong
Find I can't fit it all in one song, so
For every half truth and every broken promise
Please, accept these words I wrote in open honesty

I apologize for every choice I might have made
To hurt your feelings or your health, to ever bother someone else
Your style of living is your choice, and we all want a different kind
So, please, love all your faults
I do the same with ones we find cause

I've been up, I've been down
I've been lucky enough to find my higher ground
In all my days, I've hoped and prayed
That one of these days, I'd wake up, get up and go away

Well I've got my rent on my mind, worry most of the time
While wasting never spent hell-bent on the grind
Down the wishing well fell the odd center a dime
But only, seven percent of it supposed to be mine
I'm getting, kinda fed up with trying to get ahead
That's why - 9 out of 10 times I'm liable to be lying in bed
Instead of living life like I'm dead
No longer sit in the prison inside my head
I'm starting to come to my senses and
No longer be so defensive and
Though sometimes seems so senseless
I get back up and go

I've been up, I've been down
I've been lucky enough to find my higher ground
In all my days, I've hoped and prayed
That one of these days I'd just wake up, get up and go away

This song is like a counseling session (whoosah)
I need to channel my aggression (whoosah)
I need to handle my profession
I'm the planet's biggest panic stricken manic-depressant
Questioning myself as I'm sitting right and looking back
Drinking Jack, Heinekens, in both hands, crooked hat
Mr. small complex smoking a cigarette
Like you don't know me, what the fuck you think you're looking at
Why is the fire in my eyes like I'm evil
It's just I'm always suspicious of new people
Self-centered lieutenant, I'm a well balanced soldier
A lie with a strategist's chip on both shoulders
Push the bullshit out of my life, keep biting
Spiritual enlightenment, price this excitement
Build strength within, I'm trying to find space
Freedom of choice, but trying for blind faith

I've been up, I've been down
I've been lucky enough to find my higher ground
In all my days, I've hoped and prayed
That one of these days I'd just wake up, get up and go away

'Cause I've been up, I've been down
I've been lucky enough to find my higher ground
In all my days, I've hoped and prayed
That one of these days I'd just wake up, get up and go away