Mr Cab Driver & Black And White America

Mr Cab Driver won't you stop to let me in
Mr Cab Driver don't like my kind of skin
Mr Cab Driver you're never gonna win
Mr Cab Driver won't you stop to pick me up
Mr Cab Driver I might need some help
Mr Cab Driver only thinks about himself
Here we go



Mr Cab Driver, Mr Cab Driver
Mr Cab Driver, Mr Cab Driver



Mr Cab Driver don't like the way I look
He don't like dreads he thinks we're all crooks
Mr Cab Driver reads too many story books
Mr Cab Driver pass me up with eyes of fire
Mr Cab Driver thinks we're all one sixty five'ers
Mr Cab Driver fuck you I'm a survivor
Oh yeah, one more time, ahah



Let me in

Mr Cab Driver, Mr Cab Driver
Mr Cab Driver, Mr Cab Driver (via)



"'Mr. Cab Driver' was written with a sense of humor. But, the whole thing stems from a day of trying to get to the studio to record. I was recording out at Hoboken, New Jersey at the time and I was standing at the corner of West Broadway and Broome, trying to get a cab, and I was late for the studio, and I had a lot of work to do, and I was passed by about 20 cabs. Then, finally, a cab stopped for me. I got in, and told him where I was going, and he kicked me out of the cab. And by the end of the whole thing, we were fighting on top of the cab, and you know, he was calling me nigger. And it got really out of hand. It was horrible. So, I went back to my loft, because I couldn't get to the studio. I was pissed off at that point. I had just been in a fight the middle of the street on top of a yellow cab, and I wrote 'Mr. Cab Driver' and went in the next day and cut it. And you know, the whole thing is about racism and what not, but it is written with a sense of humor." (via)

::: Lenny Kravitz (1989) Mr Cab Driver: LISTEN/WATCH




"I didn't know anything about problems until I went to first grade and it was brought to my attention. I knew my father looked different than my mother, but I didn't know that that meant anything. ... I had no idea that it was an issue." Lenny Kravitz




About the inspiration for the album "Black And White America", released in 2011:
“The inspiration came from a documentary that I was watching. … It was about a group of Americans, I’m sure somewhere tucked away, and they were saying they were disgusted by what America had become, they were disgusted that there was an African-American commander in chief; they’re not for racial equality, they would like America to be back to the way it was 100 years ago and, basically, they would do anything it took to make sure that their idea of America was restored, down to assassination, etc. And it was with such hatred and, obviously, we know that racism exists but somehow they threw me for a loop. I was like, Really? For real? So the chorus of the song … I was just saying to them, This is what’s happening, you need to know what time it is. It’s how I was raised; I grew up between two cultures at a pivotal time after the civil rights movement, and [it’s] the story of my parents, and what they went through. It’s very natural for me to write about that sort of thing.” (via)

About his parents:
"They would walk down the street (and) people would spit on them. My father would take my mother to a hotel on holiday and they would say, "No prostitutes allowed at the hotel" – very disgusting things. My father lost his side of the family `til I was born. It took them a minute to get it together. But in essence ... none of that bothered them. They were in love and they wanted to be together and that was that." (via)

About the song "Black And White America":
"It's a very special song to me and it's obviously got a lot to do with who I am. It's my story. It's everything I knew growing up. It's my parents' story – being an interracial couple growing up in the time of the civil rights movement. And it's the story of today – what we're going through, dealing with race and the fact that we have an African-American president." (via)

::: Black And White America (2011): LISTEN/WATCH



Martin Luther King, he had a vision
And that's a fact
He died so we could see that was his mission
So don't look back

There is no division, don't you understand
The future looks as though it has come around
And maybe we have finally found our common ground
We're the children of one father
If you're looking back don't bother
We're black and white America

In nineteen sixty three my father married
A black woman
And when they walked the street they were in danger
Look what you've done

But they just kept on walking forward hand in hand
The future looks as though it has come around
And maybe we have finally found our common ground
We're the children of one father
If you're looking back don't bother
We're black and white America (....) (via)




Lenny, the photographer: The book "Flash", released this year, shows photographs in which "Lenny Kravitz captures the essence of his life as a musician who is permanently in the public eye and a constant target for photographers, paparazzi, and fans. Seen from this angle, his works reveal much about the photographer, his life, and his subjects in a uniquely intense and aesthetic way." (via)



photographs by (c) Lenny Kravitz via and via and via and via and via and via and via and via and via and via and via and last one by (c) Frank Rumpenhorst via