On Coming From a Broken Home [Pt. 1] lyrics

I want to make this a special tribute

To a family that contradicts the concepts

Heard the rules, but wouldn't accept

And womenfolk raised me

And I was full-grown before I knew

I came from a broken home

Sent to live with my grandma down south

When my uncles was leaving

And my grandfather had just left for heaven

They said and as every-ologist would certainly note

I had no strong male figure, right?

But Lily Scott was absolutely not your mail-order, room-service

Typecast, black grandmother

I was moved in with her

Temporarily, just until things were patched

Till this was patched and till that was patched

Until I became at 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10

The patch that held Lily Scott who held me and like them four

I become one more and I loved her from the absolute marrow of my bones

And we was holdin' on

I come from a broken home

She had more than the five senses

She knew more than books could teach

And raised everyone she touched just a little bit higher

And all around her there was a natural sense

As though she sensed what the stars say, what the birds say

What the wind and and the clouds say

A sensual soul and self, that African sense

And she raised me like she raised four of her own

And I was hurt and scared and shocked when Lily Scott left

Suddenly one night

And they sent a limousine from heaven to take her to God

If there is one

So I knew she had gone

And I came from a broken home

• Artist:Gil Scott-Heron
• Album:I'm New Here (2010)