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