Growing up on the streets of Birmingham
Where your home was pouring and your life was damned
I was a hungry black boy living with the world on my back
Billie was a white man's son living in a one room shack

And split those days in the Alabama heat
We shared what we had but we never have enough to eat
Mamma said it didn't look right, black just don't mix with white
But Billy was my friend and we swore one rainy night

To be blood brother
Lord, I loved him like no other
We were blood brother right to the end
To the end, well, well, well

Turned eighteen and we had no place to go
'Coz how long can you watch carnival
Billy said he got the money, put us on the first Greyhound bus
New York City lights gonna be greetin' us

Oh, the uptown life can cost you poverty
We're too amused but we suffered in dignity
Billy couldn't take nine to five, his soul can't stay alive
He said to me one day, we ain't gonna beat the crime

You're my blood brother
And I loved him like no other
We were blood brother right till the end
Well, well, well, yeah

So I watched him change as the days went by
And the money rolled in, we were livin' high
He didn't have to tell me he was breakin' the law
I knew it was him, the men was lookin' for

And the story goes that he caught a knife
And he pushed his luck and it cost his life
I sat down and I cried on that rainy night
When I heard heard it on the news
One [Incomprehensible] had died

We were blood brother
And I loved him like no other
He was my blood brother
And I loved him like no other

They were blood brother
And he loved him like no other
They were blood brother
And he loved him like no other