Two vocalists trade verses over a dub remix, questioning why young people embrace street life and violence. They paint a bleak picture of blood-stained streets and inevitable death, repeating the refrain "Ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt, weeping and mourning" to hammer home the cycle of loss in urban communities.
Pistolize, duck with them. Hey, somebody please tell me no, why the youths galang so in the streets and ghetto, why you want to play bad man, in the streets and ghetto, why you want to play bad man. Al Capone take your life with a knife, rob your cell phone. It's dread in a tone and it's spreading around. The beast and the streets run red in the town. Can't lie, can't deny, things scared me down. So, not a warning, gunshot of hers. Ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt, weeping and mourning. What's wrong with the earth? Another day in the city, not the first. Should have got a warning, gunshot of hers. Ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt, weeping Morning, gunshot birds!
Ashes to ashes, ashes to ashes!
UB40 - The Earth Dies Screaming / Madness - Too Hot To Handle ft. UB40 / One in Ten (Live)
