On the day that Dennis Brown's lung collapsed
Spring rain was misting down on Kingston
And down at the harbor
Local cops were intercepting an inbound shipment
And for a while there it was chaos
While they handcuffed and then roughed up some sailors

On the day my lung collapses
It's not gonna be much different

On the day that Dennis Brown's habits caught up with him
Schoolchildren sang in choirs
And out behind the Chinese restaurants
Guys were jumping into dumpsters
And the stench was overbearing
But they were past the point of caring

On the day my habits catch up with me
I'll be down among the jumpers

And when the birds come home to roost
We will fill them full of buckshot
And jets of contaminated blood
Will cloud the rivers and the lakes
It took all the coke in town
To bring down Dennis Brown
On the day my lung collapses
We'll see just how much it takes