Vera comes home on Sunday morning after hanging with the boys all night   Laughing and drinking with them, thinking she's one of them   And that makes everything allright   She vaguely remembers going out in the parking lot   With the stone mason's son   Who had his way with her, then walked away when he was done   Sometimes she thinks about leaving - she tells herself, someday   You know, her daddy said she'd never amount to much   Of anything anyway      Oh, tears falling down on me   Oh, tears falling down on me   No, that ain't the way it's supposed to be   Oh, tears falling down on me   Oh, tears falling down on me      I've cried so many tears over man's unkindness to man   People say that's the way it is, but we gotta do what we can   Why does it have to be that way, I just don't understand   Rain falling from my eyes, rain falling from the sky   And I don't know why      A pack of jokers get their jollies beating up on a black king   There's outrage in the city for a while   But do you think it'll really change anything   Get rid of the gates, free the people   And let the games commence   We gotta take our power back   And use it in ways that make sense      Oh, tears falling down on me   Oh, tears falling down on me   If I could, I would change the course of history   Oh, tears falling down on me   Oh, tears falling down on me      Oh, tears falling down on me   Oh, rain washing over me   Oh, tears falling down on me   Oh, pain washing over me      Rain, wash it away, rain, wash it away   Wash the pain away, rain, wash it away      Oh, tears falling down on me   Oh, tears falling down on me