BEFORE
A Tribe Called Red Lyrics

You have a collect call from an inmate at an ALie Nation correctional facility
A person is calling from a correctional facility and needs someone to find Charlie.

To accept the charges press one
Press one to accept the charges for the call.

Thank you, connecting now
The call is being connected.

It's me Jack, listen you got to find Charlie
Jack is calling and begging for someone to find Charlie.

You guys got to find, you gotta find him
It is important to find Charlie.

You gotta find him and pass this on to him before it's too late
It is urgent to find Charlie and communicate something important to him.

I think it's too late already but I'm begging you, try for me
Jack fears it may already be too late but is begging for an attempt to be made.

You guys got pull, you do
The person being called is influential and can make a difference.

People listen to you, you know they do
The person being called has a voice that reaches many people.

So maybe, just maybe that kid Charlie, he'll hear this too
There is hope that Charlie will hear this message.

Charlie I don't know how I'm going to survive in here
Jack is struggling to survive in prison.

I think I want to die, I mean it
Jack is experiencing extreme emotional pain and wishes to die.

I'm surrounded by animals, beasts without nations
Jack is surrounded by violent and dangerous individuals from various backgrounds.

It's a human zoo with the hyenas in charge
Prison is chaotic and dangerous, and those in power are like hyenas.

And I'm just at the start of the sentence and I got no relations
Jack is serving a long prison sentence and has no family or community ties to support him.

When you guys find him, please tell him this
Jack has a message for Charlie to be delivered when he is found.

You still come to me sometimes Charlie
Jack still thinks of Charlie often.

Your thin face, your cheekbones sharp as knives
Jack remembers Charlie's distinct appearance.

You were lost, no doubt about it
Charlie was lost and needed help.

You ran away from that residential school
Charlie escaped from a residential school.

And all you wanted, you said, was just to get home
Charlie's goal was to return home.

Your face still haunts me and it's always
Charlie's image still troubles Jack.

At moments when I least want to remember you
Charlie is often on Jack's mind, even when he does not want to think of him.

When another news reports announce the find of another murdered Indian woman
Jack is reminded of the violence against Indigenous women.

And I wonder is this is the one who will be mom
Jack fears for his own mother's safety.

I think of you Charlie when I'm walking in my hood and
Charlie is on Jack's mind when he is in his neighborhood.

The cops throw me on the concrete because I rock my colors
Jack is a victim of police brutality due to his appearance and associations.

I remember you when I'm jonesing for something I know I can't have
Charlie is on Jack's mind when he craves something forbidden or unattainable.

I hate to say it, but sometimes I wish I never met you
Jack regrets that knowing Charlie has brought him so much pain.

I wish they never did in that school what they did to you
Jack blames Charlie's suffering on the residential school system.

You're still hurting Charlie, we're going to hurt for a long time
Charlie's pain has lasting consequences for himself and those around him.

We hurt from the before and it makes us hurt so bad right now
The trauma of the past continues to affect the present and cause pain.