Reading · Social Issues in Song

Welcome to regular readers and new subscribers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “I’m feeling like I’m George Floyd” by Parfait G. Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics and a YouTube video of the song below the article. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEIC (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.

George Floyd protests in Columbus, Ohio, Office of Joyce Beatty (Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

(549 words)
On May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, George Floyd, a Black man, was stopped by police officers. They put him face-down in handcuffs on the street. Officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck. Even though Floyd repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe,” Chauvin kept the pressure on for about nine minutes. Floyd lost consciousness and later died. Someone standing nearby recorded the event, and the video quickly spread online. Floyd’s death resulted in protests across the United States and around the world, calling for an end to police violence and racial injustice.

When the singer heard about George Floyd’s death, he felt that he had to write a song for Floyd and his family.
I’m feeling like I’m George Floyd
This needs to stop
The next line has the word corps. I think this is a shortened form of the word corpse (or the plural form, corpses), meaning a dead body.
How many corps do we got?
How many cops “said” they ain’t dirty
Then we found out that they are?
To be “dirty” means to be involved in something that is illegal or corrupt.
How many bodies, how many stories
How many sorrys will we buy?
To buy something means to accept or believe it, as in “I don’t buy what he’s saying.”
This needs to stop
Damn it, we gotta stop

I want no regrets
If I can do something, I do it
I made the bed
If I lay in it, that’s on me
There is an expression in English, “You’ve made your bed, now lie in it.” It means that you have to accept the consequences of your actions and you can’t complain about or blame someone else for it later. “That’s on me” means that’s my responsibility.
You say you want a change
But you keep on blaming
What have you done today
So we won’t repeat it?The next line, put my hands high could refer to the killing of another Black man, Michael Brown. In 2014, at 18 years of age, Michael was shot by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer. Witnesses who saw the shooting said Brown had his hands up in surrender or said “don’t shoot”. The FBI said there was no evidence to support this. His death led to protests around the country against police violence and sparked the Black Lives Matter movement, calling for justice and demanding changes to the system of law enforcement.
I put my hands high
I’m praying for you
Exposing the truth
Let’s just hope that this time
We gon’ (we’re going to) listen to it

I’m feeling like I’m George Floyd
Yet I’m feeling part of the problem, too
I can’t save a victim if I’m one, too
I’m feeling like I’m George Floyd
Yet I’m being part of the problem, too
I can’t save a victim if I’m one, too
And if you want a change
You should feel it, too

Who is going to stand up for groups of people who are already standing up for themselves and not finding justice?

Also, I just want to point out that If any money is made from this video, it will go straight to an institution (organization) working to get justice for George Floyd and others who sadly are going through the same situation every day... still.
R.I.P George Floyd.
Parfait G.

I’m feeling like I’m George Floyd

Comments