Released: August 27, 1991

Featuring: Bobby Brown Johnny Gill Ralph Tresvant New Edition

Songwriter: Ricky Bell Michael Bivins Ronnie DeVoe Bret “Epic” Mazur Richard Wolf

Producer: Wolf & Epic New Edition

[Intro: Johnny Gill]
Hoo, ooh
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
Ooh

Johnny, Ronnie, Ricky, Mike, Ralph, Bobby, too
Yeah

Word
Word
Word
Oh, word
Word to the mutha

Hoo
Hoo
Ooh
Yeah

[Verse 1: Ricky Bell]
People come
People go
In this business
You'll never, never know
Some are good
Some are bad
You know we got what no one's ever had, oh

[Pre-Chorus: Ralph Tresvant]
And the time will come
When we will be as one
Wanna be legends, yeah
And nobody knows
How we really feel
They don't know the deal

[Chorus: Bobby Brown, (Bell Biv DeVoe)]
(Get back)
We've got to put this back togеther
(Get right back)
And send our word to thе mutha
(Get back)
Right back where we started from
(Get right back)
And send our word to the mutha

[Verse 2: Michael Bivins, (Ronnie DeVoe)]
Times are getting kinda hard on the boulevard
Brothers and sisters being slayed and scarred
Girlies in the halls, bitin' the walnuts
Of the pusherman, for losing the loot
(Get to know the Johnson or he will shoot)
He pulled the trig' 'cause he figured he could be a bigger nig
In the projects, you see
So feel the bozack
Yo, Rick, come easy

[Verse 3: Ricky Bell]
We are one, breaking new
Oh, Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph, and Johnny, too
You see, it ain't nothing but a thing that we're gonna do
Everybody's always talking 'bout the NE crew
Oh yeah
Oh yeah

[Interlude]
Oh-ho
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Oh yeah
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Say what? Say what? Say what? Say what?

[Verse 4: Ronnie DeVoe]
It's poison
Don't be cruel
It's my prerogative
To do what I gotta do
Have a little sensitivity
Do me, baby
I wanna get rubbed the right way
So what you gotta say
Oh, no, she's a candy girl
Living in a half-crazy world
That's the way I'm living, girl
Now every little step I take
Is another NE heartbreak
My, my, my
Word

[Chorus: Bobby Brown, (Bell Biv DeVoe)]
(Get back)
We've got to put this thing together
(Get right back)
And send our words to the mutha
(Get back)
Bringing it right back where we started from
(Get right back)
And send our words to the mutha
(Get back)
We got to bring it back
We got to bring it back to the mutha
(Get right back)
Hey, hey, hey

[Verse 3: Ralph Tresvant, Bobby Brown, Both]
It's bound to go down
Lost spirits never found
(Trips to the graveyard's a common thing in Beantown)
Smugglers, pimps, pocket-pickers, punks and troublemakers
(Pick eject in button pushers and dream shakers)
Crackheads having babies, future's hazy
I don't know, shit's crazy
(All I could do is turn the heat up
Defeat all odds, get revenge and put the beat up, and eat up)
Suckers looking for the kill, first blood's gotta spill
Light 'em up with a Mac-10, and that's basin'
(Check the scene with the green pepper weapon
Keep steppin')
Like true brothers
Word to the mutha

[Pre-Chorus: Ralph Tresvant]
The time will come
And we will be as one
Wanna be legends, yeah, yeah
Nobody knows
How we really feel
They don't know the deal

[Outro: New Edition]
Hey, y'all
Hey, y'all, hey
Word to the mutha
Hey, y'all
Hey, y'all, hey
Word to the mutha
(Ooh yeah)
Hey, y'all (Ooh)
Hey, y'all, hey (Ooh)
Word to the mutha
(Hey, hey, baby) (Everybody sing it)
Hey, y'all
Hey, y'all, hey
Word to the mutha
(Word to the mutha) (Everybody sing)
Hey, y'all
Hey, y'all, hey
Word to the mutha
Hey, y'all (Ooh)
Hey, y'all, hey
Word to the mutha
Hey, y'all (Ooh)
Hey, y'all, hey
Word to the mutha
Hey, y'all (Ooh)
Hey, y'all, hey
Word to the mutha

Bell Biv DeVoe

Bell Biv DeVoe is a New Jack Swing trio featuring Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe—members of the seminal R&B boy band New Edition. Following the release of New Edition’s classic album Heart Break in 1988 and their subsequent tour, the group took a hiatus. BBD formed in 1989 and scored big the following year when the singles “Poison” and “Do Me!” propelled their self-titled debut into the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart. The group released two more albums–Hootie Mack (1993) and BBD (2001)–before releasing their fourth album, Three Stripes, in 2017. They continue to tour and perform as a trio and in different variations of the New Edition lineup such as RBRM, consisting of BBD and Bobby Brown.