[Coré Cotton + (Sounds of Blackness)]

We are the blues

(Everybody wanna sing my blues
Nobody wanna live my blues)

Oh, we are the blues, the blues people
(Livin’ the blues)

For a long, long time (A long, long time)
We’ve been livin’ the blues (We’ve been the blues)
For a long, long time
We’ve been paying dues (paying dues)
We’ve up and we’ve been down (we’ve been down)
Almost level to the ground
For a long, long time, we’ve been living the blues
(We’ve been living the blues, living the blues)

Since the days of Southern plantations, livin’ the blues
(We’ve been livin’ the blues)
400 years of humiliation and paying dues (paying dues)
Stripped of pride and humanity
All in the name of Christianity
For a long time, we’ve been living the blues (a long, long time)
(Livin’ the blues)
Forced to watch our sons and daughters
Beaten, raped, and even slaughtered
Slavery left us in ruins
Constitutions says we’re only three-fifths human
Such a proud and royal people
Living separate and unequal
Jim Crow was the rule
Instead of 40 acres and a mule
(This is the blues, livin’ the blues)

(Everybody wanna sing my blues
Nobody wanna live my blues)

Moved up north, thought we’d be free from livin’ the blues
(We’ve been livin’ the blues)
But we only found agony in paying dues (paying dues)
Ghettos, projects, and tenement slums
No better off than where we come from
For a long, long time, we’ve been livin’ the blues
(We’ve been livin’ the blues, livin’ the blues)

We’ve come through the storms and rain
Heartache and pain
Living from day to day
Trying hard to find our way
We keep holding on
Living the blues has made us strong
No matter what, we know we can take it
No doubt about it, we gonna make it
(Blues, livin’ the blues)
(Everybody wanna sing my blues
Nobody wanna live my blues
Livin’ the blues has made us stronger) Made us strong
(We gotta keep holding on) Keep holding on
(No matter what, we know we can take it)
We can take it
(No doubt about it, we’re gonna make it)
(Everybody wanna sing my blues) Nobody
(Nobody wanna live my blues) Nobody
(Livin’ the blues has made us strong)
Through the storm (We gotta keep holding on)
Keep holding on
(No matter what, we know we can make it)
I know (No doubt about it, we’re gonna make it)
Everybody (Everybody wanna sing my blues)
They wanna sing our blues
(Nobody wanna live my blues) Nobody
(Livin’ the blues has made us strong) Oh
(We gotta keep holding on) Holding on
(No matter what, we know we can take it)
We take it (No doubt about it, we’re gonna make it)