| The dark brown shades of my skin, only add colour to my tears
|
| That splash against my hollow bones, that rocks my soul
|
| Looking back over my false dreams, that I once knew
|
| Wondering why my dreams never came true
|
| Is it because I’m black?
|
| Somebody tell me, what can I do
|
| Something is holding me back
|
| Is it because I’m black?
|
| In this world of no pity
|
| I was raised in the ghetto of the city
|
| Momma, she works so hard
|
| To earn every penny
|
| Something is holding me back
|
| Is it because I’m black?
|
| Like a child stealing candy for the first time, and got caught
|
| Thiefing around life’s corner somewhere I got lost
|
| Something is holding me back
|
| I wonder, is it because I’m black?
|
| Somebody tell me what can I do
|
| Will I survive, or will I die?
|
| You keep on holding me back
|
| You keep on holding on
|
| You keep on picking on me
|
| You keep on holding me back
|
| You keep on holding on
|
| You keep on holding on
|
| You’re holding me back
|
| I wonder why, you do me like that
|
| But you keep on holding me back
|
| You keep on putting your foot on me
|
| But I, I’ve got to break away
|
| Somehow and someday
|
| 'Cause I wanna be somebody so bad, so bad
|
| I wanna be somebody, I wanna be somebody so bad
|
| You see, I want diamond rings and things, like you do
|
| And I wanna drive Cadillac cars
|
| I wanna be somebody so bad
|
| But you keep on putting your foot on me
|
| And I, I believe, I believe I can break away
|
| And be somebody, somehow, and someway
|
| Ya see, I heard somebody say one time
|
| You can make it, if you try
|
| And some of us, we tried so hard, we tried so hard
|
| I want you to know that I don’t speak for myself
|
| But I speak for y’all too right now
|
| Ya see, if you have white-like brown skin and a high yeller
|
| You’re still black
|
| So we all got to stick together right now
|
| This I wanna say to you my sisters and my brothers
|
| Right on sister
|
| Right on brother
|
| Dig this:
|
| And we keep on pushing down
|
| We’ve got to make it a little bit further
|
| We’ve got to make it a little further
|
| All we got to do is try, try, try
|
| And some of us, we’ve tried so hard
|
| We’ve tried so hard, we’ve tried so hard
|
| We’ve tried so hard, so hard to be somebody
|
| We’ve tried so hard, although, they’re holding us back
|
| And it stairs the reason, that they’re doing us like that
|
| You know what? |
| It is
|
| I believe, it is because we are black
|
| But hey, we can’t stop now, we can’t stop now
|
| We’ve got to keep on, keep on, keep on, keeping on
|
| We’ve got to keep on keeping on
|
| I know and I know and I know that you know that I know it ain’t right
|
| Oh, it ain’t right, it ain’t right, it ain’t right
|
| That they hold us, hold us, hold us back
|
| They’re holding us back, they’re holding us back
|
| I wonder, sometimes I sit down, sit down and I wonder |