Well, the summer day make a white man lazy
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Well, all I've ever known is poor
Owe my skin to the country store
Don't own my walls, my roof, my door
But he tells me I'm free
But why fight the will to live?
Hell might take but heaven gives
It's the only one so I'll forgive
And I ain't the one to grieve
And the summer day make a white man lazy
He sits on his porch, killing time
I gotta work to feed my wife and baby
Work so god damn hard that it's a crime
Well, I went down to the polling place
The white men there just laughed in my face
Saying, "Boy, this aint no nigger's race
You best get on your way"
Sir, I believe I've got the right
Said, "You ain't got nothing if you ain't white
And I thought I said get out of sight"
Well, what was I to say?
And the summer day make a white man lazy
He sits on his porch, killing time
I gotta work to feed my wife and baby
I work so goddamn hard that it's a crime
When I was 'bout the age of five
Watched my daddy burned alive
They cut him low and they hung him high
Swayin' in the breeze
The last words I heard him say
Before they stole his life that day
Was forgive them Lord, they gone astray
Now take me to my ease
And the summer day make a white man lazy
He sits on his porch, killing time
But the summer day make a nigga feel crazy
Might make me do something out of line
♪
Well, I don't know but I heard tell
Of a furnace below, a place called hell
And who would catch me if I fell?
Who would pray for me?
But one thing I see for sure
It's hot as hell up here I know
And the devil lives right down the road
It's all the same to me
And a summer day make a white man feel lazy
He sits on his porch, killing time
But the summer day make a nigger feel crazy
Might make me do something out of line
But if you should see my wife
Tell her that I won't be home tonight
So don't leave on the light
I got a little business down the road
And if I'm dead by sunrise
Kiss my baby girl for me
It ain't life if it ain't free
I've got a mighty burden to unload