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Everybody wants to know |
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Why I sing the blues |
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Yes, I say everybody wanna know |
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Why I sing the blues |
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Well, I've been around a long time |
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I really have paid my dues |
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When I first got the blues |
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They brought me over on a ship |
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Men were standing over me |
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And a lot more with a whip |
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And everybody wanna know |
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Why I sing the blues |
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Well, I've been around a long time |
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Mm, I've really paid my dues |
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I've laid in a ghetto flat |
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Cold and numb |
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I heard the rats tell the bedbugs |
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To give the roaches some |
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Everybody wanna know |
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Why I'm singing the blues |
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Yes, I've been around a long time |
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People, I've paid my dues |
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I stood in line |
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Down at the County Hall |
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I heard a man say, "We're gonna build |
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Some new apartments for y'all" |
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And everybody wanna know |
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Yes, they wanna know |
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Why I'm singing the blues |
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Yes, I've been around a long, long time |
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Yes, I've really, really paid my dues |
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Now I'm gonna play Lucille. |
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My kid's gonna grow up |
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Gonna grow up to be a fool |
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'Cause they ain't got no more room |
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No more room for him in school |
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And everybody wanna know |
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Everybody wanna know |
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Why I'm singing the blues |
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I say I've been around a long time |
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Yes, I've really paid some dues |
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Yeah, you know the company told me |
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Guess you're born to lose |
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Everybody around me, people |
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It seems like everybody got the blues |
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But I had 'em a long time |
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I've really, really paid my dues |
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You know I ain't ashamed of it, people |
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I just love to sing my blues |
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I walk through the cities, people |
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On my bare feet |
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I had a fill of catfish and chitterlings |
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Up and down Beal Street |
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You know I'm singing the blues |
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Yes, I really |
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I just have to sing my blues |
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I've been around a long time |
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People, I've really, really paid my dues |
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Now Father Time is catching up with me |
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Gone is my youth |
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I look in the mirror everyday |
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And let it tell me the truth |
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I'm singing the blues |
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Mm, I just have to sing the blues |
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I've been around a long time |
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Yes, yes, I've really paid some dues |
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Yeah, they told me everything |
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Would be better out in the country |
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Everything was fine |
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I caught me a bus uptown, baby |
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And every people, all the people |
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Got the same trouble as mine |
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I got the blues, huh huh |
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I say I've been around a long time |
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I've really paid some dues |
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One more time, fellows! |
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Blind man on the corner |
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Begging for a dime |
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The rollers come and caught him |
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And throw him in the jail for a crime |
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I got the blues |
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Mm, I'm singing my blues |
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I've been around a long time |
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Mm, I've really paid some dues |
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Can we do just one more? |
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Oh I thought I'd go down to the welfare |
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To get myself some grits and stuff |
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But a lady stand up and she said |
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"You haven't been around long enough" |
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That's why I got the blues |
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Mm, the blues |
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I say, I've been around a long time |
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I've really, really paid my dues |
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Fellows, tell them one more time. |
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Ha, ha, ha. That's all right, fellows. |
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Yeah! |
