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lyrics

Words and Music: Cornelius Eady

Hungry little black kid
Makes his first big mistake,
Sits at the counter of the five and dime
For a burger and a shake,
Had no idea
What getting service there would take.

Take a beating with a rubber hose
Take a beating with a fist,
Take half the nation screaming out foul
Just for a place to sit.
Take 30 days on Parchman Farm,
Screaming at the gates,
A shot of guff, a firehose chaser
For a burger and a shake.

Back in 1961
The blues had many friends.
Back in 1961
The South was a world without end.
Antebellum, status quo,
Know your place, and Jim Crow.

Up jumps the sheriff,
He sure ain't on your side.
Calls you an outside agitator,
Though you've lived there all your life.

Calls you a Nigger,
And drags your ass to jail.
He's taking you to America,
Where the blues falls down
Like hail.

Take a church being blown to bits,
Young lives being blown to dust,
Gov't troops, and T.V. news
Just for a seat on the bus,
The Supreme Court and misery,
King, and a double take
From the conscience of a nation
For a burger and a shake.

Hungry little black kid
Makes his first big mistake,
Sits at the counter of the five and dime
For a burger and a shake,
Had no idea
What getting service there would take.

credits

from WHEN YOU GO TO SLEEP, DO YOU THINK YOU'LL WAKE UP IN AMERICA?, released December 20, 2018
Cornelius Eady: Drum Loop, Acoustic Guitar, Mountain Dulcimer and Vocal
Sarah Azzara: Acoustic & Electric Guitars.
w/Pablo Fazia: Electric Bass

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Cornelius Eady New York, New York

Cornelius Eady is the author of 8 books of poetry, lives in NYC and is the co-founder of Cave Canem. The band Rough Magic came out of the sessions for his CD/Chapbook BOOK OF HOOKS. (Kattywompus Press, Jan. 2013)

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