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(ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging...) |
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(la-la-la-la-la-la-la, ...) |
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I was born, raised in a ghetto |
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I was born and raised in a ghetto, a haha |
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I'm a woman, of the ghetto |
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Won't you listen, won't you listen to me, legislator |
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(ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging...) |
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How do you raise your kids in a ghetto |
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How do you raise your kids in a ghetto |
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Do you feed one child and starve another |
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Won't you tell me, legislator |
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Enthralled through |
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I know that my eyes ain't blue |
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But you see I'm a woman |
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Of the ghetto |
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I'm proud, free, |
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Black that is me |
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Yeah I'm a woman of the ghetto |
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(ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging...) |
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How does your heart feel late at night |
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How does your heart feel late at night |
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Does it beat with shame, a haha |
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And does it beat with pride |
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Won't you tell me, tell me, legislator |
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(na-na-na-na-na-na-na, ...) |
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ging, a haha |
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ging |
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Puts me in the mind of |
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come and cross the water |
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In a boat a ha |
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Chained, tied, together |
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They said, no, no, they're really not man, and women |
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just chain 'em up, tie 'em up, chain 'em up, tie 'em up |
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chain 'em up, tie 'em up, work, work, work |
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There's where the movement came from |
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Say no, no |
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My children learned just the same as yours |
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As long as nobody tries to close the door |
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They cry with pain when the knife cuts deep |
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They even close their eyes when they wanna sleep |
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Now peace, you say |
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is all that you ask |
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But self-respect is a separate task |
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You may be sitting up there |
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in your ivory tower |
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60 stories tall |
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I know that you may have checked out at least one ghetto |
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But I wonder have you lived there at all |
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Places like Watts, |
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ah, Holland, tell me |
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Chicago, ah tell me |
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Washington got some too |
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I have been up on the mountains, I |
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And I'm free at last |
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I say I'm free at last |
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I've seen |
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The children dying |
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And I've been one of the mothers who was crying |
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(ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging...) |
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I am a woman |
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I am a woman |
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I am a woman, yes I |
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I said that I am |
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I mean that I am |
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I'm the woman |
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I'm the woman |
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I'm the woman of the ghetto |
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Strong, true, |
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A woman |
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A woman |
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You can walk through the streets of the ghetto at night |
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Whole lotta pretty |
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some ugly sites |
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Along comes the sleek limousine |
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Say hey baby I got ten |
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Look at me, I'm clean |
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So she takes a little dope |
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What the hell everybody got to go |
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I got a baby |
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I got a baby |
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I got a baby i want to feed and I'm not really giving it all |
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up, just a little ten-cent piece or two |
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Ah, the black woman |
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But I ain't gonna raise your babies no more |
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I got a few on my own |
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I wanna keep strolling |
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I say I am a woman |
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gi-gi-gi-gi-ging, I am |
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I |
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I am |
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I am |
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Remember me |
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I'm the one who had your babies, I |
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gi-gi-gi-gi-ging, I am |
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I am |
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I am a woman |
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Of the ghetto |
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Woman, |
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I'm a woman, yeah yeah yeah |
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Just a woman |