Well the boss man cut my chains and set me free
Now I don’t know, I don’t know what will come of me
I don’t know nothing except the way I live …
Now I fear what would come to be
Oh now the boss man cut my chains
And set me free
My father was a working slave
Just like me
You learn to keep your head down
Don’t look to see
What’s going on all around you
All my life been that way
Now the boss man cut my chains
And he walk away
Now I can’t write and I can’t read
I have no school
And here I’m standing in the big world
Like a worn out mule
I don’t know what is going to come now
Or what will be from me
Because the boss man cut my chains
And he set me free