[05:58.00]Woman Of The Ghetto - Marlena Shaw
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00](ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging...)
[05:58.00](la-la-la-la-la-la-la, ...)
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]I was born, raised in a ghetto
[05:58.00]I was born and raised in a ghetto
[05:58.00]I'm a woman, of the ghetto
[05:58.00]Won't you listen, won't you listen to me, legislator?
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00](ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging...)
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]How do you raise your kids in a ghetto?
[05:58.00]How do you raise your kids in a ghetto?
[05:58.00]Do you feed one child and starve another?
[05:58.00]Won't you tell me, legislator?
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]Enthralled through
[05:58.00]I know that my eyes ain't blue
[05:58.00]But you see I'm a woman
[05:58.00]Of the ghetto
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]I'm proud, free,
[05:58.00]Black, that is me
[05:58.00]But I'm a woman of the ghetto
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00](ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging...)
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]How does your heart feel late at night?
[05:58.00]How does your heart feel late at night?
[05:58.00]Does it beat with shame, or does it beat with pride?
[05:58.00]Won't you tell me, legislator?
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00](na-na-na-na-na-na-na, ...)
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]Puts me in the mind of,
[05:58.00]come and cross the water in a boat
[05:58.00]Chained, tied, together
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]They said,"no, no, they're really not man, and women,
[05:58.00]just chain 'em up, tie 'em up, chain 'em up, tie 'em up,
[05:58.00]chain 'em up, tie 'em up, work, work, work"
[05:58.00]There's where the movement came from
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]Say no, no...
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]My children learned just the same as yours
[05:58.00]As long as nobody tries to close the door
[05:58.00]They cry with pain when the knife cuts deep
[05:58.00]They even close their eyes when they wanna sleep
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]Now peace, you say
[05:58.00]is all that you ask
[05:58.00]But self-respect is a separate task
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]You may be sitting up there
[05:58.00]in your ivory tower
[05:58.00]60 stories tall
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]I know that you may have checked out at least one ghetto
[05:58.00]But I wonder have you lived there at all?
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]Places like Watts,
[05:58.00]ah, Holland, tell me
[05:58.00]Chicago, ah tell me
[05:58.00]Washington got some too
[05:58.00]I have been up on the mountains, I
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]And I'm free at last
[05:58.00]I say I'm free at last
[05:58.00]I've seen the children dying
[05:58.00]And I've been one of the mothers who was crying
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00](ging, gi-gi-gi-gi-ging...)
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]I am a woman
[05:58.00]I am a woman
[05:58.00]I am a woman, yes I
[05:58.00]I said that I am,
[05:58.00]I mean that I am,
[05:58.00]I'm the woman, I'm the woman, I'm the woman of the ghetto
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]Strong, true,
[05:58.00]A woman
[05:58.00]A woman
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]You can walk through the streets of the ghetto at night
[05:58.00]Whole lotta pretty, some ugly sites
[05:58.00]Along comes the sleek limousine
[05:58.00]Say"hey baby I got ten...
[05:58.00]Look at me, I'm clean"
[05:58.00]So she takes a little **
[05:58.00]What the hell everybody got to go
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]I got a baby
[05:58.00]I got a baby
[05:58.00]I got a baby i want to feed and I'm not really giving it all
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]up, just a little ten-cent piece or two
[05:58.00]Ah, the black woman...
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]But I ain't gonna raise your babies no more
[05:58.00]I got a few on my own,
[05:58.00]I wanna keep strolling,
[05:58.00]I say I am a woman
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]gi-gi-gi-gi-ging, I am
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]I
[05:58.00]I am
[05:58.00]I am
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]Remember me
[05:58.00]I'm the one who had your babies, I
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]gi-gi-gi-gi-ging, I am
[05:58.00]I am
[05:58.00]I am a woman
[05:58.00]Of the ghetto
[05:58.00]
[05:58.00]Woman,
[05:58.00]I'm a woman, yeah yeah yeah
[05:58.00]Just a woman...