"Why I Sing The Blues" lyrics

Everybody wants to know
Why I sing the blues
Yes, everybody wants to know
Why I sing the blues
Well, I've been around a long, long time
I really paid my dues

When I first got the blues, they brought me over on a ship
Men standing around me, a lot more with a whip
Everybody wants to know
Why I sing the blues
Well, I've been around a long, long time
People, I've paid my dues

Well, I laid in a ghetto flat, cold and numb
I heard the rats tell the bedbugs to give the roaches some
Everybody wanna know
Why I sing the blues
Well, I've been around a long time
I really paid my dues

I stood in line, y'all, down at the County Hall
I heard some man say, "We're gonna build some new apartments for y'all"
And everybody wants to know
Why I sing the blues
Well, I've been around a long, long time
Yes, I've really, really paid my dues

My kid's gonna grow up, y'all, to be a fool
They ain't got no more room for him in school
Everybody wants to know
Why I sing the blues
Well, I've been around a long, long time
Yes, I've really paid my dues

Yeah, the company told me guess you're born to lose
Seems like everybody around me, people
It seems like everybody got the blues
But I had 'em a long time
I've really paid my dues
Well, you know I ain't ashamed of it, people
I just love to sing my blues

I walk through the cities on my bare feet
I had a fill of catfish and chitterlings down on Beale Street
Everybody wants to know
Why I sing the blues
Well I've been around a long time, y'all
I really paid my dues

Now Father Time is catching up with me
Gone is my youth
I look in the mirror and say
Tell me the truth
I'm singing the blues, y'all
Mm, I just love to sing the blues
Say I've been around a long time, y'all
I really, really paid my dues

They told me everything in the country
Everything would be fine
But they in country, had trouble just like mine
I got the blues, y'all
I just love to sing the blues
I been singing the blues, y'all, ha
I've been singing the blues a long, long time

One more time, fellas!

A blind man stand on the corner, begging for a dime
The police got him and put him in jail
And charged him for a crime
Everybody wants to know
Why I sing the blues
Well I've been around a long time, y'all
Mm, I've really paid my dues

Can we do another one, fellas?

Thought I'd go down to the welfare
To get myself some grits and stuff
But a lady stand up and she said
"You ain't been around long enough"
That's why I sing the blues, y'all
Mm, I sing the blues
Say, I've been around a long, long time
People, I paid my dues

Ha, ha, play the blues
Ah, that's all right, fellas
Yeah!