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

When I first got the blues
They brought me over on a ship
Men were standing over me
And a lot more with a whip
And everybody wanna know
Why I sing the blues
Well, I've been around a long time
Mm, I've really paid my dues

I've 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'm singing the blues
Yes, I've been around a long time
People, I've paid my dues

I stood in line
Down at the County Hall
I heard a man say, "We're gonna build
Some new apartments for y'all"
And everybody wanna know
Yes, they wanna know
Why I'm singing the blues
Yes, I've been around a long, long time
Yes, I've really, really paid my dues

Now I'm gonna play Lucille.

My kid's gonna grow up
Gonna grow up to be a fool
'Cause they ain't got no more room
No more room for him in school
And everybody wanna know
Everybody wanna know
Why I'm singing the blues
I say I've been around a long time
Yes, I've really paid some dues

Yeah, you know [bad word] told me
Guess you're born to lose
Everybody around me, people
It seems like everybody got the blues
But I had 'em a long time
I've really, really paid my dues
You know I ain't ashamed of it, people
I just love to sing my blues

I walk through the cities, people
On my bare feet
I had a fill of catfish and chitterlings
Up and down Beal Street
You know I'm singing the blues
Yes, I really
I just have to sing my blues
I've been around a long time
People, I've really, really paid my dues

Now Father Time is catching up with me
Gone is my youth
I look in the mirror everyday
And let it tell me the [bad word] I'm singing the blues
Mm, I just have to sing the blues
I've been around a long time
Yes, yes, I've really paid some dues

Yeah, they told me everything
Would be better out in the country
Everything was fine
I caught me a bus uptown, baby
And every people, all the people
Got the same trouble as mine
I got the blues, huh huh
I say I've been around a long time
I've really paid some dues

One more time, fellows!

Blind man on the corner
Begging for a dime
The [bad word] and caught him
And throw him in the jail for a crime
I got the blues
Mm, I'm singing my blues
I've been around a long time
Mm, I've really paid some dues

Can we do just one more?

Oh I thought I'd go down to the welfare
To get myself some grits and stuff
But a lady stand up and she said
"You haven't been around long enough"
That's why I got the blues
Mm, the blues
I say, I've been around a long time
I've really, really paid my dues

Fellows, tell them one more time.

Ha, ha, ha. That's all right, fellows.
Yeah!