Listen to Is It Because I'm Black by Syl Johnson

Is It Because I'm Black

Syl Johnson

R&B/Soul

Apple Music Note

OVERVIEW

LYRICS

Music Video

Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black (David August Live Reconstruction)

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Listen to Is It Because I'm Black by Syl Johnson

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Credits

PERFORMING ARTISTS

Syl Johnson

Performer

COMPOSITION & LYRICS

Syl Johnson

Songwriter

Lyrics

[Verse 1]

The dark brown shades of my skin

Only add color to my tears

Oh, oh, that splash against my hollow bones

That rocks my soul, oh

[Verse 2]

Looking back over my false dreams that I once knew

Wondering why my dreams never came true

[Verse 3]

Is it because I'm black?

Somebody tell me, what can I do?

Oh, Lord, oh

Something is holding me back, uh huh

Is it because I'm black?

[Verse 4]

In this world of no pity

I was raised in the ghettos of the city

Yeah, oh, Lord, uh

Mama, she worked so hard

To earn every penny, yeah

[Verse 5]

Oh, Lord

Something is holding me back, uh huh

Is it because I'm black?

[Verse 6]

Like a child stealing his first piece of candy and got caught

Peeping around life's corners, somewhere I got lost

[Verse 7]

Oh, something is holding me back, uh huh

I wonder, is it because I'm black?

Oh, somebody tell me, what can I do?

Will I survive or will I die?

[Verse 8]

Oh, oh, you keep on holding me back

Keep on holding on

Keep on picking on me

Oh, you keep on holding me back

Keep on holding on

Keep on holding on

You're holding me back

I wonder why

You do me like that

[Verse 9]

But you keep on holding me back

Keep on putting your foot on me

But I, I've gotta break away

Somehow and some day

'Cause I wanna be somebody so bad, so bad

I wanna be somebody

[Verse 10]

I wanna be somebody so bad

You see, I want diamond rings and things

Like you do

And I wanna drive Cadillac cars

Oh, I wanna be somebody so bad

But you keep on putting your foot on me

And I, I believe, I believe I can break away and be somebody

Somehow and some way

[Verse 11]

You see, I heard somebody say one time

You can make it if you try

Oh, and some of us, we're trying so hard

We're trying so hard

[Verse 12]

I want you to know that I don't speak for myself

But I speak for y'all too right now

Uh huh, you see, if you have white, light brown skin

Or the high yellow

You're still black, so we all got to stick together right now

[Verse 13]

This I wanna say to you, my sisters and my brothers

Right on, sister

Right on, brother

Dig this, if we keep on pushing on

Oh, we got to make it a little bit further

We got to make it a little further

All we got to do is try, try, try

[Verse 14]

And some of us

We're trying so hard

We're trying so hard

We're trying so hard

We're trying so hard, so hard to be somebody

We're trying so hard

Although they're holding us back

[Verse 15]

And it stands to reason

That they're doing us like that

You know what?

It is

I believe it's because we're black

But, hey

We can't stop now

We can't stop now

We got to keep on, keep on, keep on keeping on

We got to keep on keeping on

[Verse 16]

I know and I know and I know that you know that I know it ain't right

Oh, it ain't right

It ain't right, it ain't right

That they hold us, hold us, hold us back

They're holding us back

They're holding us back

I wonder, sometimes I sit down, sit down and I wonder

I sit down and I think about it

Sometimes it make me so mad

Written by: Glenn Watts, Jimmy Jones Leonard, Syl Johnson