Another grim one from JB Lenoir:

Born Dead

J B recorded in the Sixties a number of blues addressing race issues in words that were uncommonly direct for the blues. "Born Dead" is probably the "sharpest" of those songs.

BORN DEAD
(J B Lenoir)

Lord why was I born in Mississippi,
       when it's so hard to get ahead
Why was I born in Mississippi,
       when it's so hard to get ahead
Every black child born in Mississippi
       you know the poor child is born dead

When he came into the world
       the doctor spank him, the black baby cry
When he came into the world
       the doctor spank him, the black baby cry
Everybody thought he had a life
       and that's why the black baby died

He will never speak his language
       the poor baby will never speak his mind
Lord he will never speak his language
       the poor baby will never speak his mind
The poor child will never know his mind
       why in the world he's so poor

Lord why was I born in Mississippi
       when it's so hard to get ahead
Lord why was I born in Mississippi
       when it's so hard to get ahead
Every black child born in Mississippi
       you know the poor child was born dead