The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #470 Message #1594
Posted By: Will
23-Jan-97 - 10:58 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Bourgeois town? / Bourgeois Blues
Subject: Lyr Add: BOURGEOIS BLUES
I thought I entered this earlier, but I don't see my response in the message list, so it may have been lost in the ozone.
The Lester and Seeger guide to the "12-String Guitar as Played by Leadbelly" (Oak, 1970), has the song.
They say that Leadbelly wrote the song in 1938, after being told to leave several hotels that didn't want interracial groups.
4/4 time, in D
Gather round people, listen to me
Don't try to make a home in Washington, D.C.
Ch: It's a bourgeois town, it's a bourgeois town,
I've got the bourgeois blues, I'm going to spread the news around
Me and Martha were standing upstairs,
Heard a white man say, 'Don't want no coloured up here'
Ch:
White folk in Washington, they know how
Throw a coloured man a nickel and see him bow
Ch:
Its the home of the brave, its the land of the free
I don't want to be mistreated by the bourgeoisie
Ch:
Tell all the people to listen to me
Don't try to find a home in Washington, D.C.