Free and Equal Blues
(Josh White)
I went down to that St. James Infirmary
I saw some plasma there
I up'd and asked that doctor man
Now was the donor dark or fair
The doctor laughed a great big laugh
And he puffed it right in my face
He says, "A molecule is a molecule son,
And the damn thing has no race."
And that was news, yes that was news
That was very very very special news
'Cause ever since that day we've had those
Free and equal blues
I never knew that in a plasma
Test tube there could be
White man, black man, yellow man, red,
Well, that's just what that doctor said,
So he put down his doctor book
And he gave me a very scientific look
And spoke out plain and clear and rational, and said,
"Metabolism's international"
And that was news, that was news
That was very very very special news
'Cause ever since that day we've had those
Free and equal blues
Then he rigged up his microscope with some royal blue blood
It was the same as Chun King-(?Moscow?)-Chatanooga-Timbuktu blood
Those men think they know the corpuscle's global
And international racial supremacy
Flying in the face of old man chemistry,
Taking all the facts and trying to twist 'em
But you can't overthrow the circulatory system
And that was news, that was news
That was very very very special news
'Cause ever since that day we've had those
Free and equal blues
So I stayed at that St. James Infirmary
I couldn't leave that place, it was too interesting
So I said to that doc,
"Give me some more of that "scientific talk" talk
And he did,
He said, "Melt yourself down into a crucible,
Pour yourself out into a test tube and what have you got?
35 cubic feet of gas, that's the same for the upper and lower class"
Well, I let that pass
Carbon, 22 pounds 10 ounces, (? ?)
Carbon, 22 pounds 10 ounces,
Iron, seven grains; not enough to keep a man in chains
50 ounces of phosphorous, whether your poor or prosperous,
Hey buddy, can you spare a match
(?The same?) for all nations
Then you take 22 teaspoons of sodium cloride, that's salt,
You add 38 quarts of H20, that's water
Mix two ounces of lime, a pinch(? ?) of potash, a drop of magnesia,
a bit of sulphur, a soup'con of hydrochloric acid
And you stir it all up and what are you?
You're a walkin' drugstore. An international metabolistic cartel."
And that was news, that was news
That was very very very special news
So listen you African, Indian, Mexican, Mongolian, Tyrolean and Tartar
The doctor's right behind the magna charter
The doc's behind the new brotherhood of man
As prescribed at Gettysburg, Iwo Jima, at Bull Run, and at Guadalcanal
"Every man, every where is the same... when he got his skin off"
And that's the news, that's the news
That's the free and equal blues"
Copyright Josh White
XX
"LYR Repair: Free and Equal Blues"
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!