MARLENA SHAW – WOMAN OF THE GHETTO
I was born and raised in a ghetto
I was born and raised in a ghetto
I’m a woman of the ghetto
Listen to me, legislator
C’est ce que chante Marlena Shaw en 1969 dans son album The Spice Of Life. C’est le second album de cette chanteuse, son dernier chez Cadet Records un producteur spécialisé dans le Blues (Muddy Waters), le Jazz (Ahmad Jamal), le R&B (Etta James), la Soul (Solomon Burke). En 1972 elle signe chez Blue Note, et devient la première femme à signer sur ce label. Elle enregistre un des plus gros tubes pendant la période disco, Touch Me in the Morning chez Columbia !
©DR
Marlena Shaw (née Marlina Burgess) est née le 22 septembre 1942 à Nouvelle-Rochelle, New York. Dans les années soixante la musique afro-américaine a évolué vers le funk, le jazz, une musique contestataire à tous les égards. Les mobilisations non violentes du Dr Martin Luther King ont cédé du terrain à la violence des Black Panthers et de groupes similaires. Comme Nina Simone elle était devenue une chanteuse en colère. Ainsi cette chanson Woman Of The Ghetto était devenue un symbole de la condition des femmes noires, un hymne des mouvements des droits civiques ! Woman of the Ghetto a été écrite par Richard Evans, Marlena Shaw, et Bobby Miller
Paroles : I was born and raised in a ghetto/I was born and raised in a ghetto/I’m a woman of the ghetto/Listen to me, legislator/How do you raise your kids in a ghetto?/How do you raise your kids in a ghetto?/Feed one child and starve another/Tell me, tell me, legislator /How do make your bread in the ghetto?/How do make your bread in the ghetto?/Baked from the souls in the ghetto/Tell me, tell me, Legislator/Break free/Black me/I’m a woman of the ghetto/Strong true/My eyes ain’t blue/I am a woman of the ghetto/How do we get rid of rats in the ghetto?/How do we get rid of rats in the ghetto? /Do we make it one black and one white in the ghetto?/Is that your answer, legislator?/Now, how do you legislate, brother?/Listen to me/How do you legislate, brother?/When you free one man and try to chain up the other/Tell me, tell me, legislator /How does your heart feel late at night? /How does your heart feel late at night?/Does it beat with shame, does it beat with pride? /Won’t you tell me, tell me, legislator?/Break free/Black me/I am a woman of the ghetto /Strong true/My eyes ain’t blue/Listen to me legislator/My children learns just the same as yours/Long as nobody tries to close the door/They cry with pain when the knife cuts deep/They even close their eyes when they wanna sleep/We must all have identities/That’s the only way that we can live free/Now, peace you say, is all that you ask?/But self-respect is a separate task/You sitting up there/In your ivory tower/60 stories tall/Now you may have seen one ghetto/But have you lived there at all?/Places like Watts/Detroit/Fillmore /Chicago /Holland /Washington /Seen all voices/Seen all voices/Seen all voices from the ghetto/Seen all voices from the ghetto/Seen all voices/Seen all voices/Cause I am the woman of the ghetto/See a woman cry/See the children die
