You've taken my blues and gone-
You sing 'em on Broadway
And you sing 'em in Hollywood Bowl,
And you mix 'em up with symphonies
And you fixed 'em
So they don't sound like me.
Yep, you done
taken my blues and gone.
You also took my spirituals and gone.
You put me in Macbeth and Carmen Jones
And all kinds of Swing Mikados
And in everything
but what's about me-
But someday somebody'll
Stand up and talk 'bout me,
And write about me-
Black and beautiful-
And sing about me,
And put on plays about me!
I reckon it'll be
me myself!
Yes, it'll be me.