Woman Of The Ghetto - Marlena Shaw

La-la-la-la-la-la-la

I was born raised in a ghetto

I was born and raised in a ghetto

I'm a woman of the ghetto

Won't you listen won't you listen to me legislator

Ging gi-gi-gi-gi-ging

How do you raise your kids in a ghetto

How do you raise your kids in a ghetto

Do you feed one child and starve another

Won't you tell me legislator

Enthralled through

I know that my eyes ain't blue

But you see I'm a woman

Of the ghetto

I'm proud free

Black that is me

But I'm a woman of the ghetto

Ging gi-gi-gi-gi-ging

How does your heart feel late at night

How does your heart feel late at night

Does it beat with shame or does it beat with pride

Won't you tell me legislator

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na

Puts me in the mind of

Come and cross the water in a boat

Chained tied together

They said no no they're really not man and women

Just chain 'em up tie 'em up chain 'em up tie 'em up

Chain 'em up tie 'em up work work work

There's where the movement came from

Say no no

My children learned just the same as yours

As 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

Now peace you say

Is all that you ask

But self-respect is a separate task

You may be sitting up there

In your ivory tower

60 stories tall

I know that you may have checked out at least one ghetto

But I wonder have you lived there at all

Places like Watts

Ah Holland tell me

Chicago ah tell me

Washington got some too

I have been up on the mountains I

And I'm free at last

I say I'm free at last

I've seen the children dying

And I've been one of the mothers who was crying

Ging gi-gi-gi-gi-ging

I am a woman

I am a woman

I am a woman yes I

I said that I am

I mean that I am

I'm the woman I'm the woman I'm the woman of the ghetto

Strong true

A woman

A woman

You can walk through the streets of the ghetto at night

Whole lotta pretty some ugly sites

Along comes the sleek limousine

Say hey baby I got ten

Look at me I'm clean

So she takes a little d**e

What the hell everybody got to go

I got a baby

I got a baby

I got a baby I want to feed and I'm not really giving it all

Up just a little ten-cent piece or two

Ah the black woman

But I ain't gonna raise your babies no more

I got a few on my own

I wanna keep strolling

I say I am a woman

Gi-gi-gi-gi-ging I am

I

I am

I am

Remember me

I'm the one who had your babies I

Gi-gi-gi-gi-ging I am

I am

I am a woman

Of the ghetto

Woman

I'm a woman yeah yeah yeah

Just a woman