Barbarshop 1948 - "If Grandpa Could only have seen these days"

we all men...
black men
just sittin' here
waitin'
waitin' on what?
waitin' on more than just a
haircut.
waitin' for our dreams
to bust open at the
seams.

waitin' for life beyond this little shop and dirty streets
to not be such a hassle
for my people and me.
my people with dirty shoes
...will we ever overcome
our blues?

my wifes a queen...my daughters a princess
but they don't get treated so by the powers that think they
be
and for that i'm always in distress
and can't seem to break free.

in the barbershop i may be next in
line
but in life i'm growin' old
my hair turnin' gray
waitin'
just waitin'
for my day.

i want to be king
but give me the respect of being a man
instead of sittin' in back of buses...waitin' till ya'll through to eat
our lunches...
off of dirty plates
always metophorically living off the scrapes you din just ate.

yea...but the barbarshop
is where i'm free
the strains of the outside world can't get to me.

my people can laugh and smile
and articulate in our own way
and nobody says nothin'
about us bein'
NOTHIN'S