Ballad for Americans - Paul Robeson
Composer：Robinson/Latouche
In seventy six the sky was red
Thunder rumbling overhead
Bad King George couldn't sleep in his bed
And on that stormy morn
Ol' Uncle Sam was born
Some birthday
Ol' Sam put on a three cornered hat
And in a Richmond church he sat
And Patrick Henry told him that while America drew breath
It was Liberty or death
What kind of hat is a three cornered hat
Did they all believe in liberty in those days
Nobody who was anybody believed it
Ev'rybody who was anybody they doubted it
Nobody had faith
Nobody nobody but
Washington
Tom Paine
Benjamin Franklin
Chaim Solomon
Crispus Attucks
Lafayette
Nobodies
The nobodies ran a tea party at Boston
Betsy Ross organized a sewing circle
Yeah Paul Revere had a horse race
And a little ragged group believed it
And some gentlemen and ladies believed it
And some wise men and some fools and I believed it too
And you know who I am
No
Who are you mister
Yeah how come all this
Well I'll tell you
Now let me
No let us tell you
Then Mister Tom Jefferson a mighty fine man
He wrote it down in a mighty fine plan
And the rest all signed it with a mighty fine hand
As they crossed their T's and dotted their I's
A bran' new country did arise
And and and and a mighty fine idea
Adopted unanimously in Congress July 4 1776
We hold these truths to be self evident
That all men are created equal
That they are endowed by their creator
With certain inalienable rights
That among these rights are life
Yes Sir
Liberty
That's right
And the pursuit of happiness
Is that what they said
The very words
That sure does sound mighty fine
Building a nation is awful tough
The people found the going rough
And thirteen states weren't large enough
So they started to expand
Into the western lands
Still nobody who was anybody believed it
Everybody who anybody they stayed at home
But Lewis and Clarke and the pioneers
Driven by hunger haunted by fears
The Klondike miners and the forty niners
Some wanted freedom and some wanted riches
Some liked to loaf while others dug ditches
But they believed it
And I believed it too
And you know who I am
No who are you Mister anyway
Well I started to tell you
Yes Mister tell us who you are
You see I represent the whole
That's it
Let my people go
That's the idea
Old Abe Lincoln was thin and long
His heart was high and his faith was strong
But he hated oppression he hated wrong
And he went down to his grave to free the slave
A man in white skin can never be free
While his black brother is in slavery
And we here highly resolve that these dead
Shall not have died in vain
And this government of the people
By the people and for the people
Shall not perish from the earth
Abraham Lincoln said that on November 19 1863 at Gettysburg Pennsylvania
And he was right I believe that too
Say Mister we still don't know who you are
I've been trying to tell you you see
There it is
The machine age came with a great big roar
As America grew in peace and war
And a million wheels went around and 'round
The cities reached into the sky
And dug down deep into the ground
And some got rich and some got poor
But the people carried through so our country grew
Still nobody who was anybody believed it
Everybody who was anybody they doubted it
And they are doubting still
And I guess they always will
But who cares what they say when I am on my way
Say will you please tell us who you are
What's your name buddy
Where you goin'
Who are you
Well I'm everybody who's nobody
I'm the nobody who's everybody
What's your racket
What do you do for a living
Well I'm an
Engineer
Musician
Street cleaner carpenter teacher
How about a farmer
Also
Office clerk
Yes Ma'am
Mechanic
That's right
Housewife
Certainly
Factory worker
You said it
Officer uhu
You specialist
Absolutely
Bartender
Absolutely
Truck driver
Definitely
Miner seamstress ditchdigger all of them
I am the etceteras
And the and so forths that do the work
Now hold on here
What are you trying to give us
Are you an American
Am I an American
I'm just an Irish Negro Jewish Italian
French and English Spanish Russian Chinese Polish
Scotch Hungarian Litvak Swedish Finnish Canadian
Greek and Turk and Czech
And double check American
And that ain't all
I was baptized Baptist Methodist Congregationalist Luthern
Atheist Roman Catholic Moslem Jewish Presbyterian Seventh Day
Adventist
Mormon Quaker Christian Scientist and lots more
You sure are something
Our country's strong our country's young
And the greatest songs are still unsung
From her plains and mountains we have sprung
To keep the faith with those who went before
We nobodies who are anybody believe it
We anybodies who are everybody have no doubts
Out of the cheating out of the shouting
Out of the murders and lynching
Out of the windbags the patriotic spouting
Out of uncertainty and doubting
Out of the carpetbag and the brass spittoon
It will come again
Our marching song will come again
Simple as a hit tune
Deep as our valleys
High as our mountains
Strong as the people who made it
For I have always believed it
And I believe it now
And you know who I am
Who are you
America
Aah
