Is It Because I'm Black Syl Johnson Only two chords but SO MUCH SOUL The dark brown shades of my skin only add colour to my tears Ooooooh That splash against my hollow bones, that rocks my soul Looking back over my false dreams, that I once knew Wondering why my dreams never came true Is it because I'm black? Somebody tell me, what can I do Oh Lord Something is holding me back Is it because I'm black? In this world of no pity I was raised in the ghetto of the city Momma, she works so hard To earn every penny Something is holding me back Is it because I'm black? SOLO (same chords) Like a child stealing candy for the first time, and got caught Thiefing around life's corner somewhere I got lost Something is holding me back ahaaaaaaaaa I wonder, is it because I'm black? Somebody tell me what can I do Will I survive, or will I die? You keep on holding me back You keep on holding on You keep on picking on me You keep on holding me back You keep on holding on You keep on holding on until the end!!!) You're holding me back I wonder why, you do me like that But you keep on holding me back You keep on putting your foot on me But I, I've got to break away Somehow and someday Cause I wanna be somebody so bad, so bad I wanna be somebody, I wanna be somebody so bad You see, I want diamond rings and things, like you do And I wanna drive Cadillac cars I wanna be somebody so bad But you keep on putting your foot on me And I, I believe, I believe I can break away And be somebody, somehow, and someway Ya see, I heard somebody say one time You can make it, if you try And some of us, we tried so hard, we tried so hard I want you to know that I don't speak for myself But I speak for y'all too right now Ya see, if you have white-like brown skin and a high yeller You're still black So we all got to stick together right now This I wanna say to you my sisters and my brothers Right on sister Right on brother Dig this: And we keep on pushing down We've got to make it a little bit further We've got to make it a little further All we got to do is try, try, try And some of us, we've tried so hard We've tried so hard, we've tried so hard We've tried so hard, so hard to be somebody We've tried so hard, although, they're holding us back And it stairs the reason, that they're doing us like that You know what? It is I believe, it is because we are black But hey, we can't stop now, we can't stop now We've got to keep on, keep on, keep on, keeping on We've got to keep on keeping on I know and I know and I know that you know that I know it ain't right Oh, it ain't right, it ain't right, it ain't right That they hold us, hold us, hold us back They're holding us back, they're holding us back I wonder, sometimes I sit down, sit down and I wonder