everybody wants to know why i sing the blues yes i say everybody wanna know why i sing the blues well i ve been around a long time i really have paid my dues when i first got the blues they brought me over on a ship men were standing over me and a lot more with a whip and everybody wanna know why i sing the blues well i ve been around a long time mm i ve really paid my dues i ve laid in a ghetto flat cold and numb i heard the rats tell the bedbugs to give the roaches some everybody wanna know why i m singing the blues yes i ve been around a long time people i ve paid my dues i stood in line down at the county hall i heard a man say we re gonna build some new apartments for y all and everybody wanna know yes they wanna know why i m singing the blues yes i ve been around a long long time yes i ve really really paid my dues now i m gonna play lucille my kid s gonna grow up gonna grow up to be a fool cause they ain t got no more room no more room for him in school and everybody wanna know everybody wanna know why i m singing the blues i say i ve been around a long time yes i ve really paid some dues yeah you know the company told me guess you re born to lose everybody around me people it seems like everybody got the blues but i had em a long time i ve really really paid my dues you know i ain t ashamed of it people i just love to sing my blues i walk through the cities people on my bare feet i had a fill of catfish and chitterlings up in downbill street you know i m singing the blues yes i really i just have to sing my blues i ve been around a long time people i ve really really paid my dues now father time is catching up with me gone is my youth i look in the mirror everyday and let it tell me the truth i m singing the blues mm i just have to sing the blues i ve been around a long time yes yes i ve really paid some dues yeah they told me everything would be better out in the country everything was fine i caught me a bus uptown baby and every people all the people got the same trouble as mine i got the blues huh huh i say i ve been around a long time i ve really paid some dues one more time fellows blind man on the corner begging for a dime the rollers come and caught him and throw him in the jail for a crime i got the blues mm i m singing my blues i ve been around a long time mm i ve really paid some dues can we do just one more oh i thought i d go down to the welfare to get myself some grits and stuff but a lady stand up and she said you haven t been around long enough that s why i got the blues mm the blues i say i ve been around a long time i ve really really paid my dues fellows tell them one more time ha ha ha that s all right fellows yeah 