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 and down Beal 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!