I won't sell my soul but i'll rent it
Make a little money and then spend it
I'm not ambitious as such
But the little I want I want a little too much
I work for a man with a handlebar mustache
Who's a son of a bitch but he pays cash
He's on my tail every hour of the day
And he's always saying how
He could get a black kid to do what I did
For half of what he's paying me now
I'm going down to the levee
To watch those ships and think
How something as heavy as my heart
Doesn't sink
I work with a man named jack
I don't trust that man behind my back
He says he's gonna get a gun
He's gonna shoot someone
And that someone is gonna be black
"if you're gonna do it right
Better do it white" says jack