Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Sold Singers
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
17 Dec 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

The battle is no longer in the streets

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

Now, we fightin’ for those leather seats

 

Sold Singers

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Singing against backgrounds of crackling flames,

So low their bass reverberated Booker T,

Drowning out shouts and shots of the no-names

The big voices all crooned way, way off key

Mint-fresh faces of Franklin, Cleveland and Chase

Inspired their song with an “Amazing Grace”

Restricting our rhythm to a mellow pace:

 

“Black is beautiful, but green power

Sounds sweeter, not rocking the boat—

Being dutiful, seize the hour and

Let us lower our note…”

 

Singin’ shufflin’ ditties, once the 70s swung in

They rocked like Booker T and other sold men

Oh, so low they’d “Sing a Simple Song”

“The best things in life are free…”

“So What” “if loving you is wrong…”

“…You can’t prove that by me”

They’d even get down, like James Brown,

On bended knees, screamin’ and beggin’

“Baby, please, please…”

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

The battle is no longer in the streets

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

Now, we fightin’ for those leather seats

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

I-I-I-I…

I know the white man done you wrong

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

So vote for me, and make us strong

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

You’ve suffered enough, heaven knows

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

E-lect me, and I’ll heal your woes

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

I-I-I-I…

I wanna be you next Congressman

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

I promise to ban the Ku Klux Klan

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

And look into all racist attacks

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

From the hills, across the tracks

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

So don’t protest or demonstrate

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

E-lect me and I’ll negotiate

 

BABY, PLEASE GO VOTE

I-I-I-I…

 

“Promises, promises, promises…” and

Makers come and go…

‘Til we sing: “We Shall Overthrow!”

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Leah Goodridge
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black People and the Housing Affordability Crisis
    18 Oct 2024
    Leah Goodridge is a tenants’ rights attorney, a writer, and a member of New York City’s City Planning Commission. She joins us to discuss New York City Mayor Eric Adams' recently passed housing…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Censorship, War Propaganda and Fascism
    16 Oct 2024
    The U.S. edges closer to hot war and continues aiding and abetting a genocide. Censorship and war propaganda are necessary tools when a rogue state chooses to silence its opponents.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: United We Stand! Joint Struggles of Native Americans and African Americans in the Columbian Era, Jan Carew, 1995
    16 Oct 2024
    “The Seminoles had set a dangerous example, for if Blacks and Native Americans united everywhere in the Americas, then a genuine racial democracy might emerge.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Understanding Hamas and Why That Matters
    16 Oct 2024
    The West’s dominant media tell us little about Hamas' history or ideology, relying instead on “terrorist” clichés. This new book cuts through them to explain.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    Martinique Masses Continue Rebellion Against French Colonial System
    16 Oct 2024
    Rising prices and state repression prompt strikes and demonstrations.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us