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
  • omnibus

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


  • Things Don’t Get No Better
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Things Don’t Get No Better
    13 May 2020
    The current season of sickness – biological and political – is, indeed, strange, with no hint of a better day any time soon.
  • Archaic capitalism’s COVID cops?
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Archaic capitalism’s COVID cops?
    13 May 2020
    What if COVID-19 came and drove down crime by 40%? What if capitalism’s cops be- came useless 
  • The Sheepdog Caucus and So-Called “Democratic” Socialists
    Quetzal Cáceres
    The Sheepdog Caucus and So-Called “Democratic” Socialists
    13 May 2020
    The “democratic” socialist worldview supports socialism except in places where people are actually trying to build it.
  • US Blocks Vote on UN’s Bid for Global Ceasefire Amid COVID-19
    Telesur
    US Blocks Vote on UN’s Bid for Global Ceasefire Amid COVID-19
    13 May 2020
    The US veto trashes the UN’s efforts to convince armed factions in more than a dozen countries to call for temporary truces as the world battles the pandemic.
  • BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here" 
    Jennifer S. Leath
    BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here" 
    13 May 2020
    Georgia’s convict leasing system was created to devour Black people of both genders.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us