Who'll Pay Reparations for My Soul? Songtext
von Gil Scott‐Heron

Speed of light
Who′ll pay reparations on my soul?

Many suggestions
And documents written
Many directions
For the end that was given
They gave us
Pieces of silver and pieces of gold

Tell me
Who'll pay reparations on my soul?

Many fine speeches (oh yeah)
From the White House desk (uh huh)
Written on the cue cards
That were never really there. Yes
But the heat and the summer were there
And the freezing winter′s cold. Now

Tell me
Who'll pay reparations on my soul?


Call my brother a junkie 'cause he ain′t got no job (no job, no job)
Told my old man to leave me when times got hard (so hard)
Told my mother she got to carry me all by herself
And now that I want to be a man (be a man) who can depend on no one else (oh yeah)

What about the red man
Who met you at the coast?
You never dig sharing
Always had to have the most
And what about Mississippi
The boundary of old?

Tell me
Who′ll pay reparations on my soul?

Call my brother a junkie 'cause he ain′t got no job (no job, no job)
Told my old man to leave me when times got hard (so hard)
Told my mother she got to carry me all by herself
Wanna be a man that can depend on no one else (oh yeah)

What about the red man
Who met you at the coast?
You never dig sharing
Always had to have the most
And what about Mississippi
The boundaries of old?


Tell me
Who'll pay reparations on my soul?

Many fine speeches (oh yeah)
From the White House desk (uh huh)
Written on the cue cards
That were never really there. Yes
But the heat and the summer were there
And the freezing winter′s cold

Tell me
Who'll pay reparations on my soul?
Who′ll pay reparations
'Cause I don't dig segregation, but I
Can′t get integration
I got to take it to the United Nations
Someone to help me away from this nation
Tell me
Who′ll pay reparations on my soul?