Blue Collar - Gil Scott-Heron

I been down in Pennsylvania

Where I was working in the mine

And I been down in Cincinnati

They laid me off the assembly line

Yeah, they got me looking everywhere

But I ain’t too proud of what I found

And you can’t name where I ain’t been down

'Cause there ain’t no place I ain’t been down

I was down in Kansas City

Where even the blues sell by the pound

And I been down in New York City, brother

And that ain’t no place to be down

Yeah, I’m a-looking at the face of the children

You see, we’re looking for a higher ground

And you can’t name where we ain’t been down

'Cause there ain’t no place we ain’t been down

We fell down somewhere

Between the cities and the towns

We went down, I know

Between the smiles and the frowns

And if they call me in the morning

I mean, I’d recognize the sound

'Cause you can’t name where we ain’t been down

There ain’t no place we ain’t been down

Standing in the shadows

It sho’nuff looks like rain

I see the steel-gray clouds above me

Yeah, well the anguish and the pain

Yeah, I been looking everywhere for peace

But I swear, there just ain’t none around

But you can’t name where I ain’t been down

'Cause there ain’t no place I ain’t been down

We been down

Between the cities and the towns

Yeah, been down somewhere

Between the smiles and the frowns

And if they call me in the morning

I mean, I’d recognize the sound

'Cause you can’t name where I ain’t been down

There ain’t no place I ain’t been down