Lyrics
The Bourgeois Blues (Lead Belly)
Me and my wife run all over town
Everywhere we go, the people would turn us down
Lord, in a bourgeois town
It's a bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around
Me and my wife we were standing upstairs
I heard the white man say'n I don't want no niggers up there
Lord, he's a bourgeois man
Bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around
Home of the brave, land of the free
I don't wanna be mistreated by no bourgeoisie
Lord, in a bourgeois town
The bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues, I'm
Gonna spread the news all around
Me and my wife went all over town
And where we go, the colored people turn us down
Lord, in a bourgeois town
It's a bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues,
I'm gonna spread the news all around
Them white folks in Washington they know how
To call a man a nigger just to see him bow
Lord, it's a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
I'm gonna spread the news all around
I tell all the colored folks to listen to me
Don't try to find you no home in Washington DC
'Cause it's a bourgeois town
It's a bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues and I'm gonna spread the news
Bourgeois Town (The Fall)
And your wife
And your city
Don't wanna be mistreated by no bourgeoisie
I'm in a bourgeois town
I'm in a bourgeois town
I'm in a bourgeois town
Spread the news all around
Open newspaper, what do I see
A politician with kids doing the best for me
I'm in a bourgeois town
I'm in a bourgeois town
I'm in a bourgeois blues
Spread the news all around
Get on a bus
Keep head down
A DJ gets on; sits opposite like a clown
A bourgeois town
I'm in a bourgeois town
I've got the bourgeois blues
Spread the news all around
I've got the bourgeois blues
In a bourgeois town
And I go to park, for fresh air
I look around there's loads of beach bums and men with shaven hair
I've got the bourgeois blues
I've got the bourgeois blues
I'm in a bourgeois town
Spread the news all around
I open mail, for letters from friends
Or maybe cheques
All I get is demands from the C.O. Exchequer 1
I'm in a bourgeois town
I'm in a bourgeois city
I've got the bourgeois blues
Spread the news all around
Get on a train, to get out of town
Sat opposite a politician with his head held down
Walk back streets, to fresh air
I meet a journalist with no money for beer
I'm in a bourgeois town
I'm in a bourgeois town
I'm in a bourgeois town
Commentary
< Post in progress >
See also Tav Falco’s Panther Burns’ version.
Footnotes
- Presumably this is the “Chancellor Of the Exchequer”, the UK equivalent of a minister of finance. So the “demands” would be tax demands. See Wikipedia: Chancellor of the Exchequer. ↩︎
Sources / Links
- Smith, Mark E. (2008). Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith. London: Penguin.
- The Track Record: “Bourgeois Town”
- Wikipedia: “The Bourgeois Blues”
- Wolstencroft, Simon (2014). You Can Drum But You Can’t Hide. London: Strata Books.
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