Chords for Syl Johnson - Is It Because I'm Black

_ _ _ _ [Abm] _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
_ _ [Ebm] _ _ _ _ [Abm] _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ The dark brown shades of [Bb] my _ [Abm]
skin _ _ only _ [Bb] _ [Abm] _
add color to my tears.
_ Oh, _ oh, [Dbm] _
that splash against my hollow _ [Eb] bones, [Dbm] _
_ _ _ _ that [Bb] rocks [Abm] my soul. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Looking back over my false dreams that I once knew, _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ [Abm]
wondering why my dreams never [Ebm] came true.
[Abm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Db]
Is [Dbm] it because I'm black? _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Somebody [Dm] tell [Abm] me what can I _ do?
[Ebm] _ _ [Abm]
Oh, Lord.
_ _ Oh, _ [Dbm] _
something is holding me back. _ _
_ _ _ _ Is [Db] it [Abm] because I'm black?
_ Yeah.
In [F] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ [Abm] _
this world of no pity, _ I was raised in the ghettos of the [Bb] [Abm] city.
Yeah.
Oh, Lord.
Uh, _ _ _ [Abm] uh.
_ _ _ [Dbm] _
Mama, she worked so hard _ _ _ to earn every [Bb] penny.
[Abm] _
Yeah.
_ _ _ _ [B] Oh, Lord.
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ [Dbm] _
Something is holding me back.
Uh-huh.
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ [Abm] _
Is it because I'm black? _ _
Uh-huh.
_ _ _ [Bb] _ [Abm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Db] _ [Abm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Like a child stealing his first piece of candy and got caught _ _ _ [Gb] _ [Abm] _
peeping around life's corner somewhere, I got lost.
_ _ _ _ Oh, [Dbm] _
_ something is holding [Dbm] me back.
Uh-huh.
_ _ _ _ _ [Abm] I wonder, _ is it because I'm [Gb] black?
[Abm] _ _ _ _ Oh, [Eb] _ _
[Dbm] _ somebody tell me what can I do?
[B] _
[Dbm] _ _ _ _ Will I survive [Abm] or will I die?
_ _ _ [Gb] _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Dbm] _
_ _ _ Keep _ [Eb] on [Dbm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Abm] _ [Gm] _
[Abm] holding _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
[Abm] on, _ keep on _ [Bb] holding [Abm] on.
But _ you _ _ [Gb] _
[Abm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
[Abm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb]
[Abm] keep on holding me back, [B] _ _ [Bbm] keep on putting [Abm] me in.
But I _
_ [Abm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
somehow and someday be _ _ somebody so bad, so bad. _
I want to be somebody.
_ [C] I want to be somebody so bad.
You see, _ _ _ things [B] and [Bbm] things _ _ like you do. _ _
And I want to drive Cadillac cars.
Uh-huh.
Oh, I want to be somebody [Abm] so bad.
_ But you keep [Bbm] on putting up [Abm] me.
And I, _ I believe, _ I believe [Gb] I can [Abm] break away and be somebody _ somehow and someway.
_ _ You [Bbm] see, [Abm] _
_ I heard somebody say one time, _ you can make it [Bbm] if [Abm] you try.
_ _ _ Oh, and some of us, we're trying so hard.
[Bb] [Abm] We're trying so hard.
_ [Ebm] I want you to know that I [Abm] don't speak for myself, _ but I [Gb] speak [Abm] for y'all too right now.
Uh-huh.
You see, if you're half white, light brown skinned, or the high yellow, [Gb] you're [Ab] still black.
[Abm] So we all got to stick together right now.
_ _ Mm-hmm. _ _ _
_ This I want to say to you, my sisters and my brothers.
_ _ _ _ Right on, sister.
_ Mm-hmm. _ _ _
_ Right on, brother.
_ This, this, if we keep on pushing on, _ oh, we got to make it a little bit further. _ _
We got to make it a little further.
All we got to do is try, try, try.
_ [Bbm] _ [Abm]
And some of us, _ _ we're trying so hard.
_ _ We're trying so hard.
We're trying so hard.
Uh-huh.
_ _ We're trying so hard, so hard to be somebody. _ _
Mm-hmm.
_ We're trying so _ hard.
Although, _ they're holding us back. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ And it's just the reason _ _ _ that they're doing us like that. _
_ You know what? _ _ _
It is.
_ _ _ I believe it's because we're black.
Uh-huh. _
But hey, _ _ we [Ebm] can't [Ab] stop now.
[B] We can't stop now.
_ [Abm]
We got to keep on, keep on, [Gb] keep [Abm] on, keeping on.
_ We got to keep on, keeping on.
_ _ _ [Gb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ebm] _ _ [Abm] _
_ _ _ _ _ Oh, it ain't right.
_ It ain't right.
It ain't right.
That they hold us, hold us, hold us back.
They're holding [Abm] us back.
Uh-huh.
_ They're holding us back.
I wonder.
_ _ _ Sometimes I sit down. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Abm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _