Lyrics When Will We Be Paid - The Staple Singers

When Will We Be Paid

When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
We have worked this country from shore to shore
Our women cooked all your food and washed all your clothes
We picked all your cotton and laid the railroad steel
Worked our hands to the bone at your lumber mill
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
We fought in your wars in every land
To keep this country free, y’all, for women, children, and men
But anytime we ask for pay alone
That’s when everything seems to turn out wrong
We’ve been beat up (Beat up)
Called names (Called names)
Shot down and stoned
But every time we do right, someone say we wrong
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
We have given our sweat and all our tears
We stumbled through this life for more than 300 years
We’ve been separated from the land which we knew
Stripped of our culture, people you know it’s true
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
Will we ever be proud of «My country, 'tis of thee?»
Will we ever sing out loud, «Sweet Land of Liberty?»
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?
Tell me now, for the work we’ve done
Will we ever have peace and harmony?
I wanna know, will we ever be paid?
When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?