Poundin’

[JOHN HENRY]
Did you give us birth just to make us die?
Give us backs just to bend 'em down?
Did you make these hands just to clutch the handle
Of a ten-steel hammer and pound?

Did you dig that valley just to be a grave?
Raise that mountain just to jail us in?
Did you make that sun just to burn us blacker?
Make a woman just to make me sin?

Does your river flow the better for my sweat?
Does your wind blow the better for my sighin'?
Will your dirt be richer for my dust?
Will your grass be greener for my dyin'?

Oh, poundin', poundin', poundin'
That's the only way we know, oh
Poundin', poundin', poundin'
Lord too old to hear me
And the wheel turn around too slow

Well, I'm donе with all of this waitin'
Took more, more than a man can stand
And Jesus, I'm as tall as you
With a hammеr in my hand
With this hammer's in my hand!

So be there, Lord, in the mornin'!
Early in the mornin'
Jesus, hear me when I start!
'Cause I'll shake your heaven
And I'll wake your sleepin' earth
With the poundin' of a black man's heart
Great God!
With the poundin' of a black man's heart