Story Behind The Song
The song starts with a black slaves lament that life in America sucks and exploitation for economic gain is immoral and concludes that the white man's taunts -once directed only at the slaves - is now directed at a whole class of people based on income.
Song Description
This song expresses a lot of implied emotion - the anguish of the slave, the crassness of the slave owner, the lament of the singer at the end who seems to be resigned to the powerlessness of class warfare.
| Song Length |
2:59 |
Genre |
Blues - Chicago, Blues - Traditional |
| Tempo |
Medium (111 - 130) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Troubled, Distressed |
Subject |
Race/Ethnicity, Slavery |
| Similar Artists |
Howlin' Wolf, The Rolling Stones |
Language |
English |
| Era |
1970 - 1979 |
| |
Lyrics
Here come the man, he has paid my way to this evil land
From Africa to America, I can hear them say
Blacks Devils in the fields, Black Devils sweatin blood
Black Devils pick the white mans cotton, Devils made of mud
When Jesus owned the cornfields he paid us every day, When Jesus owned the cornfields
But now the man owns machinery, We pay to be enslaved
Blacks Devils in the fields, Black Devils sweatin blood
Black Devils pick the white mans cotton, Devils made of mud