Free And Equal Blues - Josh White
I went down to that St James Infirmary
I saw some plasma there
I up'd and asked that doctor man
Now was the donor dark or fair
The doctor laughed a great big laugh
And he puffed it right in my face
He says "A molecule is a molecule son
And the damn thing has no race "
And that was news yes that was news
That was very very very special news
'Cause ever since that day we've had those
Free and equal blues
I never knew that in a plasma
Test tube there could be
White man black man yellow man red
Well that's just what that doctor said
So he put down his doctor book
And he gave me a very scientific look
And spoke out plain and clear and rational and said
"Metabolism's international"
And that was news that was news
That was very very very special news
'Cause ever since that day we've had those
Free and equal blues
Then he rigged up his microscope with some royal blue blood
It was the same as Chun King-Moscow-Chatanooga-Timbuktu blood
Those men think they know the corpuscle's global
And international racial supremacy
Flying in the face of old man chemistry
Taking all the facts and trying to twist 'em
But you can't overthrow the circulatory system
And that was news that was news
That was very very very special news
'Cause ever since that day we've had those
Free and equal blues
So I stayed at that St James Infirmary
I couldn't leave that place it was too interesting
So I said to that doc
"Give me some more of that "scientific talk" talk
And he did
He said "Melt yourself down into a crucible
Pour yourself out into a test tube and what have you got
35 cubic feet of gas that's the same for the upper and lower class"
Well I let that pass
Carbon 22 pounds 10 ounces
Carbon 22 pounds 10 ounces
Iron seven grains; not enough to keep a man in chains
50 ounces of phosphorous whether your poor or prosperous
Hey buddy can you spare a match
The same for all nations
Then you take 22 teaspoons of sodium cloride that's salt
You add 38 quarts of H20 that's water
Mix two ounces of lime a pinch of potash a drop of magnesia
A bit of sulphur a soup'con of hydrochloric acid
And you stir it all up and what are you
You're a walkin' drugstore An international metabolistic cartel "
And that was news that was news
So listen you African Indian Mexican Mongolian Tyrolean and Tartar
The doctor's right behind the magna charter
The doc's behind the new brotherhood of man
As prescribed at Gettysburg Iwo Jima at Bull Run and at Guadalcanal
"Every man every where is the same when he got his skin off"
And that's the news that's the news
That's the free and equal blues"