The dark brown shades of my skin
Only add color to my tears
Oh, oh
That splash against my hollow bones
That rocks my soul
Looking back over my false dreams that I once knew
Wondering why my dreams never came true
Is it because I'm black? (uh huh)
Somebody tell me, what can I do?

Oh lord, oh
Something is holding me back (uh, huh)
Is it because I'm black? (yeah)
In this world of no pity
I was raised in the ghetto of the city
Yeah, oh lord (uh)
Momma, she works so hard
To earn every penny (yeah, oh lord)
Something is holding me back (uh huh)
Is it because I'm black? (ahh)

Like a child stealing candy for the first time
and got caught
Peeping around life's corner somewhere, I got lost (oh)
Something is holding me back (uh huh)
I wonder, is it because I'm black?
Somebody tell me what can I do?
Will I survive, or will I die?

Oh, oh
You keep on holding me back
Keep on holding on
Keep on picking on me
Oh, you keep on holding me back
Keep on holding on, keep on holding on (uh)
You're holding me back

I wonder why, you do me like that
But you keep on holding me back
Keep on putting your foot on me
But I, I, I, I've got to break away
Somehow and someday

'Cause I wanna be somebody so bad, so bad
I wanna be somebody, I wanna be somebody so bad
You see, I want diamond rings and things, like you do
And I wanna drive Cadillac cars (uh huh)

Oh, I wanna be somebody so bad
But you keep on putting your foot on me
And I, I believe, I believe I can break away
And be somebody, somehow, and someway

Ya see
I heard somebody say one time
You can make it, if you try
Oh, and some of us, we tried so hard, we tried so hard
I want you to know that I don't speak for myself
But I speak for y'all too right now

Uh huh, ya see
If you half white, light-brown skinned, or high yellow
You're still black
So we all got to stick together right now
Mhm
This I wanna say to you my sisters and my brothers
Right on sister, mhm

Right on brother
Dig this
If we keep on pushing, y'all
Oh, we've got to make it a little bit further
We've got to make it a little further
All we got to do is try, try, try
And some of us, we've tried so hard

We've tried so hard, we've tried so hard (uh huh)
We've tried so hard, so hard to be somebody (um)
We've tried so hard, although, they're holding us back
And it stands to reason
That they're doin' us like that
You know what? It is
I believe, it is because we are black (uh huh)

But hey, we can't stop now, we can't stop now
Got to keep on, keep on, keep on, keepin' on
We've got to keep on, keeping on
I know and I know and I know that you know
that I know, it ain't right
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 us back, they're holding us back
I wonder, sometimes I sit down, sit down and I wonder
I sit down and I think about it
Sometimes it makes me so mad
It makes me so mad