Is It Because I'm Black - 실베스터 존슨 (Syl Johnson)

Syl Johnson

실베스터 존슨 (Syl Johnson)는 1936년 미국 미시시피에서 태어나 1950년 바람의 도시 시카고에서 성장했다.
존슨의 인종 관계를 향한 평가는 매우 황량했다. 존슨은  1968년 마틴 루터 킹 주니어의 암살 이후, 흑인 평등을 외치는 정견과 소울 음악 모두가 갈수록 더 급진적이 된다. 이런 새로운 분위기를 또렷이 표현한 초기 인물 중 하나였다. “Is It Because I’m Black? (내가 흑인이라서?)”미국 사회에 깊이 뿌리 내린 불평등에 대한 실의를 전하고자

킹이 남긴 연설 문구를 암시하며 노래했다. 60년대 미국 블루스, 소울 가수겸 음반 제작자가 되었으며  이 곡의 제목처럼 검은 피부로 태어나 도시의 빈민촌에 자라면서 인종차별 받은 것을 노래하는 내용이며 그는 흑인 정체성과 사회적 문제의 주제에 관한 논문도 썼다.  'Different Strokes' 노래도 인기를 많이 받았다.

Is It Because I'm Black

(왜냐하면 나는 흑인입니다)

The dark brown shades of my skin, only add colour to my tears

내 피부의 어두운 갈색의 피부는 눈물에만 색을 추가하십시오
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?

내가 흑인이라서?
 Somebody tell me, what can I do
Something is holding me back
Is it because I'm black?
In this world of no pity
I was raised in the ghetto of the city
Momma, she works so hard
To earn every penny
Something is holding me back
Is it because I'm black?

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

You keep on holding me back
You keep on holding on
You keep on picking on me
You keep on holding me back
You keep on holding on
You keep on holding on
You're holding me back
I wonder why, you do me like that
But you keep on holding me back
You keep on putting your foot on me
But 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
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
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
Ya see, if you have white-like brown skin and a high yeller
You're still black
So we all got to stick together right now
This I wanna say to you my sisters and my brothers
Right on sister
Right on brother

Dig this:
And we keep on pushing down
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
We've tried so hard, so hard to be somebody
We've tried so hard, although, they're holding us back
And it stairs the reason, that they're doing us like that
You know what? It is
I believe, it is because we are black
But hey, we can't stop now, we can't stop now
We've got to keep on, keep on, keep on, keeping 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