LESSIE'S SONG

Lyrics by Catherine Matovich
Tune, J'tais au Bal

Lessie not on welfare
Lessie work all day
Lessie want no charity
Say she rather pay

Lessie don't drink
Never had no high
Finished her schooling
Left Louisiana behind

Lessie help a brother
Who ain't gonna pay her back
Lessie left her husband
Cause he broke her back

That's the poor working in America

Where were the peace lovers
When she was on the run?
Where were the pro-lifers
When she raised her sons?

Takes her boy to Shriners
On a bus that go that way
Gets his blood all cleaned up
Lessie don't work that day

That's the poor living in America

Hundred to emergency
Fifty to the doc
Black all on your kidneys, Lessie
Why you wait so long?

Got no insurance
But you still in that grind?
Nothin' free for you now
Gotta leave your job behind

That's the poor dying in America

She go back to work
With a lump in her breast
Boss says cutting hours
Now can't pay for tests

Lessie not on welfare
Lessie work all day
Lessie got brown in her skin
She say get in the way

That's the poor dying in America

Forty-two years old
Sleeping in her car
Just the way life turned out
Not too good so far