Lyrics to
Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues

This version of Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues was released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1972.

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(What we want to discuss here
are routes out of the ghetto.
This is called
the “Get Out of the Ghetto” blues.)

I know you think you’re cool–
LORD, if they bus your kids to school…
I know you think you’re cool,
Just cuz they bus your kids to school.
But you ain’t got a thing to lose;
You just got the get out of the ghetto blues.

I know you think you’re cool
If you’re gettin’ two WELFARE checks;
You done TOLD me you think you’re cool
Because you’re gettin’ two WELFARE checks.
Yea! But you got ten years to lose (if they catch you)
Just tryin’ to fight that get out of the ghetto blues.

(what it is, what it is.)

If he don’t catch you in the wash,
LORD knows he’ll catch you in the rinse.

I know you think you’re cool
Just ‘cuz you shooting that stuff in your arm.
I seen you nodding
‘Cuz you shoot that STUFF into your arm.
And it don’t matter which pine box you choose:
You got the get out of the ghetto blues.

Yeah.

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Gil Scott-Heron has released many songs over the years besides Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues. Gil Scott-Heron released songs from 1970 to 2005 spanning across albums like Small Talk At 125th And Lenox, Pieces Of A Man, Free Will, Winter In America, The First Minute Of A New Day, It's Your World, From South Africa To South Carolina, Bridges, Secrets, The Mind Of Gil Scott-Heron, 1980, Real Eyes, Reflections, Moving Target, Spirits, and Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Messages (Anthology). Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Gil Scott-Heron.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1972 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues by Gil Scott-Heron

The lyrics for Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1972 song by Gil Scott-Heron. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues - Gil Scott-Heron and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues by Gil Scott-Heron in multiple ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues" means the words set to the music of Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Gil Scott-Heron. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues and the lyrics to Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Gil Scott-Heron who came here looking just for the lyrics to Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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