Lyrics to
Who’ll Pay Reparations On My Soul?

This version of Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul? was released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1970.

Our Decade Lyrics Gil Scott-Heron profile has all of the Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul? lyrics from 1970 and many more songs from the Gil Scott-Heron discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Gil Scott-Heron or about the 1970s in general.

Many suggestions
And documents written.
Many directions
For the end that was given.
They gave us
Pieces of silver and pieces of gold.
Tell me,
Who’ll pay reparations on my soul?

Many fine speeches (oh yeah)
From the White House desk (uh huh)
Written on the cue cards
That were never really there. Yes,
But the heat and the summer were there
And the freezing winter’s cold. Now
Tell me,
Who’ll pay reparations on my soul?

Call my brother a junkie ’cause he ain’t got no job (no job, no job).
Told my old man to leave me when times got hard (so hard).
Told my mother she got to carry me all by herself.
And now that I want to be a man (be a man) who can depend on no one else (oh yeah).
What about the red man
Who met you at the coast?
You never dig sharing;
Always had to have the most.
And what about Mississippi,
The boundary of old?
Tell me,
Who’ll pay reparations on my soul?

Call my brother a junkie ’cause he ain’t got no job
Told my old man to leave me when times got hard (so hard).
Told my mother she got to carry me all by herself.
Wanna be a man that can depend on no one else (oh yeah).
What about the red man,
Who met you at the coast?
You never dig sharing;
Always had to have the most.
And what about Mississippi,
The boundaries of old?
Tell me,
Who’ll pay reparations on my soul?

Many fine speeches (oh yeah)
From the White House desk (uh huh)
Written on the cue cards
That were never really there. Yes,
But the heat and the summer were there
And the freezing winter’s cold.
Tell me,
Who’ll pay reparations on my soul?
Who’ll pay reparations,
‘Cause I don’t dig segregation, but I
can’t get integration
I got to take it to the United Nations,
Someone to help me away from this nation.
Tell me,
Who’ll pay reparations on my soul?

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Gil Scott-Heron?

Gil Scott-Heron has released many songs over the years besides Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul?. 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 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1970 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul? by Gil Scott-Heron

When you decide to study the lyrics to Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul?, you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1970 song by Gil Scott-Heron. Some of the lyrics to Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul? have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Gil Scott-Heron and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul? if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul?" means the words set to the music of Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul?, 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 Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul? and the lyrics to Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul? 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 Who’Ll Pay Reparations On My Soul?, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Gil Scott-Heron

Visit our Gil Scott-Heron profile for more Gil Scott-Heron songs, lyrics & info!

)