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THE CURSE (PAYING DUES)
Lani Ford
 2000

VERSE 1:
I wish this heartache weren't real
Wish you could feel the way I feel
My heart's done been ripped out' my chest
I know I'll never be the best
Wide-eyed, a child, I longed for more
Went off in search of distant shores
But all I ever found was me
I can never be set free
from that chain to which I'm bound
that do always keep me down
I brought it with me for 5 generations
The shame becomes my expectations
CHORUS:
The curse
oh
the curse
It's my inheritance, you see
That curse
awful curse
has its stranglehold on me.
VERSE 2:
It ain't good to know the truth
but I can't deny the proof
I's born with nothin', gonna die with nothin'
Can't even get me some so-so lovin'
'Round my neck is the albatross
Upon my back's a heavy cross
My hierlooms 're tears and guilty thoughts
Don't know what I should and what I naught
But it done no good 'cause I can't win
My soul's made up of hate and sin
And of course there's jealousy
My past, my blood done put a spell on me.
CHORUS
VERSE 3:
Don't have no time for men
Don't have no time for friends
I am gonna make it now
that my baby's gone, I'm alive somehow
It's so great to be me
I'm fat, poor, and yes ugly
My parents didn't even love me
cuz I'm a freak as you can plainly see
There's no way to pay for your sins
They all repay by staying within
Then you pass it on to yours
It keeps on bein' the family curse

CHORUS