Come to my door, baby,
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Face is clean and shining black as night.
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My mother went to answer you know
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That you looked so fine.
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Now I could understand your tears and your shame,
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She called you "boy" instead of your name.
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When she wouldn't let you inside,
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When she turned and said
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"But honey, he's not our kind."
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She says
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I can't see you any more, baby,
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Can't see you anymore.
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Walk me down to school, baby,
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Everybody's acting deaf and dumb.
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Until they turn and say, "Why don't you stick to your own kind."
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My teachers all laugh, the smirking stares,
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Cutting deep down in our affairs.
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Preachers of equality,
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Think they believe it, then why won't they just let us be?
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They say I can't see you anymore baby,
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Can't see you anymore.
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One of these days I'm gonna stop my listening
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Gonna raise my head up high.
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One of these days I'm gonna raise up my glistening wings and fly.
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But that day will have to wait for a while.
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Baby I'm only society's child.
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When we're older things may change,
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But for now this is the way, they must remain.
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I say I can't see you anymore baby,
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Can't see you anymore.
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No, I don't want to see you anymore, baby.
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Society's Child
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Janis Ian |