The Ghetto Lyrics - The Staple Singers

If you ever lived in a ghetto, 

It may be at the close of your day, 

On your front porch you hear the sound of a jukebox, 

From a neighborhood café, 

At noon you may hear neighbors cussing, 

When a kid breaks a window pane, yeah, 

At night, at night, at night, ooh, you may be wakened, 

By the sound of an outbound train. 

Outsiders they refuse to help us, yes they do, 

And they down us for living the way we do, mmh, 

But when you're born the child, the child of a poor man, ooh, 

They say the ghetto is the only place for you. 

But if there's such thing as hereafter, 

And I'm satisfied, satisfied ooh, that there will be, ooh, 

When they build, when they build, when they build New Jerusalem, 

There won't be no more ghetto, ghetto for me, no there won't (3x).