When will we be paid for the work we've done
When will we be paid for the work we've done

We fought in your wars in every land
2 keep this country free, y'all, 4 women, children and men
But every time we ask 4 pay or a loan
That's when everything seems 2 turn out wrong
We been beat up, called names, shot down and stoned
Every time we do right, somebody say we're wrong

Tell me

When will we be paid for the work we've done

Listen
We worked this country from shore to shore (Well)
Our women cooked all your food and washed all your clothes
We picked cotton and laid the railroad steel (Said we laid it)
Worked our hands down 2 the bone at your lumber mill
(At your lumber mill)

Tell me

Will we ever be proud of My country, tis of thee?
Will we ever sing out loud, Sweet land of Liberty?
When will we be paid (Tell us) for the work we've done? (Well?)
I wanna know
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna know (when, when, when, when)

Why can't we be paid?
Oh, oh when, when will we be paid?
We've given up our sweat, now, and all of our tears
Stumbled through this life 4 more than 300 years
I, I wanna know, the work we've done