Come to the Doma and unlock the chain I was just passing through, I got caught in the rain There's nothing I want, nothing that you need say Just let me lay down for a while and I'll be on my way I was no more than a kid when you put me on the Southern Queen With the police on my back, I fled all the way down to New Orleans I fought in the dockyards with the money I made I knew the fight was my home and blood was my trade Baton Rouge, Pontchartain, Lafayette Town Well, they paid me their money more and I knocked the men down I did what I did when it came easily Restraint and mercy, Ma, were always strangers to me I fought champion Jack Thompson in a field full of mud The rain poured through the canvas tent and mixed with our blood In the twelfth, I slipped my tongue over my broken jaw And I stood over young Black, I pounded his bloody body right into the floor Well, the bell rang and rang and still I kept on and on and on Till I felt my glove leather slip between his skin and bone Then the women and the money came first and the days I lost tried The women read the money green, but the numbers were black I fought for the men in the silk suits to lay down their bets I took my good share, Ma, you see I have no regrets Then I took the fix at the State Army with a big John McDowell From high in the rafters, I watched myself fall As they raised his arm, my stomach twisted and the sky, it went black I stuffed my bag with their good money, Ma, and I never looked back So understand in the end, Ma, every man plays the game If you know me one different, then speak out his name Ma, if my voice now, now you don't recognize Then just open the door and look into your dark eyes I ask of you nothing, not a kiss, not a smile Just open the door and let me lay down for a while Now the gray rain is falling, my ring fighting is done So in the work field and alleys, you see, I take all who come If you're a better man than me, then come on and step up to the line Step right to the line, show me your money and speak out your cry Now there's nothing I want, Ma, nothing that you need to say Just let me lay down for a while and I'll be on my way Tonight in the shipyard, a man draws a circle in the dirt I move to the center, I take off my shirt I study him for the cuts, the scars, the pain, man, no time can erase I move hard to the left and I strike to the face © BF-WATCH TV 2021