I Ain’t Nothing (But I Ain’t Dumb)

Still working on recording this one

Image Detroit, Michigan. A Venetian night party at the Detroit yacht club, whose members represent the wealthier class of manufacturers and their friends. Chummy couple in a boat U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs LC-USW3- 016569-C

Lyrics

I ain’t nothing, but I ain’t dumb—
I’ve seen stacked decks and short straws
I know what it is to get the runaround
And I’ve been watching how it all goes down—
How all the high-five bling-bling accolades
Get heaped on the privileged in this world

You’ve been walking with your nose in the air
It’s a long shot honey you could even see me from way up there
You’ve bought diamonds with your boyfriends’ dough
That you wave around drinking Dom Perignon
At the kind of parties where I don’t go
You’ve been flaunting what you’re wearing everywhere
Laughing at the hoi polloi when they stop and stare

Well that’s entertainment, of the social set sort—
Running ‘round living your life like it’s a spectator sport
But if you get bored with pretend and pretense
You might find you’d like running with me on my side of the fence
No I don’t account for much in dollars and cents
I ain’t Silver Spoon-upper crust-Ivy-League-spare no expense

See I ain’t no one—but I’m a man—
Not some stuffed-shirt-pocket square-show and tell-also ran
‘Cause I ain’t trying to be more than I am—
So when you want a different kind of a deal
Come down and see me ma’am