Why I Sing The Blues Chords & Lyrics - B.b. King

[VERSE]
[C7]Everybody wants to know

Why I sing the blues
Yes, [F7]I say everybody wanna know
Why I [C7]sing the blues
Well, I've been [G7]around a long time
[F7]I really have paid my [C7]dues

When [C7]I first got the blues

They brought me over on a ship

Men were standing over me

And a lot more with a whip
[F7]And everybody wanna know
Why I sing the [C7]blues
Well, I've been [G7]around a long time
[F7]Mm, I've really paid my [C7]dues

[VERSE]
[C7]I've laid in a ghetto flat

Cold and numb

I heard the rats tell the bedbugs

To give the roaches some
[F7]Everybody wanna know
Why I'm [C7]singing the blues
Yes, I've been [G7]around a long time
[F7]People, I've paid my [C7]dues

I [C7]stood in line

Down at the County Hall

I heard a man say, "We're gonna build

Some new apartments for y'all"
[F7]And everybody wanna know

Yes, they wanna know
Why I'm [C7]singing the blues
Yes, I've been [G7]around a long, long time
[F7]Yes, I've really, really paid my [C7]dues

(Now I'm gonna play Lucille)

[SOLO]
[C7]
[F7] [C7]
[G7] [F7] [C7]

[VERSE]
My [C7]kid's gonna grow up

Gonna grow up to be a fool

Cause they ain't got no more room

No more room for him in school
[F7]And everybody wanna know

Everybody wanna know
Why I'm [C7]singing the blues
I say I've been [G7]around a long time
[F7]Yes, I've really paid some [C7]dues

Yeah, you know [C7]the company told me

Guess you're born to lose

Everybody around me, people
It seems like everybody got the [F7]blues

But I had 'em a long time
I've [C7]really, really paid my dues
You know I [G7]ain't ashamed of it, people
[F7]I just love to sing my [C7]blues

[SOLO]
[C7]
[F7] [C7]
[G7] [F7] [C7]

[VERSE]
I [C7]walk through the cities, people

On my bare feet

I had a fill of catfish and chitterlings

Up in Downbill Street
[F7]You know I'm singing the blues
Yes, I [C7]really

I just have to sing my blues
[G7]I've been around a long time
[F7]People, I've really, [C7]really paid my dues

Now [C7]Father Time is catching up with me

Gone is my youth

I look in the mirror everyday

And let it tell me the truth
[F7]I'm singing the blues
Mm, [C7]I just have to sing the blues
[G7]I've been around a long time
[F7]Yes, yes, I've really [C7]paid some dues

[SOLO]
[C7]
[F7] [C7]
[G7] [F7] [C7]

[VERSE]
Yeah, [C7]they told me everything

Would be better out in the country

Everything was fine

I caught me a bus uptown, baby
[F7]And every people, all the people

Got the same trouble as mine
[C7]I got the blues, huh huh
I say I've been [G7]around a long time
[F7]I've really paid [C7]some dues

One more time, fellows!

[C7]Blind man on the corner

Begging for a dime

The rollers come and caught him
And throw him in the jail for a crime [F7]

I got the blues
Mm, I'm [C7]singing my blues
I've been [G7]around a long time
[F7]Mm, I've really paid some [C7]dues

Can we do just one more?

[C7]Oh I thought I'd go down to the welfare

To get myself some grits and stuff

But a lady stand up and she said
"You haven't been around long enough" [F7]

That's why I got the blues
Mm, [C7]the blues
I [G7]say, I've been around a long time
[F7]I've really, really paid [C7]my dues

Fellows, tell them one more time

[SOLO]
(Ad lib)
[C7]
[F7] [C7]
[G7] [F7] [C7]

Ha, ha, ha. That's all right, fellows

Yeah!