Story Behind The Song
I investigated the Tulia case and filed the first complaint with the Justice Department and lobbied the legislature to change the law. After four years in jail the Tulia defendants were freed by a full pardon from the Texas governor. I wrote this song and
Song Description
Jamming protest of the now infamous 1999 racially motivated drug bust that took down 10% of the black population of a small town in the Texas Panhandle. Very nice groove.
| Song Length |
4:09 |
Genre |
Pop - Alternative, R & B - Classic |
| Tempo |
Medium (111 - 130) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Mad, Moving |
Subject |
Civil Rights, Race/Ethnicity |
| Similar Artists |
Seal |
Language |
English |
| Era |
2000 and later |
| |
Lyrics
We 're so blue, we're black in Tulia, Texas.
Never take us back to Tulia, Texas.
All our children long since have forgotten
'Bout their daddies out here pickin cotton on the prison farms
And now its cotton pickin time in Tulia, Texas.
We're so white, we're hot in Tulia, Texas.
Never smoke no pot in Tulia, Texas.
Thank the lord the vice laws have been written.
Dark hearted sinners shall be smitten by the vengeful law
And now it's cotton pickin time in Tulia, Texas.
We're so black, we're blue in Tulia, Texas.
It just can't be true in Tulia, Texas
That our guilt was written in our faces
They done gone and wiped out all the traces of our families
And now it's cotton pickin time in Tulia, Texas.