Well the boss man cut my chains and set me free
Now I don’t know, I don’t know what will come of me
I don’t know nothing except the way I live …
Now the boss man cut my chains
And set me free

My father was a working slave
Just like me
You learn to keep your head down
Don’t look to see
What’s going on all around you
All my life been that way
Now the boss man cut my chains
And he walk away

Now I can’t write and I can’t read
I have no school
And here I’m standing in the world
Like a worn out mule
I don’t know what is going to come now
Or what will be
Well now the boss man cut my chains
Says him free

What can I do
What’s going to become of me?
I don’t know nothing
Except these working fields I see
Oh now I’m standing on the outside
With a fear inside me
Now the boss man cut my chains
And said I’m free