Before The Money Came The Battle Of Bettye Lavette

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Hey, hey!
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[Verse 1]

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Clothes shootin’ don’t kill no birds
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I’m standin’ tall with the rest of the girls
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Hangin’ on, to my mama’s every word
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Gonna’ sing ‘em out loud and conquer the world
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All them faces on the pictures up there
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Makes me remember when my table was bare
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Livin’, at my mama’s house
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Takin’ food, from my family’s mouth...before the money came

[Verse 2]

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I was singing R’n’B back in ‘62
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Before you were born and your mama too
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I knew David Ruffin when he was hopeless
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Sleeping on my floor before he crossed over
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All my friends on the Grammy shows
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I was stuck in Detroit trying to open doors
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Record deals kept falling apart
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One with Atlantic nearly broke my heart...before the money came

[Bridge]

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      I got a lot to say
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      So proud I was built this way
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Some folks didn’t see my worth
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Didn’t know where I fit in
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Fourty years I kept on singing
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Before the money started rolling in

[Guitar solo – 8 measures]

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[Verse 3]

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Oh, there was a time when I would call it luck
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If I got me a gig for fifty bucks
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Now I got all these big decisions to make
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Never thought success would be hard to take
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Shoes on my feet, more in the closet
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Silk on my skin, more if I want it
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All these years I kept my style
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I wouldn’t cross over, so it took me a while...before the money came

[Bridge]

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Yo!   I got so much to say
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      So damn proud I was built this way
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Some folks didn’t see my worth
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Didn’t know where I fit in
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Forty years I kept singing
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Before the money started rolling in

[Outro]

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Bb   F     C7
Before the money came, before the money came
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Before the money came, before the money came