Prince

Released: December 21, 2000

Songwriter: Randall Stewart

Producer: Prince

[Intro]
When will we be paid
For the work we've done?
When will we be paid
For the work we've done?

[Verse 1]
We fought in your wars in every land
To keep this country free, y'all
For women, children and men
But every time
We ask for pay or a loan
That's when everything seems to turn out wrong

We been beat up
Called names
Shot down and stoned
Every time we do right
Somebody say we're wrong

[Chorus]
Tell me
When will we be paid
For the work we've done
When will we be paid
For the work we've done

[Verse 2]
Listen
We worked this country
From shore to shore
Our women cooked all your food
And washed all your clothes

We picked cotton
And laid the railroad steel
Worked our hands
Down to the bone at your lumber mill

[Chorus]
Tell me
When will we be paid
For the work we've done?
When will we be paid
For the work we've done?

[Bridge]
Will we ever be proud of
"My country, tis of thee"?
Will we ever sing out loud
"Sweet land of Liberty"?
When will we be paid
For the work we've done?

I wanna know
I wanna
I wanna
I wanna know
(When, when, when, when)

[Chorus]
When will we be paid
For the work we've done?
When will we be paid
For the work we've done?

Why can't we be paid?
Oh, oh
When
When will we be paid?
We've given up our sweat
Now

[Outro]
And all of our tears
Stumbled through this life
For more than three hundred years
I
I wanna know
The work we've done

An American singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and actor that produced 22 RIAA-platinum albums during his 40-year career, Prince may be known for one of many different things – his turn as “The Kid” in the iconic film/album/8 ½ minute ballad “Purple Rain”, being the writer behind the acclaimed anthem “Kiss,” rivaling Michael Jackson at the pinnacle of his career, being the inspiration behind censorship laws, or being the artist addressed as an unpronounceable symbol throughout the 1990s—but while many know of Prince, most don’t fully understand the impact his legacy left on this world.

Going by many aliases throughout his life, Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 7, 1958 with his father’s (John L. Nelson) stage name as his own given one. Growing up, Prince suffered from serious epileptic seizures at a very young age, but he had wrote his first composition of many by age seven, and outside of his love for basketball, he wanted music to be his purpose in life. His tumultuous childhood, witnessing alcoholism and abuse, caused him to find refuge in neighbor André Cymone’s home in his teens, where the two competed in local band competitions, leading to Prince’s introduction to Morris Day alongside music with his cousin’s band 94 East, leading him to be courted by record labels and ultimately signed to Warner Bros. Records with complete creative control; at 19, his debut album, For You (1978) was released – Prince played all 19 instruments on the record.

Influenced by the likes of Miles Davis, Rick James, and James Brown, Prince desired to form a music dynasty and after the success of his next albums – the platinum-selling Prince (1979), the sexually-charged Dirty Mind (1980), and politically-motivated Controversy (1981) – he negotiated for the ability to form his own label and manage artists of his own. Prince’s trademark sexual/religious rhetoric within pop-and-dance, funk-rock sound gained him a following, but his opening slates for Rick James and The Rolling Stones were both negatively received and facing bankruptcy, the young artist began to reach for mainstream popularity. Cashing on the drug-influenced doomsday mania of the times, 1982’s 1999 easily achieved that mainstream appeal, landing him on MTV, music charts, and radio stations across the world.

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