Neneh Cherry

Released: October 19, 2018

Songwriter: Paul Simm Neneh Cherry Four Tet Booga Bear

Producer: Four Tet

[Verse 1]
You can sleep-walk back and find me
Another symphony in session
Walkin' today for the people
Watch the smoke rise behind me

[Chorus]
Isn't that my right
When to breathe to my own guilt
It's so hard anyway as it is
Joker's wild, laughin' back
But I have to stay
Cut you loose, cut you up
Cut me free, cut me up
I wanna choose my own day
Let me go, call me now
Black Monday

[Verse 2]
Another black Monday came to stab me up
We stood up, I stand up
Empty promised land, we dressed it up
A woman, we messed it up
Liar sleep-walk back to find me
Just turnin' up, I'm outta luck
Watch the fires rise behind me
We sew it up, it's gotta stop

[Chorus]
Isn't that my right
When to breathe to my own guilt
It's so hard anyway as it is
Joker's wild, laughin' back
But I have to stay
Cut you loose, cut you up
Cut me free, cut me up
I wanna choose my own day
Let me go, call me now
Black Monday

[Verse 3]
Back in the black alley never thought I'd see the day
It's throwback time and comin' just like yesterday
Here's my body, not my own, I still have to pay
Give it all away
Dressin' up clean, me looking sharp
Coat hangin' wire and wear me out
Hangin' out, bleedin' out
Soul-searchin' notes
For all the people that stood beside me
I had some men that felt just like me

[Chorus]
Isn't that my right
When to breathe to my own guilt
It's so hard anyway as it is
Joker's wild, laughin' back
But I have to stay
Cut you loose, cut you up
Cut me free, cut me up
I wanna choose my own day
Let me go, call me now
Black Monday

(Isn't that, to breathe)
We'll never let go
(To my own, it's so hard anyway)
We'll never let go
(As it is, joker's wild)
I'll never let go
(Laughin' back, but I have to stay)
Never let go

(Cut you loose, cut you up, cut me free)
We'll never let go
(Cut me up, I wanna choose my own way)
We'll never let go
I'll never let go
We'll never let go
(Black Monday)

Neneh Mariann Karlsson was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and a father from Sierra Leone. Her mother raised her in a commune with her stepfather, jazz musician Don Cherry (father of Eagle Eye Cherry).

She moved to London in the 1980s and immersed herself in the Bristol music scene (where Massive Attack and Portishead would form), getting involved with bands such as The Cherries, The Slits, New Age Steppers, Rip Rig + Panic and Float Up CP.

But it was her collaboration with the duo Morgan-McVey, who released only the one single “Looking Good Diving”, that would be the springboard to launch her into international stardom. The single’s B-side featured Cherry rapping over the A-side’s instrumental tracks with what later became the lyrics to her 1988 debut breakout single “Buffalo Stance” (its music reworked by Bomb The Bass' Tim Simenon) – which reached the top 10 in eleven countries.

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