i. Mood Indigo<br >it hasnt always been this way<br >ellington was not a street<br >robeson no mere memory<br >du bois walked up my father s stairs<br >hummed some tune over me<br >sleeping in the company of men<br >who changed the world<br >it wasnt always like this<br >why ray barretto used to be a side-man<br >& dizzy s hair was not always grey<br >i remember i was there<br >i listened in the company of men<br >politics as necessary as collards<br >music even in our dreams<br >our house was filled with all kinda folks<br >our windows were not cement or steel<br >our doors opened like our daddy s arms<br >held us safe & loved<br >children growing in the company of men<br >old southern men & young slick ones<br >sonny til was not a boy<br >the clovers no rag-tag orphans<br >our crooners/we belonged to a whole world<br >nkrumah was no foreigner<br >virgil aikens was not the only fighter<br >it hasnt always been this way<br >ellington was not a street<br >