I woke up with Charles Wright’s “Express Yourself” tune in my head but I was saying “Respect Yourself” which I knew belonged to the Staple Singers so since there is a legit message contained in both songs here ya go:
If you disrespect anybody
That you run in to
How in the world do you think
Anybody’s s’posed to respect you
If you don’t give a heck ’bout the man
With the Bible in his hand
Just get out the way
And let the gentleman do his thing
You the kind of gentleman
That want everything your way
Take the sheet off your face, boy
It’s a brand new day
Respect yourself, respect yourself
If you don’t respect yourself
Ain’t nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na
Respect yourself, respect yourself
If you’re walking ’round
Think’n that the world
Owes you something
‘Cause you’re here
You goin’ out
The world backwards
Like you did
When you first come here
Keep talkin’ ’bout the president
Won’t stop evolution
Put your hand on your mouth
When you cough, that’ll help the solution
Oh, you cuss around women
And you don’t even know their names
And you dumb enough to think
That’ll make you a big ol man
Respect yourself, respect yourself
If you don’t respect yourself
Ain’t nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na
Respect yourself, respect yourself
Respect yourself, respect yourself
Express Yourself!
Express Yourself!
You don’t never need help from nobody else
All you got to do now:
Express Yourself!
What ever you do, uh, do it good, uh
What ever you do, do , do, Lord, Lord, do it good
All right…
It’s not what you look like, when you’re doin’ what you’re doin’
It’s what you’re doin’ when you’re doin’ what you look like you’re doin’!
Express Yourself!
Express Yourself!
They’re doin’ it on the moon, yeah, uh
In the jungle too, uh
Everybody on the floor, now, uh
Jumpin’ like a kangaroo
So let the horns do the thing they do, yo…ah, uh, ow! Uh-uh uh uh
Some people have everything, and other people don’t
But everything don’t mean a thing if it ain’t the thing you want
Express Yourself!
Express Yourself!
Oh, do it! Oh, do it
Do it to it, go on and do it
Yo, do it, give
Express Yourself!
Express Yourself
Uh!
Uh, express yourself, uh express yourself
Uh express yourself
Uh express yourself
Express yourself
Express yourself
Express yourself
Maybe this was in reaction to all those d*mn reality shows I watched over the last few days because although they may been “expressing” themselves I kept missing the “respecting” themselves element and shouldn’t that be the goal? Express yourself AND respect yourself? Right, so let’s make that the mantra. At a minimum I know it shouldn’t be “play yourself” – geez.
