Little girl in a big town born with a silver spoon
One parent black, one parent white
Made her way to a school
With the children of the rainbow
But inside her eyes she was color blind
But then she met a black child
Who the people call a victim of a messed up system
They both tried but they couldn't see eye to eye
He said, "Girl you gotta choose
Which side you wanna stand on
If you wanna stand with me
I wanna know, who do you think you really are?"
And she said
[Chorus]
"Tell me where do I stand
When I stand on the color line?
We're so quick to judge, nobody knows
Tell me what I should be
When I stand on the color line?
And I wonder who really knows"
Made her way into a college
When the girl turned seventeen
So beautiful, so very wise
She had a vision of a family,
Home, and her own career
She remained the apple of her parents eye
Then she met a white child
Who said that he loved her
Didn't care about culture
"You can be whatever you want today
But you know you gotta choose
Which side you wanna stand on
If you wanna stand with me
I wanna know, who do you think you really are?"
And she said,
[Chorus]
A grown woman in a bed
At a local sanitarium
The nurse feeds her food and then combs her hair
In a place where her mind used to be she remembers
How her life was good when she used to care
Then her mind flashed back
To the night when both men asked her to marry
But every offer comes along with a deal
They both said, "You gotta choose
Which side you wanna stand on
If you wanna stand with me
How do you know,
How do you know who you really are?"
And she said,
[Chorus]