My forebears refused to cut the sugar cane for plantation owners, and I am recognisably a product of that background.

We've cut too much sugar cane, we've picked too much cotton, we've died too young, ... Don't give up now. It's dark, I know. But morning is coming.

I am myself of a mixed background.

It is necessary that I am viewed as a product. I am a product.

I have been sustained by cane field, the cane plantation I have.

I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody.