The Blacker The Berrie (a/k/a Black Berries)

You know my brothers and I was raised in Cincinnati

You know, Cincinnati, Ohio

And I remember when we were kids, you know

We used to walk to the woods, you know

And go blackberry picking

Swinging our baskets on our arms

Skipping down the road, you know

And Jelly used to have an expression he used to say back then

And we made a song out of that expression

I remember the words of it

It used to go a little bit like this

The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice

He said these words

The blacker the berry

He said the sweeter the juice

The blacker the berry

Sweeter the juice

You know he digged blackberries so much

And everywhere he would go he would use that as his excuse, you know

For staying out late at night

And my brother Rudolph, he used to like strawberries

If I remember correctly, at the time

And at the time my thing was wild cherries

I remember the three of us used to steal tomatoes

And lay on the ground and peel all kinds of ice potatoes

And sing

The blacker the berry, ha

The sweeter the juice

Oh yeah, alright

Lord have mercy

Yeah, yeah, we used to strip down bananas

And throw the peelings away at the same time in the street, you know

And when it got hot we'd drink all the lemonade we could get

'Til we knocked ourselves clean off our feet

And then we'd walk along, singing the blacker the berry

The sweeter the juice

Come on, y'all

Blackberries, the sweeter the juice

Help me sing this song

Blackberries, the sweeter, the sweeter the juice

Now how would you look eating a green berry, you know

Ah, what's the use?

Swing your basket on your arm

And sing, and sing, and sing, and sing this song

Blacker the berry, all at the same time

The blacker the berry, yeah yeah

The sweeter the juice

I like blackberries and everywhere I go, that's my excuse

I can still hear him singing this song

If you listen hard enough you'll hear it

Listen at it, sweeter the juice

Black are the berries

That's the way he sung it

You know he sung it like that

Black are the berries

I like blackberries, that's my excuse

Sing the song, Jelly

Black, the black, the black, the black

The black, the black are the berries

Sweeter the juice

Sing it one more time

Black are the berries, sweeter the juice

I like blackberries, I like blackberries, that's my excuse

Sing, sing, sing, sing the song

Black are the berries, sweeter the juice

Black are the berries, sweeter the juice

I like blackberries, and I like blackberries, that's my excuse

And we would walk along and sing, sing, sing the song

Keep on singing, Lord have mercy

Keep on singing, black are the berries, sweeter the juice

I like blackberries, I like blackberries, that's my excuse

Yeah, yeah, black are the berries