I'm an old woman typing  Old as the year, seventy-eight  Hear what I say  I was born in Laurel, Mississippi,  I live in North Carolina today  With my grandson James.  Now about the children  I had five children before the Great Depression  Five more since then.  All of them are living now  But the one that died in the war.  All the rest had children, too.  CHORUS:  Don't blame the children  Every girl, every boy,  They ain't no burden,  They're my pride and joy.  I know they're beautiful  Like leaves on a tree  And as I am growing old  They shelter me.  I have worked at every kind of job  Nursed people, preached, and sang  When I was a young woman, I built roads  I have not worked a job  In nineteen years--my grandchildren  Take care of me.  Now listen to me  Babies don't cause poverty  'Cause poverty  Is just people never paid enough for what we done.  You hear them talk--barefoot and  Pregnant. But I been barefoot  Pregnant or not.  CHORUS  I have known socialists  They stayed in my home in 1964  For the vote drive  They were like my children  I don't care if they be black or white  God bless you and all the socialists  My first husband was a Methodist  We did not drink but we did dance  When we had our family picnic  I think the white folks thought the colored  Was taking over, there was so many,  And the young men still ask me to dance.  CHORUS