The Bourgeois Blues

The Bourgeois Blues (or just Bourgeois Blues) is the title of a blues song by Huddie Ledbetter ("Leadbelly"). It was written after Leadbelly went to Washington DC on the request of Alan Lomax, to record a number of songs for the Library of Congress. After they had finished, they decided to go out with their wives to celebrate, but were thrown out of numerous establishments for being an interracial party. The song rails against racism, classism, and discrimination in general, with such verses as " The Land of the Brave/ The home of the Free/ I don't wanna be mistreated by no Bourgeoisie ".

Leadbelly has numerous recordings of the Bourgeois Blues, accompanied by himself on the 12-string guitar. Note that in all but the earliest recording of the song, the original line "Some white folk in Washington/ they know just how, call a colored man a nigger just to see him bow" was altered to " give a colored man a nickle just to see him bow ", presumably to avoid causing offence. The song has been recorded by many other artists, most notably Pete Seeger.