MIKE, RedLee - Why I’m Here? lyrics

"It is surely time that the speech of
The black culture of America be recognized
As a genuine dialect of English it is
In every sense of the word"

"and that's why I'm here merry
Christmas to you all
And I'll see you next year hey now
I'm better than I thought I was"
"You sure are, Lenora, that was great"
"Very proper English, is it? If
That's the proper spelling
Why is it so easy?" "Here, Lenora
Try this i then gave her a copy of
The original standard English version
Of the poem" "Uh, uh, what's that?"
"'Twas'" "What's that mean?"
"It means, 'it was' Go ahead, Lenora
I'll help you if you have any trouble"
"'T- 'Twas the- the night before Christmas
And all through the house not a crea-crea-'
How come I'm gettin' so mixed up?"
"Well, it's a little different than the one
You first read that should be 'creature'"
"Oh, I see 'creature was st-stirring
Not even a mouse'"
"Lenora's problem with the regular
Version of the poem was that she could not
Cope with the unfamiliar
Grammar the translated
Version used standard English spellings
So it was apparent that sound spelling
Correspondences were not entirely
The problem" "'The moon on the on the roof
The from falling snow gave
The gave the land of really
Thing to objects below" "Good"
"I'm glad that's over"
"This unplanned experiment was
Duplicated with other inner city children
And always with positive results
It's suggested that"