Isley Brothers, The - Black Berries Lyrics






You know my brothers and I was raised in Cincinnati
Cincinnati Ohio
And I remember when we were kids we used to walk to the woods
And go black berry picking
Swinging our baskets on our arms
Skipping down the road, you know
And Kelly used to have an expression, you used to say back then
We made a song out of that expression
I remember the words of it
It used to go a little 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 black berries so much
And everywhere he would go he would use that as his excuse you know
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 kind of ice potatoes [?]

Saying
The blacker the berry
The sweeter the juice
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 just drank all the lemonade we could get
Til we knocked ourselves clean off our feet
And we walked along
Singing the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice
Come on y'all
Black berry
The sweeter the juice
Help me sing this song
Black berries
The sweeter, the sweet the juice
Now how would you look eating a green berry, you know
What's the use
Swing you basket on your arm
Sing it sing it sing this song
The blacker the berry
The blacker the berry
Yeah yeah
The sweeter the juice
I like black berries
And everywhere I go, that's my excuse
I can still hear them singing the song
If you listen hard enough you'll hear
The sweeter the juice
The blacker the berry
Blacker the berry

I like black berries
That's my excuse

Black black black
Sweeter the juice
Sing it one more time
Little baby
The sweeter the juice

I like black berries
I like black berries
That's my excuse

Sing, sing sing the song
Blacker the berry
Sweeter the juice
Blacker the berries
Sweeter the juice

I like black berries
I like black berries
That's my excuse

We would wander along
Sing sing sing the song

I like black berries
I like black berries
That's my excuse





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Isley Brothers, The Black Berries Comments
  1. D.... B....

    this song only went to #43 on the R&B charts in 1969!!!

  2. B.... W....

    Different from Tamla Motown but it would catch on and would take them through the Disco era That's when the trio would expand to a sextet

  3. B.... B....

    Not sure if it's really about fruit picking tho :)

  4. S.... T....

    So much funkier after they left Tamla

    S.... T....

    Right. They rebooted T-Neck and took control of their thing....

  5. M.... M....

    From and including: Sunday, June 1, 1980
    To and including: Saturday, June 9, 2018

    Result: 13,888 days
    It is 13,888 days from the start date to the end date, end date included

    Or 38 years, 9 days including the end date

  6. r.... 6....

    the isleys were the funkiest soul band between 1969-73. their later albums
    were bogged down with too many ballads.

    r.... 6....

    1) they weren't the funkiest
    2) they had just as many rocking songs as ballads.

    r.... 6....

    riversidepete 61 the Isley ballads are all time favorites of alot of folks. A bunch of people are here because of their parents listening to those slow jams

  7. C.... A....

    have the vinyl.

    C.... A....

    +C Alexis Me too! Dope Album!

    C.... A....

    I do have the CD album reissue as part of The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters 23 CD Album Box Set. Digitally remastered from the original analog studio album master tapes and sounds much better than the original analog record album static free.

    C.... A....

    @Mr. Lonnie Booker  You are missing the authentic static! LOL kidding. I bought this album from a record store in the early 90's or late 80's  for 22 dollars. 

    C.... A....

    That's good. But, I've already bought their CD Album Box Set on 23 CD's with Extra Tracks and Previously unheard alternate outtake recordings that didn't appear on original analog studio albums that the Isleys did from their original analog studio master tapes. The digital remasters sounds much better and clearer than the original analog studio masters and with mini LP album jacket cover replicas of their studio album release.

  8. C.... A....

    one of my favorite songs.