Love Child
Ross Diana & The Supremes Lyrics

You think that I don't feel love,
I know you doubt my feelings for you, but they are real and strong.

What I feel for you is real love.
My emotions towards you are genuine and passionate.

In other's eyes I see reflected a hurt, scorned, rejected.
The way others view me reflects the pain, shame, and rejection I've experienced.

Love Child, never meant to be,
I was born out of wedlock and society sees me as illegitimate.

Love Child, born in poverty,
I arrived in this world with nothing and still struggle to survive.

Love Child, never meant to be,
My existence is deemed improper and unwanted by societal norms.

Love Child, take a look at me.
See the discrimination and hardship I face because of my birth and status.

I started my life in an old, cold, rundown tenement slum.
I was born and raised in a bleak, impoverished neighborhood.

My father left, he never even married Mom.
My biological father abandoned us and never even committed to us legally.

I shared the guilt my mama knew,
I felt responsible for the shame and blame that my mother faced because of my birth.

So afraid that others knew I had no name.
I was terrified of people finding out that I had no legitimate surname or identity.

This love we're contemplating, is worth the pain of waiting.
Our love is worth enduring the struggles and hardships we face to be together.

We'll only end up hating the child we may be creating.
If we have a child out of wedlock, he/she will experience the same mistreatment, and we may resent them for it.

Love Child, by society,
Society will stigmatize and condemn any child we have outside of a legal marriage.

Love Child, diff'rent from the rest.
Our child will be viewed as unusual, deviant, and inferior due to his/her illegitimate birth.

I started school in a worn, torn, dress that somebody threw out.
I had to wear second-hand clothes to school because we couldn't afford anything new or decent.

I knew the way it was to always live in doubt,
I constantly lived in uncertainty, always worrying about how others perceived me.

To be without the simple things,
We couldn't even afford basic necessities, let alone luxuries or comforts.

So afraid my friends could see the guilt in me.
I feared that my peers would discern my illegitimate status and shame me for it.

Don't think I don't need you,
I do love and rely on you, despite society's disapproval.

Don't think I don't want to please you.
I want to make you happy, but I'm constrained by the societal norms that reject our love.

No child of mine'll be bearing the name of shame I've been wearin'.
I refuse to let any child of mine suffer the same stigma and discrimination that I've had to bear.

Love Child, never quite as good,
I'll always be judged and treated as inferior and unworthy because of my birth and background.

(I'll always love you.)
Despite all the prejudice and hardship, my love for you will never waver.

Love Child, misunderstood.
No one can fully comprehend the challenges and struggles I face as an illegitimate child in a society that rejects me.

(I'll always love you.)
But I know that, through it all, my love for you remains steadfast and true.