Blue Monk - Abbey Lincoln

Going' alone, life is your own, but the cost sometimes is dear.
Being complete, knowing defeat, keeping on from year to year.
It takes some doing, monkery's the blues you hear, keeping on from year to year.

Life is a school, less' you're a fool, but the learning brings you pain.
Knowing at once, you're just a dunce, trial and error loss and gain.
It takes some doing, monkery's a slow slow train, trial and error loss and gain.

Finding your one place in the sun, doesn't come the easy way
Shallow or deep, nothing is cheap, measured by the dues you pay
It takes some doing,
Monkery's a blue highway,
Measured by the dues you pay.