'Twas down in Mississippi
It was not so long ago
A young boy from Chicago Town
Walk through a southern door
Well,This man's fateful tragedy
Please remember well
The color of his skin was black
And his name was Emmett Till
Some men they dragged him to a barn
And there they beat him up
They said they had a reason
But I disremember what
Then they tortured him and they did some things
Too evil to repeat
There was screamin' sounds inside the barn
There was laughin' sound out on the street
When I read the morning papers
But I could not bear
To see the smiling brothers
Walking downing the courthouse stairs
For the jury found them innocent
And the brothers they went free
While Emmett's body floats the foam
Of a Jim Crow southern sea
If you can't speak out against this kind of thing
A crime that's so unjust
Then your eyes must be filled with deadman's dirt
Your mind is filled with dust
Your arms and legs, they must be in shackles and chains
And your mind it must cease to flow
For you'd let this human race
Fall down so God-awful low
This song is just a reminder
To remind your fellow man
That this kind of thing still lives today
In every nation and every land
But if we all then think alike
If we give all we can give
We'd make this Great land of ours
An even greater place to live