Was down in Mississippi not so long ago When a young boy from Chicago town Walked in a Southern door This boy's fateful tragedy You all should 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 just can't remember what They tortured him and did some things Too evil to repeat There were screaming sounds inside the barn There was laughing sounds out on the street Then they rolled his body down a gulf Amidst a blood red rain And they threw him in the waters wide To cease his screaming pain The reason that they killed him there And I'm a-sure, it was no lie Was just for they found them killing him And to watch him slowly die And then to stop the United States Of yelling for a trial Two brothers, they confessed That they had killed poor Emmett Till But on the jury there were men Who had helped the brothers commit this awful crime And so this trial was a mockery But nobody there seemed to mind I saw the morning papers But I could not bear To see the smiling brothers Walkin' down 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 Your eyes are filled with dead men's dirt Your ears must be filled with dust Your arms and legs They must be in shackles and chains And your blood, it must cease to flow For you to 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 that ghost-robed Ku Klux Klan But if all of us folks that thinks alike If we give all we could give We could make this great land of ours A greater place to live
[00:20.48]Was down in Mississippi not so long ago [00:29.98]When a young boy from Chicago town [00:34.56]Walked in a Southern door [00:39.91]This boy's fateful tragedy [00:43.51]You all should remember well [00:48.40]The color of his skin was black [00:53.04]And his name was Emmett Till [01:00.13]Some men, they dragged him to a barn [01:06.01]And there they beat him up [01:09.30]They said they had a reason [01:13.94]But I just can't remember what [01:18.38]They tortured him and did some things [01:23.66]Too evil to repeat [01:27.65]There were screaming sounds inside the barn [01:32.32]There was laughing sounds out on the street [01:38.16]Then they rolled his body down a gulf [01:42.69]Amidst a blood red rain [01:47.13]And they threw him in the waters wide [01:51.90]To cease his screaming pain [01:56.34]The reason that they killed him there [02:00.93]And I'm a-sure, it was no lie [02:05.37]Was just for they found them killing him [02:10.22]And to watch him slowly die [02:15.35]And then to stop the United States [02:19.15]Of yelling for a trial [02:23.53]Two brothers, they confessed [02:26.69]That they had killed poor Emmett Till [02:32.32]But on the jury there were men [02:36.90]Who had helped the brothers commit this awful crime [02:41.49]And so this trial was a mockery [02:46.13]But nobody there seemed to mind [02:51.67]I saw the morning papers [02:57.50]But I could not bear [03:01.00]To see the smiling brothers [03:05.38]Walkin' down the courthouse stairs [03:09.97]For the jury found them innocent [03:14.49]And the brothers, they went free [03:18.93]While Emmett's body floats the foam [03:23.51]Of a Jim Crow southern sea [03:30.19]If you can't speak out against this kind of thing [03:34.98]A crime that's so unjust [03:39.73]Your eyes are filled with dead men's dirt [03:44.11]Your ears must be filled with dust [03:48.90]Your arms and legs [03:50.50]They must be in shackles and chains [03:53.13]And your blood, it must cease to flow [03:57.64]For you to let this human race [04:02.59]Fall down so God-awful low [04:07.33]This song is just a reminder [04:11.82]To remind your fellow man [04:16.26]That this kind of thing still lives today [04:20.90]In that ghost-robed Ku Klux Klan [04:25.24]But if all of us folks that thinks alike [04:29.72]If we give all we could give [04:34.51]We could make this great land of ours [04:38.95]A greater place to live
