Key: Bb major
Verse 1
Dm
[Spoken]
E
F
Dm
Em
What I've realized since is that it's a very painful process but it is not destructive. It's the road to liberation. The what really happened in the sixties
F
Dm
E
Em
F
Dm
E
Em
F
Dm
was that this country took just the first step toward admitting that it had been wrong on race, and creativity burst out in all directions.
Verse 2
Dm
From the color of the faces
Em
in Sunday songs
F
To the hatred they raised
all the youngsters on
Dm
Em
Once upon a time in this country, long ago
F
She knew there was
something wrong
Dm
Because the song said "yellow,
E
red, black, and white
F
Every one precious in the path of Christ"
Dm
But what about the daughter
Em
Of the woman cleaning their house?
F
Wasn't she a child they were
singin' about?
Dm
And if Jesus
Verse 3
E
loves us, black
and white skin
F
Why didn't her white mother
invite them in?
Dm
When did it become a room
Em
F
for no blacks to step in?
How did she already know not
Dm
to ask the question?
F
Left lasting impressions
At a lesson, comfort's gone
Dm
Em
She never thought things would ever change
E
F
Dm
But she always knew there was
something wrong
Verse 4
Dm
F
Always knew there was
Dm
F
somethin' wrong.
Dm
C
She always knew there
F
C
Dm
was somethin' wrong
Verse 5
Dm
C
Dm
Em
Years later, she found herself
F
Mississippi bound to help
Dm
Em
Stop the legalized lynching
F
of Mr. Willy McGee
Dm
But they couldn't stop it
F
So they thought that they'd talk to the
governor about what'd happened
Dm
Em
And say, "We're tired of being used as
F
Dm
an excuse to kill black men"
E
But the cops wouldn't let 'em past
F
And these wo men,
they struck 'em as uppity
Dm
E
So they hauled 'em all off to jail
F
And they called in protective custody
Dm
Then from her
Verse 6
cell
E
She heard her jailers
F
Grumblin' about "outsiders"
Dm
When she called 'em out
Em
F
And said she was from the south,
they shouted,
C
Dm
"Why is a nice,
Em
F
Southern lady makin' trouble
For the governor?"
Dm
She said, "I guess I'm not
Em
your type of lady
F
And I guess I'm not
your type of Southerner
Dm
Em
But be fore you call me traitor,
F
Well it's plain as just to say
Dm
I was a child in Mississippi
E
C
F
But I'm ashamed of it today"
Dm
She always
Verse 7
F
knew there was
Dm
Em
F
somethin' wrong
Dm
C
F
She always knew there was somethin'
C
Dm
E
F
Dm
wrong
F
She always knew there
Dm
F
was somethin' wrong
Dm
F
C
F
She always knew there was somethin'
Dm
wrong
F
([spoken] And, all of a sudden,
C
Dm
I realized I was on the other side)
Verse 8
Imagine the world that you're
standing within
All of your neighbors,
they're family-friends
How How would you cope facing the fact
The flesh on their hands
was tainted with sin?
She faced this every day
People she saw on a regular basis
People she loved, in several cases
People she knew were incredibly racist
Verse 9
Dm
It was painful,
Em
but she never stopped loving them
F
C
Never stopped callin' their names
F
Dm
And she never stopped being
E
Em
a Southern woman
F
And she never stopped
fighting for change
Dm
And she saw that her struggle was
Em
F
in the tradition of ancestors
C
never aware of her
F
Dm
It continues today:
E
Em
F
The soul of a Southerner
Em
Dm
born of the other America
Verse 10
Dm
F
She always knew there was
Dm
F
somethin' wrong
Dm
F
She always knew there was somethin'
Dm
Em
F
wrong
Dm
F
She always knew there
Dm
F
was somethin' wrong
Dm
F
She always knew there was
Dm
somethin' wrong
Verse 11
Dm
[Spoken]
What you win in the immediate battles is little compared to the effort you put into it but if you see that as a part of this total movement to build a new world, you know what could be (????? "oooh,
Em
F
Dm
E
C
F
Dm
E
Em
F
Dm
E
F
Dm
Em
C
F
Dm
E
Em
F
Dm
E
F
C
F
Dm
ooooh"). You do have a choice. You don't have to be a part of the world of the lynchers. You can join the other America. There is another America!
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TunerE A D G B E
ChordsDm E F Em C
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