Now the
Georgia
courtroom was crowded,
Ellie Mae took the stand
She was accusing
the Reverend Joe Henry
of being a no -good preaching man
Yes she was
Oh, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm
She said, the Reverend partook
of my lovely body
The Reverend said, Judge, she lied
The Judge said, listen, I'll do the talking
And the court's gonna justify,
yes, they will
Oh, hm, hm,
Well, the prosecuting attorney
started fa cin' the floor
Sweatin' and makin' threats
Fellow sittin' next to me said,
I know that preacher's guilty
They ain't even tried him yet, I said, son
The Reverend Joe Henry's a good man
And he preached all over the bottom land
He spoke so a child could un derstand
There ought to be a whole
lot more good folks
Like the Reverend Joe Henry
Preaching in the bottom land
Well, the judge called the court to order
He defense, will you state
your case?
That defense law yer
walked to the jury box,
had a stern look on his face.
One by one, he pointed to the jury, said,
the reverend picked cotton by your side.
He blessed your children
the day they was born.
And he cried when your mama died.
I've seen him all, oh, Lord,
God.
Somebody cussed and said,
hang him, he's guilty,
the judge said, now listen here,
one more outbreak of emotion like that in this courtroom and I'll just have it cleared,
yes I will.
Then the foreman addressed the court,
said
I've known the reverend all his life, said
And he got shot up so bad back
during the war
that it couldn't even take him a while
Now y 'all know what I'm
talkin' about,
don't ya? Uh -huh, uh -huh
Well, I swore I'd never tell a soul
But his life is layin' on the line
But there ain't no way on
God's green earth
That the Reverend could
have done this crime
The Reverend Joe Henry's a good man
And he preached all over
the bottom land
Spoke so a child could understand
I want to be a whole lot more good, folks,
like a ribbon to a thread
Preachin' in the bottom land
Hmm Folks
Tellin' me just fold it
Like a chair
Faint it dead in the tracks
Tellin' me, I don't believe