The rise of the black messiah chords by Indigo Girls
Verse 1
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They called you "The rise of the Black Messiah"
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like so many boys before you
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And they'll be more,
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more to follow threatening and hard to swallow
Verse 2
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I'm sit ting underneath that hanging tree,
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just me and the ghost of the KKK
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Poor man's gallows in the middle of the woods
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- the saddest tree that ever stood
Interlude 1
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Verse 3
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My friend I heard you tell of slavery's end
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but have you heard of mass incarceration
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That ol' Jim Crow he just keeps getting born with a
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new hanging rope for the black man's scourge
Verse 4
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Hey Ol' Man River what do you know
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of that plantation they call Angloa?
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The devil spawned a prison there
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- the saddest farm that ever lived
Verse 5
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Your great- granddaddy he worked that land
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with shackles on his feet and on hands
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He built them levees he chopped that can
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he died in the mud in his chains
Now you stand where he once stood shackles
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on you all the same
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Verse 6
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But he's gonna rise, he's gonna rise and all
them lynchers are gonna be damned
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When outta that mud walks a brand new man
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Interlude 2
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Verse 7
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They called you "The Rise of the Black
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Messiah" and said they'd do any damn
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Thing they could to keep ya-
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You and your brothers from spreading the word,
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the gospel of freedom and
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Black man's worth
Verse 8
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40 years in solitary,
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consider the man they just can't bury
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I got this letter in my hand,
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saying tell this story when you can
Verse 9
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He's gonna rise, he's gonna rise and all
them lynchers are gonna be damned
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When outta that hold walks a brand new man
Outro 1
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The rise of the black messiah
Indigo girls
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