Emmylou Harris - My Name is Emmett Till Lyrics
I was born a black boyMy name is Emmett TillI walked this earth for 14 yearsAnd one night I was killedFor speaking to a womanWhose skin was white as doughThat's a sin in MississippiBut how was I to know?I'd come down from ChicagoTo visit with my kinUp there I was a cheeky kidI guess I'd always beenBut the harm they put upon me Was too hard for what I'd doneFor I was just a black boyAnd never hurt no oneOh oh oh oh oh ohOh oh oh oh oh ohThey took me from my uncle's houseMose Wright was his name.He'd later stand and, without hesitation,Point the blameAt the ones who beat and cut meAnd shot me with a gunAnd threw me in the riverLike I was trash when they were doneI was sent back to my mother,At least what was left of me,She kept my casket openFor the whole wide world to seeThe awful desecrationAnd the evidence of hateYou could not recognize meThe mutilation was so greatThere came a cry for justiceTo be finally fulfilledAll because of me, a black boyMy name is Emmett TillOh oh oh oh oh ohOh oh oh oh oh ohOh oh oh oh oh ohOh oh oh oh oh ohOh, but I'd have rather lived’Till I was too old to die youngNot miss all I left behindAnd all that might have comeSummer clouds above my headThe grass beneath my feetThe warmth of a good womanHer kisses soft and sweetPerhaps to be a fatherWith a black boy of my ownWatch him grow into a kinder worldThan I had knownWhere no child would be murderedFor the colour of his skinAnd love would be the only thingInside the hearts of menThey say the horror of that nightIs haunting Heaven stillWhere I am one more black boyMy name is Emmett Till
