In Alabama 1958 The cost of human life is very low A man that's black is trampled on Just like men were a thousand years ago
These are more enlightened days Cruel men and savage ways we left long ago Now every man may walk his road in peace For all are free!
Five thousand years ago a million men Were gathered into royal Egypt's hands Were bound together, forced to build Pyramids of stone in desert sands
These are more enlightened days Cruel men and savage ways we left long ago Now every man may walk his road in peace For all are free!
Mary's son walked through a land of woe Dreaming of the world as it could be The good and lawful men of Rome Nailed him like a robber to the tree
These are more enlightened days Cruel men and savage ways we left long ago Now every man may walk his road in peace For all are free!
In Britain just a hundred years ago The jails were full of poor and hungry men Diggers, chartists, many more Fought and died and rose to fight again
These are more enlightened days Cruel men and savage ways we left long ago Now every man may walk his road in peace For all are free!
Last year a Negro stole a dollar bill The judge he said "We mustn't be severe Instead of death we'll give him life imprisonment To show there's justice here"
These are more enlightened days Cruel men and savage ways we left long ago Now every man may walk his road in peace For all are free!
And so throughout the ages we have seen How progress marches ever on its way No rack, no wheel, no spanish boot For Alabama's prisoners today
These are more enlightened days Cruel men and savage ways we left long ago Now every man may walk his road in peace For all are free!
The plague still runs in 1958 Johannesburg to Notting Hill and back A plague of ignorance and hate Men walk in fear because their skin is black
These are more enlightened days No room for all these savage ways Leave them, let them go Now every man should walk his road in peace Let men be free!