Hey Nellie Nellie

Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window Hey Nellie, Nellie, look at what I see He's ridin' into town on a sway-back mule He's got a tall black hat and he looks like a fool But he sure is talkin' like he's been to school, and it's 1853 Hey Nellie, Nellie, hear what he's sayin' Hey Nellie, Nellie, says it's gettin' late Says all them black folks should be free To walk around the same as you and me He's talkin' about a thing they call democracy, and it's 1858 Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window Hey Nellie, Nellie, hand me down my gun For the men are cheerin' and the boys are too They're all puttin' on their coats of blue And I ain't got no time to sit and talk to you, and it's 1861 Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window Hey Nellie, Nellie, I've come back alive My coat of blue is stained with red And the man in the tall black hat is dead But we sure will remember all the things he said, and it's 1865 Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window Hey Nellie, Nellie, look at what I see There are white folks and colored walkin' side by side A-marchin' in a column that's a century wide It was a long and a hard and a bloody ride, and it's 1963