Mississippi Goddam

Alabama's gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

Everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

Alabama's gotten me so upset

Lurleen Wallace has made me lose my rest

Everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

Can't you see it?

I know you can feel it

It's all in the air

I can't stand the pressure much longer

Somebody say a prayer

Alabama has gotten me so upset

And Memphis has made me lose my rest

Everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

Hound dogs on my trail

Little school children sitting in jail

Black cat cross my path

I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord, have mercy on this land of mine

We all gonna get it in due time

'Cause I don't belong here

I don't belong there

I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me, I'll tell you

Me and my people just about due

I've been there, so I know

They keep on saying, "Go slow"

Well that's just the trouble

(Do it slow)

Washing the windows

(Do it slow)

Picking the cotton

(Do it slow)

Nothing but rotten

(Do it slow)

Too damn lazy

(Do it slow)

Thinking's crazy

(Do it slow)

Where am I going?

What am I doing?

I don't know

I don't know

Just try to do my very best

Stand up, be counted with all the rest

'Cause everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

Now, you heard him

He's one of you

If you have been moved at all

And you know my songs at all

For God sakes, join me

Don't sit back there

The time is too late now

Good God

You know?

The king is dead

The king of love is dead

I ain't about to be non-violent, honey

Whoa, no

Picket lines, school boycotts

They try to say it's a communist plot

But all I want is equality

For my sister, my brother, my people, and me

And I loved him because he believed it

He lived by it

But you lied to me all these years

You told me to wash and clean my ears

And talk real fine just like a lady

And you stopped calling my mama Aunt Sadie

But my country is full of lies

We all gonna die, and die like flies

I don't trust nobody anymore

Keep on saying, "Go slow"

That's just the trouble

(Do it slow)

Desegregation

(Too slow)

Mass participation

(Too slow)

Unification

(Too slow)

Do things gradually

(Too slow)

But bring more tragedy

(Too slow)

Why don't you see it?

Why don't you feel it?

I don't know

I don't know

You don't have to live next to me

Just give me my equality

'Cause everybody knows about Mississippi

Everybody knows about Alabama

Everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

That's it