GOODMAN, SCHWERNER AND CHANEY
(Tom Paxton)

The night air is heavy, no cool breezes blow
The sound of the voices is worried and low
Desperately wondering, and desperate to know
About Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.

Calm desperation and flickering hope
Reality grapples like a hand on the throat
For you live in the shadow of ten feet of rope
If you're Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.

The Pearl River was dragged and two bodies were found
But it was a blind alley, for both men were brown
So they all shrugged their shoulders and the search it went on
For Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.

Pull out the dead bodies from the ooze of the dam
Take the bodies to Jackson, all according to plan
With the one broken body, do the best that you can
Its the body of young James Chaney.

Well the nation was outraged and shocked through and through
Call J. Edgar Hoover! He'll know what to do
For they've murdered two white men! - (and a colored boy, too)
Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.

James Chaney, your body exploded in pain
And the beating they gave you is pounding my brain
For they murdered much more with their dark, bloody chains
And the body of pity lies bleeding.

The pot-bellied coppers shook hands all around
And joked with the rednecks who came into town
And they swore that the murderers soon would be found
And they laughed as they spat their tobacco.

^^
©Tom Paxton/Deep Fork
Recorded on "Ain"t That News" Elektra EKS-7298

"Goodwin" changed to "Goodman". --JoeClone, 4-Feb-04.