Medgar Evers Lullaby

(album: The Judy Collins Concert - 1964)

Bye bye my baby, I'll rock you to sleep,
Sing you a sad song, it might make you weep.
Your Daddy is dead and he'll never come back
And the reason they killed him, because he was black.

I'll tell you a story that you ought to know;
It happened in our town a short while ago.
Your Daddy was walking alone for some air
And a man in the bushes was waiting right there.

That man shot your Daddy and laughed while he died.
Your Daddy lay dying with tears in his eyes.
He cried for the things that a man leaves undone
And he cried for the dreams that he had for his son.

What will you do, son, when you are a man?
Will you learn to live lonely and hate all you can?
Will you try to be happy and try not to see
That all men are slaves 'til their brothers are free.

Bye bye my baby, I'll rock you to sleep,
Sing you a sad song, it might make you weep.
Your Daddy is dead and he'll never come back
And the reason they killed him, because he was black.