hey nelly nelly

Lyrics

hey nelly, nelly, come to the window, hey nelly, nelly, 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, he sure is talkin' like he's been to school, and it's 1853, hey nelly, nelly, listen what he's sayin', hey nelly, nelly, he says it's gettin' late, and he says them black folks should be free, to walk around the same as you and me, he's talkin' about a thing he calls democracy, and it's 1858, hey nelly, nelly, hear the band a-playing, hey nelly, nelly, hand me down my gun, for the men are cheerin' and the boys are too, they're all puttin' on their coats of blue, i can't sit around here and talk to you, and it's 1861, hey nelly, nelly, come to the window, hey nelly, nelly, i've come home 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, in 1865, hey nelly, nelly, come to the window, hey nelly, nelly, look at what i see, i see white folks and colored walkin' side by side, thy're walking in a column that's a century wide, it was a long and a hard and a bloody ride, in 1963