My Name is Emmett Till

Emmylou Harris - My Name Is Emmett Till
I was born a black boy
My name is Emmett Till

Walked this earth for 14 years
One night I was killed
For speaking to a woman
Whose skin was white as dough
That's a sin in Mississippi
But how was I to know?

I come down from Chicago

To visit with my kin
There I was a cheeky kid
I guess I always been
But the harm they put upon me
Was too hard for what I done
For I was just a black boy
I never hurt no one
Oh oh oh oh oh oh ...

They took me from my uncle's house
Mose Wright was his name
He'd be later standing without hesitation

Point the blame
At the ones who beat and cut me
And shot me with the gun

And threw me in the river
Like I was trash when they were done

I was sent back to my mother
At least what was left of me

She kept my casket open

For the whole wide world to see

The awful desecration

And the evidence of hate
You could not recognize me
The mutilation was so great

Became a cry for justice then
To be finally fulfilled
All because of me, a black boy
My name was Emmett Till

Oh oh oh oh oh oh ...

Oh, I had rather lived
Till I was too old to die young
Not even a soul I left behind
All that might have come

Summer clouds above my head
The grass beneath my feet

The warmth of a good woman
Her kisses soft and sweet

Perhaps to be a father
Of a black boy of my own
Watch him grow into a kinder world

Than I had known
Where no child would be murdered
For the color of his skin

And love would be the only thing

Inside the hearts of men

They say the horror of that night

Is haunting heaven still

Where I am one more black boy
My name is Emmett Till