Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney - Tom Paxton

The night air is heavy, no cool breezes blow

The sounds of the voices are 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 accordin' to plan

With the one broken body do the best that you can

It’s the body of young James Chaney

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 coloured boy too

Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney

James Chaney your body exploded in pain

And the beating they gave you is pounding my brain

And they murdered much more with their dark bloody chains

And the body of pity lies bleeding

The pot-bellied copper shook hands all around

And joked with the rednecks who came into town

And they swore that the murderer soon would be found

And they laughed as they spat their tobacco