Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV show
With some smart-ass New York Jew
And the Jew laughed at Lester Maddox
And the audience laughed at Lester Maddox too
Well, he may be a fool but he’s our fool
If they think they’re better than him they’re wrong
So I went to the park and I took some paper along
And that’s where I made this song

We talk real funny down here
We drink too much and we laugh too loud
We’re too dumb to make it in no Northern town
And we’re keepin’ the niggers down

We got no-necked oilmen from Texas
And good ol’ boys from Tennessee
And college men from LSU
Went in dumb, come out dumb too
Hustlin’ ’round Atlanta in their alligator shoes
Gettin’ drunk every weekend at the barbecues
And they’re keepin’ the niggers down

We’re rednecks, rednecks
And we don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground
We’re rednecks, we’re rednecks
And we’re keeping the niggers down

Now your northern nigger’s a Negro
You see he’s got his dignity
Down here we’re too ignorant to realize
That the North has set the nigger free

Yes he’s free to be put in a cage
In Harlem in New York City
And he’s free to be put in a cage in the South-Side of Chicago
And the West-Side
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Hough in Cleveland
And he’s free to be put in a cage in East St. Louis
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Fillmore in San Francisco
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Roxbury in Boston
They’re gatherin’ ’em up from miles around
Keepin’ the niggers down

We’re rednecks, we’re rednecks
We don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground
We’re rednecks, we’re rednecks
And we’re keeping the niggers down
We are keeping the niggers down

Got a wife, got a family
Earn my livin’ with my hand
I’m a roller in a steel mill
In downtown Birmingham

My daddy was a barber
And a most unsightly man
He was born in Tuscaloosa
But he died right here in Birmingham

Birmingham, Birmingham
The greatest city in Alabam’
You can travel ‘cross this entire land
But there ain’t no place like Birmingham

My wife’s named Mary
But she’s called Marie
We live in a three room house
With a pepper tree
I work all day in the factory
That’s alright with me

Got a big black dog
And his name is Dan
Who lives in my backyard in Birmingham
He is the meanest dog in Alabam’
Get ’em Dan

Birmingham, Birmingham
The greatest city in Alabam’
You can travel ‘cross this entire land
But there ain’t no place like Birmingham

You looked like a princess the night we met
With your hair piled up high
I will never forget
I’m drunk right now baby
But I’ve got to be
Or I never could tell you
What you meant to me

I loved you the first time I saw you
And I always will love you Marie
I loved you the first time I saw you
And I always will love you Marie

You’re the song that the trees sing when the wind blows
You’re a flower, you’re a river, you’re a rainbow
Sometimes I’m crazy
But I guess you know
And I’m weak and I’m lazy
And I’ve hurt you so
And I don’t listen to a word you say
When you’re in trouble I just turn away

But I love you and I loved you the first time I saw you
And I always will love you Marie
I loved you the first time I saw you
And I always will love you Marie

We’ve taken all you’ve given
But it’s gettin’ hard to make a livin’
Mr. President have pity on the working man

We ain’t asking for you to love us
You may place yourself high above us
Mr. President have pity on the working man

I know it may sound funny
But people ev’ry where are runnin’ out of money
We just can’t make it by ourself
It is cold and the wind is blowing
We need something to keep us going
Mr. President have pity on the working man

Maybe you’re cheatin’
Maybe you’re lyin’
Maybe you have lost your mind
Maybe you’re only thinking ’bout yourself

Too late to run. Too late to cry now
The time has come for us to say good-bye now
Mr. President have pity on the working man
Mr. President have pity on the working man

Yes, baby, I been drinkin’
And I shouldn’t come by I know
But I found myself in trouble, darlin’
And I had nowhere else to go

Got some whisky from the barman
Got some cocaine from a friend
I just had to keep on movin’
Til I was back in your arms again

I’m guilty, baby I’m guilty
And I’ll be guilty all the rest of my life
How come I never do what I’m supposed to do
How come nothin’ that I try to do ever turns out right?

You know, you know how it is with me baby
You know, you know I just can’t stand myself
And it takes a whole lot of medicine
For me to pretend that I’m somebody else

What has happened down here is the winds have changed
Clouds roll in from the north and it started to rain
Rained real hard and it rained for a real long time
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline

The river rose all day
The river rose all night
Some people got lost in the flood
Some people got away alright
The river have busted through clear down to Plaquemines
Six feet of water in the streets of Evangelne

Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tyrin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away

President Coolidge came down in a railroad train
With a little fat man with a note-pad in his hand
The President say, “Little fat man isn’t it a shame what the river has done
To this poor crackers land.”

Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away

Why weep or slumber America
Land of brave and true
With castles and clothing and food for all
All belongs to you

Ev’ry man a king, ev’ry man a king
For you can be a millionaire
If there’s something belonging to others
There’s enough for all people to share
When it’s sunny June and December too
Or in the winter time or spring
There’ll be peace without end
Ev’ry neighbor a friend
And ev’ry man a king

There’s a hundred-thousand Frenchmen in New Orleans
In New Orleans there are Frenchmen everywhere
But your house could fall down
Your baby could drown
Wouldn’t none of those Frenchmen care

Everybody gather ’round
Loosen up your suspenders
Hunker down on the ground
I’m a cracker
And you are too
But don’t I take good care of you

Who built the highway to Baton Rouge?
Who put up the hospital and built your schools?
Who looks after shit-kickers like you?
The Kingfish do

Who gave a party at the Roosevelt Hotel?
And invited the whole north half of the state down there for free
The people in the city
Had their eyes bugging out
Cause everyone looked just like me

Here comes the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Everybody sing
Here’s the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Every man a king

Who took on the Standard Oil men
And whipped their ass
Just like he promised he’d do?
Ain’t no Standard Oil men gonna run this state
Gonna be run by little folks like me and you
Here’s the Kingfish, the Kingfish
Friend of the working man
The Kingfish, the Kingfish
The Kingfish gonna save this land

Old lady lost in the city
In the middle of a cold, cold night
It was fourteen below and the wind start to blow
There wasn’t a boy scout in sight
Pull down the shades cause he’s comin’
Turn out the lights cause he’s here
Runnin’ hard down the street
Through the snow and the sleet
On the coldest night of the year

Beware, beware, beware of the Naked Man
Beware, beware, beware of the Naked Man

Old lady head up toward Broad Street
Shufflin’ uptown against the wind
She had started to cry-wiped a tear from her eye
And looked back to see where she had been

Old lady stand on the corner
With a purse in her hand
She does not know but in a minute or so
She will be robbed by a naked man

Beware, beware, beware of the Naked Man
Beware, beware, beware of the Naked Man

Old lady lean against a lamppost
Starin’ down at the ground on which she stand
She look up and scream
For the lamplight’s beam
There stood the famous Naked Man

He say, “They found out about my sister
And kicked me out of the Navy,
They would have strung me up if they could.
I tried to explain that we were both of us lazy
And were doing the best we could.”

He faked to the left and he faked to the right
And he snatched the purse from her hand
“Someone stop me,” he cried,
As he faded from sight,
“Won’t nobody help a naked man?”
“Won’t nobody help a naked man?”

Beware, beware, beware of the Naked Man
Beware, beware, beware of the Naked Man

There she is sitting there
Out behind the smoke-house in her rocking chair
She don’t say nothin’
She don’t do nothin’
She don’t feel nothin’
She don’t know nothin’
Maybe she’s crazy, I don’t know
Maybe that’s why I love her so

Her papa was a midget
Her mama was a whore
Her grandad was a newsboy ’til he was eighty-four
What a slimy old bastard he was
Man don’t you think I know she hates me
Man don’t you think I know that she’s no good
If she knew how she’d be unfaithful to me
I think she’d kill me if she could
Maybe she’s crazy I don’t know
Maybe that’s why I love her so

I’m not afraid of the Greywolf
Who stalks through our forest at dawn
As long as I have her beside me
I have the strength to carry on

Today we will be married
And all the freaks that she knows will be there
And all the people from the village will be there
To congratulate us
I will carry her across the threshold
I will make dim the light
I will attempt to spend my love within her
Though I will try with all my might
She will laugh at my mighty sword
She will laugh at my mighty sword
Why must everybody laugh at my mighty sword?
Lord, help me if you will
Maybe we’re both crazy, I don’t know
Maybe that’s why I love her so

Doctor, let me tell you something about myself
I’m a college man and I’m very wealthy
I’ve got no time to trifle with trash like you
Cause I must be ’bout my business

My brother’s a machinist in a textile mill
And he makes more money than you ever will
He just got married to a Polish girl
With a space between her teeth
My sister’s a dancer up in Baltimore
At a small cafe on Main
But she ran off with a Negro from the Eastern Shore
Doctor, she didn’t even know his name

Get me back on my feet again
Back on my feet again
Open the door and set me free
Get me back on my feet again

He took her down to Mobile on a railroad train
He said, “Driver, take me to the Hotel Paree.”
He went into the washroom
Washed his face and hands
When he come out he was white as you and me
He said, “Girl, I ain’t a Negro I’m a millionaire
As you can plainly see
So many women were after my money
But I’m proud to say you were only after me

“I’m going to teach you to play polo and how to water ski
And you won’t have to dance no more
And I no longer have to pretend to be
A Negro from the Eastern Shore.”

Get me back on my feet again
Back on my feet again
Open the door and set me free
Get me back on my feet again

Doctor, doctor, what you say
How ’bout letting me out today?
Ain’t no reason for me to stay
Everybody’s so far away

Get me back on my feet again
Back on my feet again
Open the door and set me free
Get me back on my feet again

Get me back on my feet again
Back on my feet again
Open the door and set me free
Get me back on my feet again

I never drink in the afternoon
I never drink alone
But I sure do like a drink or two
When I get home

Every evening what I do
I sit here in this chair
I pour myself some whiskey
And watch my troubles vanish into the air

Rollin’, rollin’
Ain’t gonna worry no more
Rollin’, rollin’
Ain’t gonna worry no more

Used to worry about gamblin’
Throwin’ my money away
Used to worry about wastin’ time
And layin’ round the house all day

But I’m all right now
I’m all right now
I never thought I’d make it
But I always do somehow
I’m all right now

Rollin, rollin’
Ain’t gonna worry no more
Rollin, rollin
Ain’t gonna worry no more

If we didn’t have Jesus
We wouldn’t have
No one at all
If we didn’t have Jesus
We wouldn’t have
No one at all
If we didn’t have Jesus
We wouldn’t have
No one at all

God gonna set
This world on fire
God gonna set
This world on fire
God gonna set
This world on fire
One of these days
One of these days
One of these days

All of the sinners
Gonna turn up missing
All of the sinners
Gonna turn up missing
All of the sinners
Gonna turn up missing
One of these days
One of these days
One of these days

Gonna climb up
Jacob’s ladder
It’s not very far away
Gonna climb up Jacob’s
Ladder one of these days

I’m gonna walk
And talk with Jesus
I’m gonna walk
And talk with Jesus
I’m gonna walk
And talk with Jesus
One of these days
One of these days
One of these days

God gonna set
This world on fire
God gonna set
This world on fire
God gonna set
This world on fire
One of these days
One of these days
One of these days

A rabbit bein’ chased by a big,
black dog
Through the early mornin’ fog
Over the meadow and past the bog,
They were runnin’

The rabbit had jumped a fence or two
Cause that’s what rabbits like to do
Big black dog had to jump ’em too
They was runnin’

Now this black dog had a brother
‘Cept he was white as snow
One looked like the other
Least that’s how the story go

So the black dog’s
chasin’ the rabbit down the road
And he seen a familiar face he knowed
He said, “Hey there white dog,
what you say?
Take over chasin’ this rabbit,
all right?
Thank you, get away!
Take over chasin’ this rabbit
Or they’ll be no rabbit
stew today for us.”

And here what the white dog say
He say,
“That rabbit smiled as he went by
He know he got you beat, that’s why.
You wait here and I’ll chase a while
Cause I hate to see a rabbit smile.”
So off he go, off the white dog go.

Now when that little rabbit
looked around
He jumped four feet off the ground
He said,
“That big old dog that’s chasin’ me
Why, he’s taken off his jacket
and he’s runnin’ free
He’s taken off his jacket
and he’s catchin’ me.”

Now there’s a moral to this story
For crazy rabbits with dreams of glory
Any rabbit think a dog wear a jacket
Should get out of the rabbit racket.
One dog’s brother is another dog’s child
And no one likes to see a rabbit smile.

Seein’ that tomorrow’s my birthday
Happy birthday to you
Seein’ that this is the final night of my 29th year
Happy birthday to you
Seein’ that all my fuckin’ friends were assembled here to greet me
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
I’m gonna tell you all the story of my life
I’m gonna tell you all the story of my life

My daddy knew Dixie Howell,
He used to cut his hair
Daddy had a shop in Tuscaloosa,
And Howell was on a team up there
When I was born, Daddy put a football in my cradle
Later on, he put a football helmet in my bed
So when he died I put a razor in his coffin
And poured Vaseline all over his head.
Magnolias, magnolias, magnolias they had
The people come from miles around
To follow Daddy’s coffin to the graveyard
And put poor Daddy’s body in the ground
Magnolias, you should have smelled the magnolias, Daddy
Don’t you wish it was me layin’ there instead?
But tomorrow I will be sober, Daddy,
And you will still be dead

Y’all should have seen me
When I was sixteen years old
Had my hair hangin’ free down my back
It used to shine in the sun like gold.

Went eight years of grade school
Four years of high school
I was never sick one day
And the kids that were with you in the first grade
Were with you all the way

We’d go over to Augusta for a ball game
We’d all go down to Daytona for the race
We’d go over to the drive-in every Friday
Shining in the sun like gold

Some cold winter morning, outside the school
And the bell hadn’t rung just yet
We stand outside the gate, smoke a cigarette
Brushin’ the snow off our clothes, and lean against the wall
Shining

And there wasn’t no baby cryin’
And there wasn’t no laundry waitin’ for me on the line
If I didn’t want to be alone, I didn’t have to be alone
All I had to do was shine
Shining
Shining

Lord there must be something better
Lord it just don’t seem right
To cook the same breakfast for the same man every morning
Sleep with the same man every night
For the rest of my life
For the rest of my life

Good morning
Good morning
Good morning
And a very
Happy birthday to you
Susie sing
Happy birthday to Daddy
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you
Susie sing
Happy birthday to Daddy
Happy birthday to you
Now Daddy may not spend
Much time with us
(Fuck off)
But I’m sure
That he loves you a lot
Susie sing
Happy birthday to Daddy
He’s the only daddy
You’ve got
(Fuck off)
Fuck off
But I’m the song
That the trees sing
When the wind blows
Fuck off, but, honey,
I’m the starlight
And I’m a rainbow
Susie sing
Happy birthday to Daddy
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you
Susie sing
Happy birthday to Daddy
Happy birthday to you

Let me tell you something about myself
I’m very wealthy, I’m a college man
I’ve got no time to trifle with trash like you
For I must be about my business (He must be about his business)
Have you seen my summer home in Mobile (Yes, we’ve seen it)
Have you seen me in my plane, racin’ with the sun (Yes, we have)
Have you seen me climb atop the ancient ruins of Tuscaloosa
Just as the old ones must have done
I got a wife named Maria
And I got a big, black dog named Dan
And I got a three-room apartment on East 14th Street
Downtown Birmingham

Birmingham, Birmingham
Greatest city in Alabam’
You can travel ‘cross this entire land
There ain’t no place like Birmingham
There ain’t no place like Birmingham

My brother’s a machinist
And he works at the mill
And he makes more money
Than you ever will
He just got married
To a Polish girl
With a space
Between her teeth
When he was ten
Or eleven years old
He was helping out my Pop
In the barbershop
Sweeping up the hair
As it would drop
On to the boardwalk
And out of the shop

Doctor, doctor, what you say?
How ’bout lettin’ him out today?
I can promise you he’ll be ok
There ain’t no reason
For him to stay

Get him back on his feet again
Back on his feet again
Open the door and set him free
Get him back on his feet again

One day he was workin’
In the barbershop
Knocked over some bottles
With the handle of his broom
And he cried
Daddy took him to a baseball game,
And still he cried
Daddy took him to the zoo,
And still he cried
Daddy said, “Son, I ain’t angry,
But I’m so disappointed in you.”

Get him back on his feet again
Back on his feet again
Open the door and set him free
Get him back on his feet again

A light shines
On the goatherd
And the snow lingers
Yet on the ground
In the forest deep
Where
The grey wolf sleeps
Comes a wonderful
Wonderful sound
Albania, Albania
We pledge
Our faith in thee
Albania, Albania