Too Many Martyrs - Phil Ochs

作词：Gibson/Ochs/Phil Ochs

作曲：Gibson/Ochs/Phil Ochs

In the state of Mississippi

Many years ago

A boy of fourteen years got a taste of

Southern law

He saw his friend a hanging

And his color was his crime

And the blood upon his jacket

Left a brand upon his mind

Too many martyrs and too many dead

Too many lies

Too many empty words were said

Too many times for

Too many angry men

Oh let it never be again

His name was Medgar Evers

And he walked his road alone

Like Emmett Till and thousands more

Whose names we'll never know

They tried to burn his home

And they beat him to the ground

But deep inside they both knew

What it took to bring him down

Too many martyrs

And too many dead

Too many lies

Too many empty words were said

Too many times for

Too many angry men

Oh let it never be again

The killer waited by his home

Hidden by the night

As Evers stepped out from his car

Into the rifle sight

He slowly squeezed the trigger

The bullet left his side

It struck the heart of every man

When Evers fell and died

Too many martyrs and too many dead

Too many lies

Too many empty words were said

Too many times for

Too many angry men

Oh let it never be again

And they laid him in his grave

While the bugle sounded clear

Laid him in his grave

When the victory was near

While we waited for the future

For freedom through the land

The country gained a killer

And the country lost a man

Too many martyrs and too many dead

Too many lies

Too many empty words were said

Too many times for too many angry men

Oh let it never be again

Oh let it never be again