Hey Nelly Nelly!
Hey Nelly Nelly, come to the window.
Hey Nelly Nelly look at what I see.
He's riding into town on a sway-back mule.
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 all be free
To walk around the same as you and me.
He's talkin' 'bout 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.
'Cause 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...
'Cause it's 1861.
Hey Nelly Nelly, come to the window.
Hey Nelly Nelly, I've come back alive.
My coat of blue is stained with red,
And the man in the tall black hat is dead.
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.
They're walkin' in a column that's a century wide.
It's still a long and a hard and a bloody ride...
In 1963.