G

[Verse 1]

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A bullet from the back of a bush
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Took Medgar Evers' blood
G                                   D
A finger fired the trigger to his name
   G     C              G
A handle hid out in the dark
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A hand set the spark
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Two eyes took the aim
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Behind a man's brain
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But he can't be blamed
 G            D           G
He's only a pawn in their game


[Verse 2]


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A South politician preaches to the poor white man
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"You got more than the blacks, don't complain
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You're better than them, you been born with white skin, " they explain
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And the Negro's name
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Is used, it is plain
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For the politician's gain
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As he rises to fame
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And the poor white remains
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On the caboose of the train
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But it ain't him to blame
             D             G
He's only a pawn in their game

[Verse 3]


                          Am             C            G
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
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And the marshals and cops get the same
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But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool
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He's taught in his school
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From the start by the rule
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That the laws are with him
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To protect his white skin
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To keep up his hate
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So he never thinks straight
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'Bout the shape that he's in

But it ain't him to blame
             D             G
He's only a pawn in their game

[Verse 4]


                              A              C           G
From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks
 G                               D
And the hoofbeats pound in his brain
          G
And he's taught how to walk in a pack
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Shoot in the back
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With his fist in a clinch
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To hang and to lynch
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To hide 'neath the hood
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To kill with no pain
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Like a dog on a chain
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He ain't got no name
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But it ain't him to blame
            D              G
He's only a pawn in their game

[Verse 5]


 G                        Am             C         G
Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught
 G                          D
They lowered him down as a king
              G
But when the shadowy sun sets on the one
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That fired the gun
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He'll see by his grave
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On the stone that remains
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Carved next to his name
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His epitaph plain
       D             G
Only a pawn in their game