Lyrics My Name Is Emmett Till - Emmylou Harris

I was born a black boy, my name is Emmett Till
I walked this earth for 14 years, one night I was killed
For speaking to a woman whose skin was white as dough
That's a sin in Mississippi but how was I to know

I'd come down from Chicago to visit with my kin
Up there I was a cheeky kid, I guess I's always been
But the harm they put upon me was too hard for what I'd done
For I was just a black boy, I never hurt no one

They took me from my uncle's house, Mose Wright was his name
He later standing, without hesitation point the blame
At the ones who beat and cut me and shot me with a gun
They threw me in the river like I was trash and they were done

I was sent back to my mother, at least what was left of me
She kept my casket open for the whole wide world to see
The awful desecration and the evidence of hate
You could not recognize me, the mutilation was so great

There came a cry for justice
To be finally fulfilled
All because of me, a black boy
My name is Emmett Till

Oh, but I'd have rather lived 'til I was too old to die young
Not miss all I left behind, all that might have come
Summer clouds above my head, a grass beneath my feet
The warmth of a good woman, her kisses soft and sweet

Perhaps to be a father with a black boy of my own
Watch him grow into a kinder world than I had known
Where no child would be murdered for the color of his skin
And love would be the only thing inside the hearts of men

They say the horror of that night is haunting heaven still
Where I am one more black boy, my name is Emmett Till