I was born a Blackwood, my name is Emmett Till
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 always win
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'd later stand in, without hesitation point the blame
At the ones who beat and cut me and shot me with a gun
And threw me in the street like I was trash when I was 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 it
Could not recognize me, the mutilation was so grave
Came a call for justice to be finally fulfilled
All because of me, a black boy, my name is Emmett Till
Oh, but I'd have rather live till I was too old to die young
Not in this, all I left behind, all that might have come
Somewhere clouds above my head, the grass beneath my feet
The warmth of a good woman, her kisses soft and sweet
Perhaps to be a farmer with a black boy of my own
Watch him grow into a kinder world than I'd 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
Say the horror of that night is haunting heaven still
Where I'm one more black boy, my name is Emmett Till
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 always win
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'd later stand in, without hesitation point the blame
At the ones who beat and cut me and shot me with a gun
And threw me in the street like I was trash when I was 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 it
Could not recognize me, the mutilation was so grave
Came a call for justice to be finally fulfilled
All because of me, a black boy, my name is Emmett Till
Oh, but I'd have rather live till I was too old to die young
Not in this, all I left behind, all that might have come
Somewhere clouds above my head, the grass beneath my feet
The warmth of a good woman, her kisses soft and sweet
Perhaps to be a farmer with a black boy of my own
Watch him grow into a kinder world than I'd 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
Say the horror of that night is haunting heaven still
Where I'm one more black boy, my name is Emmett Till