Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Goodwin Schwerner and Chaney

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Goodwin, Schwerner and Chaney

Goodwin, Schwerner and Chaney
 (Tom Paxton)

 The night air is heavy, no cool breezes blow
 The sound of the voices is worried and low
 Desperately wondering, and desperate to know
 About Goodwin and Schwerner and Chaney.

 Calm desperation and flickering hope
 Reality grapples like a hand on the throat
 For you live in the shadow of ten feet of rope
 If you're Goodwin and Schwerner and Chaney.

 The Pearl River was dragged and two bodies were found
 But it was a blind alley, for both men were brown
 So they all shrugged their shoulders and the search it went on
 For Goodwin and Schwerner and Chaney.

 Pull out the dead bodies from the ooze of the dam
 Take the bodies to Jackson, all according to plan
 With the one broken body, do the best that you can
 Its the body of young James Chaney.

 Well the nation was outraged and shocked through and through
 Call J. Edgar Hoover! He'll know what to do
 For they've murdered two White men! - (and a Colored boy, too)
 Goodwin and Schwerner and Chaney.

 James Chaney, your body exploded in pain
 And the beating they gave you is pounding my brain
 For they murdered much more with their dark, bloody chains
 And the body of pity lies bleeding.

 The pot-bellied Coppers shook hands all around
 And joked with the rednecks who came into town
 And they swore that the murderers soon would be found
 And they laughed as they spat their tobacco.
 (c)Tom Paxton/Deep Fork
 Recorded on "Ain"t That News" Elektra EKS-7298

GF
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