Went to Mississippi on a Greyhound bus line
Freedom Freedom Rider
Went into the terminal and everything was fine
Freedom Freedom Rider
Sitting in a waiting room, trying to buy a ticket
Maybe get some coffee too
Police said to me, "Move out and move on"
Freedom Freedom Rider
I just kept a-sitting there, not doin' nothing wrong
Freedom Freedom Rider
I’m a Freedom Rider, he’s a Freedom Rider
You can be a Freedom Rider too.
They took me up to jail in a big black paddy wagon
Freedom Freedom Rider
I sang all the way, my spirit wasn't dragging
Freedom Freedom Rider
We Shall Overcome and We Shall Not Be Moved
And climbing Jacob’s ladder too
Well, I went before the judge and what did he say
Freedom Freedom Rider
You've breached the peace, now in jail you must stay
Freedom Freedom Rider
Pay two hundred dollars because you are no guilty
Stay in jail for four months too
I didn't pay my fine, although I want to be free
Freedom Freedom Rider
They carried me off to the penitentiary
Freedom Freedom Rider
I'll throw you in the hole, I’ll take away your mattress
You damn Yankee agitator, you
Now behind the bars I keep singing this song
Freedom Freedom Rider
Freedom's comin’ and it won't be long
Freedom Freedom Rider
I’m a Freedom Rider, he’s a Freedom Rider
You can be a Freedom Rider too.
Freedom Freedom Rider
Went into the terminal and everything was fine
Freedom Freedom Rider
Sitting in a waiting room, trying to buy a ticket
Maybe get some coffee too
Police said to me, "Move out and move on"
Freedom Freedom Rider
I just kept a-sitting there, not doin' nothing wrong
Freedom Freedom Rider
I’m a Freedom Rider, he’s a Freedom Rider
You can be a Freedom Rider too.
They took me up to jail in a big black paddy wagon
Freedom Freedom Rider
I sang all the way, my spirit wasn't dragging
Freedom Freedom Rider
We Shall Overcome and We Shall Not Be Moved
And climbing Jacob’s ladder too
Well, I went before the judge and what did he say
Freedom Freedom Rider
You've breached the peace, now in jail you must stay
Freedom Freedom Rider
Pay two hundred dollars because you are no guilty
Stay in jail for four months too
I didn't pay my fine, although I want to be free
Freedom Freedom Rider
They carried me off to the penitentiary
Freedom Freedom Rider
I'll throw you in the hole, I’ll take away your mattress
You damn Yankee agitator, you
Now behind the bars I keep singing this song
Freedom Freedom Rider
Freedom's comin’ and it won't be long
Freedom Freedom Rider
I’m a Freedom Rider, he’s a Freedom Rider
You can be a Freedom Rider too.
Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2015/8/14 - 10:50
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Parole di Marilyn Eisenberg, una “freedom rider” californiana, all’epoca appena diciottenne studentessa (bianca ed ebrea) a Berkeley. Arrestata, come quasi tutti gli altri, fu condannata a 4 mesi di prigione per aver “turbato la pace pubblica” (!)
Sull’aria di “Hully Gully”, brano interpretatato da The Olympics nel 1959 e in seguito ripreso dai Beach Boys
Pubblicata su Broadside #3, aprile 1962, dove il testo di questa canzone oggi assai poco nota precedeva “I Will Not Go Down Under The Ground”, ossia Let Me Die In My Footsteps di Bob Dylan.
Una delle tante canzone intonate dai Freedom Riders, questo il nome del convoglio del CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) che nel 1961 attraversò Virginia, Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi e Louisiana per denunciare che la segregazione razziale, bandita dalla Corte Suprema degli USA, continuava a persistere. Nonostante i continui, violentissimi attacchi armati da parte di segregazionisti e membri del KKK, i Freedom Riders portarono a termine con successo il loro viaggio a New Orleans.