The Mississippi Goddam. Mississippi Goddam! A last tune, we have some request for…

Alabama’s gotten me so upset / Tennessee made me lose my rest / And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Alabama’s gotten me so upset / Tennessee made me lose my rest / Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Can’t you see it / I know you can feel it / It’s all in the air / I can’t stand the pressure much longer / Somebody say a prayer

Alabama’s gotten me so upset / Governor Wallace is made me lose my rest / Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Hound dogs on my trail / School children sitting in jail / Black cat cross my path / I think every day’s gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on the land of mine / We all gonna get it in due time / I don’t belong here / I don’t belong there / I’ve even stopped believing in prayer

Don’t tell me, I’ll tell you / Me and my people just about due / I’ve been there so I know / They keep on saying “Go slow!”

That’s just the trouble (“Do slow!”) / Washing the windows (“Do slow!”) / Picking the cotton (“Do slow!”) / You’re just plain rotten (“Do slow!”) / You’re too damn lazy (“Do slow!”) / I think it’s crazy (“Do slow!”)

Where am I going? What am I doing? / I don’t know, I don’t know

Just try to do your very best / Stand up, be counted with all the rest / Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

Picket lines, school boycotts / They try to say it’s a communist plot / All I want is equality / For my sister, my brother, my people, and me

You lied to me all these years / You told me to wash and clean my ears / And talk real fine just like a lady / And you’d stop calling me “Sister Sadie”

My country is full of lies / We all gonna die and die like flies / I don’t trust nobody any more / They keep on saying “Go slow!”

That’s just the trouble (“Do slow!”) / Desegregation (“Do slow!”) / Mass participation (“Do slow!”) / Reunification (“Do slow!”) / Do things gradually (“Do slow!”) / But bring more tragedy (“Do slow!”)

Why don’t you see it? Why don’t you feel it? / I don’t know, I don’t know

You don’t have to live next to me / Just give me my equality / Everybody knows about Alabama / Everybody knows about Mississippi / Everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam

That’s it!

[By Nina Simone © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. – Philips Records, 1964]