Too Many Martyrs [Ballad of Medgar Evers] lyrics

In the state of Mississippi many years ago

A boy of 14 years got a taste of southern law

He saw his friend a hanging and his color was his crime

And the blood upon his jacket left a brand upon his mind

[chorus:]

Too many martyrs and too many dead

Too many lies too many empty words were said

Too many times for too many angry men

Oh let it never be again

His name was Medgar Evers and he walked his road alone

Like Emmett Till and thousands more whose names we'll never know

They tried to burn his home and they beat him to the ground

But deep inside they both knew what it took to bring him down1

[chorus]

The killer waited by his home hidden by the night

As Evers stepped out from his car into the rifle sight

he slowly squeezed the trigger, the bullet left his side

It struck the heart of every man when Evers fell and died.

[chorus]

And they laid him in his grave while the bugle sounded clear

laid him in his grave when the victory was near

While we waited for the future for freedom through the land 2

The country gained a killer and the country lost a man

[chorus]

1. alternative verse:

Then the boy became a man, the man became a cause;

The cause became the hope for the country and its laws.

The tried to burn his home and they beat him to the ground;

But deep inside they both knew what it took to bring him down.2. This line is shown is the sheet music as "While we waited for the future with the wisdom of our plans"

• Artist:Phil Ochs
• Album:All the News That's Fit to Sing (1964)