A little haunting. Yet, hopeful.
Thanks to Ted Tosoff of the Blue Voodoo for guitar and bass accompaniment and for producing the song.
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I read an article in the newspaper about what these men did to a man named James Byrd in Jasper ,Texas, not far from Martin Luther King Blvd. How they picked him up from a party he had just left and how they pulled on to a road lined with yellow pine trees, shackled him to a chain at the back of their truck and dragged him two miles. According to the article one of James's friends said that it was as if death was on him the night he left the party. His friends were concerned that he had had a bit too much to drink but, as James was leaving he told them that he was O.K from here on in. Apparently, James knew the men who picked him up. As well, he was still alive when they began to drag him........
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On Martin Luther King Boulevard death perched on the shoulder of a Byrd,
Like the raven on the bust of Pallas, never uttering a single word.
Old Jimmy must have known something was coming down,
Old Jimmy must have felt it like a pain,
When he left his friends saying, "I'm OK from here on in,"
That he wouldn't walk the boulevard again.
I know it's a long way home and the journey's just begun.
But, if I can hold your hand we'll walk towards the sun.
On MLKB in the heat of a Texas night,
An angel waited just above the yellow pines, to carry Old Jimmy to see the light.
Old Jimmy must have known something was coming down,
Old Jimmy must have felt it like a load,
When he took a ride in his good old buddy's pick up truck,
When they turned on to a dark and dirty road.
I know it's a long way home and the journey's just begun.
If I can hold your hand we'll walk towards the sun.
I know it's a long road home but it's just around the bend.
If we can understand we'll get there in the end.
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