| Hey Nelly Nelly, come to the window
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| Hey Nelly Nelly look at what I see
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| He’s riding into town on a sway back mule
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| Got a tall black hat and he looks like a fool
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| He sure is talkin' like he’s been to school
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| And it’s 1853
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| Hey Nelly Nelly, listen what he’s sayin'
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| Hey Nelly Nelly, he says it’s gettin' late
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| And he says them black folks should all be free
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| To walk around the same as you and me He’s talkin' 'bout a thing he calls democracy
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| And it’s 1858
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| Hey Nelly Nelly hear the band a playing
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| Hey Nelly Nelly, hand me down my gun
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| «Cause the men are cheerin' and the boys are too
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| They’re all puttin' on their coats of blue
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| I can’t sit around here and talk to you
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| «Cause it’s 1861
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| Hey Nelly Nelly, Come to the window
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| Hey Nelly Nelly, I’ve come back alive
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| My coat of blue is stained with red
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| And the man in the tall black hat is dead
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| We sure will remember all the things he said
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| In 1865
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| Hey Nelly Nelly, come to the window
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| Hey Nelly Nelly, look at what I see
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| I see white folks and colored walkin' side by side
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| They’re walkin' in a column that’s a century wide
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| It’s still a long and a hard and a bloody ride
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| In 1963 |