| Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, look at what I see
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| He’s ridin' into town on a sway-back mule
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| He’s got a tall black hat and he looks like a fool
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| But he sure is talkin' like he’s been to school, and it’s 1853
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, hear what he’s sayin'
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, says it’s gettin' late
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| Says all them black folks should be free
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| To walk around the same as you and me
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| He’s talkin' about a thing they call democracy, and it’s 1858
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, hand me down my gun
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| For 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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| And I ain’t got no time to sit and talk to you, and it’s 1861
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, 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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| But we sure will remember all the things he said, and it’s 1865
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window
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| Hey Nellie, Nellie, look at what I see
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| There are white folks and colored walkin' side by side
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| A-marchin' in a column that’s a century wide
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| It was a long and a hard and a bloody ride, and it’s 1963 |