| Once upon a time
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| And not so long ago
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| When things were much more simple
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| And time would travel slow
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| There came a righteous stranger
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| With a Bible in his hand
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| To educate the sinners
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| And liberate their land
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| The sins of the fathers
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| Are visited from old
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| In a never ending circle
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| Of people bought and sold
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| So the wretched of the earth
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| Will huddle from the cold
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| As the ship of fools goes sailing
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| On an ocean black as gold
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| So come and sit beside me
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| And let my tale unfold
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| Of a land of milk and honey
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| Where the truth must not be told
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| As men of rhyme and reason
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| Let the Devil take their soul
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| For greed and fame and fortune
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| And a river black as gold
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| The sins of the fathers
|
| Are visited from old
|
| In a never ending circle
|
| Of people bought and sold
|
| So the wretched of the earth
|
| Will huddle from the cold
|
| As the ship of fools goes sailing
|
| On an ocean black as gold
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| And all the non-believers
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| Were hiding from the light
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| As a thousand burning crosses
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| Were scattered in the night
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| The thieves and the vagabonds
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| Were sinking in the sand
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| As the righteous Lord and Master
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| Stretches out a helping hand
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| The sins of the fathers
|
| Are visited from old
|
| In a never ending circle
|
| Of people bought and sold
|
| So the wretched of the earth
|
| Will huddle from the cold
|
| As the ship of fools goes sailing
|
| On an ocean black as gold
|
| And those who had to suffer
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| The sick, the young, the old
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| Were sacrificed to fortune
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| And left out in the cold
|
| So in this new arrangement
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| The leaders sold their soul
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| For bangles, beads and baubles
|
| And a river black as gold
|
| The sins of the fathers
|
| Are visited from old
|
| In a never ending circle
|
| Of people bought and sold
|
| So the wretched of the earth
|
| Will huddle from the cold
|
| As the ship of fools goes sailing
|
| On an ocean black as gold
|
| The sins of the fathers
|
| Are visited from old
|
| In a never ending circle
|
| Of people bought and sold
|
| So the wretched of the earth
|
| Will huddle from the cold
|
| As the ship of fools goes sailing
|
| On an ocean black as gold |