Here's to the State of Mississippi (LP版)

Here's To The State Of Mississippi (LP版) - Phil Ochs

Here's to the State of Mississippi

For underneath her borders

The devil draws no lines

If you drag her muddy river

Nameless bodies you will find

Whoa the fat trees of the forest

Have hid a thousand crimes

The calender is lying

When it reads the present time

Whoa here's to the land

You've torn out the heart of

Mississippi find yourself another country

To be part of

And here's to the people of Mississippi

Who say the folks up north

They just don't understand

And they tremble in their shadows

At the thunder of the Klan

Oh the sweating of their souls

Can't wash the blood from off their hands

They smile and shrug their shoulders

At the murder of a man

Oh here's to the land

You've torn out the heart of

Mississippi find yourself

Another country to be part of

And here's to the schools of Mississippi

Where they're teaching all the children

That they don't have to care

All of rudiments of hatred

Are present everywhere

And every single classroom

Is a factory of despair

And there's nobody learning

Such a foreign word as fair

Oh here's to the land

You've torn out the heart of

Mississippi find yourself another

Country to be part of

And here's to the cops of Mississippi

They're chewing their tobacco

As they lock the prison door

Their bellies bounce inside them

As they knock you to the floor

No they don't like taking prisoners

In their private little war

And behind their broken badges

There are murderers and more

Oh here's to the land

You've torn out the heart of

Mississippi find yourself another country

To be part of

And here's to the judges of Mississippi

Who wear the robe of honor

As they crawl into the court

They're guarding all the bastions

With their phony legal fort

Oh justice is a stranger

When the prisoners report

When the black man stands accused

The trial is always short

Oh here's to the land

You've torn out the heart of

Mississippi find yourself another country

To be part of

And here's to the government of Mississippi

In the swamp of their bureaucracy

They're always bogging down

And criminals are posing

As the mayors of the towns

They're hoping that no one sees the sights

And hears the sounds

And the speeches of the governor

Are the ravings of a clown

Oh here's to the land you've torn

Out the heart of

Mississippi

Find yourself another country to be part of

And here's to the laws of Mississippi

Congressmen will gather in a circus of delay

While the Constitution is drowning

In an ocean of decay

Unwed mothers should be sterilized

I've even heard them say

Yes corruption can be classic

In the Mississippi way

Oh here's to the land you've torn

Out the heart of

Mississippi find yourself another country

To be part of

And here's to the churches of Mississippi

Where the cross once made of silver

Now is caked with rust

And the Sunday morning sermons pander

To their lust

Oh the fallen face of Jesus is choking

In the dust

Heaven only knows in which God

They can trust

Oh here's to the land you've torn out

The heart of

Mississippi find yourself another country

To be part of