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Larry Long in concert.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the June 15, 1920, mob lynching circus workers Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie, troubadour Larry Long shared with us the previously unpublished song.
To travel north imagine that
To never have to tip your hat
To some white man who just might pass
Cookhouse by day, big top by night
Keep your nose clean just do what’s right
Keep those white girls out of sight
Haul them tents and strike them down
Long after the circus crowd
Has gone back home to their northern Duluth town
Twelve A.M. the train hits the track
At six A.M. forced from the rack
With a night stick stuck in your back
Up she drives to the line
She’s not sure yet she still identifies
Each not by looks but each by size
Clayton, Jackson, Williams, Greene
Thomas and young Isaac McGhee
Who joined the circus late that spring
Even though after exam
There was no pain by speculum or hand
There was no rape deduced Dr. Graham
Yet rumors spread she was hospitalized
Which soon became that poor girl died
For what truth is found in a lie
With battling rams, axes, songs
Now's the time to right this wrong
To storm that jailhouse 10,000 strong
For not a drop of white man’s blood
Shall be spilled orders did come
No deputy may use a gun or club
Against the mob who soon prevailed
Like a flood gate sprung straight from hell
The mob rushed into those dark damp cells
Behind the bed sat young McGhee
Rocking back and forth on his knees,
“Help me Jesus won’t you please help me.”
“The less you kick the less it hurts.”
That Duluth lynch mob cursed
From a lamp post strung above the earth
Left to rot in unmarked graves
These free men descendants of slaves
Each of whom we know by name
For what good if not for love
For the accused wrongfully judged
To end all hatred the time has come
Words & Music by Larry Long Copyright Larry Long 2020/BMI larrylong.org
Larry Long: Vocal; Guitar Peter Schimke: Keyboards; Percussion
Larry Long in 1980.
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