The Ballad of James

Don't you worry, don't you cry, don't shed no tears for me They won't give you no reprieve And I will never say goodbye, long live liberty And I will be your reason to believe This is the story, this is the song A man's personal hymn For all his fury and standing strong When his future was grim Well, his name was James, he ain't play no games Wasn't aiming for fame when it found him Though he could sing like anything Wasn't trying to be king til we crowned him Oh, how we'd hound him Pretty soon he was famous The money-men came for his soul They'd say "sign on the line..." but he'd always decline That's how James maintained his control And so James became the enemy And the songs that he sang were his weaponry All the boys at the top, every lawyer and cop Wanted James in a state penitentiary So they framed him up for treason And locked poor James away But on the news, in interviews He just had this to say Don't you worry, don't you cry, don't shed no tears for me They won't give you no reprieve And I will never say goodbye, long live liberty And I will be your reason to believe Overnight, the frame came to light We called for his release He took up the fight of the common man's plight Without disturbing the peace But the businessmen couldn't stand it James' head in their hands they demanded So to silence his voice, they riled up their boys They said "do what you must, but be candid..." Then they planned it They kidnapped him and beat him They put a gun to his head They said "boy, you just sang your last song about freedom" "But you won't sing much when you're dead..." Btu tied up in chains, his pride still remained His eyes were trained on the villains He said, steady and clear, "you can't kill an idea..." "It's only a man that you're killing" But power don't listen to reason And cowards won't reason with men And now we might forget what he got in the end We'll never forget what he said, he said Don't you worry, don't you cry, don't shed no tears for me They won't give you time to grieve And I will never say goodbye, long live liberty And I will be your reason to believe