I recall my first look at his battered face
A few years younger than Emmett Till
When he met his brutal fate
That photograph scared me so bad
I started to cry
What a way for a boy like me
To have to die
The ghost of Emmett Till is walkin' around
The town of Money, Mississippi
Can't move on 'cause hate's still goin' strong
All over this country
That picture sowed a bitter seed in my frightened mind
From that day on, I understood
Some hated my kind
That photograph revealed a fact
I could not deny
Like Emmett Till, a boy like me
Could surely die
The ghost of Emmett Till is walkin' around
The town of Money, Mississippi
Can't move on, though it's been so long
'Cause the killers walked free
I remember I started to shiver
When I saw his face
Emmett's blood in the Tallahatchie River
Left a permanent trace
That photograph scared me so bad
I started to cry
What a way for a boy like me
To have to die
The ghost of Emmett Till is walkin' around
The town of Money, Mississippi
Can't move on 'cause hate's still goin' strong
All over this country
