Light Out of Birmingham

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Now come round, gather round the table,
Where the story be told, history laid out in flesh and blood.
Alabama jailhouse, and Martin Luther King….
the nations wounds opened up and brought down the flood.
Terror and murder, as valor faces down pure hate.
The good must take a stand, the hour is getting late.
Freedom Riders knew it could not fail, with the children filling up the jails,
freedom songs singing while Dr. King wrote a letter from right out of Birmingham.

Lotta folks liked Bull Conner. Them that were set in their ways.
No doubt ever troubled him; pure will, make the citizen pay.
Bull Conner said he'd do whatever's needed to lock down the yard.
Snarling dog was his greeting, fire hoses were his calling card.
Now his mind must have snapped when he thought about Martin Luther King,
As the truth hardened Pharoah's heart, and turned it into a heartless thing.
In the days of the demonstrations, it was hoses and dogs broadcast across the nation
By the television, shining a light
Right out of Birmingham.

Some said to Dr. King, slow down, you're going too far, too fast.
Others said take it easy, give the city father's a chance.
With the whole world watching how they did it down Birmingham way,
Bringing shame on the city, bringing shame on the whole USA.
Martin Luther King, suddenly cast into the light,
Bull Conner and his KKK castigated as a moral blight.
Freedom marchers at the city jail, they didn't back down
When they faced pure hate made clear as the bells that tolled,
Right out of Birmingham.

When you think about everything that followed,
You have to take it back to the hallowed ground
Of the spark that ignited the light
Right out of Birmingham.

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