Co-ops turned to dust in Tuscaloosa Oldfield
Union-hall ruins along the muddy banks of the Warrior
The sealed-off mines underneath the hidden jungles of beat-10
Lint-headed women, coal-dusted men under the boss' guns
Little children burnt black, brown, red in the sun
Spit at retired generals and dandy barons
What it really means to rise again
Done playin' dead
Done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
The sweet white hall grass stirrin' with the ghosts of Tent city
Smell of potluck greens on the letohatchee breeze
Ancient nighttime whispers of the freedom schools
All through bloody Lowndes
In the gravel lot of a pine-box church
Grandchildren of the enslaved tote twelve-gauges
Make their mark for the black panther
At the sanctified sunken edge of that Blackbelt town
Done playin' dead
Done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
Is it that we're cursed or that we're blessed (oh)
That when we're backed in a corner is when we fight our best? (Oh)
♪
From slash-cut huntin' grounds around Notasulga
The dammed-up falls at Tallassee
The factory gates where the Prophet stomped
Shook the earth out from under Tuckabatchee square
The old-time folks turned refugees by Jackson
Takin' root deep down into the cypress swamps
200 years, three wars
And the richest empire on Earth
Can't push 'em outta there, no
Done playin' dead
Done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead
Yeah, they're done, done
Yeah, they're done playin'
Yeah, they're done playin' dead