Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me
lose my rest
And everybody knows
about Mississippi Goddamn
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me
lose my rest
And everybody knows
about Mississippi Goddamn
Can't you see it
can't you feel it
it's all in the air
I can't stand
the pressure much longer
somebody say a prayer
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me
lose my rest
And everybody knows
about Mississippi Goddamn
Hound dogs on my trail
school children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day's
gonna be my last
Lord have mercy
on this land of mine
we all gonna get it in due time
I don't belong here
I don't belong there
I even stopped
believin' in prayer
Don't tell me I'll tell you
me and my people
just about due
I've been there so I know
they keep on saying go slow
But that's just the trouble
washing the windows
Picking the cotton
you're just plain rotten
You're too damn lazy
the thinking's crazy
Where am I going
what am I doing
I don't know I don't know
Just try to do your very best
Stand up to be counted
with all the rest
For everybody knows
about Mississippi Goddamn
Picket lines school boy cops
they try to say
it's a communist plot
All I want is equality
for my sister my brother
my people and me
Yes you lied to me
all these years
You told me to wash
and clean my ears
And talk real fine
just like a lady
And you'd stop calling me
Sister Sadie
Oh but this whole country
is full of lies
You're all gonna die
and die like flies
I don't trust you anymore
you keep on saying go slow
Go slow
But that's the trouble
desegregation
Mass participation
reunification
Do things gradually
But bring more tragedy
Why don't you see it
why don't you feel it
I don't know I don't know
You don't have to
live next to me
just give me my equality
Everybody knows
about Mississippi
Everybody knows
about Alabama
Everybody knows
about Mississippi Goddamn
That's it