My Thirty Thousand

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Paul Robeson, he's the man 
C 
That faced the Ku Klux Klan 
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On hollow grove's golfing ground 
               D 
His words come sounding 


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And all around him there 
C 
To jump and clap and cheer 
G                D 
I sent the best, the best I had 
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My thirty thousand 


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The Klansman leader said 
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That Paul would lose his head 
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When thirty five thousand vets 
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Broke up that concert 


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But less than four thousand came 
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To side with the Klan 
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But around Paul's lonesome oak 
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My thirty thousand 


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A beersoaked brassy band 
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Did snortle round the grounds 
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Four hundred noblest souls 
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Westchester's manhood 


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And they looked exactly like 
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The fleas on a tiger's back 
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Lost fish in the waters of 
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My thirty thousand 


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When Paul had sung and gone 
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And the kids and babies home 
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Cops came with guns and clubs 
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And they clubbed and beat 'em 


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Well, I'd hate to be a cop 
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Caught with a bloody stick 
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'Cause you can't bash the brains 
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Out of thirty thousand 


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Each eye you tried to gouge 
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Each skull you tried to crack 
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Has a thousand, thousand friends 
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Around this green grass 


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If you furnish the skull someday 
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I'll pass out the clubs and guns 
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To the billion hands that love 
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My thirty thousand 


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Each wrinkle on your face 
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I know it at a glance 
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You cannot run and hide 
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Nor duck nor dodge them 


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And your carcass and your deeds 
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Will fertilize the seeds 
G                    D 
Of the men that stood to guard 
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My thirty thousand 
G                    D 
Of the men that stood to guard 
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My thirty thousand