My Name Is Emmett Till Chords

Lyrics & chords

[Intro 1]
[D]

[Verse 1]
[D]I was born a black boy
My [G]name is Emmett Till
I [A]walked this earth for fourteen years
Then [G]one night I was [D]killed
For speaking to a woman
Whose [G]skin was as white as dough
That's a [D]sin in Mississippi
But how was I to know
[A]

[Verse 2]
I'd [D]come down from Chicago
[G]To visit with my kin
Up [A]there I was a cheeky kid
I [G]guess [D]I always been
But the harm they put upon me
Was too [G]hard for what I done
For [D]I was just a black boy
I [A]never [D]hurt [G]no [D]one[A]
[D]

[Verse 3]
They took me from my uncle's house
[G]Mose Wright was his name
He'd [A]later stand and without
hesita[G]tion
Point [D]the blame
At the ones who beat and cut me
And [G]shot me with a gun
Then [D]threw me in the river
Like I was trash when they were done
[A]

[Verse 4]
I was [D]sent back to my mother
At least [G]what was left of me
She [A]kept my casket open
For the [G]whole wide world to [D]see
The awful desecration
And [G]the evidence of hate
You [D]could not recognize me
The mutil[A]ation was so [D]great

[Verse 5]
There [Bm]came a cry for justice then
To be [A]finally fulfilled
All be[G]cause of me, a black [D]boy
My [A]name is Emmett [D]Till

[Interlude 1]
[G][D][A]
[D][G][D][A]
[D]

[Verse 6]
But [D]I'd have rather lived
'Til I was [G]too old to die young
[A]Not miss all I left behind
[G]All that might [D]have come
The summer clouds above my head
The [G]grass beneath my feet
The [D]warmth of a good woman
Her kisses soft and sweet
[A][D]

[Verse 7]
Perhaps to be a father
With a [G]black boy of my own
And [A]watch him grow into
A kinder [G]world than I [D]had known

[Verse 8]
Where no child would be murdered
For the [G]color of his skin
And [D]love would be the only thing
In[A]side the hearts of men

[Verse 9]
[D]They [Bm]say the horror of that night
Is still [A]haunting heaven still
Where [G]I am one more b[D]lack boy
My [A]name is Emmett Till

[Outro 1]
[D][G][D][A]
[D][G][D][A]
[D]