About the Song
This song was written as many Confederate statues were (finally) taken down or moved to museums in the wake of the brutal killing of George Floyd.
Your childhood was ringed by cotton fields
The hands that picked the cotton cooked your meals
While you became a lawyer, then a general
Of some renown
You fought the Union off at Chancellorsville
Your cavalry was flanked at Fisher's Hill
They felled your men, now follow them
Statue down
C - Em - / Am - F - / C - - - / G - - - / 1st 2 / C - G - / C (F C - )
[Charles Linn:]
The cotton which those nameless people picked
You took from them & packed it in your ship
Then sailed it to the mills at Liveepool
Pound for pound
And from those sales you sailed the money back
To keep your southern armies in the black
Now the bill is due & so are you
Statue down
Statue down
You thought you were glory bound & now you're on the ground
You face the changing wind, no bronze and & stone
To insulate your thin skin
C - F - / Bb F FBb D / Gm F Ab F / Dm Fm Dm Fm
[Edward Colston:]
From Bristol Bay you reached across the sea
For silver, sugar, gold & ivory
Your Royal African Company
Sure shopped around
Then on the new world's shores
The souls you sold weren't yours
Except for one whose time has come
Statue down
(chorus 2) Statue down
You thought you were so profound & now you've been de-crowned
And drowned in Bristol Bay, the gallery of decay
Where you're exhibit A for a day
(tag) And history is strange
And history can change
You made history, now so do we
Statue down
- lyrics & music by Rick Burkhardt (c) author. All right reserved.