G               C         G         C             G
A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Ever's blood
  G                C              D
A finger fired the trigger to his name
  G      C              G
A handle hid out in the dark
  C            G
A hand set the spark
 C                G
Two eyes took the aim
  C            G
Behind a man's brain
    C           G
But he can't be blamed
     G      D    C        G
He's only a pawn in their game


[Verse 2]
  G         Bm     Am              C          G
A South politician preaches to the poor white man
        G             C                D
You got more than the blacks, don't complain
       G           C              G               C          G
You're better than them, you been born with white skin, they explain
        C       G
And the Negro's name
   C          G
Is used it is plain
        C            G
For the politician's gain
      C        G
As he rises to fame
        C          G
And the poor white remains
       C              G
On the caboose of the train
       C            G
But it ain't him to blame
     G      D    C        G
He's only a pawn in their game


[Verse 3]
    G      Bm           Am             C             G
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
        G            C            D
And the marshals and cops get the same
        G                C           G             C          G
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool
     C             G
He's taught in his school
         C            G
From the start by the rules
         C             G
That the laws are with him
   C                 G
To protect his white skin
   C           G
To keep up his hate
      C            G
So he never thinks straight
          C               G
'Bout the shape that he's in
       C            G
But it ain't him to blame
     G      D    C        G
He's only a pawn in their game


[Verse 4]
         G       Bm         Am             C             G
From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks
        G          C            D
And the hoof beats pound in his brain
         G             C         G
And he's taught how to walk in a pack
C            G              C         G
Shoot in the back, with his fist in a clinch
   C           G
To hang and to lynch
   C               G
To hide 'neath the hood
   C            G
To kill with no pain
       C        G
Like a dog on a chain
   C              G
He ain't a-got no name
       C            G
But it ain't him to blame
     G      D    C        G
He's only a pawn in their game


[Verse 5]
  G           Bm        Am              C         G
Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught
     G           C         D
They lowered him down as a king
             G       C
But when the shadowy sun
G           C
Sets on the one
     C         G
That fired the gun
      C          G
He'll see by his grave
       C          G
On the stone that remains
       C           G
Carved next to his name
    C       G
His epitaph plain
G      D    C        G
Only a pawn in their game