A shadow fell across the land
Astride the horn of plenty
stood the shackle and the brand
The children of Abraham
knew the cotton and tobacco
left blood upon their hands
And Ol John Brown said Christ has come and gone
Hell's where one man owns another one
There's no justice, justice must be done by hand

A pale horse came riding in
From the heart of bleeding Kansas
and the line through slave and free
John Brown was riding him
A fever in him rising out of
Osawatomie
And Old John Brown said this land is accursed
Only blood can quench this soil's thirst
Only death the chains of slavery burst apart  

They opened the seventh seal
and fell on Harper's Ferry
where the grapes of wrath are stored
But broken and forced to yield
the rising was defeated by
a different Angel's sword
And Old john Brown he stood the gallows proud
John Wilkes Booth he stood there in the crowd
In the distance gathered dark the clouds of war

Now, children, we have heard the tale
And the moral of this story, well,
it still has to be found
Cause here where so many fell
the Home of the Brave
is six feet underground
And Ol John Brown, in body surely dead
His spirit roams this land that honor fled
Curses, still, the chains inside your head today