John Wilkes Booth

[G]John Wilkes Booth was a southern [C]man,
[Em]Born of an actor in Maryla[D]nd,
[G]Bound for fortune on a gas-lit [C]stage,
[Em]Bound to die at a [D]tender[G] age.

Washington to Baltimore,
He played the bills and he slept with whores,
And he burned inside with a hatred deep
For the man who caused the south to weep.

Young Abe Lincoln wasn't young no more,
Tired old man when he won the war,
And he dreamed at night of his death by the hand
Of a bitter world and a faceless man

[C]And he saw his body in a [D]ghastly dr[Em]eam,
[C]Draped in black while his [Em]widow sc[D]reamed.
[C]Two silver dollars on his[D] eyelids [Em]lay.
[G]Abraham Linco[C]ln has died toda[D]y.    [G]

        [C]                             [D]                    [Em]

They said there were five and they said there were ten.
Some say t[G]here was never more than [C]just one ma[D]n.
[C]Who would smile to see M[D]r. Lincoln [Em]dead
In the na[G]me of God an[Em]d Dixie,   [Am]
[G]In the name of God and Dixie Land. [Em]    [D]      [G]

John Wilkes Booth and his band of men
They'd failed before but would try again.
When Good Friday dawned with a fickle sun,
Then Booth declared the day had come.

The word was passed and the guns were brought,
Down to Mary Sarrat's boarding house.
Sealed in a note, Booth named just four,
But the gallows would sway with many more.

John Wilkes Booth went to his grave
With a bullet in his neck and a broken leg,
A patriot and his fantasy
Of redemption, grace, and bravery.

And those who hanged and those who spent
Their lives behind a jailer's fence,
Only Booth could have set them free
From the taint of the conspiracy.

In the name of God and Dixie
In the name of God and Dixie land