The Ballad of Booth

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States
 Abraham Lincoln!
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 Sic Semper Tyrannis!
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 Someone tell the story
 Someone sing the song
 Every now and then
 The country
 Goes a little wrong
 Every now and then
 A madman's
 Bound to come along
 Doesn't stop the story
 Story's pretty strong
 Doesn't change the song
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 Johnny Booth was a handsome devil
 Got up in his rings and fancy silks
 Had him a temper
 But kept it level
 Everybody called him Wilkes
 Why did you do it, Johnny?
 Nobody agrees
 You, who had everything
 What made you bring
 A nation to its knees?
 Some say it was your voice had gone
 Some say it was booze
 Some say you killed a country, John
 Because of bad reviews
 Johnny lived with a grace and glitter
 Kinda like the lives he lived onstage
 Died in a barn in pain and bitter
 27 years of age
 Why did you do it, Johnny?
 Throw it all away
 Why did you do it, boy?
 Not just destroy
 The pride and joy of Illinois
 But all the USA
 Your brother made you jealous, John
 You couldn't fill his shoes
 Was that the reason?
 Tell us, John
 Along with bad reviews
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 Damn!
 They're coming
 They'll be here any minute!
 I need your help, Davey
 I got a horse
 If we can get across the river...
 I've got to write this
 I can't hold the pen
 Johnny, they found us
 We gotta get out of here
 No, not 'til I finish this
 Johnny-
 No!
 Have you seen the papers?
 Do you know what they callin' me?
 A common cutthroat
 A hired assassin
 This one says I'm mad
 We must have been mad
 To think we could kill the President
 And get away with it
 We did get away with it
 He was a bloody tyrant
 And we brought him down
 And I will not have history
 Think I did it for a bag of gold
 Or in some kind of rabid fit
 Johnny, we have to go
 No, I have to make my case
 I need you to take it down
 We don't have time!
 Take it down
 An indictment
 Of the former President of the United States
 Abraham Lincoln
 Who is herein charged
 With the following High Crimes and Misdemeanors
 They say your ship was sinkin', John
 One
 That you did ruthlessly provoke a war between the States
 Which cost some 600.000 of my contrymen their lives
 Two-
 You'd started missing cues
 Two
 That you did silence your critics in the north
 By hurling them into prison
 Without benefit of charge or trial
 Three-
 They say it wasn't Lincoln, John
 Shut up
 Three-
 You'd merely had a slew of bad reviews
 I said, shut up!
 What are we gonna do?
 We are gonna finish this
 Now, three-
 Booth!
 We got 50 soldiers out here, Booth
 Give yourself up
 Or we'll set fire to the barn
 Don't shoot!
 I'm coming out
 No, no!
 I have given up my life for one act
 Do you understand?
 Do not let history rob me of its meaning
 Pass on the truth
 You're the only one who can
 Please?
 He said, "damn you, Lincoln
 You had your way (tell 'em, boy)
 With blood you drew out
 Of blue and gray" (tell them more)
 Tell them 'til they listen
 He said, "damn you, Lincoln
 And damn the day
 You threw the U out of USA"
 He said-
 Hunt me down
 Smear my name
 Say I did it for the fame
 What I did was kill the man who killed my country
 Now the south land will mend
 Now this bloody war can end
 Because someone slew the tyrant
 Just as Brutus slew the tyrant!
 He said, "damn you, Lincoln
 You righteous whore! (tell 'em, tell 'em what he did)
 You turned your spite into civil war (tell 'em, tell 'em the truth)
 And more" (tell 'em all, tell 'em how it happened!)
 How the end doesn't mean that it's over
 How surrender is not the end
 Tell 'em
 How the country is not where it was
 Where there's blood in the clover
 How the nation can never again
 Be the hope that it was
 How the bruises may never be healed
 How the wounds are forever
 How we gave up the field
 But we still wouldn't yield
 How the Union can never recover
 From that vulgar
 High and mighty
 Nigger-lover
 Never
 Never
 Never
 Never
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 The country is not what it was
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 Damn my soul if you must
 Let my body turn to dust
 Let it mingle with the ashes of the country
 Let them curse me to hell
 Leave it to history to tell
 What I did, I did well
 And I did it for my country
 Let them cry, "dirty traitor!"
 They will understand it later
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 The country is not what it was!
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 Johnny Booth was a headstrong fella
 Even he believed the things he said
 Some called him noble
 Some said, yellow
 What he was was off his head
 How could you do it, Johnny?
 Calling it a cause
 You left a legacy of butchery
 And treason we took eagerly
 And thought you'd get applause
 But traitors just get jeers and boos
 Not visits to their graves
 While Lincoln, who got mixed reviews
 Because of you, John
 Now gets only raves
 Damn you, Johnny
 You paved the way
 For other madmen to make us pay
 Lots of madmen have had their say
 But only for a day
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 Listen to the stories
 Hear it in the songs
 Angry men don't write the rules
 And guns don't right the wrongs
 Hurts a while but soon
 The country's back where it belongs
 And that's the truth
 Still and all
 Damn you, Booth!