I Believe the South Is Gonna Rise Again

Mama never had a flower garden
 'Cause cotton grew right up to our front door
 Daddy never went on a vacation
 He died a tired old man at fourty four
 Our neighbors in the big house called us redneck
 'Cause we lived in a poor share-croppers shack
 The Jacksons down the road were poor like we were
 But our skin was white and theirs was black
 But I believe the south is gonna rise again
 But not the way we thought it would back then
 I mean everybody hand in hand
 I believe the south is gonna rise again
 I see wooded parks and big skyscrapers
 Where dirty rundown shacks stood once before
 I see sons and daughters of share-croppers
 But they're not picking cotton anymore
 But more important I see human kindness
 As we forget the bad and keep the good
 A brand new breeze is blowing 'cross the southland
 And I see a brand new kind of brotherhood
 Yes I believe the south is gonna rise again
 Oh, but not the way we thought it would back then
 I mean everybody hand in hand
 I believe the south is gonna rise again
 I believe the south is gonna rise again
 I believe the south is gonna rise again