Only A Pawn In Their Game Lyrics - The Times They Are A-changin' - Bob Dylan

A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers' blood. 

A finger fired the trigger to his name. 

A handle hid out in the dark 

A hand set the spark 

Two eyes took the aim 

Behind a man's brain 

But he can't be blamed 

He's only a pawn in their game. 

A South politician preaches to the poor white man, 

"You got more than the blacks, don't complain. 

You're better than them, you been born with white skin," they explain. 

And the Negro's name 

Is used it is plain 

For the politician's gain 

As he rises to fame 

And the poor white remains 

On the caboose of the train 

But it ain't him to blame 

He's only a pawn in their game. 

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The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid, 

And the marshals and cops get the same, 

But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool. 

He's taught in his school 

From the start by the rule 

That the laws are with him 

To protect his white skin 

To keep up his hate 

So he never thinks straight 

'Bout the shape that he's in 

But it ain't him to blame 

He's only a pawn in their game. 

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From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks, 

And the hoof beats pound in his brain. 

And he's taught how to walk in a pack 

Shoot in the back 

With his fist in a clinch 

To hang and to lynch 

To hide 'neath the hood 

To kill with no pain 

Like a dog on a chain 

He ain't got no name 

But it ain't him to blame 

He's only a pawn in their game. 

Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught. 

They lowered him down as a king. 

But when the shadowy sun sets on the one 

That fired the gun 

You'll see by his grave 

On the stone that remains 

Carved next to his name 

His epitaph plain: 

Only a pawn in their game.