John Wilkes Booth Lyrics - Singles - Tony Rice

John Wilkes Booth was a southern man 

Born of an actor in Maryland 

Bound for fortune on a gas-lit stage 

Bound to die at a tender 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 hands 

Of the bitter world and a faceless man 

And he saw his body in a ghastly dream 

Draped in black while his widow screamed 

Two silver dollars on his eyelids lay 

Abraham Lincoln has died today 

And they said there were five and they said there were ten 

Some say there was never more than just one man 

Who would smile to see Mr. Lincoln dead 

In the name of God and Dixie, in the name of God and Dixie Land 

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 

And 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 

And they said there were five and they said there were ten 

Some say there was never more than just one man 

Who would smile to see Mr. Lincoln dead 

In the name of God and Dixie, in the name of God and Dixie Land 

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 were hanged and those who spent 

Their lives behind a jailer's fence 

Only Booth could have proved them free 

Of the taint of the conspiracy 

For they said there were five and they said there were ten 

Some said there was never more than just one man 

Who would smile to see Mr. Lincoln dead 

In the name of God and Dixie, in the name of God and Dixie Land 

In the name of God and Dixie, in the name of God and Dixie Land