Hey Nellie Nellie, come to the window
Hey Nellie Nellie, look at what I see
He's riding into town on a sway-back mule
In a tall black hat he looks like a fool
He sure is talking like he's been to school
It's 1855

Hey Nellie Nellie, come to the window
Hey Nellie Nellie, listen what he says
He say the black folk should be free
To walk anywhere like you and me
He's talking about a thing called democracy
It's 1859

Hey Nellie Nellie, come to the window
Hey Nellie Nellie, hand me down my gun
The men are marching, the boys are too
All putting on their coats of blue
I can't just stand here talking to you
It's 1861

Hey Nellie Nellie, come to the window
Hey Nellie Nellie, I've come home alive
But my coat of blue is stained with red
And the man in the tall black hat is dead
We sure can remember all the things he said
It's 1865

Hey Nellie Nellie, come to the window
Hey Nellie Nellie, time to make a row
I see white folk and black folk side by side
Marching in a column a century wide
From Selma to Soweto we're turning the tide
I feel things changing now
From Selma to Soweto we're turning the tide
Things are changing now

Hey Nelly Nelly, come to the window
Hey Nelly Nelly, look at what I see
I see white folks and colored walkin' side by side
They're walkin' in a column that's a century wide
It's still a long and a hard and a bloody ride
In 1963