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 forty-four

Our neighbors in the big house called us redneck
'Cause we lived in a poor sharecropper shack
The Jackson's 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 skyscarpers 
Where dirty rundown shack stood once before
I see sons and daughters of sharecroppers 
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
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