Were you there when the man from Atlanta was
Murdered in Memphis?
Did you see him laying at the Lorraine Motel?
Did you hear them say that the CIA is witness
To the murder of a man at a motel in Memphis?

(Chorus)
Motel in Memphis
Motel in Memphis
Run and tell somebody
There's blood on the riverside
Oh muddy water
Rollin' to Memphis
If you were there you'd swear
It was more then a man who died

Did you see Coretta she was sobbing on
The corner in her black veil?
Did you see Mr. Crump in a white coat grin?
Did you walk downriver where the cottonwoods are swinging
With ghostly bodies of men?

(Chorus)

Were you there with Mahalia wailing at the funeral?
Did you watch them lower his casket in?
Did you tremble when you thought about the future
And cry out for a martyred man?

(Chorus)