歌词
VOICE
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln!
BOOTH'S VOICE
Sic semper tyrannis!...
BALLADEER
Someone tell the story,
Someone sing the song.
Every now and then
The country
Goes a little wrong.
Every now and then
A madman's
Bound to come along.
Doesn't stop the story --
Story's pretty strong.
Doesn't change the song...
Johnny Booth was a handsome devil,
Got up in his rings and fancy silks.
Had him a temper but kept it level.
Everybody called him Wilkes.
Why did you do it, Johnny?
Nobody agrees.
You who had everything,
What made you bring
A nation to its knees?
Some say it was your voice had gone,
Some say it was booze.
Some say you killed a country, John,
Because of bad reviews.
Johnny lived with a grace and glitter,
Kinda like the lives he lived on stage.
Died in a barn in pain and bitter,
Twenty-seven years of age.
Why did you do it, Johnny,
Throw it all away?
Why did you do it, boy,
Not just destroy
The pride and joy
Of Illinois,
But all the U.S.A.?
You brother made you jealous, John,
You couldn't fill his shoes.
Was that the reason, tell us, John --
Along with bad reviews?
BOOTH
Damn!
HEROLD
They're coming! They'll be here any minute --
BOOTH
I need your help. I've got to write this and I can't hold the pen!
HEROLD
Johnny, they've found us! We've got to get out of here!
BOOTH
Not till I finish this.
HEROLD
Johnny --
BOOTH
No! Have you seen these papers? Do you know what they're calling me?! A common cutthroat! A hired
assassin! This one says I'm mad!
HEROLD
We must have been mad to think we could kill the President and get away with it!
BOOTH
We did get away with it!
He was a bloody tyrant and we brought him down!
And I will not have history think I did it for a bag of gold or in some kind of rabid fit!
HEROLD
Johnny, we have to go --
BOOTH
No! I have to make my case! And I need you to take it down!
HEROLD
We don't have time!
BOOTH
Take it down.
An indictment.
Of the former President of the United States,
Abraham Lincoln,
who is herein charged with the following High Crimes and Misdemeanors.
BALLADEER
They say your ship was sinkin', John...
BOOTH
One: That you did ruthlessly provoke a war
between the States which cost
some six hundred thousand of
my countrymen their lives. Two --
BALLADEER
You'd started missing cues...
BOOTH
Two: That you did silence your critics in the North
by hurling them into prison
without benefit of charge or trial. Three --
BALLADEER
They say it wasn't Lincoln, John.
BOOTH
Shut up! Three --
BALLADEER
You'd merely had
A slew of bad
Reviews --
BOOTH
I said shut up!
VOICE
Booth! I have fifty soldiers out here, Booth!
Give yourselves up or we'll set fire to the barn!
HEROLD
Don't shoot! I'm coming out!
BOOTH
No!
I have given up my life for one act, you understand?
Do not let history rob me of it's meaning.
Pass on the truth!
You're the only one who can. Please...
BALLADEER
He said,
"Damn you, Lincoln,
You had your way --
BOOTH
Tell 'em, boy!
BALLADEER
With blood you drew out
Of Blue and Gray!"
BOOTH
Tell it all!
Tell them till they listen!
BALLADEER
He said,
"Damn you, Lincoln,
And damn the day
You threw the 'U' out
Of U.S.A.!"
He said:
BOOTH
Hunt me down, smear my name,
Say I did it for the fame,
What I did was kill the man who killed my country.
Now the Southland will mend,
Now this bloody war can end,
Because someone slew the tyrant
Just as Brutus slew the tyrant --
BALLADEER
He said:
BALLADEER, BOOTH
Damn you, Lincoln,
You righteous whore!
BOOTH
Tell 'em!
Tell 'em what he did!
BALLADEER, BOOTH
You turned your spite into civil war!
BOOTH
Tell 'em!
Tell 'em the truth!
BALLADEER
And more...
BOOTH
Tell 'em, boy!
Tell them how it happened,
How the end doesn't mean that it's over,
How surrender is not the end!
Tell them:
How the country is not what it was,
Where there's blood in the clover,
How the nation can never again
Be the hope that it was.
How the bruises may never be healed,
How the wounds are forever,
How we gave up the field
But we still wouldn't yield,
How the Union can never recover
From that vulgar,
High and mighty
Niggerlover,
Never--!
Never. Never. Never.
No, the country is not what it was...
Damn my soul if you must,
Let my body turn to dust,
Let it mingle with the ashes of the country.
Let them curse me to hell,
Leave it to history to tell:
What I did, I did well,
And I did it for my country.
Let them cry, "Dirty traitor!"
They will understand it later --
The country is not what it was...
BALLADEER
Johnny Booth was a headstrong fellow,
Even he believed the things he said.
Some called him noble, some said yellow.
What he was was off his head.
How could you do it, Johnny,
Calling it a cause?
You left a legacy
Of butchery
And treason we
Took eagerly,
And thought you'd get applause.
But traitors just get jeers and boos,
Not visits to their graves,
While Lincoln, who got mixed reviews,
Because of you, John, now gets only raves.
Damn you, Johnny,
You paved the way
For other madmen
To make us pay.
Lots of madmen
Have had their say --
But only for a day.
Listen to the stories.
Hear it in the songs.
Angry men
Don't write the rules
And guns don't right the wrongs.
Hurts a while,
But soon the country's
Back where it belongs,
And that's the truth.
Still and all,
Damn you, Booth!
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