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Colored Town Lyrics

Artist: Phil Ochs
Album: A Toast to Those Who Are Gone

(Capo I)

Am Dm
Just across the railroad tracks
Am G
On the far side of the town
Am Dm
All the people there are black
Am G
And they live in colored town
Am
Colored town

Speeding cars down the highway run
They never stop to look around
One place that the highway shuns
And that place is colored town
Colored town

On the sidewalk children play
In the gutters watch them clown
White world is so far away
So far away from colored town
Colored town

The owners of the local stores
Owners of the local ground
They're walking on a finer floor
Skin's too white for colored town
Colored town

In the early of the day
For the white homes they are bound
As a janitor, as a maid
They leave their place in colored town
Colored town

Come the evening, come the wine
Come the dancing music sound
Liquor knows no color line
Not even down in colored town
Colored town

A prison with no prison guards
Where no padlocks can be found
A jail without cells and bars
But you'll never escape from colored town
Colored town

Come let's open all the doors
From Birmingham to Harlem's ground
from Jackson to Chicago's shores
Let's take a look at colored town
Colored town
Come take a look at colored town
Colored town

Comments/Interpretations

by John Murcko, Esq. on 8/24/2011 9:48pm
PHIL CAPTURES THE DISCRIMINATION OF AMERICA IN THIS FINE BALLAD