All the leaves were turning brown as we marched through TennesseeHerding men like Moses did into the dusty seaAnd though they cried to Jesus still we did as we was toldMother Mercy looked away and the sky was thick with crowsThey say there's a difference 'tween the white man and the redThat though they pray and work like me they're something else insteadPresident Jackson says it's best, but he ain't the one to goMother Mercy looked away and the sky was thick with crowsI marched down the trail of tears with a rifle in my handWith orders not to pick them up if anyone couldn't standAnd though the sun was shining down that trail to Hell still frozeMother Mercy looked away and the sky was thick with crowsDaniel Thorton held his tongue 'til he couldn't hold it backHe raised his voice to the Major's guns so they shot him in his tracksTheir bodies fed those feathered coats on blackened wings they roseMother Mercy looked away and the sky was thick with crowsWhat do you tell a mother who can't feed her starving child?How can you tell a boy of ten to march a thousand miles?What do you tell your children when they ask what words you chose?When Mother Mercy looked away and he sky was thick with crows
