--------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Name is Emmett Till - Emmylou Harris --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuning: Standard Emmylou Harris My Name is Emmett Till (2011) (Emmylou Harris) From: "Hard Bargain" Sounds like Harris uses an open-D tuning here. If you don't want to retune so many strings: drop-D is close. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drop-D CHORDS e-B-G-D-A-D D 2-3-2-0-0-0 G 3-3-0-0-5-5 A 0-2-2-2-0-x Bm 2-3-4-4-2-x --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | D | % | % | % | D I was born a black boy G My name is Emmett Till A Walked this earth for 14 years G D One night I was killed D For speaking to a woman G Whose skin was white as dough D That's a sin in Mississippi D A But how was I to know? D I'd come down from Chicago G To visit with my kin A Up there I was a cheeky kid G D I guess I always been D But the harm they put upon me G Was too hard for what I done D For I was just a black boy A D I never hurt no one D G D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D A D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D They took me from my uncle's house G Mose Wright was his name A G He'd be later standing without hesitation D Point the blame D At the ones who beat and cut me G And shot me with a gun D And threw me in the river D A Like I was trash when they were done D I was sent back to my mother G At least what was left of me A She kept my casket open G D For the whole wide world to see D The awful desecration G And the evidence of hate D You could not recognize me A D The mutilation was so great Bm Became a cry for justice then A To be finally fulfilled G D All because of me, a black boy A D My name was Emmett Till D G D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D A D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D G D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D A D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D Oh, that I had rather lived G Till I was too old to die young A Not miss all I left behind G D All that might have come D Summer clouds above my head G The grass beneath my feet D The warmth of a good woman D A Her kisses soft and sweet D Perhaps to be a father G With a black boy of my own A G Watch him grow into a kinder world D Than I had known D Where no child would be murdered G For the color of his skin D And love would be the only thing A D Inside the hearts of men Bm They say the horror of that night A Is haunting heaven still G D Where I am one more black boy A D My name is Emmett Till D G D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D A D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D G D Oh oh oh oh oh oh D A D Oh oh oh oh oh oh