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John Brown Lyrics
Ooh John Brown
Where you gonna go to now
Ooh John Brown
Where you gonna go to now
I see in your eyes
But I can't see your brain
Something don't look right
Are you going away
I know you can see
Faces in the walls
And, oh, you can hear
Those voices in the halls
But oh John Brown
If you go downtown now
Just be sure
It's the will of the lord
There's a man over yonder
He's as mad as the devil
Of what's become
Of this land
They say a man can only fill
Just so much in his head
Until they start to forget
But oh John Brown
Where you goin now
Oh John Brown
Where you goin now
Ahh ahh ahhh
Where you gonna go to now
Ooh John Brown
Where you gonna go to now
But I can't see your brain
Something don't look right
Are you going away
Faces in the walls
And, oh, you can hear
Those voices in the halls
If you go downtown now
Just be sure
It's the will of the lord
He's as mad as the devil
Of what's become
Of this land
Just so much in his head
Until they start to forget
Where you goin now
Oh John Brown
Where you goin now
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Peoples without the apostrophe. Cheers.
john brown is that radical aboilitionist in civil war history books known for the pottawatomie (sp) creek slaughter of five pro-slavery whites and the failed harper's ferry raid in virginia. he was captured and hanged for treason. he was also crazy. and a religous fanatic. that should be enough to make sense of the song.
It interests me that John Brown is painted as such a villain, he definitely could be what some historians say he was, but we still venerate the likes of Robert E. Lee as hero and representative of the people's cause, when Lee was a racist. He led the forces of one of the most greed-infected people's of the ages, people for cash. John Brown, though his methods were extreme, fits the idea of America better than Robert E. Lee, in my mind.
Robert E. Lee was not a racist. He was anti-slavery and the only reason he led the Confederate Army was because of his loyalty to Virginia. Lincoln offered him the chance to be a general in the Union and he didn't take it because Virginia had already seceded and he couldn't fight against his home state.
I also find it interesting that John Brown is portrayed so badly in this song. Granted, he was crazy. I don't really know where I'm going with this.
"But oh John Brown If you go downtown now Just be sure It's the will of the lord"
I love this stanza. Many people do not regard John Brown as a martyr for his cause, but a radical and a murderer. John Brown believed, however, that God's purpose for him was to save the African Americans. This stanza is saying, if you go down that road, if you kill, you damn well better know that it really is the will of the lord. This song really fits in with the arguments about "just wars".
Also, the lyrics "Ooh John Brown, where you gonna go to now?" seems to be saying, will he go to Heaven or Hell?