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He Was My Brother Lyrics
He was my brother
Five years older than I
He was my brother
Twenty-three years old the day he died
Freedom writer
They cursed my brother to his face
"Go home, outsider
This town's gonna be your buryin' place"
He was singin' on his knees
An angry mob trailed along
They shot my brother dead
Because he hated what was wrong
He was my brother
Tears can't bring him back to me
He, he was my brother
And he died so his brothers could be free
He died so his brothers could be free
Five years older than I
He was my brother
Twenty-three years old the day he died
They cursed my brother to his face
"Go home, outsider
This town's gonna be your buryin' place"
An angry mob trailed along
They shot my brother dead
Because he hated what was wrong
Tears can't bring him back to me
He, he was my brother
And he died so his brothers could be free
He died so his brothers could be free
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This is about Andrew Goodman, who was murdered in Mississippi in 1964, along with James Chaney and Michael Schwerner. They were part of the Freedom Riders who worked in Mississippi to encourage voter registration amongst the Black community that summer. I believe Paul Simon knew him from school, so the raw emotion in his singing is very powerful.