The Ballad of Booth

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States

Abraham Lincoln!

Sic Semper Tyrannis!

Someone tell the story

Someone sing the song

Every now and then the country

Goes a little wrong

Every now and then a madman's

Bound to come along

Doesn't stop the story

Story's pretty strong

Doesn't change the song

Johnny Booth was a handsome devil

Got up in his rings and fancy silks

Had him a temper but kept it level

Everybody called him Wilkes

Why did you do it, Johnny?

Nobody agrees

You, who had everything

What made you bring a nation to its knees?

Some say it was your voice had gone

Some say it was booze

Some say you killed a country, John

Because of bad reviews

Johnny lived with a grace and glitter

Kinda like the lives he lived onstage

Died in a barn in pain and bitter

27 years of age

Why did you do it, Johnny?

Throw it all away

Why did you do it, boy?

Not just destroy the pride and joy of Illinois

But all the USA

Your brother made you jealous, John

You couldn't fill his shoes

Was that the reason?

Tell us, John

Along with bad reviews

Damn!

They're coming

They'll be here any minute!

I need your help, Davey

I got a horse

If we can get across the river

I've got to write this

I can't hold the pen

Johnny, they found us

We gotta get out of here

No, not 'til I finish this

Johnny-

No!

Have you seen the papers?

Do you know what they callin' me?

A common cutthroat

A hired assassin

This one says I'm mad

We must have been mad

To think we could kill the President

And get away with it

We did get away with it

He was a bloody tyrant

And we brought him down

And I will not have history think I did it for a bag of gold

Or in some kind of rabid fit

Johnny, we have to go

No, I have to make my case

I need you to take it down

We don't have time!

Take it down

An indictment

Of the former President of the United States

Abraham Lincoln, who is herein charged

With the following High Crimes and Misdemeanors

They say your ship was sinkin', John

One

That you did ruthlessly provoke a war between the States

Which cost some 600,000 of my countrymen their lives

Two-

You'd started missing cues

Two

That you did silence your critics in the north

By hurling them into prison

Without benefit of charge or trial

Three-

They say it wasn't Lincoln, John

Shut up

Three-

You'd merely had a slew of bad reviews

I said, shut up!

What are we gonna do?

We are gonna finish this

Now, three-

Booth!

We got 50 soldiers out here, Booth

Give yourself up

Or we'll set fire to the barn

Don't shoot!

I'm coming out

No, no!

I have given up my life for one act

Do you understand?

Do not let history rob me of its meaning

Pass on the truth

You're the only one who can

Please?

He said, "Damn you, Lincoln

You had your way (tell 'em, boy)

With blood you drew out

Of blue and gray" (tell them more)

Tell them 'til they listen

He said, "Damn you, Lincoln

And damn the day

You threw the U out of USA"

He said-

Hunt me down

Smear my name

Say I did it for the fame

What I did was kill the man who killed my country

Now the south land will mend

Now this bloody war can end

Because someone slew the tyrant

Just as Brutus slew the tyrant!

He said, "Damn you, Lincoln

You righteous whore! (Tell 'em, tell 'em what he did)

You turned your spite into civil war (tell 'em, tell 'em the truth)

And more" (tell 'em all, tell 'em how it happened!)

How the end doesn't mean that it's over

How surrender is not the end

Tell 'em

How the country is not where it was

Where there's blood in the clover

How the nation can never again be the hope that it was

How the bruises may never be healed

How the wounds are forever

How we gave up the field

But we still wouldn't yield

How the Union can never recover

From that vulgar

High and mighty

Nigger-lover

Never

Never

Never

Never

The country is not what it was

Damn my soul if you must

Let my body turn to dust

Let it mingle with the ashes of the country

Let them curse me to hell

Leave it to history to tell

What I did, I did well

And I did it for my country

Let them cry, "dirty traitor!"

They will understand it later

The country is not what it was!

Johnny Booth was a headstrong fella

Even he believed the things he said

Some called him noble, some said, yellow

What he was was off his head

How could you do it, Johnny?

Calling it a cause

You left a legacy of butchery

And treason we took eagerly

And thought you'd get applause

But traitors just get jeers and boos

Not visits to their graves

While Lincoln, who got mixed reviews

Because of you, John

Now gets only raves

Damn you, Johnny

You paved the way

For other madmen to make us pay

Lots of madmen have had their say

But only for a day

Listen to the stories

Hear it in the songs

Angry men don't write the rules

And guns don't right the wrongs

Hurts a while but soon

The country's back where it belongs

And that's the truth

Still and all

Damn you, Booth!