Seen the arrow on the doorpost
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Saying, "This land is condemned
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All the way from New Orleans
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To Jerusalem."
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I traveled through East Texas
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Where many martyrs fell
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And I know no one can sing the blues
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Like Blind Willie McTell
|
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Well, I heard the hoot owl singing
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As they were taking down the tents
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The stars above the barren trees
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Were his only audience
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Them charcoal gypsy maidens
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Can strut their feathers well
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But nobody can sing the blues
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Like Blind Willie McTell
|
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See them big plantations burning
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Hear the cracking of the whips
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Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
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(And) see the ghosts of slavery ships
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I can hear them tribes a-moaning
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(I can) hear the undertaker's bell
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(Yeah), nobody can sing the blues
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Like Blind Willie McTell
|
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There's a woman by the river
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With some fine young handsome man
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He's dressed up like a squire
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Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
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There's a chain gang on the highway
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I can hear them rebels yell
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And I know no one can sing the blues
|
Like Blind Willie McTell
|
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Well, God is in heaven
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And we all want what's his
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But power and greed and corruptible seed
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Seem to be all that there is
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I'm gazing out the window
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Of the St. James Hotel
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And I know no one can sing the blues
|
Like Blind Willie McTell
|
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-----------------
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Blind Willie McTell
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Bob Dylan |