My Thirty Thousand

Paul Robeson he’s the man

That faced the Ku Klux Klan

On hollow grove’s golfing ground

His words come sounding!

And all around him there

To jump and clap and cheer

I sent the best, the best I had

My thirty thousand

The Klansman leader said

That Paul would lose his head

When thirty five thousand vets

Broke up that concert

But less than four thousand came

To side with the Klan!

But around Paul’s lonesome oak

(My thirty thousand)

A beersoaked brassy band

Did snortle around the grounds

Four hundred noblest souls

(Westchester’s manhood)!

They looked exactly like

Fleas on a tiger’s back;

Lost fish in the waters of

My thirty thousand!

When Paul had sung and gone

And the kids and babies home

Cops came with guns and clubs

And clubbed and beat them!

I’d hate to be a cop

Caught with a bloody stick

(Cause you can’t bash the brains out

Of thirty thousand)!

Each eye you tried to gouge

Each skull you tried to crack

Has a thousand thousand friends

Around this green grass!

If you furnish the skull someday

I'll pass out the clubs and guns

To the billion hands that love

My thirty thousand!

Each wrinkle on your face

I know it at a glance

You cannot run and hide

Nor duck nor dodge them

And your carcass and your deeds

Will fertilize the seeds

Of the men that stood to guard

My thirty thousand!