Seen the arrow on the doorpost
Saying this land is condemned
All the way from New Orleans
To Jerusalem
I travel through east Texas
Where many martyrs fell
And I dont know one can sing the blues
Like blind Wille McTell
Well, I heard that hoo-dove singing
As they were taking down the tent
The stars above the barren trees
Was his only audiance
Them charcoal gypsy maidens
Can strut their feathers well
But nobody can sing the blues
Like blind Wille McTell
Seen them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
See the ghost of slarvery ship
I can hear them tribes moaning
Hear the undertakers bell
Nobody can sing the blues
Like blind Wille McTell
There’s a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He’s dressed up like a squier
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
There’s a chain gang on the highway
I can hear them rebells yell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like blind Wille McTell
Well, God is in his heaven
And we are what was his
But power and greed and corruptible seed
Seem to be all that there is
I’m gazing out the window
Of the St. James Hotel
And I dont know no one that can sing the blues
Like blind Wille McTell