On Washington They're Marching

On Washington they're marching

with Martin Luther King

and Bobby Dylan's singing

It's 1963


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free


Who was the assassin ?

Who killed the Kennedys ?

Who's fighting for the rights

of people bound in slavery ?


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free


Malcolm X in Mecca

The nation was a fetter

He sees black and white

together pray in technicolour


Haile Selassie

Rastas smoking sensi


From Marcus Garvey to Bob Marley

and Peter Tosh - he's dangerous


The Black Man can be free


Is getting high the only way

the Black Man can be free ?


Ask Gil Scott-Heron

is the revolution here ?


And if it was

then would he care

when Whitey's on the Moon

but the Black Man's still not free ?


And now we see Barack Obama

driving in a Hummer


Nelson Mandela

South Africa rebeller

The ANC will tell ya

He's a jolly good fella


Steven Biko died for this

One day we'll live in peace


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free


On Washington they're marching

with Martin Luther King

and Bobby Dylan's singing

It's 1963


They dreamed a dream

It's happening

The Black Man can be free