Pete Seeger - The Ballad of Lou Marsh lyrics

On the streets of New York city
When the hour was getting late
Young men armed with knives and guns
Young men armed with hate
And Lou Marsh stepped between them and
Died there in his tracks
For one man is no army when
The city turns it's back

Now the streets are empty
Now the streets are dark
So keep an eye on shadows
And never pass the park
For the city is a jungle when
The law is out of sight
Death lurks in El Barrio with
The orphans of the night

He left behind a chambеr of a
Church he served so long
For hе learned the prayers of distant
Men will never right the wrongs
His church became an alley and
His pulpit was the street
He made his congregation from the
Boys he used to meet
There were two gangs approaching
In Spanish Harlem town
The smell of blood was in the air
The challenge was laid down
He felt their blinding hatred
And he tried to save their lives
And the answer that they gave him was
Their fists and feet and knives

Will Lou Marsh lie forgotten in
His cold and silent grave?
Will his memory still linger on
In those he tried to save?
All of us who knew him
Will now and then recall
And shed a tear on poverty
Tombstone of us all