Dm


[Verse 1]
Dm
I'll tell you the story of John Henry Faulk.
     C                              A
I'll tell you of his trials and the troubled trail he walked,
         Dm
And I'll tell of the tyrants, the ones you never see:
C                                A               Dm
Murder is the role they play and hatred is their fee.


[Verse 2]
       Dm
On the TV and the radio John Henry Faulk was known.
C                                  A
He talked to many thousands with a mind that was his own,
       Dm
But he could not close his eyes when the lists were passed around,
      C                          A                  Dm
So he tried to move the Union to tear the blacklist down.


[Verse 3]
    Dm
His friends they tried to warn him he was headin' for a fall.
      C                              A
If he spoke against the blacklist he had no chance at all,
       Dm
But he laughed away their warnings and he laughed away their fears:
    C                                  A           Dm
For how could lies destroy the work of many honest years?


[Verse 4]
     Dm
Then slowly, oh so slowly, his life began to change.
C                                A
People would avoid his eyes, his friends were actin' strange,
       Dm
And he finally saw the power of the hidden poison pen
          C                                  A               Dm
When they told him that his job was through, he'd never work again.


[Verse 5]
       Dm
And he could not believe what his sad eyes had found.
   C                          A
He stared in disbelief as his world came tumblin' down,
    Dm
And as the noose grew tighter, at last the trap was clear:
    C                                 A
For every place he turned to go, that list would soon be there
Dm
Oh, that list.


[Verse 5]
    Dm
And is there any bottom to the fears that grow inside?
C                          A
Is there any bottom to the hate that you must hide?
    Dm
And is there any end to your long road of despair?
C                       A                  Dm
Is there any end to the pain that you must bear?


[Verse 6]
    Dm
His wife and children trembled, the time was runnin' short,
       C                                A
When a man of law got on their side and took them into court,
    Dm
And there upon the stand they could not hide behind their eyes,
        C                         A                    Dm
And the cancer of the fascist was displayed before our eyes.


[Verse 7]
Dm
Hey, you blacklist, you blacklist, I've seen what you have done.
     C                                  A
I've seen the men you've ruined and the lives you've tried to run,
        Dm
But the one thing that I've found is, the only ones you spare
    C                                  A                 Dm
Are those that do not have a brain, or those that do not care.


[Verse 8]
        Dm
And you men who point your fingers and spread your lies around,
    C                                  A
You men who left your souls behind and drag us to the ground,
Dm
You can put my name right down there, I will not try to hide
               C                                 A                  Dm
For if there's one man on the blacklist, I'll be right there by his side.


[Verse 9]
Dm
For I'd rather go hungry to beg upon the streets
     C                                     A
Than earn my bread on dead men's souls and crawl beneath your feet.
    Dm
And I will not play your hater's game and hate you in return,
         C                                A                Dm
for it's only through the love of man the blacklist can be burned.