Lyrics:

Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window
Hey Nellie, Nellie, look at what I see
He's a ridin' into town on a sway-back mule
Got a tall black hat and he looks like a fool
He sure is a talkin' like he's been to school, and it's 1851

Hey Nellie, Nellie, hear what he's sayin'
Hey Nellie, Nellie, said it's gettin' late
And he says them black folks should all be free
To walk around the same as you and me
And he's talkin' about a thing he calls democracy, and it's 1858

Hey Nellie, Nellie, hear the band a playin'
Hey Nellie, Nellie, hand me down my gun
'Cause the men are shoutin' and the boys are too
They're all puttin' on their coats of blue
I can't stay around here and talk to you, for it's 1861

Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window
Hey Nellie, Nellie, I've come home alive
Well my coat of blue is stained with red
And the man in the tall black hat is dead
But we sure will remember all the things that he said, in 1865

Hey Nellie, Nellie, come to the window
Hey Nellie, Nellie, look at what I see
I see white folks and colored walkin' side by side
Walkin' in a column that's a century wide
It's still a long, and a hard, and a bloody ride, to 1965