> Trevor Lucas > Songs > Hey Nellie Nellie

Hey Nellie Nellie

[Shel Silverstein, Jim Friedman]

Trevor Lucas sang Hey Nellie Nellie in 1964 on his first Australian solo album, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean. He merely commented in the sleeve notes:

The songs Hey Nellie Nellie and World War 3 Talking Blues need no explanation if you listen to the words—so listen.

Lyrics

Hey Nellie Nellie, come to the window,
Hey Nellie Nellie, look at what I see:
Well, he’s riding into town on a sway-back mule,
Got a long black hat on and he looks like a fool.
He sure is talking like he’s been to school
And it’s 1853.

Hey Nellie Nellie, listen what he’s saying,
Hey Nellie Nellie, he says that it’s getting late.
And he says all them coloured folk should all be free
To walk around the same as you and me.
He’s talking about a thing he calles democracy
And it’s 1858.

Hey Nellie Nellie, hear the band a-playing,
Hey Nellie Nellie, get me down my gun.
For the men are shouting and the boys are too,
They’re all putting on their uniforms of blue.
Well I ain’t got fined to sit and court to you,
’Cause it’s 1861.

Hey Nellie Nellie, come to the window,
Hey Nellie Nellie, I’ve come home alive.
But my coat of blue it is stained with red
And the man in the tall black hat is dead.
Well, we sure will remember all those things he said
In 1858.

Hey Nellie Nellie, come to the window,
Hey Nellie Nellie, look at what I see:
For I see white folks and coloured walking side by side,
They’re walking in a column that’s a century wide.
It’s still a long and a hard and a bloody road
And it’s 1964.