George Jackson Lyrics
There were tears in my bed.
They killed a man I really loved
Shot him through the head.
Lord, Lord,
They cut George Jackson down.
Lord, Lord,
They laid him in the ground.
For a seventy-dollar robbery.
Closed the door behind him
And they threw away the key.
Lord, Lord, They cut George Jackson down.
Lord, Lord,
They laid him in the ground.
He wouldn't bow down or kneel.
Authorities, they hated him
Because he was just too real.
Lord, Lord,
They cut George Jackson down.
Lord, Lord,
They laid him in the ground.
As they watched him from above
But they were frightened of his power
They were scared of his love.
Lord, Lord,
So they cut George Jackson down.
Lord, Lord,
They laid him in the ground.
Is one big prison yard.
Some of us are prisoners
The rest of us are guards.
Lord, Lord,
They cut George Jackson down.
Lord, Lord,
They laid him in the ground.
The lyrics are probably pretty easy to understand. It's pretty straight forward. I always assumed it was about a real incident where a man was killed by bigotts for no reason. There's the whole prisoner/ guard metaphor, the scared of his power, frightened of his love...I see power as anything but physical power in this case. And love as being something alien to bigotts.
I love the song. The backup singers are incredible.
George jackson was a Black Panther, who was known as a soledad brother. He was gunned down in the San Quentin prison yard in 1971 in an alleged escape attempt.
George Jackson was a fireman in Brookside who was fitted up for a warehouse robbery. There was a "free George Jackson campaign"at the time. .I doubt Dylan ever watched brookie tho'