Lawrence Haley January 25, 2023 The Bop Shop 1.25.23 - David Massingill Lawrence Haley January 25, 2023 David Massingill david massingill, “number one in america”from: fast folk music magazine Singer, Songwriter, David Massengill was born in 1951 in Bristol, Tennessee. His first recording, Coming Up For Air wasn’t released until the early 90’s. It includes a number of excellent songs including My Name Joe, On The Road To Fairfax County and Number One in America.-Alan West- Number One In America© 1987 David Massengill In Nineteen hundred and sixty-threeIn my hometown, Bristol TennesseeI was sitting on my mother’s kneeWatching “Amos ‘n’ Andy” on TVAmos was Santa Claus on Christmas EveA little girl was tugging at his sleeveSaying, “Can I have a doll my own color please?”He Said, “Honey, you can make believe...”Just then came a call on the telephoneIt was the mayor, he asked if my daddy was homeThis was for his ears aloneMom and me listened on the second phoneMayor said, “The freedom Riders are on their wayAnd they’ll be here by Christmas dayOur laws they vow to disobey’Cause our school is as white as the milky wayWell, now we’re really in a fixWe can’t let ‘em show us up like country hicksBut once the races mixIt’s good-bye Jim Crow politicsFirst it’s forty acres and a muleThen they want to swim in our swimming poolPretty soon they’ll be wanting to go to schoolWhere we were taught the golden rule”Imagine them telling us how to liveImagine them telling us how to liveChorus:We’re number one in AmericaNumber one in AmericaBeat the drum for Uncle SamOvercome in BirminghamDynamite in a Baptist churchFour teenaged girls lost in the lurchFire hoses and the billy clubsPolice dogs and the racist thugsNightriders and the lynching mobsLawmen say they’re only doing their jobsTo stay number one in America.Ax-handles vs. the right to voteAll white jury, that’s all she wroteBack of the bus, don’t rock the boatSeparate but equal by the throatThat was twenty-odd years agoWhere’s the change in the status quo?The freedom land is lying lowit’s shackled down on rotten rowThe black skinned man still gets the snubWhen he applies to the country clubBut he still gets hired to trim the shrubsGet down on the floor and scrubThere’s a businessman out on his yachtHe’s a rain or sunshine patriotHe says it’s all a commie plotTo be Number One in America...[Chorus]The Ku Klux Klan is still aroundWith a permit to march in my home townBut only on Virginia’s groundThe Tennesse side turned them downThe sheriff stood there with his deputiesOstensibly to keep the peaceBut he made us this guarantee”By God, They’ll not march into Tennessee!”The network cameras were triple tieredWe laughed and cried, we hooted and jeeredBut mostly we stood there unfeared’Til the Ku Klux Klan dissappearedIn some far off distant dawnWhen a Black is president and not a pawnWill they burn crosses on the white house lawnAnd talk of all the days bygoneImagine them telling us how lo liveImagine them telling us how to liveWe’re number one in America...[Chorus]Last Christmas Eve at the K-Mart storeA white family there, they was dirt poorFather said, “Kids, pick one toy - no moreEven though we can ill afford...”I watched his son choose a basketballThe oldest girl a creole shawlThe littlest girl chose a black skinned dollAnd she held it to her chest and allI watched to see how they’d reactSince they were white and the doll was blackBut the mom and dad were matter-of-factThey checked to see if the doll was crackedSo may you make a rebel standWhere black and white go hand in handUntil they reach the freedom landWhere the lion lies down with the lambChorus:O Number one in AmericaNumber one in AmericaBeat the drum for Uncle SamOvercome in BirminghamDynamite in a Baptist churchFour teenaged girls lost in the lurchFirehoses and the billy clubsPolice dogs and the racist thugsTurn back the clock to Little RockBought and sold on the auction blockNightriders and the lynching mobsLawmen say they’re only doing their jobTo stay number one in AmericaWe shall overcome someday