As Ella May took the stand,
you see, she was accusing
Reverend Joe Henry
of being a no -good preaching man.
Yes, she was.
He said, the Reverend Pope
took my lovely body.
The preacher says she lied.
The judge said, now listen,
I'm going to do the talking
and this court's going to justify it.
Yes, they will.
Now, the prosecutor
kind of started pacing the floor.
He was sweating and
making threats.
Judge's wife's sittin'
back in the back room,
he's saying, Hey, honey, I'll jack!
Reverend Joe Henry is a good man,
preached all over the bottom land,
Spoke so a could understand,
And there ought to be a whole lot more
good folks like Joe Henry, yeah,
Preaching in the bottom land, yeah.
Judge said, Shut up, Sally!
Well, defense stated his case,
but the defense walked to the jury box
with a stern look on his face.
One by one he pointed to the juries
and said,
The Reverend picked cotton by your side.
He blessed your children
when they was born
and he cried when your mama died.
Yes, he did. Oh.
And he turned his back on the jury
and his face was getting red.
And he pounded his fist
and he shook the room
and he whirled around and he said,
Now looky here,
Reverend Joe Henry is a good man
Preached all over the bottom land
Spoke so a could understand
And there ought to be a whole lot more
good folks like Joe Henry
Preaching in the bottom land,
yeah
Somebody cussed and said,
hang him, he's guilty
And the judge said, now you listen here
One more outburst of emotion like that
I'll have the whole courtroom cleared,
yes I'll be o 'er
And the foreman addressed the court
and said
I've known the reverend all of his life
Why, he got shot up so bad
back during the war
That he couldn't even take himself a wife
You all know what I'm talkin' about,
don't you? Now,
I swore I never would tell a soul
But his life's layin' on the line
There ain't no way on
God's green earth
That the reverend could
have done this crime
Come, Reverend Joe Henry is a good man
He preached all over the bottom land
Spoke so child could understand
And there ought to be a whole lot more
good folks like Joe Henry
Preaching in the bottom land
Well, a willow may faint
it like a folded sheet
I'm just as good for bailin'
at Georgia Courtroom