Lou Marsh (Phil Ochs)

Lyrics

On the streets of New York City when the hour was getting late

There were young men armed with knives and guns, young men armed with hate

And Lou Marsh stepped between them and died there in his tracks

For one man is no army when the city turns its back

And now the streets are empty, now the streets are dark

So keep an eye on shadows and never pass the park

For the city is a jungle when the law is out of sight

And death lurks in El Barrio with the orphans of the night

He left behind the chambers of the church he served so long

For he learned the prayers of distant men will never right the wrongs

His church became an alley and his pulpit was the street

He made his congregation from the boys he used to meet

There were two gangs approaching in Spanish Harlem town

The smell of blood was in the air, the challenge was laid down

He felt their blinding hatred, and he tried to save their lives

And the answer that they gave him was their fists and feet and knives

Will Lou Marsh lie forgotten in his cold and silent grave?

Will his memory still linger on, in those he tried to save?

And all of us who knew him will now and then recall

And shed a tear on poverty, tombstone of us all