Molasses

We cut the timber till our fingertips were numb

Nothing there to keep us but an overseer’s gun

When Africa looked up and said the time is bound to come

You’ve surely got to run to get your freedom

We broke from cover got across a stinking creek

With fifty kinds of undergrowth wrapped around our knees

And Africa fell far behind - we had to leave him be

So much you have to lose to get your freedom

Here's the black Molasses, boys, never known to shirk

Put a hundred dollar down and ye'll put him straight to work

Ye shall keep him always with a chain around his shin

Run, Molasses, run - don't let them haul you in

We rested in tobacco fields, the night was cold and long

We soon got hungered and not every man as strong

Then we heard the dogs and so they broke away from me

Sometimes you have to choose to get your freedom

I ran to the voice of the auctioneer, ran to the driver's lash

Every step reminding me that there's no going back

I ran to Mama's stories - how we came across the sea

And all the world we lost there, with our freedom

Follow down the river is what the woman said

There you'll find an island where the sun burns low and red

Runaways there waiting: they'll find a place for thee

So much you stand to gain, with your freedom