Assassins movie

Assassins movie - The Ballad of Booth lyrics

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<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

Someone tell the story,<br>

Someone sing the song.<br>

<br>

Every now and then<br>

The country<br>

Goes a little wrong.<br>

<br>

Every now and then<br>

A madman's <br>

Bound to come along.<br>

Doesn't stop the story-<br>

Story's pretty strong.<br>

Doesn't change the song...<br>

<br>

Johnny Booth was a handsome devil,<br>

Got up in his rings and fancy silks.<br>

Had him a temper but kept it level.<br>

Everybody called him Wilkes.<br>

<br>

Why did you do it, Johnny?<br>

Nobody agrees.<br>

You who had everything,<br>

What made you bring<br>

A nation to its knees?<br>

<br>

Some say it was your voice had gone, <br>

Some say it was booze.<br>

Some say you killed a coutry, John,<br>

Because of bad reviews.<br>

<br>

Johnny lived with a grace and glitter.<br>

Kind of like the lives he lived on stage.<br>

Died in a barn in pain and bitter<br>

Twenty-seven years of age.<br>

<br>

Why did you do it, Johnny,<br>

Throw it all away?<br>

Why did you do it, boy, <br>

Not just destroy<br>

The pride and joy<br>

Of Illinois, <br>

But all the U.S.A.?<br>

<br>

Your brother made you jealous, John,<br>

You couldn't fill his shoes.<br>

Was that the reason, tell us, John-<br>

Along with bad reviews.<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Damn!<br>

<br>

[HEROLD]<br>

They're coming! they'll be here any minute-<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

I need your help. <br>

I've got to write this and I can't hold the pen<br>

<br>

[HEROLD]<br>

Johnny, they've found us! <br>

We've got to get out of here!<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Not till I finish this.<br>

<br>

[HEROLD]<br>

Johnny-<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

No! <br>

Have you seen these papers? <br>

Do you know what they're calling me?! <br>

A common cutthroat! A hired assassin! <br>

This one says I'm mad!<br>

<br>

[HEROLD]<br>

We must have been mad to think <br>

that we could kill the president and get away with it!<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

We did get away with it! <br>

He was a bloody tyrant and we brought him down! <br>

And I will not have history think I did it for a bag of gold <br>

or in some kind of rabid fit!<br>

<br>

[HEROLD]<br>

Johnny we have to go-<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

No! I have to make my case! <br>

And I need you to take it down!<br>

<br>

[HEROLD]<br>

We don't have time!<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Take it down-<br>

<br>

An indictment. <br>

Of the former President of the United States, <br>

Abraham Lincoln, who is herein charged <br>

with the following high crimes and misdemeanors.<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

They say you're ship was sinking, John...<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

One: <br>

That you did ruthlessly provoke a war between the States,<br>

which cost some six hundred thousand<br>

of my countrymen their lives. Two:<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

You'd started missing cues...<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Two: <br>

That you did silence your critics in the North,<br>

by hurling them into prison without benefit of charge or trial. Three-<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

They say it wasn't Lincoln, John.<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Shut up! Three-<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

You'd merely had a slew of bad<br>

Reviews-<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

I said shut up!<br>

<br>

[VOICE]<br>

Booth! I have fifty soldiers out here Booth! <br>

Give yourselves up or we'll set fire to the barn!<br>

<br>

[HEROLD]<br>

Don't shoot! I'm coming out!<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

No!<br>

<br>

I have given my life for one act, you understand?<br>

Do not let history rob me of its meaning. <br>

Pass on the truth! You're the only one wo can. <br>

Please...<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

He said<br>

"Damn you Lincoln,<br>

You had your way-<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Tell'em, boy!<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

With blood you drew out<br>

Of blue and gray!"<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Tell it all!<br>

Tell'em till they listen!<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

He said,<br>

"Damn you, Lincoln,<br>

And damn the day<br>

You threw the 'U' out<br>

Of U.S.A!"<br>

<br>

He said:<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Hunt me down, smear my name,<br>

say I did it for the fame,<br>

What I did was kill the man who killed my country.<br>

Now the Southland will mend, <br>

Now this bloody war can end,<br>

Because someone slew th tyrant<br>

Just as Brutus slew the tyrant-<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

He said:<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER, BOOTH]<br>

Damn you, Lincoln,<br>

You righteous whore!<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Tell'em!<br>

Tell'em what he did!<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER, BOOTH]<br>

You turned your spite into Civil War!<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Tell'em!<br>

Tell'em the truth!<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

And more...<br>

<br>

[BOOTH]<br>

Tell'em, boy!<br>

Tell them how it happened,<br>

<br>

How the end doesn't mean that it's over, <br>

How surrender is not the end!<br>

Tell them:<br>

<br>

Hoe the country is not what it was,<br>

Where there's blood in the clover,<br>

How the nation can never again<br>

Be the hope that it was.<br>

<br>

How the bruises may never be healed,<br>

How the wounds are forever,<br>

How the How we gave up the field<br>

But we still wouldn't yield,<br>

<br>

How the union can never recover<br>

From that Vulgar,<br>

High and mighty<br>

Niggerlover,<br>

Never-!<br>

<br>

Never. Never. Never.<br>

No, the country is not what it was...<br>

<br>

Damn my soul if you must,<br>

Let my body turn to dust,<br>

Let it mingle with the ashes of the country.<br>

<br>

Let them curse me to hell,<br>

Leave it to history to tell:<br>

What I did, I did well,<br>

And I did it for my country.<br>

<br>

Let them cry, "dirty traitor!"<br>

They will understand it later-<br>

The country is not what it was...<br>

<br>

[BALLADEER]<br>

Johnny Booth was a headstrong fellow,<br>

Even he believed the things he said.<br>

Some called him noble, some said yellow.<br>

What he was was off his head.<br>

<br>

How could you do it,Johnny,<br>

Calling it a cause?<br>

You left a legacy<br>

Of butchery <br>

And treason we<br>

Took eagerly,<br>

And thought you'd get applause.<br>

<br>

But traitors just get jeers and boos,<br>

Not visits to their graves,<br>

While Lincoln, who got mixed reviews,<br>

Beacause of you, John, now gets only raves.<br>

<br>

Damn, you Johnny,<br>

You paved the way<br>

For other madmen<br>

To make us pay.<br>

Lots of madmen<br>

Have had their say-<br>

But only for a day.<br>

<br>

Listen to the stories. <br>

Hear it in the songs.<br>

Angry men<br>

Don't write the rules<br>

And guns don't write the wrongs.<br>

<br>

Hurts a while,<br>

But soon the country's<br>

Back where it belongs,<br>

And that's the truth.<br>

<br>

Still and all, <br>

Damn you Booth!<br>

<br>

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