Now, I'll sing you another song that I heard down there
I was riding down the road with a gang of young people
And for about an hour
They'd been harmonizing on one song after another
Suddenly, one of them bust loose with a song I'd never heard before
If you miss me at the back of the bus
You can't find me nowhere, oh
Come on over to the front of the bus
I'll be riding up there
I'll be riding up there
I'll be riding up there, oh
Come on over to the front of the bus
I'll be riding up there
If you miss me on the picket line
You can't find me nowhere, oh
Come on over to the city jail
I'll be roaming over there
I'll be roaming over there
I'll be roaming over there, oh
Come on over to the city jail
I'll be roaming over there
One of the young people had just come down from Cairo, Illinois
Where they'd had a drive to desegregate the municipal swimming pool
If you miss me in the Mississippi River
You can't find me nowhere, oh
Come on over to the swimming pool
I'll be swimming right there
I'll be swimming right there, oh
I'll be swimming right there, oh
Come on over to the swimming pool
I'll be swimming right there
Oh, here's a verse that was prophetic
Came true, I heard it in October
And many places it came true in November
But just to start
If you miss me in the cotton field
You can't find me nowhere, oh
Come on over to the courthouse
I'll be voting right there
I'll be voting right there, oh
I'll be voting right there, oh
Come on over to the courthouse
I'll be voting right there
If you miss me at the back of the bus
You can't find me nowhere, oh
Come on over to the front of the bus
I'll be riding up there, oh
I'll be riding up there, oh
I'll be riding up there, oh
Come on over to the front of the bus
I'll be riding up there