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Tim Barry - Prossers Gabriel chords

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 G                           C       G
Does anyone know the name Gabriel Prosser?
                                                             
G                                       D      G
My conscience says he’s the one that history missed.
                                              
G                               C          G
A blacksmith by trade up at Brookfield Plantation,
     
G                                D     G
A Henrico County slave born of owner Thomas. 

G                             C                G
If you listen closely you’ll hear the words perfect,

G                              D            G
The Caribbean uprising caught fire in this land.
                                                  
                       G        C            G
Up and down the James River, Pamunky and Appomattox,
 
   G                                D               G
Tobacco soil gone bad deferred a movement for the blacks.  

  G                          C      G
Nine years before, down in Santo Domingo,

  G                                     D           G
Slaves refused to submit and took the right of all men.

   G                              C           G
Virginia whites got nervous and hired more militias,

G                                 D               G  
As blacks inspired, plotted and passed on their plans.

  G                            C               G    
Mister Prosser’s Gabriel was smart as he was strong,

G                                       D                G
A head of keloid scars and a mind of knowing right and wrong.

  G                                  D                  G
Voted general at twenty-four in the year of eighteen-hundred,

   G                                      D      G            
Haunted by the hymns and wailing of his fellow slaves.

 G                               C       G
Now does anyone know the name Gabriel Prosser?
                                                             
G                                       D       G
My conscience says he’s the one that history missed.
                                                
G                               C          G
A blacksmith by trade up at Brookfield Plantation,
     
G                                D     G
A Henrico County slave born of owner Thomas.

G                                          C         G
It was on an August night just North of Richmond, Virginia, 
   
   G                              D           G 
Gabriel’s men gathered as their owners they slept.

 G                                          C            G
Some would burn the Capital to distract residents and masters,

  G                              D          G    
While others took the city and freed the convicts.

 G                                        C               G        
Well the whites they knew nothing, never seen what could hit ‘em,

   G                                       D            G
Nothing like this could happen to their carefree black men.
[ Tab from: http://www.guitaretab.com/t/tim-barry/186310.html ]
 G                             C            G 
But think about freedom, now think about slavery.
 
  G                                         D        G
Blacks armed themselves with muskets and homemade bayonets.
 
 G                                      C                G
With a white flag on the Capital, all blacks they would rise.

 G                        D           G 
All whites spared, would lose but an arm.

  G                                  D          G
You’re a coward if you own men for profit and greed,

  G                                       D     G
You’re the coward of all and for all you must bleed.

 G                               C       G
Now does anyone know the name Gabriel Prosser?
                                                             
G                                       D       G
My conscience says he’s the one that history missed.
                                              
G                               C          G
A blacksmith by trade up at Brookfield Plantation,
     
G                                D     G
A Henrico County slave born of owner Thomas.
 
   G                          C       G
Pharaoh and Tom ratted out Gabriel Prosser,

  G                           D         G 
Their owner was Mosby, and neighbor of him.

 G                                   C           G
They say the sky seemed seized with rain and lightning,

G                                           D        G  
On the night of August thirtieth one could see nor stand.

 G                                 C       G
The militias’ let loose to hunt Gabriel Prosser,

 G                                 D           G
Who took to the swamps as they imprisoned his men.
 
   G                                   C        G
Flagged a boat whose captain was a Methodist preacher,

 G                             D          G 
But a traitor slave turned him in in the end.

  G                         C               G
They hung Gabriel down at Broad and 15th Street,


 G                            D          G
Lord he would not give a word up on his men.

 G                             C             G
But he took that noose and he took it with honor,

 G                                         D          G       
He’s buried beneath a lot of parked cars, now, and pavement.

  G                               C                G   
There’s no monument, there’s no stone here to see him,

 G                                         D        G
Just black asphalt planked by high-rise hospital chains.

G                               C         G 
If I had it my way we’d see memorials climbin',

G                              D        G
To a true and honest hero, Prosser’s Gabriel.

 G                               C       G
Now does anyone know the name Gabriel Prosser?
                                                             
G                                       D       G
My conscience says he’s the one that history missed.
                                              
G                               C          G
A blacksmith by trade up at Brookfield Plantation,
     
G                                D      G
A Henrico County slave born of owner Thomas. 


For the professionally filmed live version of this song, follow this link: http://vimeo.com/3770978
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