The Mississippi River, he's a friend of mine   And the people livin' in this town, they can be so fine   But there's a big line runnin' straight down old Union Avenue   And it breaks that southern lady's heart in two      Now there's an old black man sittin' out front of a shotgun house   And on the other side of town there's a rich man sittin' on a velvet couch   Well nobody forgets what happened thirty years ago   But we gotta forgive the past and that's for sure         Well it should be so plain to see   That it comes down to you and me         And if we all just come together   If we all just take a stand   We could heal the hurtin' and the broken-hearted people   Everybody understand   We gotta all just come together         Ridiní down Beale Street, pop tunes on my radio   Well I love this Delta mama, it's all I know   Well you know I have a dream about black and white and a land of grace   But it's gonna take more than a dream to fix this place         You know it's hard as it can be   To turn the tide of history         We all went to Sunday school   And everybody learned the Golden Rule   Read about the writing on the wall   Learned how Joseph had a nice coat   Noah had a big boat   But then they said sweet Jesus loves us all