Tom Paxton - We Didn't Know lyrics

“We didn't know,” said the Burgomeister “About the camps on the edge of town It was Hitler and his crew That tore the German nation down We saw the cattle cars it's true And maybe they carried a Jew or two They woke us up as they rattled through But what did you expect me to do” “We didn't know at all We didn't see a thing You can't hold us to blame What could we do It was a terrible shame But we can't bear the blame Oh no, not us, we didn't know” “We didn't know,” said the congregation Singing a hymn in their church of white “The press was full of lies about us Preacher told us we were right The outside agitators came They burned some churches and put the blame On decent southern people's name To set our coloured people aflame And maybe some of our boys got hot And a couple of n******gs and reds got shot They should have stayed where they belong And preacher would've told us if we'd done wrong” We didn't know at all We didn't see a thing You can't hold us to blame What could we do It was a terrible shame But we can't bear the blame Oh no, not us, we didn't know “We didn't know,” said the puzzled voter Watching the President on TV “I guess we've got to drop those bombs If we're gonna keep South Asia free The President's such a peaceful man I guess he's got some kind of plan They say we're torturing prisoners of war But I don't believe that stuff no more Torturing prisoners is a communist game And you can bet they're doing the same I wish this war was over and through But what do you expect me to do” We didn't know at all We didn't see a thing You can't hold us to blame What could we do It was a terrible shame But we can't bear the blame Oh no, not us, we didn't know