This song is available on Jonathan Sprout's
American Heroes
Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913) was born a slave near Bucktown, MD. At about
the age of twenty-nine she escaped to the North. Before the outbreak of the Civil War
she made nineteen journeys back to lead other slaves - including her own parents and
most of her brothers and sisters - to freedom along the secret route known at the
Underground Railroad.
Slave owners were constantly on the lookout for Tubman and offered large
rewards for her capture, but they never succeeded in seizing her or any of the slaves she
helped escape. She helped so many blacks escape to freedom that she became known as
the "Moses of her people."
You wake up every mornin'
To a life that's not your own.
You belong to one called "master"
With a heart as hard as stone.
If you're sick and tired of livin'
Like a dog on a chain,
Climb aboard the freedom train.
REFRAIN: Take a ride. Take a ride.
Take a ride on the underground railroad with me.
Keep it movin' ever closer
To that day we all are free.
Be brave and just remember
Dreams cannot be sold.
I am reaching out to take you
Where your chains have no hold.
So wish upon the North Star
And you won't wish in vain
If you climb aboard this freedom train.
REFRAIN
A slave's life ain't worth livin'
So, don't look back.
Just keep on huggin' that dream
Along this freedom track.
REFRAIN
See more of our Social Studies, African-American History, School Concert, Character Education, Biography and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Song Lyrics
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Many thanks to Jonathan Sprout for permission to display these lyric excerpts.
Copyright 1995, Kanukatunes (ASCAP), Song Wizard Music (ASCAP)
Used with permission.
