Heard a howling banshee

On a funeral stone

Was the sound of the children

Weeping for one of their own

The kid died in an instant

Took a bullet in the back

Shot from a .45 in a police attack

Was a routine shakedown

New Jersey was the place

A quick right from the sin? is where

The kid took it in the face



Chorus:

This is the killing of Joey the jone

Innocent to the bone

Now his name is cast in stone

This is the killing

The killing of Joey the jone



There was a reverend and a doctor

Shaking a mojo around

Little children weeping tears

As Joey was put in the ground

They covered the kid with dust

Nobody was digging the scene

As the local social workers

Moved in; looking mean

Trying to smooth the anger

Firing up the crowd

Trying to get things back together

Force the people underground

Something's going on here

What it is, nobody's sure

The reverend prayed for guidance

And the doctor's seeking a cure

There's a plot smelt to the heavens?

The whole town's hung in shame

Blood on a whole generation

Of a entire city insane

And there's a bridge from coast to coast

Linking people by the hand

At a time when war

Is being declared

On the poor people of the land



Chorus



Now there's a whole lot of talk in the churches

A whole lot of talk around the place

The talk is talk, the talk is cheap

And those who want to save face

This school yard shakedown has got a whole bunch of folks on the run

The reverend, the doctor hit the streets

To see what could be done

And at the funerals down town

The bodies where under age

And there were sermons spoken every night for to calm the peoples' rage

Meanwhile after the killing

At an all-night, candle-lit wake

The hymn was 'no justice no peace,

The powers that be are all fake'

The crowd started a riot

Police cars burned the streets

There was a big fuss

The reverend declared 'we've got to stop or we're all dead meat'

Now the Lord came down

Said 'Reverend get up off your knees

And go to the powers and call out loud

To stop this big city squeeze'



Chorus



Now the doctor said 'we've got to heal this place,

It needs a heart to keep it alive

You've got to speak if there's going to be change

And the Reverend's going to tell you why'

'Some say the crowds are a danger

You see it every time they meet

You might recall that Jesus was nailed by a crowd gathered in the street

But if it's a question of justice

Look them straight in the eye

Say 'Who did the hanging, who did the swinging,

And who was it for that he died?''



Chorus