True. Autobiographical.
Lyrics
15 year old East Side Boy
Had seen it in the papers
Now he wants to see it for himself
With his brothers and his curiosity
He climbs the high school smokestack
13 miles away
The West Side is on fire
15 year old feet
Dangle down the chimney
Nothing there to see just
Black, black, black
White hands grab the lighting rods
“Will it reach to the East Side?
It’s getting way too close
We can see it from here”
Black smoke
Rising in the distance
Black smoke
Now it’s violent resistance
Black smoke
And in this circumstance
Peaceful disobedience
Doesn’t stand a chance
11 year old East Side Boy
Marching with his mother, singing:
“We shall overcome”
He saw it in the faces
He heard it in the song
When it comes to injustice
4 years is too long
Black smoke
Rising in the distance
Black smoke
Now it’s violent resistance
Black smoke
And in this circumstance
Peaceful disobedience
Doesn’t stand a chance
4 years is too long
Black smoke
Rising in the distance
Black smoke
Now it’s violent resistance
Black smoke
And in this circumstance
Peaceful disobedience
Doesn’t stand a chance
Black, black, black, black smoke
Rising in the distance
Black smoke
Now it’s violent resistance
Black smoke
And in this circumstance
Peaceful disobedience
Doesn’t stand a chance
"We shall overcome"