They Were Ready for That Day

By Phil Ochs

Oh they came from the roads, and they came from the sky,
and they all came together, some to sing, and some to cry,
fate was strong, and their hopes were high,
they were ready for that day

And a feeling of glory was shared by every man,
and the power of the numbers was all that you could stand,
shock-wave was spreading all over the land,
they were ready for that day
and 200,000 were all standing there
gone was the waiting, and gone was the fear
spirit of freedom was all in the air,
so many showed that so many cared

And the statue of Lincoln was a' staring at them all,
they remembered his words, they remembered his call,
and old Jim Crow had his back to the wall,
oh they were ready for that day,
and 200,000 were all standing there,
gone was the waiting and gone was the fear,
spirit of freedom was all in the air,
so many showed that so many cared

And the statue of Lincoln was a' staring at them all,
they remembered his words, they remembered his call,
and old Jim Crow had his back to the wall,
oh they were ready for that day,
they were ready for that day

Notes:

Luke Grossman contributed these lyrics, though is doubtful as to the title. He also transcribed Phil's intro: ``O.k., here's a, a song "? ? ? March" uh, that a, I'm not quite sure the words yet, but I'm pretty sure I got 'em''