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?''

Chor