MOTHERS WHERE ARE YOUR CHILDREN TONIGHT
(Ray Pennington)


Kenny Price - 1977



A light goes on in the darkness
A-catchin' a young man by surprise
A tired old watchman told the young man
"Son, you know what you're doin' here ain't right"

A gun goes off and splits the silence
Like the loudness of a thunder's roar
A tired old watchman is layin' face down
In his life that is a-spillin' on the floor

Mothers, where are your children tonight
Have you taught them wrong from right
Father, you taught that young man to play
But did you teach him how to pray (How to pray)
Did you teach that young man to pray

When the days are hidin' and the nights are runnin'
Like some animal fightin' to be free
A mother cries out, "Lord, that's my baby
Please don't let them take him from me"

The lights go dim in some cell block
Darkened by the takin' of a life
One more marker in some graveyard
Countless tears in a mother's eyes

Mothers, where are your children tonight
Have you taught them wrong from right
Father, you taught that young man to play
But did you teach him how to pray (How to pray)
Did you teach that young man to pray

Mothers, where are your children tonight
Have you taught them wrong from right
Father ........ FADE



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - February 2019)