The Carpenter (John Brown's Scaffold) (click on song title to hear MP3 music clip)
© Jennie Avila

1. A carpenter works with wood
A scaffold is made of the same
Everyone remembers old man Brown
Does anybody know the name

Chorus: Of the carpenter who
Built the desk out of the wood
From the scaffold that hung John Brown
With the rest of the wood
He built a new porch
On a house in Charlestown

2. When John Brown fought for freedom
Did he wonder if he could win it?
Now the drawer is missing from that old desk
And I wonder what was in it

Chorus: When the carpenter
Built the desk out of the wood
From the scaffold that hung John Brown
With the rest of the wood
He built a new porch
On a house in Charlestown

Bridge: Was he a visionary or terrorist?
Historians still argue this
Some say bad. Some say good.
Mr. George Evert said,
"I can reuse the wood"