Innocent babies come into this world
Singing their little hearts out
Daddy says it's a sin to kill mockingbirds
I have no reason to doubt
Empathy can be a good holy thing
To what pain some hard lives are bound
But you'll have to climb inside somebody's skin
Get in there and walk all around
It's an old town
It's a tired old town
And a burning hot summer to bear
Daddy says it's a sin to kill mockingbirds
I hear one singing up there
You could be crippled by cruelty I've heard
And I've known a few who have lost
Their minds and their spirits to sorrow and hurt
They walk like they're bearing the cross
It's an old town
It's a tired old town
In the glare of the midsummer heat
Daddy says it's a sin to kill mockingbirds
I think one just fell at my feet
Innocence lost, Experience gained
Into the arms of the pain
Some understand it's a balancing act
While others look down in their shame
Daddy will do what we need him to do
For he is the rock of our souls
He tried to show us the ways of the world
Sometimes spin out of control
It's an old town
It's a tired old town
Few know the right from the wrong
Daddy says it's a sin to kill mockingbirds
But I'll bust out singing before long