This is, uh-- This is a song about a boxer--boxer. This is gonna be to do with boxing. This is a song about a boxer. And, uh, it's, uh, it's not even having to with a boxer really. It's got nothing to do with nothing. Well, I shit all these words together. That's all. This is, uh, taken out of the newspapers. Nothing has been changed 'cept the words.1
Who killed Davey Moore?
Why and what's the reason for?
"Not I," said the referee,
"Don't point your finger at me.
I coulda stopped it in the eighth
And maybe kept him from his fate,
But the crowd woulda booed, I'm sure,
At not getting their money's worth.
It's too bad that he had to go,
But there was a pressure on me too, you know.
It wasn't me that made him fall,
No, you can't blame me at all."
Who killed Davey Moore?
Why and what's the reason for?
"Not us," said the angry crowd,
Whose screams filled the arena loud,
"It's too bad he died that night,
But we just like to see a fight.
We didn't mean for him to meet his death,
We just meant to see some sweat –
There ain't nothing wrong in that.
It wasn't us that made him fall,
No, you can't blame us at all."
Who killed Davey Moore?
Why and what's the reason for?
"Not me," said his manager,
Puffing on a big cigar,
"It's hard to say, it's hard to tell,
I always thought that he was well.
It's too bad for his wife and kids he's dead,
But, if he was sick, he shoulda said.
It wasn't me that made him fall,
No, you can't blame me at all."
Who killed Davey Moore?
Why and what's the reason for?
"Not me," says the gambling man
With his ticket stub still in his hand,
"My--it wasn't me that knocked him down,
My hands never touched him none,
I didn't commit no ugly sin –
Anyway, I put money on him to win.
It wasn't me that made him fall,
No, you can't blame me at all."
Who killed Davey Moore?
Why and what's the reason for?
"Not me," says the boxing writer,
Pounding print in his old typewriter,
Saying, "Boxing ain't to blame,
There's just as much danger in a football game,"
Saying, "Fist-fighting is here to stay,
It's just the old American way.
It wasn't me that made him fall,
No, you can't blame me at all."
Who killed Davey Moore?
Why and what's the reason for?
"Not me," says the man whose fists
Laid him low in a cloud of mist,
Who came here from Cuba's door
Where boxing ain't allowed no more,
"I hit him, I hit him, yes, it's true,
But that's what I am paid to do.
Don't say 'murder', don't say 'kill',
It was destiny, it was God's will."
Who killed Davey Moore?
Why and what's the reason for?
1
This is actually said at the end of the previous track on the album.