If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus

By Carver Neblett
(Verses are often improvised)

If you miss me at the back of the bus, and you can’t find me nowhere
Come on up to the front of the bus, I’ll be ridin’ right there
I’ll be ridin’ right there
I’ll be ridin’ right there
You got to come on up to the front of the bus
I’ll be ridin’ right there

If you miss me in the cotton fields, and you can’t find me nowhere
Come on down to the picket line, I’ll be marchin’ right there
I’ll be marchin’ right there
I’ll be marchin’ right there
Come on down to the picket line, I’ll be marchin’ right there
I’ll be marchin’ right there

If you miss me on the picket lines, and you can’t find me nowhere
Come on down to the jailhouse. I’ll be roomin’ over there
I’ll be roomin’ over there
I’ll be roomin’ over there
Come on down to the jailhouse
I’ll be roomin’ over there

If you miss me in the Mississippi River, and you can’t find me nowhere
Come on over to the city’ pool, I’ll be bathin’ over there
I’ll be bathin’ over there
I’ll be bathin’ over there
Come on over to the city’ pool
I’ll be bathin’ over there

If you miss me at the back of the bus, and you can’t find me nowhere
Come on up to the front of the bus, I’ll be ridin’ right there
I’ll be ridin’ right there
I’ll be ridin’ right there
You got to come on up to the front of the bus
I’ll be ridin’ right there

This song was written in response to attempts to desegregate a public swimming pool in Cairo, Illinois, after a young African-American man drowned while swimming in a local river due to the pool not allowing any African-Americans to use it.