Cab Calloway – History Repeats Itself lyrics

Glory, glory, hallelujah
His truth is marching on

This is a strange but true story
Which proves that history
Does repeat itself
And the events depicted here
Happened just one-hundred years apart

Both President Lincoln and
President Kennedy were concerned
With the issue of civil rights
Lincoln was elected in 1860
Kennedy was elected in 1960
One hundred years apart

Both were shot from behind in the head
Their successors, both named Johnson
Were Southern Democrats
With seats in the Senate

Andrew Johnson was born
In eighteen-hundred and eight
Lyndon Johnson was born
In nineteen-hundred and eight
One hundred years apart

John Wilkes Booth, the man
Who shot Lincoln was born in
Eighteen-hundred and thirty-nine
Lee Harvey Oswald, the man
Who shot Kennedy was born in
Nineteen-hundred and thirty-nine
One hundred years apart

Booth and Oswald were Southerners
Favoring unpopular ideas
Booth and Oswald were both
Assassinated before going to trial

Both presidents wives lost children
Through death while in the White House
Both presidents were killed on a Friday
And in the presence of their wives

President Lincoln's secretary
Whose name was Kennedy
Advised him not to go to the theater
President Kennedy's secretary
Whose name was Lincoln
Advised him not to go to Dallas

John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln
In a theater and ran to a warehouse
Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy
From a warehouse and ran to a theater

The names Lincoln and Kennedy
Each contain seven letters
The names Andrew Johnson
And Lyndon Johnson
Each contain thirteen letters
The names John Wilkes Booth
And Lee Harvey Oswald
Each contain fifteen letters

And friends, it is true
History does repeat itself