Bobbo Staron

Lyrics

Geneva-On-The-Lake Riot July 4, 1965

It was really started by the college kids
that got out of hand outside The Cove,
with their “greenest ivy overgrown
and tufted with an ivy grove.”

The riot at Geneva-On-The-Lake
Ohio Nineteen Sixty Five
was a mob
and the law
and a white picket fence
on the fourth of July.

Deriving from the Latin mobilis
this mob was a disorderly crowd
and the law in this case
functioned as plural
before they were done damn it got loud.

The riot at Geneva-On-The-Lake
Ohio Nineteen Sixty Five
was a mob
and the law
and a white picket fence
on the fourth of July.

Notwithstanding Mr. Wilson,
the fence has been popular
since the early colonial era.
Noisy but blown out of proportion.
That’s what the locals will tell ya.

The riot at Geneva-On-The-Lake
Ohio Nineteen Sixty Five
was a mob
and the law
and a white picket fence
on the fourth of July.


words and music by Bobbo Staron