(Liam Gerner, Eric Lynn)

There’s no escaping the hot Virginia sun
Tobacco plantation into slavery he was born
There was no escape from the boss and his chains
Who sold his wife and two children, he never saw them again

He heard the only way out was in a wooden box
Henry got to thinking he could to break those locks
So he rolled his legs up like he rolled those brown cigars
And packed himself in a tobacco box and sent himself up to Philadelphia

Eighty six dollars is what the papers said
Freedom’s worth much more than the postage paid
Get yourself some freedom before you’re six feet down
Go be disappearing like Henry Box Brown

The kind old store-man nailed down the lid
Henry paid his life savings and in that box he hid
For three days travelling; wagon, boat and train
And when he arrived alive he said “kind sirs thank you, Henry is my name.”

Just because you’ve learnt to live this way
Don’t make it right, don’t mean you have to stay
When you’re being done wrong, you can break away from
Find your way to freedom like Henry Box Brown

Eighty six dollars is what the papers said
Freedom cost much more than the postage paid
Get yourself some freedom before you’re six feet down
Go be disappearing like Henry Box Brown