Better
Composer: K. Stellar Dutcher
And at the end of the day, all of our hopeless ways find themselves
Come to nothing in our arms, with fire burning in our hearts we make the way
For they who come, sure and true; cuz they will not put up with you; you're out of prey
Your vulture days of sell and lend are slowly coming to an end
The people occupy the streets in the rain and searing heat to save our lives
We are at the turning bend, struggling to see an end we can survive
Are you ready, come and stand; the hourglass is out of sand; this is the day
That we show up to demand, take the power into our hands
Cuz we will not back down
No we are here to stay
We will not settle down
We are here for a better way
Child you've been on my mind; you know we've been trying to find our way to you
Meet us underneath the dawn, at the bridge of story and song
It seems so hard to reach from here; anything that once was clear is far and gone
And so we walk step by step, even if to reach you with our final breath
Cuz we will not back down
No we are here to stay
We will not settle down
We are here for a better way
We are here for a better way
You & Me
Composer: K. Stellar Dutcher
Oh come with me to the clearing where the grass can hear our feet
All our friends deep in their ground will hardly miss our beat
We'll sing and dance on the merry go round we'll build out of the leaves
And when we think we can't go on we'll do the same with the trees
On the banks of you & me
Well if I had the chance to see how my life has changed
Because you came along and sang your melodies true and strange
I bet I'd find a million ways you're deep inside of me
You're just part of my fabric now with you I weave me
A tapestry that's flyin' free
A thousand times I've heard you say, sometimes on your knees
That life with your heart and your hand in mine is what you really need
Well yes that's true but my favorite part is how we both agree
That in this nesting house there's room
For more than you & me
So whether that house ends up with six or nine or three
We'll build rooms for the hearts that climb to the top of the tree
Cause from up here our hearts found a love that sets us free
We'll hold hearts with our hands entwined
And show love what love can be
As this ship sails out to sea
From the banks of you & me
From the banks of you & me
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Enemy
Composer: K. Stellar Dutcher
Everyone thinks they're the good ones
Trying not to look in the mirror
But I see my people are fading
Digging our own graves
We think the enemy is them, there, can't you see
Terrorists and welfare queens, sure as can be
But do you ever wonder why there's always one more hate to try
What you might be missing, what you can't see
Because I've met the enemy, and the enemy is me
Nine at Emanuel, three hundred at Wounded Knee
This violence is our history, and silence our complicity
And I ask you here right now:
Who do you want to be?
If only it were that simple
Somebody for us to blame
The system, it wants us fighting
While it feasts on our remains
I see no enemy, but if I did it would be me
My people have lost our way, sure as can be
How do I turn and face what we've become in the name of race?
How do I dig its roots from inside me?
Because I've met the enemy, and the enemy's in me
Eight in Atlanta, El Paso had twenty three
It's silence that's our history and violence our complicity
And we must at last stand down
If we want to be free
Freedom
You are calling
Oh, freedom from all this hate and from the need to subjugate
Freedom isn't quite the thing you think it should be
And if there is an enemy, its name is white supremacy
And everywhere they're rising up
So let's get free
Because I know this enemy inside of me
And it will stop at nothing to make sure no one's free
It's long past time to pick a side; will your kids believe you tried?
Because let me tell you now
One day we'll make it die
Make it die
It will die
Let it die
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The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Composer: Robert Dwyer Joyce
I sat within a valley green
I sat me with my true love
My sad heart strove the two between
The old love and the new love
The old for her, the new that made me think
On Ireland dearly
While soft the wind blew down the glen
And shook the golden barley
'Twas hard the mournful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us
But harder still to bear the shame
Of foreign chains around us
And so I said, the mountain glen
I'll meet at morning early
And join the bold United men
While soft wind shook the barley
'Twas sad I kissed away her tears
My fond arm round her flingin'
When a foeman's shot burst on our ears
Throughout the wild wood ringin'
A bullet pierced my true love's side
In life's young spring so early
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft wind shook the barley
I bore her to a wildwood screen
And many a summer blossom
I placed with branches thick and green
Around her gorestained bosom
I wept and kissed her pale, pale cheek
Then rushed o'er hill and valley
My vengeance on the foe to wreak
While soft wind shook the barley
It's blood for blood without remorse
I've taken at Oulart Hollow
I've laid my true love's clay-like corpse
Where mine full soon must follow
Around her grave I wander drear
Noon night and morning early
With breaking heart whene'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley
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In The End
Composer: K. Stellar Dutcher
In the evening falling down all around
There comes a voice whispering solid ground
Revealing how we've been lost and found
Homeward bound
Once again, in the end
The rain comes down
I remember when you said, might as well
Keep screaming when you're dragged off to hell
Your memory fades, but I will tell
When I hear that tolling bell
Of your grace in the face of all that's been
In the end
I come to the water side and today, this river's dry
And the streets that we walk upon are ghosts of days gone by
And the shadows of what has died seem only to multiply
And I wonder, how can we find our way
To the day where we stay
In hearts and minds that aren't colonized
The rain has paused to count the cost
Of what it takes to stay awake
Every day, give and take
A breath of life one more time
Once again, in the end
The rain comes down
Once again, in the end
The rain comes down
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Threads
Composer: K. Stellar Dutcher
In this letter I won't send you, I will tell you how I wish that
You would talk to me
These carefully crafted sentences, they help you to be more than
Just a memory
Of the thousand threads in this web that we are weaving
If I only could have woven just one more
Before I started leaving
Memories tumble over, they're fluttering like feathers
In the firelight
They're dancing with each other, catching on the breeze
And drifting out of sight
Of the thousand times I've let someone draw near
Nine hundred and ninety seven of them
Were just here for no more than a season
Candles burning steady, flickering like lanterns
Onward through the night
Some still shining brightly, but others, burning out
Have given up the fight
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Cactus Tree
Composer: Joni Mitchell
There's a man who's been out sailing on a decade full of dreams
And he takes her to his schooner and he treats her like a queen
Bearing beads from California with their amber stones and green
He has called her from the harbor, he has kissed her with his freedom
He has heard her off to starboard in the breaking and the breathing
Of the water wings while she was busy being free
There's a man who's climbed a mountain, now he's calling out her name
And he hopes her heart can hear three thousand miles, he calls again
He can think her there beside him; he can miss her just the same
He has missed her in the forest while he showed her all the flowers
And the branches sang the chorus as he climbs the scaley tower
Of a forest tree while she was somewhere being free
There's a man who sends a letter; now he's waiting for a reply
He has asked her of her travels since the day they said goodbye
He writes, "Wish you were beside me; we could make it if we tried"
He has seen her at the office with her name on all his papers
Through the sharing of the profits he will find it hard to shake her
From his memory, because she's just so busy being free
There's a lady in the city, and she thinks she loves them all
There's the one who's thinking of her, there's the one who sometimes calls
There's the one who writes her letters with his facts and figures scrawl
She has brought them to her senses, they have laughed inside her laughter
Now she rallies her defenses for she fears that one will ask her
For eternity, because she's just so busy being free
There's the man who sends her medals, he is bleeding from the wars
There's a jouster and a jester and a man who owns a store
There's a drummer and a dreamer, and you know there may be more
She will love them when she sees them; they will lose her if they follow
And she only means to please them, and her heart is full and hollow
Like a cactus tree, and she's so busy being free
Like a cactus tree being free
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Sing To The Mountain
Composer: Daniel Rodriguez, Elephant Revival
Let the fires burn tonight, let the jugs of wine get drunk
Let the truth be known tonight, don’t go let yourself hide
Go and sing to the mountain, go and sing to the moon
Go and sing to just about everything, ‘cause everything is you
Listen to the rhythm of your heart play like a drum
Listen to the night-call singing songs from all around
Go and sing to the mountain, go and sing to the moon
Go and sing to just about everything, ‘cause everything is you
And let your voice go; let it pierce through your soul
Let the fires burn tonight, let the jugs of wine get drunk
Let the truth be known tonight, don’t go let yourself hide
Go and sing to the mountain, go and sing to the moon
Go and sing to just about everything, ‘cause everything is you
Back to top
Stand (feat. David Johnson
& Paula X. Rojas)
Composer: K. Stellar Dutcher
Spoken Word: David Johnson, Paula X. Rojas
The bulletin my friend, it's been sent to us all
Out through the horizon can't you hear the call
A great and mighty uprising, thousands of people in the streets
As long as there is no justice there will be no peace
My friend don't you see, the world's callin' you and me
We weren't born believing in any of these things
The underpinnings of anti-blackness and white supremacist culture
These things were created, and have been pushed upon us
And are used to cage us in
And we're breaking free of our cages
You can see it every day
Poison lives in our hearts when we seek our safety
(The cops are in our heads and hearts)
In locking folks behind bars and all of this police brutality
(The cop in the head keeps our minds on lockdown)
I withdraw my consent; I want my society
(The cop in our hearts cuts us off)
Lookin' like that love made public we want to see
(From our fullest human expression)
Can you imagine this land if we all took a stand
We are all in need of liberation
Many who look like our oppressors, and may even feel at times like an oppressor
Are actually just tools of oppression, and they themselves are being used
Can you imagine the harm that a mind and spirit must undergo from birth
In order to ever believe that the path to healing
Is through violence, and a gun
And a badge, and cuffs, and cages
No - we are ALL in need of liberation today
My people came to this place, turned it into stolen land
(And we've all been lied to)
What we built on the ashes, it can no longer stand
(So we would believe this is how it has to be)
I take my place right beside those whose time it is to lead
(But this is not the only way)
Cuz I know following them is how we all get free
(So stand up)
Stand up
(And take heart)
Take heart
(Because we have come)
We have come
(So very far)
So very far
(We will rise)
Together we will rise
(We will stand)
Together we will stand
(We will build our promised land)
Together we'll build that
Promised land
(It will come down)
Let it all come down
(We will mourn)
Mourn it as we can
(But our ancestors are guiding us)
Our descendants are calling
(So let us heed them)
Let's answer them
(We are their dreams)
We are their dreams
(And we are their plan)
We are their plan
(So let's give our best)
Let's show our best to them
(And our dreams a chance)
Let's give our dreams a chance
(So we invite you now)
Won't you now
(Come and stand with us)
Come and stand
Some will say “This isn't the first time
We've seen people in the streets -
What has it ever done for us?"
I would remind them that every time
Voices rise and feet move, change follows
And I would also remind them
That never before has the world been so interconnected
And so ready and hungry for change
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Hallelujah
Composer: K. Stellar Dutcher
Well bless my soul, ain't that the sound
Of a mighty kingdom tumblin' down
Its reign was long, but I'm finally free
Of the empty land whose ruler was me
Oh oh oh oh, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Welcome down from your thrones, hand over your crowns
Let's break down all these prison grounds
It don't matter if you're down on your knees
Just reach for the sky and let your voice ring
Oh oh oh oh, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Well bless my soul, I hear the sound
Of a mighty kingdom tumblin' down
Its reign was long, but at last I'm free
Of the emptiness inside of me
Oh oh oh, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah