1. |
Better
05:05
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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
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2. |
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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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3. |
Enemy
05:05
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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
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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4. |
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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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5. |
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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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6. |
Threads
03:00
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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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7. |
Cactus Tree
05:21
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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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8. |
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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
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
Go and sing to the mountain, go and sing to the moon
Go and sing to just about everything, ‘cause everything is you
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9. |
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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 can be no peace
My friend don’t you see
The world's callin’ you and me
(voiceover)
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
(voiceover)
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
(voiceover)
Some will say
“This isn’t the first time that 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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10. |
Hallelujah
03:59
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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
Aaahhh aaahhh aaahhh
Aaahhh Hallelujah
Aaahhh aaahhh aaahhh
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelu-, 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
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelu-, Hallelujah
Hallelu-, hallelujah
Hallelujah, halle-
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
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11. |
Enemy (live)
05:07
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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
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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Stellar Austin, Texas
Austin-based transcendental folk artist Stellar weaves unflinchingly introspective singer-songwriting with the urgent calls to action of classic counter-cultural folk music. Rooted in early influences Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman, Stellar sings with a conviction and joy that helps us remember that the personal is political, oppression must be unlearned, and liberation is for everyone. ... more
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