1. |
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My American heart
My American heart
My American heart is alive with the fire
In the promise of tomorrow
I’ll speak my story
I’ll sing my song
My American heart is alive with the fire
In the promise of tomorrow
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2. |
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In the city of unseen prophets
Just over the hill
There's an army of vagabond watchmen
At the citadel
In secret they walk among us
Hidden in plain view
But if they happen see something in us
They might reveal a thing or two
She told me I was trying to live easy
But I was living a lie
He told me I was lost in a forest
Where all the trees were dying
And the yellow eyed peaceful warrior
They call Copper John
Made an offering patient armor
To help me carry on
In the city of unseen prophets
No one’s ever alone
On the wind is a whispered wisdom
That rattles in your bones
Chorus
If you're waiting for sunrise
And you meet at the dawn
Take your fill of the loving and
Pass it on
You know life is a suicide mission
It's just a question of why
Do it quick, do it slow, do it dirty
or don't even try
He's determined to figure out something
Touch the point of the fall
So he asks all the mystic masters
Why come back at all
He said you’re gonna need a peaceful lady
While you wait out the end
You got too much poison in your body
But she can build you again
You're a sea creature in stale waters
With the power in your blood
To make the angels sing about heaven
Here on earth as above
But let me tell you something honey
We all need to know
You can sing all you want of a brighter tomorrow
But now is all you've got so
Chorus
If you're waiting for sunrise
And you meet at the dawn
Take your fill of the loving and
Pass it on
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3. |
Wrecking Ball
04:15
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I don’t want to fight for freedom
Freedom is a right from birth
I don’t need to fight for money
See, a dollar don’t define my worth
I just want peace for my body
Peace of mind
Peace for my soul
Peace for humankind
I don’t wanna to have to fight for justice
It’s better from an open hand
I don’t wanna to fight for my power
Some people sit to take a stand
And I want peace for the seers
Peace for the blind
Peace for the seekers
Peace for humankind
Chorus
But we go at
Everything with a wrecking ball
Let’s all go down, tear the walls down, tear ‘em on down
I don’t want to fight for water
‘Cause abundance flows right from the sky
And why they make you fight for shelter
When the ground is soft and trees grow high
I don’t need to fight for knowledge
When wisdom seeds have long been sown
I’m not afraid to walk this journey
See I come into this world alone
But what I want is peace for my brother
Peace for his mind
Peace for my sister
Peace for humankind
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4. |
Piece of Mine
04:49
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There’s a load I was born to carry
Yea, I was born to town this line
Until I take that lonesome ferry
You’ll find me holding this piece of mine
On this road, this road less travelled
A constant stranger and fool am I
Under my feet, just dust and gravel
O’er my shoulder this piece of mine
My true love, she smelled of cotton
Her skin of honey, her lips of wine
Empty words are ne’er forgotten
And empty pleasures kill more than time
For seven long years she would not marry
For seven years she was not kind
Her youthful breath my hands did bury
Her heart for no one if not for mine
If these long years could pass more gently
If true love were truly blind
Cold hard eyes could ne’er forsake me
And leave me holding this piece of mine.
Piece of mine, lord, piece of mine
Yea, I’ll be holding this piece of mine
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5. |
If It Were You
03:55
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I don’t know anything about what it would
Take to make a father pull his
Daughter out of school and say
“Today we’re going far away
Never to return if God is willing
We will cross more than 1000 miles
Before our journey’s over through the
River, over hills. There will be
Moments when you feel you can’t go
On a moment longer, but you’re
Stronger than you think
You must be stronger than you think you are
One day you’ll understand
That sometimes in order to survive
You risk it all.”
Can you tell me how the tide becomes
A beast that swallows bodies whole
Bodies and their babies become
Fodder for the ratings and
Discarded long before it became
Possible to name them all
Impossible to name any of their names at all?
I can’t tell you what to think
I can’t tell you what to do
All I really think I’m wondering is
What if it were you?
I’m reminded of the night my mother
Finally left my father ‘cause he’d
Hit her in the head
The night he’d climbed back into bed
After she’d let him know she knew he’d been unfaithful.
She took both the blame and burden with her
When she left his home along with
Me, Michelle and John
We were glad to have him gone
But the dark dreams of those years
Went on much longer than you’d think
And they got stronger when I left for school
I never understood
Why I just couldn’t make my body
catch up with my mind
Can you tell me how the night becomes
The only solace possible
Solace til the sadness becomes
Louder than the madness and
The madness becomes meaner than
The moment it was born of and
The many moments more,
much bigger than I could recall
I sure can’t tell you what to think
And I can’t tell you what I'd do
All I really think I’m wondering is
What if it were you?
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6. |
One Shoe
04:04
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I crossed the ocean to this land
Carrying eyes just like a man
So alone, holding on to my mother’s hand
But I held a weapon at my side
It held a promise and my pride
It wasn’t much, just enough to help me make my stand
I knew too well what I couldn’t tell I’d have to show
So it became the only name I’d come to know
See, what you carry in your bag
Could be so much more than others have
Even if it’s just one shoe
No, you may not have a lot,
So you better give what ya got
You only need one shoe
Instrumental
I knew too well what I couldn’t tell I’d have to show
So it became the only name I’d come to know
Whatever you carry in your bag
Could be so much more than others have
Even if it’s just one shoe
No, you may not have a lot,
So you better give what ya got
You only need one shoe
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7. |
Fly
05:29
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I am the eagle who glides on the wind
Touching down briefly in someone’s backyard
Only a glimpse of me ever remains
And my home is ever so far
So I must fly
I look to the moon when the daylight is lost
She is my pardon, she is my rest
Taking the carnage of my daily bread
Can leave me discouraged at best
But I am so high
And there are those who still sing in the hills
Sacred heart secretly raging for more
Tearing away at our mis-shapen will
Making the lesson the art
So I will sing
I hear there’s freedom lying within
That’s what they tell me, that’s what i’m told
Reaching for wisdom is one way to go
Different direction than most
But I am free
So be we fre
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8. |
Wednesday's Child
05:54
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I’m a wednesday’s child
Born on ruination day
To a preacher man who’s better than
He took to the grave
When he left his garden
He caught a cold in his blood
Grief comes in many colors
And so does love
Grandaddy shot himself
Straight in the head
But the bullet didn’t get him
Bigotry killed him dead
And I say is this my story
Is this my problem with rage
Am I making too much of it
Or am I turning the page?
Well it is what it is
And it ain’t what it ain’t
Grandma lives alone now
In the middle of a cotton field
Where deep in the darkness
Every star in heaven’s revealed
She tells me light and lonely
Tread a narrow line
That’s why even the sun
Can’t hold its head up all the time
Mama gave me a book
About a small feathered seed
Whose destiny it was
To ride the spirit breeze
And the wind was to decide
Where she rested and took root
Am I the fallen seed
Am I the spirit fruit?
Well it is what it is
It won't be what it can't
It is what it is
And it ain’t what it ain’t
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9. |
Everyday
05:02
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Everyday in my house
is like a thousand songs
and every heartbeat is a chance
to right a thousand wrongs
every lifetime tells another possibility
every wrinkle in time shows a future memory
every lifeline holds a new reality
every star shines on another version of me
will I be a pot head?
Would I be better off dead?
Would I use a gun or a knife?
Will I be a hot head?
Would you hear a word I said?
Will I be a man to raise a hand to my wife?
Will I be blind?
Will I be kind?
Will I find I can move mountains with my mind?
Will I know myself a child of god and love
will that be enough?
See every heartbeat is just another possibility
every sunrise saves me from obscurity
everyday.
Everyday in my house
is like a thousand songs
and every heartbeat is my chance
to find where I belong
every place I wait in the belly of futility
but every song becomes my own private litany
will I have a nice ride?
Would I make a beautiful bride?
Will I earn more than minimum wage?
Would I let myself decide
when it’s time to eat my pride?
Will I be reincarnated a sage?
Will I just be ordinary?
Or would that be too scary?
Will I let the church choose who I wed?
Will I bleed? Will I burn?
Will I notice my turn? And will I take it?
Everyday
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10. |
A Healing Inside
02:59
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I have a healing inside me just now
I have been longing for justice just now
I have a yearning for safety just now
I am a self-sovereign human just now
I claim the space for my grieving just now
I am awake to my journey just now
And I have a healing inside me just now
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11. |
Coffee Shop Girl
05:19
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There’s a lady I met at a party one night
She’d come over from old mother England
Just a beast in the air with her fancy a-flight
And her ship was just now coming in
You could tell by the light in her eyes this was no make believe
That she measures her prize by the weight of the gun up her sleeve
A hand cocked to one side as she steadied her pride
and the kick back enlivened in her bones
Now the stained little girl has a woman made world of her own
Well I have this good friend whose beginning again
She has never lived on her own
I can see how she feels, it’s a pretty big deal
When the night comes to find you alone
Well I guess it’s the weight of the world she must hold in her hands
A cold chamber echoes “honey, you know you’ve left a good man”
But the bullet inside means she no longer hides
From those real or imagined demands
‘Cause it’s her story now and she moves as the journey commands
Oh the coffee shop girl with her warm chestnut eyes
She has nothing against integration
But the fact of the matter is how it was done
Went against the known will of her nation
See there’s only one law of the land worth keeping around
And that law puts a gun in her hand as she’s standing her ground
And whatever the cost or the lives that are lost
She believes it’s her right to defend
So those brown eyes turn cold as she wipes down the counter again
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12. |
The Great Divide
03:58
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Don’t ya get got
The great divide is an illusion
‘Til the world stops
Don’t be misguided by confusion
I’m talkin’ bout the politics of dignity
And living out the promise of humanity
It’s hard for me to preach without the sanity
Of the eagle-eye view
Where there’s no difference between me and you.
The great divide is an illusion.
(Don’t ya get got)
The great divide is an illusion.
(Don’t ya get got)
I see Dreamers preach
This land’s their land too
And Two Spirits teach
Make old wisdom new
And I sing to myself
They belong in this world
I see Judy Heumann
Oh, she fights for me
While thousands of houseless
Make homes in the street
And I sing to myself
They belong in this world
I tell you in the politics of dignity
We’re mapping out the promise of humanity
We can’t forget the view of basic sanity
Where in the eagle-eye view
There’s no differences.
I see every color
Watch their dollars die
We turn to the children
To be the ones to save our kind
And I sing to myself
We belong in this world
We belong in this world
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13. |
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My American heart
Wants your baby to be born healthy
Wants your son to make it home from the war
Fully able to rejoin his people
My American heart
Wants your job to help you feed your family
Hopes it lets you build a home that houses
Generations of joy
My American heart
Knows you're more than just an able body
Hopes if your able body ever falters
Your wellness won't have much in the way
I hope your children and grandchildren
Become curious and kind
But above all,
I wish them safety
from without and within
My American heart wishes safety
for my own family too don't wanna have to keep them
safe from you but
Nevertheless, here we are
We're in a difficult conversation
One that might go on for years
But in this difficult conversation
I want you to know I can see you, know I can hear you
Know I still pray for you
With my American heart.
Instrumental
We're in a difficult conversation
One that might go on for years
But in this difficult conversation
I want you to know I can see you, know I can hear you
Know I still pray for you
With my American heart.
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LILLI LEWIS @folkrockdiva New Orleans, Louisiana
Lilli Lewis bears a progressive, provocative, and conscientious presence paired with a love for music that began before she composed her first song on the piano at age three, Lewis is a modern day Renaissance woman, who, when in full gear, conjures the likes of Big Mama Thornton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Odetta, and Janis Joplin. ... more
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