Welfare Warriors
Fall 2006
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Fall
2006
Using the Magic of Music to Survive Struggle and Outrage
During the past 20 years of struggle, strife, and outrage as editor of Mother Warriors Voice, music has often been my salvation. Music, especially mamas music, has inspired and soothed me. Music has kept me dancing and chanting, shouting and smiling.
There isn’t a lot of mamas music around—written and sung by moms. So it’s always a thrill to find it. One of my favorite mama singers is Lillian Allen, a Jamaican Canadian writer, singer, and teacher. She is a well-know dub poet and teaches creative writing at Ontario College of Art and Design.
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My favorite part in Allen’s “Revolutionary Tea Party,” (besides the lyrics) is the sound of wind chimes. When I just can’t go on, her “Sister Hold On” is soo sweet, soothing and validating.
I decided to share some of these inspiring mama lyrics with readers in celebration of our 20th anniversary. I’m sorry you can’t hear the tunes, but I’ve included contact information for those whose music is still available.
Lillian Allen has 4 CD’s: Nothing but a Hero, Revolutionary Tea Party, Conditions Critical and Freedom and Dance.
| Make Good News Chorus There was no good news on the TV today No good news I say I say There was no good news on the TV today No good news We need good news, everybody let’s make good news We need good news, everybody let’s make good news We need good news, everybody let’s make good news We need good news, everybody let’s make good news Politicians aren’t talking straight And the President of the US of A Sends money and aid to kill freedom fighters A little country, proud people in Nicaragua Chorus The news on South Africa ain’t that great ‘Cept the people there still have faith That one day their nation shall be free Of a brutal racist government that hurts them and makes their country un-free Chorus Our first nations people Are still trying in every peaceful way To get some of their lands and rights that have been stripped away Chorus They say people get the worst jobs who are black women or poor My mamas she says “ain’t no way that’s right” and that’s why we have to stand up and fight whispered Good news, good news, good news, everybody Peace and goodwill are breaking out all over the globe Justice has brought the world peace Children are dancing in the streets Birth Poem This little girl mi call Anta This little girl mi call Anta This little girl mi call Anta Ah ah ah Mi pregnant in mi belly An mi head full a jelly An mi vamit an mi sleep An mi eat an mi sleep An mi sigh LAWD Jah alone know jah alone know Mi never know it so rough Mi never know sey it so tough An this little girl, she wouldn’t Come the minute before she Ready fi born An the months them past An mi outview lost, lost lost… An mi labour an mi labour An mi bawl Whai It hot yu see / it dread yu see But this little girl wouldn’t come the Minute before she ready fi born An mi labour an mi labour an mi Labour an mi labour an mi labour An mi push an mi push an mi push AN MI PUSH An baps! She born An it nice yu see An she sweet yu see This little girl we call Anta Ah ah ah Women do this every day Why Do We Have To Fight? Why do we have to fight For what is our natural rights? Why do we have to fight For what is our natural rights? No change without struggle No one in power ain’t giving up nothing You born, you live and then you die In between you dodge the dubious lies Oh where is the promised pie? Where is the carrot for the taking? A woman’s work is not recognized If she be black make it double-dized Without a man, she’s in nothing’s land Why do we have to fight for a place to live? This is the society that our toil has built What would it take to make a home a right What would it take to legalize Why do we have to fight For what is our natural rights? Sister Hold On Hold on sister Sister hold on I know times are rough rough rough You work yuself to the bones to lose this rut But babylon system conspire to down you Babylon system conspire to down you Remember your strength sister And remember your joys Remember you’re whole sister And you’re not alone You just gotta hold on sister Sister hold on I know times are tough tough tough And it seems like things just’a get worst Some moments feel like a nuclear holocaust Hold on sister Sister hold on I know you got struggles, sister Right up to your eyes Just wishing the pressures could ease Signal a little relief in your life But every time you turn around It’s another barrier to break down Just hold on sister, sister hold on See this music, this poetry This heart Is reaching out Reach out Hold on sister Sister hold on (Anta) Hold on sister sister hold on
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Revolutionary Tea Party You who know what the past has been You who work in the present tense You who see through to the future Come mek wi work together Come sit here with me An mek we drink tea A mek wi talk A mek wi analyse You who’ve been burned by vanguardism Come mek wi give you little nurturing Come sit awile A mek wi drink tea A mek wi talk A mek wi stategise You wo believe in the future And in transforming by your labour Let the future be in good favour We who create the wealth of the world and only get scrapings from them in control When wi siddown and look at the system Check out the way that things have been Wi haffi say, wi haffi say It rank how the system stay Wi haffi say, wi haffi say The system in a really bad way A way it a defend You who see for peace a future You who understand the past You who create with yu sweat from the heart Let’s talk. Let’s make art. Let’s love. Dance Rebel in the streets if that’s the beat Rebel in the streets if that’s the beat Demonstrate protest chant You who see for us a future Come sit here with me Mek we drink tea Let’s talk Mek wi analyse Mek wi strategise Mek we work together Nellie Bellie Swelly Nellie was thirteen Don’t care ‘bout no fellow Growing in the garden Among the wild flower She momma, she dig an’ she plant Nurtured her sod Tend her rose bush In the garden pod, Lush leap the garden fence Pluck the rose bud Bruk it in the stem Oh no please no Was no self defence Oh no please ho Without pretence Offered no defence To a little, little girl Called Nellie. Nellie couldn’t understand Mr. Thompson’s hood So harsh, so wrong In such an offense Nellie plead Nellie begged Nellie plead Nellie begged But Mr. Thompson’s hood Went right through her legs. Knowing eyes blamed her. Pst, pst, pst, pst, pst, pst Nellie disappeared from sight And the news spread wide As the months went by Pst, pst, pst, pst, Nellie belly swelly Nellie belly swelly, Nellie belly swelly Children skippe to Nellie’s shame Nellie belly swelly, Nellie belly swelly Nellie belly swelly, Nellie belly swelly Later Nellie returned from the night She gave up her dolls and the rose bush died Nellie momma cried, Nellie momma cried Little Nellie no more child again, No sentence was passed On this menacing ass Who plundered Nellie’s childhood. In her little tiny heart Nellie understood war She mustered an army within her Strengthen her defence And mine the garden fence No band made a roll The skies didn’t part For this new dawn. In fact, nothing heraled it When this feminist was born Nellie We Are The Future We are lovers of the earth Who wish for peace We are the keepers of the soul Who fight for human rights We are the sons & Daughters Who must make wrongs right We are the future We stand up for our rights Rights! Rights rights… Dis Ya Mumma Earth Oh oh oh O mother earth All lovers of the earth Nuclear arms protestors, anti war activists Liberation fighters! We are the poets Restless like the summer’s sun Spreading the warmth spreading the word In a dis ua dis ya mumma earth Cause everything ‘pon it And wi blood and sweat in it Is every body’s homeland all a fi we own Get up! Stand up! Shout en masse Wail in the wilderness Our will…will be Peace, justice, equality Join hands in liberation dance Freedom chants We are our only weapon for peace People / demonstration / banners / chants Linking arms Fight if we must Fight / fight fight if we must Listen to the poets chant Listen to the people’s wants Peace…peace…peace |
Melanie
DeMore
I
love Melanie DeMore’s deep, smooth passionate voice. Her song
“Rise Up” could by the rallying song for every mom in poverty.
Cdbaby.com describes DeMore’s music as: “Soul driven folk
drawing it's roots from African-American folk music.” DeMore’s
cassette is available for $2.99 from Ladyslipper Music. They
have 15,000 women artists in their catalogue. Call 800-634-6044
for a catalogue or go to ladyslipper.org.
Rise Up
CHORUS:
Rise up, Rise up
And take your place
Move to the head of the line.
Join the human race
No more denyin’-
Open your eyes and see
You gotta right, sure as you’re breathin’,
You gotta right to be free
You gotta right to feed your children,
Help ‘em grow up strong
How can they shape the future,
They’re hungry all day long?
You gotta right right to be angry, at a system that has failed
To honor all its people
You gotta right to be heard, so…
CHORUS
Share My Song
DeMore says, “This is my ‘yahoo – glad to be living in my big-self’ song”
CHORUS:
Oh won’t you share my song
Please won’t you sing along
And we’ll sing a song so sweet,
It’ll make you get up off your feet.
And we can make the mountains ring
And we can teach the world to sing
We’re not afraid to take a chance
So please-won’t you join the dance?
Open your arms wide sisters.
Open your hearts and
Sing along with me, sing along with me
Sing along with me.
I Hear the Mother Callin’
I hear the Mother callin’-She is moanin’. She is cryin’
She is reaching out to all of us-She thinks She may be dying
I hear the Mother callin’ from the jungles to the sea
Her voice is rumblin’ underground, beneath Her dying trees:
I love you deep, my wild, wild children
I birthed you into light
I made enough for all of you
But somethin’ isn’t right
Oh I hear the Mother callin’ from the desert far away
Her voice is just a whisper now. She’s losing more each day
Do you hear the Mother weeping in the crowded city streets?
Where Her children sift through garbage looking for something to eat:
I gave you gifts to nourish you,
Shelter from the dark
And look at what you’ve done to me-
When will you make it stop?
Oh I hear the Mother callin’, She is manin’, She is cryin’
She’s reaching out to me and you.
She thinks, She may be dying.
Lately I’ve really been enjoying a tape by the United Farm Workers called Si Se Puede. That’s their slogan (“yes, we can”) created by founder, Delores Huerta, mother of eleven children. These songs are so revolutionary and great to dance to. (They are in Spanish.) Though they are not written by moms, there is a great song about mama Delores Huerta.
Right now you can get the cassette for only $2.99 plus for postage. Send to United Farm Workers, 29700 Woodford-Tehachapi Rd., P.O. Box 62, Keene, CA, 93531. Check out their web at: www.ufw.org
Here are the translated lyrics from my favorites.
Valiant Women
On the battlefront of liberation
On the Mexican American cause,
There exist women, beautiful and courageous
There exist women, beautiful and courageous
There exist women who know how to fight.\
In cities and farms they organize
giving strength and support to their brothers,
Revolutionaries, demanding justice,
revolutionaries inspiring others.
The origin and culture they esteem
their color and courage are of bronze.
Aztec princesses, radiant with life
Aztec princesses in manner and
appearance.
Aztec princesses, radiant with life
Aztec princesses in manner and
appearance.
These are two mothers of the new generation
These are the sweethearts of the great cause.
These are the Adelitas, beautiful Chicanas
These are the Adelitas of the revolution.
The Ballad of Delores Huerta #39
In Dawson, New Mexico
On the tenth of April
Delores Huerta was born.
No one imagined
That she would have gone to lead
Part of the great movement.
In Stockton, California
Where she was raised
She began to see the injustice
That the farm worker has suffered
without the representation
that a union would give him.
I remember there in Detano
In ‘62
She began her association with
Cesar Chavez
And between him and Delores
They formed a union
That came to change the laws.
Her feelings as a woman
Were guided in the right direction
The best thing to happen
To the modest farm worker.
Her feelings as a woman
Gave strength to the union
You have earned the flower of peace.
Delores Huerta.
After they organized
The people in the union
They imposed a strike.
To speak about the contracts
And to negotiate
The people looked towards “la Huerta.”
Cesar Chavez has said, “we will win
This strike without violence.
The social revolution
Must be won in peaceful manner.
To shed blood is not wise.”
And one day in Arizona
The people said,
“Oh Dolores, no we can’t”
Dolores replies
“This will be our rallying cry
Yes we can! Yes we can!”
That's me (rt) dancing with my sister Cathy Murphy,
dancing to "Valiant Women"
Pat Gowens, Editor MWV