Musical Worldview: Lucinda Williams, "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road"
“Could tell a lie but my heart would know”
Musical Worldview: Common, "Letter To The Free"
“Southern leaves, southern trees we hung from
Barren souls, heroic songs unsung
Forgive them father they know this knot is undone
Tied with the rope that my grandmother died
Pride of the pilgrims affect lives of millions
Since slave days separating, fathers from children
Institution ain't just a building
But a method, of having black and brown bodies fill them
We ain't seen as human beings with feelings
Will the U.S. Ever be us? Lord willing!
For now we know, the new Jim Crow
They stop, search and arrest our souls
Police and policies patrol philosophies of control
A cruel hand taking hold
We let go to free them so we can free us
America's moment to come to Jesus
Freedom (freedom)
Freedom come (freedom come)
Hold on (hold on)
Won't be long (won't be long)
Freedom (freedom)
Freedom come (freedom come)
Hold on (hold on)
Won't be long (won't be long)
The caged birds sings for freedom to bring
Black bodies being lost in the american dream
Blood of black being, a pastoral scene
Slavery's still alive, check amendment 13
Not whips and chains, all subliminal
Instead of 'nigga' they use the word 'criminal'
Sweet land of liberty, incarcerated country
Shot me with your ray-gun
And now you want to trump me
Prison is a business, America's the company
Investing in injustice, fear and long suffering
We staring in the face of hate again
The same hate they say will make america great again
No consolation prize for the dehumanized
For america to rise it's a matter of black lives
And we gonna free them, so we can free us
America's moment to come to Jesus”
Musical Worldview: Arcade Fire, "City With No Children"
“I feel like I've been living in
A city with no children in it
A garden left for ruin by a millionaire inside
Of a private prison
You never trust a millionaire
Quoting the sermon on the mount
I used to think I was not like them
But I'm beginning to have my doubts
My doubts about it”
Musical Worldview: Beastie Boys, "Gratitude"
“Good times gone, and you missed them
What's gone wrong in your system?
Things they bounce like a Spaulding
What'd you think, did you miss your calling?
It's so free, this kind of feeling
It's like life, it's so appealing
When you've got so much to say it's called gratitude
And that's right
Good times gone but you feed it
Hate's grown strong, you feel you need it
Just one thing, do you know you?
What you think, that the world owes you?
What's gonna set you free?
Look inside and you'll see
When you've got so much to say it's called gratitude
And that's right”
Musical Worldview: Peter Tosh, "Equal Rights"
“Everyone is crying out for peace, yes,
None is crying out for justice.
I don't want no peace,
I need equal rights and justice.”
Musical Worldview: Jerry Garcia Band, "My Sisters and Brothers"
“Through this world of trouble
We gotta love one another
Let us take our fellow man by the hand
Try to help him to understand
We can all be together, forever and ever
When we make it to the promised land”
Musical Worldview: Bob Marley and the Wailers, "No More Trouble"
“Make love and not war!
'Cause we don't need no trouble
What we need is love (love)
To guide and protect us on (on)
If you hope good down from above (love)
Help the weak if you are strong now (strong)
We don't need no trouble
What we need is love, oh, no!
We don't need, we don't need, no more trouble!
Lord knows, we don't need no trouble!”
Musical Worldview: Brian Eno and David Byrne, "America is Waiting"
“America is waiting for a message of some sort or another.
Takin' it again. Again! Again! Takin' it again.
Well now... no, no... now, we ought to be mad at the government not mad at the people.”
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Musical Worldview: Bob Marley and the Wailers, "War"
“Until the philosophy
Which hold one race superior and another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned
Everywhere is war
Me say war
That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the color of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the color of his eyes
Me say war
That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all
Without regard to race
Dis a war
That until that day
The dream of lasting peace,
World citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained
Now everywhere is war
War
And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
That hold our brothers in Angola
In Mozambique
South Africa
Sub-human bondage
Have been toppled
Utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war
Me say war
War in the east
War in the west
War up north
War down south
War war
Rumors of war
And until that day,
The African continent
Will not know peace,
We Africans will fight we find it necessary
And we know we shall win
As we are confident
In the victory
Of good over evil
Good over evil, yeah
Good over evil
Good over evil, yeah
Good over evil”
Musical Worldview: Joe Pug, "Hymn 35"
“And I am faith
I am belief
Except for when I’m not”
Musical Worldview: The Commodores, "Assembly Line"
“From the moment you thought
You're on the bad line, assembly line
Keeps on messing with your mind
From the moment your boss
They just came up with
The way you think
Got too down, admittin' it
They tell you you can do your very own thing
Ooh, but try people, see the herded green, yeah
Soon little boys will learn to be ashamed of tears they cry
If a girl wants a football, someone must go in and ask her why”
Musical Worldview: Bruce Hornsby, "The Way It Is"
“Standing in line, marking time
Waiting for the welfare dime
'Cause they can't buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes
Just for fun he says, "get a job"
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
Ah, but don't you believe them
Said, hey little boy you can't go where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said, hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules?
He said, "son
That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
Ah, but don't you believe them"
Oh yeah
well, they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
Because the law don't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar, no, no
That's just the way it is
And some things will never change
That's just the way it is
That's just the way it is, it is, it is, it is”
Musical Worldview: Run The Jewels, "Ju$t"
“The Thirteenth Amendment says that slavery's abolished (Shit)
Look at all these slave masters posin' on yo' dollar (Get it)”
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Musical Worldview: Rage Against The Machine, "Killing In the Name"
“Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses”
“Those who died are justified
For wearing the badge,
they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died
By wearing the badge,
they're the chosen whites”
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Musical Worldview: Sam Cooke, "A Change Is Gonna Come"
“I just need some comfort
Some kind of belief
That this war we're fighting
Can really bring some peace
There's no rhyme nor reason
Or sweet melody
More and more weapons
Mean less security
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know that change is gonna come
And I've tried to find it
Some better place
Where having the biggest gun
Ain't some kind of race”
Musical Worldview: Charles Mingus, "Fables of Faubus"
“Oh, Lord, don't let 'em shoot us
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em stab us
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em tar and feather us!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan
Name me someone who's ridiculous, Dannie
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won't permit integrated schools
Then he's a fool!
Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!Boo! Ku Klux Klan
(With your Jim Crow plan)
Name me a handful that's ridiculous, Dannie Richmond
Bilbo, Thomas, Faubus, Russel, Rockefeller, Byrd, Eisenhower
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?
Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate
H-E-L-L-O, Hello”
Musical Worldview: Vigilantes of Love, "You Give It All Your Heart" (Live Buechner Edition)
Bill Mallonee says on his Facebook:
“One of the most wonderful & engaging passages I've ever read by Frederick Buechner. It's about Hosea's wife, Gomer.
Seriously, enjoy...~b …
“GOMER WAS ALWAYS GOOD COMPANY—a little heavy with the lipstick maybe, a little less than choosy about men and booze, a little loud, but great at a party and always good for a laugh. Then the prophet Hosea came along wearing a sandwich board that read "The End Is at Hand" on one side and "Watch Out" on the other.
The first time he asked her to marry him, she thought he was kidding. The second time she knew he was serious, but thought he was crazy. The third time she said yes. He wasn't exactly a swinger, but he had a kind face, and he was generous, and he wasn't all that crazier than everybody else. Besides, any fool could see he loved her.
Give or take a little, she even loved him back for a while, and they had three children, whom Hosea named with queer names like Not-pitied-for-God-will-no-longer-pity-Israel-now-that-it's-gone-to-the-dogs so that every time the roll was called at school, Hosea would be scoring a prophetic bull's-eye in absentia. But everybody could see the marriage wasn't going to last, and it didn't.
While Hosea was off hitting the sawdust trail, Gomer took to hitting as many night spots as she could squeeze into a night, and any resemblance between her next batch of children and Hosea was purely coincidental. It almost killed him, of course. Every time he raised a hand to her, he burst into tears. Every time she raised one to him, he was the one who ended up apologizing.
He tried locking her out of the house a few times when she wasn't in by five in the morning, but he always opened the door when she finally showed up and helped get her to bed if she couldn't see straight enough to get there herself. Then one day she didn't show up at all.
He swore that this time he was through with her for keeps, but of course he wasn't. When he finally found her, she was lying passed out in a highly specialized establishment located above an adult bookstore, and he had to pay the management plenty to let her out of her contract. She'd lost her front teeth and picked up some scars you had to see to believe, but Hosea had her back again and that seemed to be all that mattered.
He changed his sandwich board to read "God Is Love" on one side and "There's No End to It" on the other, and when he stood on the street corner belting out
How can I give you up, O Ephraim!
How can I hand you over, O Israel!
For I am God and no mortal,
The Holy One in your midst.
(Hosea 11:8-9)
Nobody can say how many converts he made, but one thing that's for sure is that, including Gomer's, there was seldom a dry eye in the house.
(Hosea 1-3; 11)”
-Originally published in Peculiar Treasures and later in Beyond Words
//////
Recording from Vigilantes of Love Live at The Be Here Now on 2000-04-14 available at the Live Music Archive.
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Download the show for yourself
Musical Worldview: Neil Young, "Look Out For My Love"
“Look out for my love
It's in your neighborhood
I know things are gonna change
But I can't say bad or good.”
Musical Worldview: Leon Bridges 'River'
“Been traveling these wide roads for so long
My heart's been far from you
Ten-thousand miles gone
Oh, I wanna come near and give ya
Every part of me
But there's blood on my hands
And my lips aren't clean
In my darkness I remember
Momma's words reoccur to me
"Surrender to the good Lord
And he'll wipe your slate clean"
Take me to your river
I wanna go
Oh, go on
Take me to your river
I wanna know
Tip me in your smooth waters
I go in
As a man with many crimes
Come up for air
As my sins flow down the Jordan
Oh, I wanna come near and give ya
Every part of me
But there's blood on my hands
And my lips aren't clean
Take me to your river
I wanna go
Go on,
Take me to your river
I wanna know
I wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
I wanna know, wanna know, wanna know
Wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
Wanna know, wanna know, wanna know
Wanna go, wanna go, wanna go
Wanna know, wanna know, wanna know
Take me to your river
I wanna go
Lord, please let me know
Take me to your river
I wanna know”
Musical Worldview: Vigilantes of Love, "Nothing Like A Train"
“You can map the lay of the land
Yeah, you can describe the sad terrain
Let us survey all the borders
Yeah, but it all still looks the same
When you find there's nothing special
Yeah, about that big hole in your heart
'Cause everybody's got one
With precious little time to talk about it”
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