1. |
Interlude 1
00:59
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Ya I was eight years when I went to Residential School. Somebody from outside, the government person, said “if you don’t send your kids out, you guys, we’re not going to help you.” And so I went to school. We had no choice. It was 300 kids that went to school and I used to cry, I was lonesome. I was wondering why I was sent here. And I didn’t know why. What did I do wrong?
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2. |
Seeseepano
03:19
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They took me from you father
With a fist full of dollars
A weapon that could starve us
I don’t even know your name
They took me from ya mother,
They took me from ya sister
Oh brother,
I don’t even know I’m my name
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Is it god’s plan?
They took me from my mother’s land
They took me from my brother’s hand,
Oh father,
I don’t even know your name
They took the words from my mouth
and put ‘em in the ground
I tried to dig them out
But fading is their sound
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Is it god’s plan?
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Is he a good man?
Father, I don’t recognize ya
Can you tell me what you see when you turn and look to me?
Oh mother, what have they done to me?
Can you tell me what you see, when you turn and look to me?
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Is it god’s plan?
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Oh won’t you tell me, Oh won’t you tell me
Is he a good man?
Oh I don’t even know my name
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3. |
Interlude 2
00:56
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I had no trouble with the kids. And, I told them, just have to watch themselves, if they try to speak English when there was somebody around. Speak their language, we’re gonna lose our language I told them, because you’re gonna be in trouble if you’re talking your language I told them, our language, Ojibwe and Oji-Cree.
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4. |
Bringing The Fire
03:26
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I see you praying
tell me, what is he saying?
I see you begging
Is it to save you from burning?
Oh did he write the book?
Spell out every word?
Did he kill your sons?
Your bible can’t stop that
But you can stop it with your sins
and your good sense
Oh did he write the book?
Write it with whose blood?
They’re bringing the fire
Trying to set it all on fire
They’re bringing the fire
Trying to set it all on fire
Ooooh
If I fold my hands,
If I’m begging please
Tell me, will he see?
They’re bringing the fire
Trying to set it all on fire
They’re bringing the fire
Trying to set it all on fire
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5. |
Interlude 3
01:05
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I was already eight years old at that time, we were going to school, she was very shy. She had little blonde hair, a little blonde hair here and there .I thought she was a white girl at that time. But she talked native language. Sat with her too, on the bus. We were going to school. We went to MacIntosh Residential School.
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6. |
Long Gone
04:17
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They came and took us from our beds
I didn’t know what was happening
I was 8 years old
I couldn’t even say goodbye
I was told that there was not much time
As we stepped into the cold
Until we were long gone
Until were long gone
til we were
They marched us down the road
further from my home
I stepped onto that plane
sat down and saw your face
that’s how 11 years go by
Honey I won’t leave you here,
honey I won’t leave this place,
until we’re both long gone
Just a little while longer by dear,
know that I will always be here
until we’re long gone
Until we were long gone
until were long gone
til we are
They tried to get inside my mind,
but my heart is where I draw the line,
I was 8 years old
I didn’t understand their words,
so they took me out, put me to work,
but I saw your face
That’s how 11 years go by
picturing those quiet smiles
my dear
That’s how 11 years go by
picturing a gentle life
my dear
Honey I won’t leave you here,
honey I won’t leave this place,
until we’re both long gone
Just a little longer by dear,
know that I will always be here
until we’re both long gone
Until we’re both long gone
Until we’re both long gone
Until we are…
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7. |
Interlude 4
00:50
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We used to rest for an hour in class, got to go to sleep and if you lift your head up, that sister used to hit us, holy smokes. A lot of times, I felt like hitting back.
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8. |
War Cry
03:42
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He was just a boy
when the world was thrust upon his shoulders
could barely lift an axe
when he found himself in the wilderness
He’s looking for a war cry
but don’t know how
He’s looking for a war cry
words won’t come out
Oooh
A house can’t build a home
It’s better off left alone
A house can’t build a home
It’s better off left alone
He left those woods just like he should
to carve out a world as best he could
With heavy heart and muddy boot
The moving part that cut the root
Pulled up by the bootstraps
He could chop em now
He can earn his place
if he chops them down
A house can’t build a home
It’s better off left alone
A house can’t build a home
It’s better off left alone
He chopped em down to build this house
But part of him is missing now
He stuck it out in this big house
It took this long to figure out
A house can’t build a home
It’s better off left alone
A house can’t build a home
It’s better off left alone
It took this long to figure out
A house can’t build a home
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9. |
Interlude 5
00:17
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Seven years, I went only up to grade 4. There was a lot of us, if we didn’t know how to subtract, they put us to work.
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10. |
Here I Am
03:57
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Here I am, working for the man that put me
Here I am, good enough to use these hands
Here I am, working for the man that took me
Here I am, good enough to work this land
Ooh
There you were, you held the mercy in your hands
There you were, instead of love you gave me wrath,
Here I am, look me in the eyes
Oh Creator, oh Creator
Here I am
Oh Creator, oh Creator
Here I am
I must have read that book a hundred times
I didn’t find one thing to justify your uncivil lies in the name of civilization
I just have a few reservations, I must have read that book one hundred times, didn’t see anything to justify, your savage tries,
at such a savage life
Oh Creator, oh Creator,
Here I am
Oh Creator, oh Creator,
Here I am
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11. |
Interlude 6
00:59
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Sister would tell us “laugh at him” they used to say, or “laugh at her” they used to bring the girls over to the boy‘s side, they made us sit down and they would bring the girls, sometimes… sometimes they’d bring my cousins, Sister said “laugh at them” because they weren’t listening and they ran away. They used to cut their hair short. It was maddening.
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12. |
Bones
03:48
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Can I be changed I just turned my back
For a second believe I just feel let down
Did I become the enemy
All that’s left is this feeling now
Slow it down and just feel it out
Take your time digging and reel it out
Slow it down and just feel it out
Believe your words before you shout them out
It will be just fine if it all works out
We need working hearts not hungry thoughts
It’s better than this because I saw it once
It can be so great because I felt it once
I felt it once
I felt it once
You say it just in our bones
Can never be change it can just grow old
How do you know what you’ve never known?
Or is just in our bones?
Slow it down and just feel it out
Take your time digging and reel it out
Slow it down and just feel it out
Believe your words before you shout them out
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13. |
Interlude 7
01:04
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I used to take her out in the evening. After I finished working in the school at 9 o clock at night, so I used to take her out for an hour, talk things over and all that stuff. We’d talk about marriage and that. My parents didn’t want me to marry her. And also her dad didn’t want me to marry her and all that stuff So “what can we do?” I said to her, “get me pregnant” she said. Well, okay. That’s how we got married.
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14. |
River
04:16
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Take what you need
Leave what you can
Words she told me
Then took my hand
We’ll brave the river
Wait out the storm
Hold on
And I’ll keep you warm
Oh the river..
We’ll meet by the reeds,
In the ship we’ve weaved
Hold on
There’ll be grief
We won’t get what we give
So learn to forgive
Look to me
And learn to live
Oh the river…
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15. |
Interlude 8
01:00
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Mariane was born a year after. She was the smallest girl. About 6 pounds. That one year I quit, she was pregnant then already with Wally. So we took….that’s when we left. Just blankets and kids clothes. My clothes and mom’s clothes, we just left everything.
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16. |
We Were Here
03:45
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They say that we can reconcile this,
Put it in the past,
They say that we can reconcile this,
What if I can’t?
It’s in our blood,
It’s in our blood,
It’s in our blood,
It’s in my blood
Why does it feel like we’re on the edge?
Staring down at certain death
Why does it feel like the story ends?
Before it starts
We were here in these fading memories,
We were here in these fleeting stories,
We were here in these disappearing words,
Even when they stop losing meaning
It’s in our blood,
It’s in our blood,
It’s in our blood,
It’s in my blood
We come we go just like the days,
There’s light then dark, then the morning rays,
I guess I know just like the snow,
We fall we melt we fade away
A month, a day, a week, a year
Just like to say that we were here
We were here in these fading memories,
We were here in these fleeting stories,
We were here in these disappearing words,
Even when they stop losing meaning
It’s in our blood,
It’s in our blood,
It’s in our blood,
It’s in my blood
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17. |
Interlude 9
00:43
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----------- means you want to shake hands,
“Aandi ezhaayan” means “where you going”
---------- when are you going away?
---------- what do you needs
--------- means my grandchildren are growing up
Ebiyan that means Heaven.
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18. |
Ego Death
04:05
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Have you come to take me home?
Stories buried long ago
Have you come to take me all?
The selfish words that kept me full
Tell me, have I lost my chance?
The stories written in these hands…
Oh, have you come to take me all?
The selfish love that filled the hole
Do I blame it on this restless feeling?
Blame it on nomadic spirits?
I’ve been here for too long
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got myself to blame
Oh no….
I used to say I don’t believe in
Anything that leads to grieving
But the only thing that’s worth achieving
Doesn’t start with me
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got myself to blame
Oh no…
I’ve only got myself to blame
I’ve only got myself to blame
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19. |
Nomads
04:03
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Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?
Grandfather did we flip the script? Sure...
Grandfather I think we’ve flipped the script,
I’m sure…
I was gone all these years
Chasing all those different mirrors
I was gone all these years
Running from invisible fears
“Sometime they used to beat the drum for an hour, steady, until our dead people come to us”
I was gone all those years
figuring you’d always be here
I was gone all these years
While you slowly disappeared
Oh that blinding light
Oh What a burning sight
Oh your guiding light
What if I’m afraid of the
coming night?
“They ask what we were doing, all that, and to be good…and they were with us. They were with us all the time. And they quit that once the old people died”
I was gone all those years
While you waited here
I was gone all those years
now i’m here, watch us reappear
oh that blinding light
Oh what a turning tide
Oh your guiding light
Know that you’ve passed the fire
“…what’s your name they told me. Watin, Watin…. what’s your name.”
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Aysanabee Toronto, Ontario
Aysanabee’s voice introduces himself in a way that words cannot. Solemn and soaring, backed by a swirling blend of indie, soul and electronic soundscapes, mournful saxophone and pulse-quickening finger-picking, Aysanabee’s striking sound is equal parts hypnotic and melodic. ... more
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