Lyrics – Frank Waln

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White War

[john trudell sample]
we have never really seen the war go away
i mean
if you’re dying
if you’re dying from the 7th cavalry’s bullets
if you’re dying from induced poverty and racism and class systems and sex systems
and you’re dying from alcoholism and poverty
or someone has come in now in the name of maximizing the profit
and they’re getting you to work in the mines, the uranium mines
and you’re dying from lung cancer and you’re dying from the cancers and the diseases that come out of that
you’re dying
it’s the same as the bullet killing you
and i see it all as a war

on dusted plains
songs that my people sing
make me feel like I ain’t gotta worry bout a thing
the ballad swings
everyone treated like a king
remember mother earth
and the teachings that she brings

but why i’m back
you’ll find that
it’s all related
it reminds that with purpose we’re all created
but that’s debated
distorted by those who hated
on our beliefs
cuz we believed all things were sacred

the long-awaited
seventh generation feels
the pain
uranium drain from our black hills
let it rain
genocide won’t pay the bills
i feel the shame
suicidal thoughts give me chills

i can’t escape that warming up with this smallpox blanket
while i see my mother get abused
i’m accused
of a rebel
cuz i don’t dance with the devil
i got these
reservation blues

 

CHORUS

i bet their hearts drop when they hear these drums
and hear our songs now
tired of being oppressed
we’re standing strong now
you can’t white wash me in this white war
you can’t speak about people you don’t fight for

their hearts drop when they hear these drums
and hear our songs now
tired of being oppressed
we’re standing strong now
you can’t white wash me in this white war
you can’t speak about people you don’t fight for

 

i’m a product
of chaotic love
planted in psychotic mud
a rose from rosebud
who rose from haunted clubs
hooked on phonics
beating on my sonic drum
addicted to my demons
and my melancholic drug

self-hate on my sleeve
self-destruction on my mind
alone in this house i built with my beats constructed rhymes
i’m not allowed to leave
until i deconstruct my mind
historical trauma
got my spirit stuck in time

manifest destiny
arrested all that is left for me
i used to be free in this land
but now i’m a refugee
in the name of progress
presidents ordered the death of me
shout out lakota 38
i pray that you’re blessing me

resistance is natural
ancestral energy
god has the survival
decolonized memories
apologies will never make amends for your colonies
america, you a bitch
give us our sovereignty

[CHORUS]

they say these wars never ended
descended from the spirit
singing songs of freedom
our ghosts make you hear it

genocide never ended
descended from the spirit
singing songs of truth
their lives make you fear it

way of life never ended
descended from the spirit
singing songs of freedom
our ghosts make you hear it

revolution never ended
descended from the spirit
singing songs of hope
hoping my people hear it

[john trudell sample]
and in order for that system to work
they have to mine our minds
to get at the essence of our spirit
the mining of the essence
the mining of the spirit
mining our minds
the pollution from that
is all of the neurotic, distorted, insecure behavior patterns that we develop
that’s the pollution
but it’s a disease
lives and travels through the mind
through the generations

 

Born on the Rez

for directions
for reflection
send my prayers up
give me protection
lay my ties down
lay my lies down
i’ve grown to despise my colonized aggression

it’s just oppression
and i’m a product of it
open my eyes now
i cannot be a puppet
i ceased to be a crab
when i stepped off the bucket
i grew my hair long
i will no longer tuck it

relieved when i found our ways
i almost killed myself
went on the hill to pray
and then the wind blew
it’s like it knew
i had been blue
i shed a tear for everything i have been through

i let my dad go
i let my mother go
i let my lover go
i let my cover go
then it was just me
one with everything
i opened up my mind
saw things i’d never seen

i saw the sun set
i saw the sun rise
i saw the pain that my mom saw in her son’s eyes
it showed me what it’s like
for one to lose their light???
i learned to never quit
never to stop the fight

[CHORUS]
born on the rez (hoka)
raised on the rez
born on the rez (hoka)
raised on the rez
braids on my head (hoka)
hot days on the rez
my heart stays on the rez
UGH!
ma lakota che
ma sicangu che
my people
ma lakota che
ma sicangu che

buckle up
i’ll take you to a place you might’ve been
call it rez
i call it evil
cuz it’s killing all my friends
looking back [beep]
is probably where it begins
the government kills us
for the land that you live in
white people win
indian lose
take their land
give us booze
put our kids in border schools
give us reservation blues
treaties broken signed with blood
mass graves covered in mud
i look up at your flag
and see it covered in blood

pledge allegiance to your murder history
you never heard of
circa then and now
care to make you think and reconsider
this place
you call the land of the brave
home of the free
look back
and see the slaves and genocide that we see
this rez
it is a grave
we live in our remains
the state takes little kids
girls turned to sex slaves

we rape
we even kill
so numb can’t even feel
we become a manifestation of violence
it’s ideal
for those in power
they back out
cuz then i needed
we’re now fighting each other so much
we act defeated
and i know that we’re poor
and our resources depleted
but that doesn’t mean
that violence should ever be repeated

the system is flawed
the dollar bill is your god
capitalism’s your religion
colonizing abroad
i know i seem kinda fogged???
cuz my head is hanging long
i have a different world view
it doesn’t mean that i’m wrong
cuz i belong with the earth
i belong on the hill
where i embrace my ancestors
then they show me what was real
i can’t forget all our people
can’t forget where i’m from
with the answers to it all
we decide what we become

[CHORUS]

this pain can’t hold me back
these chains can’t hold me back
this pain can’t hold me back
these chains can’t hold me back
this pain can’t hold me back
these chains can’t hold me back

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