1. |
Spreading Spirit
02:12
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It spread to Egypt
They were walking like Tunisians there
It spread to Egypt
They were walking like Tunisians there
That spirit blew across Libya
And ended up in Tahir Square
Now it spread to Yemen
They'e walking like Egyptians there
Now it spread to Bahrain
They'e walking like Egyptians there
That spirit blew across the Red Sea
And ended up in Pearl Square
And it's an open door
But you only get what you go for
It spread to Wisconsin
They're walking like Egyptians there
It spread to Wisconsin
They're walking like Egyptians there
That spirit blew across the Atlantic
And it ended up in Capitol Square
Now it spread to Syria
They're walking like Egyptians there
Now it spread to Indiana
They're walking like Egyptians there
That spirit's blowing across the world
It could end up anywhere
And it's an open door
But you only get what you go for
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2. |
Declaración
03:06
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We have come here on our own free will to fight for dignity
Against that which places profit above humanity
We who have been crushed by the schemes of Capitalists
And excluded and abandoned by the laws of Politics
We have learned from Cairo, Iceland and Madrid.
Now it’s time to extend the fight and spread the word
We have taken to the square, where all voices carry weight,
Fighting for the lives that we deserve
They thought we were asleep, that they could carry out the cuts
Cutting back our rights without resistance, but
They were wrong: we are fighting, both peacefully and not
With great determination, we will drive the old world out
chorus
We who share a common rage against inequality
Are united by our will to build a new society
Representing no Party and represented by none
We say the people as a whole must drive the transformation
chorus
We have come here on our own free will to fight for dignity
Against that which places profit above humanity
Together we are fighting, both peacefully and not
With great determination, we will drive the old world out
chorus
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3. |
See It Through
02:49
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They got cops on the streets, walking in lines
With tazer guns, and wooden batons
They're trying to keep you scared with violent attacks
It all comes down to how you react
Now you're face to face, seeing it all
Dispersal warnings, they're making the call
They got buses to pack, with people like you
When they did that in the 50's the movement grew
Young student, new to the game
Movement elder, fanning the flames
Combat Veteran, seen it before
Same tactics used in the foreign war
Final warning, you're keeping your ground
Committed people sitting all around
Through the bullhorn it's all distorted
You can't leave now, we can't afford it
[Chorus:]
Hold the line, even if your voice shakes
Friend of mine, even if your voice shakes
Push forward, it's up to you
See it through
Silence breaks, voices are loud
Rubber bullets crack, pierce the crowd
Heart's start pumping, scared but proud
Because there's people still sitting in the tear gas cloud
The line advances, they're swinging the sticks
Hear the marching boots and the tazer clicks
Screaming erupts, someone got struck
People calling for a medic, they better hurry up
Vomit, comes like a flood
Getting choked by the gas, hands covered in blood
Bruised and beaten, limping away
Remember it's always been this way
They'll beat you down, show the guns
It gets violent sometimes, but that how it comes
You stand firm, organize and then come back
Until there's too many people for them to attack
[Chorus]
It's days like this when something clicks
When you're tired, confused and scared as sh*t
But you're body's alive with that heartfelt drive
And you engage the problem before you eyes
When you could have ran but you stayed and sat
When you were beaten and gassed but you still came back
That courage, that power that you got deep down
That rises to the top when you get beat down
There's a world to win when you're heart is strong
And a dozen news wrongs to focus on
Everyday brings a vision to strive for
Something to live and die for
And you go back home and you're on your own
It's easy to feel like you're all alone
It's through memory and hope that we stay supported
Cuz we can't quit now, we can't afford it
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4. |
Flowers
03:10
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You raised up your flag with the Egyptian tide
And took to the streets for your future and your pride
And the cops and the soldiers, some took your side
The rest pulled their triggers
Oh, comrade,
We are listening
To your songs of the streets
We are listening
Through the bullets and the bombs
We can still hear you sing
They can crush the flowers
But they can't stop the Spring
You walked down a path so many walked before
An unexpected martyr in an unwanted war
But it was a moment of pushing, a global open door
And the people of the world moved forward
chorus
You raised up your flag for the world to see
As you stood face to face with the military
But you're suffering and pain, well it hasn't been in vain
Cuz there's a lot more flowers blooming
chorus
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5. |
Wisconsin
02:28
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6. |
Can't Turn Back
03:01
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I've seen the bitter worker
Whose labor paid little in return
Struggling to meet her monthly bills
With the little that she earns
And I've seen the foreclosures
The banker with the double-bladed loan
Who in the name of economic law
Pushes people out their homes
And I've seen the polished skylines
Poking through the thick yellow haze
Where the number crunchers and corporate thieves
Are now counting down their days
Oh I know, we've got a long way to go
But we can't turn back
I've seen the gang fighter
With a misplaced but justified rage
Fighting his brother on the broken streets
Til they put him in a cage
And I've seen the politician
Telling lies to the faces of the poor
Bout fixing the conditions of their lives
With one hand on the door
Oh I know, we've got a long way to go
But we can't turn back
Keep your spirit high, there's no turning back now
We can't turn back
There's no going back
Cuz I've seen the people's movements
In Egypt, Tunisia, and Greece
Iceland and Oakland , Chile and Spain
Saying it's our turn to speak
And the dreams they dream are rising
A whirlwind in an autumn of change
Born from the ashes of a bitter fear
That's falling like the leaves
Oh I know, we've got a long way to go
But we're on the right track
Oh I know, we've got a long way to go
But we can't turn back
Keep your spirit high, there's no turning back now
We've got a lot to learn, but there's no turning back now
But we're strong and we're winning, there's no turning back now
We gotta push this one all the way
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7. |
Today & Tomorrow
02:22
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It's best to know the worth of what you've got before its gone
But you cant let yourself get stuck because you're afraid you might be wrong
Your nostalgic for 68, I'm nostalgic for the 99
But sometimes thinking back too much can make you close your eyes
What we do today Matters both today and tomorrow
The point of learning history is to build something new
I don't care what you've read about unless it impacts what you do
You wanna recreate 68? You wanna recreate 99?
Try learning their hard lessons to reflect and then and refine
Because the good old days just sucked sometimes, if you ask those were there
And the answers weren't just blown' in the wind, they were put there
chorus
Ah, but history gets simplified with the passing on of time
And causes and effects sometimes take decades to define
I seen the long shadow of 68 by the ruins of the Berlin Wall
I seen the long shadow of 68 in Seattle
And looking back from here now all the pieces seem to fit
Sometimes its hard to notice the changing world when you're right inside of it
Ah, but without us the future is a boat without a sail
Without our best attempts we set the next ones up to fail
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8. |
||||
Every artsy little college town's
Got a ghetto down the road
Where the farmer and the field-hand
Cling to what they hold
And they buy a daily bottle
To ease their heavy load
Yeah but they got ways of getting by
And every touristy little shopping strip's
Surrounded by abandonment
Where the parent and the teacher
Bear the burden of joblessness
While their homes are eyed constantly
By the forces of development
But they got ways of getting by
And you cry cries of pity and you raise up your hands
But that's not how you change the situation
And every downtown business district's
Got a prison and a court
Where the addict and the street pharmacist
Pace back and forth
And the lies of rehabilitation
Exploit and distort
But they got ways of getting by
And every waterfront condo's
Got a ghetto down the road
Where the cleaner and the dishwasher
Cling to what they hold
And they buy a daily bottle
To ease their heavy load
But they got ways of getting by
And you cry cries of pity and you raise up your hands
But that's not how you change the situation
All around this hard-worked world
There's places just likes here
Where farmers and dishwashers
Slowly turn the gears
And teachers and prisoners
Labor though the years
But they got their ways of getting by
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9. |
Drops of Water
03:15
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She says the truth is like the sun
Cuz once it shines it shines
And you can build yourself a roof
But it will find its way inside
And I think struggle is a river
That twists its way through time
And she's a drop of water
Playing her part in the tide
Cuz it's little drops of water falling one by one
That carve the canyon, and make the river run
She's got books beneath her Burqa
As she walks off to the side
Through a world of attempted assassinations
And she slips her way inside
The illegal school
Where teaches kids to read and write
And the dreams that are born here
Are the front lines of the fight
chorus
An idea is like a time-bomb
And spreading it's the fuse
But they know this all too well
So they try to keep her from the tools
These brave Afghan women are the force behind the dam
The little drops of water that will one day flood the land
When the tide rises up to join them
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10. |
Cul-de-Sac Conquistadors
02:44
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There's bombs in your buildings, America the great
And you're terrified of strangers and you foster so much hate
You stormed around this planet tearing at the roots
Now the chicken's are coming home to roost, America
Half the world is starving and they're starving cuz of debt
You say "they want an open Market, they just don't know it yet"
As your economic hitmen talk bullshit to the press
The teenage refugees strap explosives to their chests
Build a wall along the border, enclose your enemies
Keep food and the water from the hands of those in need
Parade your military, fold flags for the parents
Send them out to occupy and die around the planet
America, this your policy
There's a war in Northern Pakistan directed from Nevada
By some Summer Soldier playing games on the computer
Is he already dead? Has he been stripped of reason?
Killing from afar while he's comfortably living…
This is the country that the rest of the world sees
Ignorant, obnoxious, xenophobic, anti-peace
Cul-de-Sac Conquistadors, with everybody's share
With its hands and soldiers and money everywhere
Saying "fuck the world community, we'll go it on our own!"
Dropping bombs on third-world countries to prove how much we've grown
But there's an orphaned generation, just waiting
When it all blows back it's gonna blow up in our faces
America, this is our destiny
There's bombs in your buildings, America the great
And you're so shocked and awed that people would retaliate
You've run from your past but now the breeze is blowing in
If you wanna heal these wounds then it's a good to time to begin
America, because this is real
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11. |
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LIVE MY LIFE
Oh the tired old words of the television preachers
Sooth the tired wasted minds of retired suburban workers
Drown out the adventures planned by inspired dreamers
Bounce off the walls of shopping malls that guide us to our purchases
I wonder where it comes from? Is it greed or is it anger?
A hatred born from a culturally taught fear of "the stranger"?
Or the slow creep of history, manifesting as we grow
Or self-hatred externalized to feed a macho ego
These walls that close around us, we keep them close inside us
We learn to find comfort in the limits they provide us
To chant down or ignore those who step to break the silence
To cheer those we pay to maintain an downward flow of violence
Lean on the flag when it's time to go to war again
Find comfort in the fact that you''ll probably never feel the burden
Of these wars, of these laws, of these halls deprived of justice
Ignore the biased failures of the policies before us
Link your life up on this long chain of debt and deprivation
And join the rats racing towards twisted affirmation
Rise for the the "honorable," die for the honor
Place your right hand over your heart and surrender
Is this how you're gonna live your life?
Let me stand beside the ones who stand to fight for freedom
For the world that they envision, free from poverty and racism
Where no journey is stalled by separation walls and borders
Where the hard work of the long-ignored is honored and rewarded
I wonder where it comes from? Is it love or is it anger?
A faith and a compassion in the value of a "stranger"?
Or education lined with an indignant sense of reason
Or a hard-built up rage manifesting as action
These spaces that we build. we must build together
With tools that we can use to empower one another
So our words and our attempts serve to breed a generation
That will risk more than the one before to bring about the changes
I sing my song to instigate rebellion
To urge an escalation through strategic intervention
For the young, for the old, for the ones who sit in cages
For the tired and depressed, stressed from the turning of the pages
Keeping one hand on hope and one hand on reality
To ground my inspiration in the sadness that surrounds me
I am in the world to change the world
My dreams are big, and I will work to make them possible
This is how I'm gonna live my life
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12. |
Fulfill It
02:16
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They say every generation
Has a purpose, has a mission
To fulfill it or betray
Wherever it rears its head
This is my time to put the work in
This is my generation
I got the insight and motivation
To take it somewhere new
I'm a catalyst, and a builder
I'm a digger, and a tiller
Not just a dreamer, but a fulfiller
With the tools to get there
I'm standing right here, cuz I'm stronger
I'm staying one day longer
Or two days if I have to
Doing what I need to do
I'm not hoping, I'm not wishing
I'm doing, I'm resisting
I am Egypt, I'm Wisconsin
Walking down that open road
This is my time to put the work in
This is my generation
I got the insight and motivation
To take it somewhere new
I'm a catalyst, and a builder
I'm a digger, and a tiller
Not just a dreamer, but a fulfiller
With the tools to get there
They say every generation
Has a purpose, has a mission
You fulfill it or betray it
And the next one does the same
We got the numbers, we got the passion
We've got the light of freedom
We are Egypt, we're Wisconsin
And we're in it for the win
This is our time to put the work in
This is our generation
We got the insight and motivation
To take it somewhere new
We're catalyst and builders
We're diggers and tillers
Not just dreamers, but fulfillers
Walking down that open road
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Ryan Harvey Baltimore, Maryland
Folk singer, writer, activist, and co-owner of Firebrand Records.
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