1. |
Pinocchio
03:22
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Pinocchio
I am not a real man, I'll tell you why
It's not the reason you are thinking of
Lean in close, I'll share with you a secret
No one is a real man at all
Chorus:
Pinocchio, you are a boy
it doesn't take no fairy blue
much less a therapist, three doctors and a knife
to cut your flesh and make you real
you are as real as dreams come true
I'm tired of tracing one straight line back through our lives
Let's crack up this geode they call boy and girl
to see what pretty stones that it elides
Kinda like this geode there is more to us
than ever possibly could meet the eye
I think I've found a way to make it through
I'll let you in, I've got a tip or two
we get together, organize, it's true
We've got a lot of work to do
Chorus
I am not particularly interested
in being illegible for its own sake
I have been illegible to most everyone
Relative to that, manhood is cake
It feels much better to be seen each day
sometimes it's hard to keep the wolves at bay
who say forget who you were yesterday,
come out with only boys to play
Chorus
I am not a real man, I'll tell you why
It's not the reason you are thinking of
Lean in close, I'll share with you a secret
No one is a real man at all
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2. |
We Will Rise
03:22
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We Will Rise
It’s the day of giving thanks
Empire’s fallen by the banks
No one’s clothes are in the road
Every person has a home
Land’s not something you can own
Chorus:
Singing yes I will fight this year, I’ll fight
Till this song is true, till we all can live our lives
With bread to eat and no one scraping by
We will rise (organize)
Yellow, white red black and brown
It took all of us to tear it down
White folks gave that evil lie
That we were better, you and I
We want a wholly different pie
So we tore those prisons to the ground
We freed ‘em all, make a joyful sound!
Full reparations were paid out
On forty acres gardens sprout
Chorus
We give care to all who have survived
Hurt’s not something you must hide
And when someone causes harm
We all surround them in our arms
Like a human hope alarm
Chorus
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3. |
All the Livelong Day
03:54
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You’re lovelier than April, you’re handsomer than May
You’re hungry as an apple core, sing all the livelong day
Sing all the livelong day
I wished I was a miner down underneath the ground
Cause it’s there my Adam Carter lies, can’t hear my lonesome sound
No more high lonesome sound
I wished I was a lily growing out in yonder field
Where Ada grows her sorghum and her beans throughout the year
Cause a lily in amongst the field’s like a lady at the dance
And I’ve never been no lady but perhaps I’ll get my chance
I swear I’ll get my chance
Chorus:
Cause it’s hard hard hard, but it’s true
To find your peace of mind and stay with those who raised you
Mama and her cornbread hands, Papa and his moods
If we awake before the dawn there can’t be no bad news
Lord, please god no bad news
I’ll take you to the river bank, I’ll bring you down to swim
I’ll show you where the cattle cross when drought’s on
It’s there I sat with Billy and we drank up to our fill
Then tumbled down the riverbank and it’s there we had our will
I think of it fondly still
Your beauty is beyond compare, I know that now for sure
You are the apple of my eye, the micah in the dirt
But I am in no dirt, poor boy. This is my home, you see
What are you calling this, my home, here in east Tennessee?
Here in east Tennessee?
Chorus:
Well it’s hard hard hard, but it’s true
To find your peace of mind and stay with those who raised you
Mama and her cornbread hands, Papa and his moods
They’re the ones who raised me and the ones who lift my blues
Lord, please don’t make me choose
Michael, Oh, I cannot stay, I need to travel, see
To roam about the mountains, to glimpse the eastern sea
A freight could be our marriage bed, a train our bridal home
If you say with me you’ll roam, please say with me you’ll roam
Oh Andy, do not ask me such, you know it cannot be
My hand can go to nary a man here in east Tennessee
My ma and pa, they need me so, but more than that you know
I’d rather stay alone, my love than wear your band of gold
Than wear your yoke of gold
Chorus:
Well it’s hard hard hard, but it’s true
To find your peace of mind and stay with those who raised you
Mama and her cornbread hands, Papa and his moods
And when I miss you in the night I’ll hum this lonesome tune
I’ll hum this lonesome tune
You’re lovelier than April, you’re handsomer than May
You’re hungry as an apple core, sing all the livelong day
Sing all the livelong day
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4. |
Dry As Sin
03:53
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Dry As Sin
They’re building prisons in Appalachia, where my family comes from
To keep poor brown folks from the city, far away from their homes
And the only other job you can find
Is in the dregs of the old coal mine
Chorus:
They’re pushing coal plants in Virginia again
Right next to prisons caging thousands of Black and brown men
And my poor white family is guarding them
As the coal dust coats everyone’s lungs, dry as sin
Well Senator Byrd put his stock in a lie
Coal will be clean when donkeys do fly
Now mountains that stretched from the creek to the clouds
Are craters of dirt, like wide gaping mouths
When the rain rolls off the bare mountain tops
The creeks turn to sludge and the fish flop on the moss
Chorus
We are never too far from the valley of death
But these holes in the hills bring us all closer yet
Name each white man a cop, name each brown man a thief
And you’ve paved every back roads with certainmost grief
When the rain rolls off the bare mountain tops
The creeks turn to sludge and the fish flop on the moss
Chorus
Repeat Verse 1
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5. |
Send Out Your Sentries
05:49
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Send Out Your Sentries
I’ve got the blues and they are calling
Calling me down this well
I see the leaves, but they ain’t falling
The northern California fall stays green so well
So send out your sentries and surround me
Prodigals, dogs and thieves are the ones who ground me
I have been all of these
And now I’m the princess
Send out your sentries
I watch my mother read my letters
And hold them ever closer to her heart
Believing I will grow more distant
With every step I take toward my art
So send out your sentries and surround me
Prodigals, dogs and thieves are the ones who ground me
I have been all of these
And now I’m the princess
Send out your sentries
Oh pretty dress, you are my curtain
I tacked you there to block the eastern sky
I never quite could say I loved them
And now I think I know the reason why
So send out your sentries and surround me
Prodigals, dogs and thieves are the ones who ground me
I have been all of these
And now I’m the princess
James Baldwin told the truth
When he said that white kids lose our youth
When we realize it’s all been lies
Don’t know why that takes us by surprise
So as you pack your bags choose wisely
Which parts you take and which you leave behind
Cause what you leave becomes your shadow
And what you take becomes your conscious mind
So send out your sentries and surround me
Prodigals, dogs and thieves are the ones who ground me
I have been all of these
And now I’m the princess
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Eli Conley Sacramento, California
Eli Conley is an indie folk singer-songwriter and activist based in Sacramento, CA. He makes music for queer and trans folks, justice seekers, and anyone who doesn’t fit easily in a box. Eli's voice is tender and heartfelt, with melodies and that can leave you feeling teary-eyed yet hopeful. As a gay trans man from the South, his songs tell stories that aren’t always reflected in roots music. ... more
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