SING THE WORLD AWAKE, Moira Smiley
Sing the world awake, awake!
Sing the world awake, my love!
We are not done here.
We are just begun here.
—Moira Smiley
BELLOW, Moira Smiley
Sometime, anytime you wanna bellow at the sky
Call on me, we’ll unzip the horizon with our voices
You ask me why I sing softer now.
And did the world beat me down?
‘Cause back then I sang hard, I sang proud, but where are the edges now?
Ukrainian Summer, before the revolution.
I sat at the knees of the grandmother, her daughter told me
We could lift the veil between the worlds by singing.
And we were sat outside in the dawn light of the midsummer feast, and the short night.
Singing to the dead so they bless the crop, bless the young, bless the year
This is the way we call the unknown and lift the veil to the other side.
We’re singing to break the walls down, throwing the gate open wide.
Every breath I take has been taken before, every note’s been sung.
Who can I sing them all again for?
Please don’t give up Please don’t lose that sound
So many people fought to gain that ground.
Please don’t give up
Please don’t hide your voice
So many people did not have that choice.
She told me the power of song was in the unison
She gathered her friends all around her and they pierced the sky with a call
One melody from many voices
And from then ‘til now I remember when the year is fat and full of shadows
I’m singing to the dead so they’ll bless the crop, bless the young, bless the year
—Moira Smiley
NOMES (NAMES), José Miguel Delgado Azorín
(Sung in Spanish)
The names of the places in Michoacán,
with its chatty and graceful sound:
Tsintsuntsan, Paricutín,
Sirahuen, Uruapan, Ario,
Saráracua, Cupatizsio
Tangancícuaro, Tacámbaro…
The names of the Tarascan land,
twittering of birds!
The names of the places on the bank of the river Sil
with its ancient and noble flavour:
Val de Afreixo Val de Godo,
a Pena da Moura, o Castro,
Porto Mourisco, Baxeles,
Córgomo, Castelo, Arnado,
Outarelo,, Millarouso,
Prtela, Cesures, Arcos…
The names, the names of Valdeorras,
sweet and resounding song!
—Florencio Delgado Gurriarán
ENTRA MAYO, Moira Smiley
In comes May and out goes April
I saw it come so prettily
In comes May with its flowers,
out goes April with its loves
And sweet lovers begin
to pay good service
—Cancionero de Palacio, 16th century
TāReKiTa, Reena Esmail
Sung in Indian syllabic structure
TaReKiTa is based on the bols (sounds) of the tabla,
a traditional Indian drum. The result is “ecstatic,
energetic music that feels good on the tongue.”
—Reena Esmail
KEEP ON, Moira Smiley
They killed another innocent one (Keep on, keep on walking)
Too few with too much power hurts everyone (Keep on, keep on walking)
And you know hate is so lazy! (Keep on, keep on walking)
No matter how hard, no matter how crazy (Keep on, keep on walking)
Chorus
Under the sky we are living together.
No one knows why. Not the wind, not the weather.
So just be kind, kinder than you ever knew you could be!
(Be) Kinder than you ever knew.
Power wants to make us enemies (Keep on, keep on walking)
If we see this, we can stop this, you & me (Keep on, keep on walking)
And you know hate is so lazy! (Keep on, keep on walking)
No matter how hard, no matter how crazy (Keep on, keep on walking)
Chorus
You pull me up (when I’m down) (Keep on, keep on walking)
You are my luck (oh, look around!) (Keep on, keep on walking)
Trouble in my mind (Keep on, keep on walking)
Gotta put it behind me and keep on walking (Keep on, keep on walking)
Chorus
Keep going keep going, Oh-oop!
Who can I carry for a while?
Give me that weight for a while
Keep on, keep on walking
I’ll take that weight!
—Moira Smiley
SING CHANGE, Kyle Pederson
I’m gonna build you up,
won’t tear you down,
I’m gonna sing change.
Gonna share my joy all around,
I’m gonna sing change.
Gonna stand for you and hear your truth,
I sing change.
Gonna listen, too, help get you through,
I’m gonna sing change.
Draw the circle wide,
Come on, get inside,
Everybody sing your change.
We’ll be courageous,
It’ll be contagious,
It’ll be outrageous how far love and grace will take us.
We’ll be tenacious,
Bold and audacious,
Come on and join us, how much stronger that will make us!
Gonna sing,
Gonna march,
Gonna dance.
We’re gonna hope,
Gonna give,
Gonna love.
We share respect,
We won’t reject,
We’re gonna sing change.
Won’t hold a grudge or be your judge,
We’re gonna sing change.
We’ll take a stand and lend a hand,
We sing, change.
We don’t divide, cast you aside,
We’re gonna sing change.
We can proclaim the way where love wins the day.
We’re gonna sing change.
We can reclaim the way where peace is sustained.
Gotta sing change.
—Kyle Pederson & VocalEssence Singers Of This Age
ROTARY PHONE, Moira Smiley
Starting a new phrase.
Making a new plan
Making some new sound
Tho’ I may be burning it down
I can’t care, I can’t care, it’s on fire
Daily it burns me down
One more ring around the old oak tree, go where you’re gotta go.
And it’s one more ring around the old oak tree, oh, will you watch it
grow with me?
Will I settle down one day? I really can’t say
I’ve got a mind like a rotary phone – slow it goes up,
it’s slow coming down
Listen for some polyphonic dial-tone when you call on me.
But I’ll listen when you call me, call me, call me
I’m seeing your sweet face.
You give me your brightest smile
You give me my reason to be
Tho’ I may be gone awhile
You & me, you & me, we’re on fire
You & me, you & me, we’re on fire
Daily you burn me down.
Will you settle down one day–you really can’t say
Cuz you’ve got a mind like a rodeo–one more time round with your lasso
Listen to those wild horses when they’re calling you, calling you.
Listen for those wild horses cuz they’re calling you, calling, calling
Calling, calling, they’re calling you
Calling, calling, they’re calling me
—Moira Smiley
TRUTH, Rollo A. Dilworth
And if sun comes
How shall we greet him?
Shall we not dread him,
Shall we not fear him
After so lengthy a
Session with shade?
Though we have wept for him,
Though we have prayed
All through the night-years—
What if we wake one shimmering morning to
Hear the fierce hammering
Of his firm knuckles
Hard on the door?
Shall we not shudder?–
Shall we not flee
Into the shelter, the dear thick shelter
Of the familiar
Propitious haze?
Sweet is it, sweet is it
To sleep in the coolness
Of snug unawareness.
The dark hangs heavily
Over the eyes.
—Gwendolyn Brooks
SING ABOUT IT, Moira Smiley
It’s so sad
We don’t understand each other yet
How can this be when we’ve been living together so long?
So close to each other’s beauty?
It’s so sad. It makes me feel so bad.
I’m not gonna stand for it anymore.
Gonna sing about it
Gonna sing it when I feel like cryin’
When I’m uncomfortable & don’t know why yet
When I am guilty of the laissez-faire
My ignorance of you laid bare
I’ll talk to you before I raise my hand,
So you can call on me to make a stand.
Am I responsible?
Are you responsible?
What are we responsible for?
I’m gonna look up from my own concerns,
Reach across the chasm of what I never learned
So wide, so full of burning–your eyes are turning to me now…
saying it’s time
—it’s way past time—to step outside the echo echo echo echo…chamber
Stop pretending it’s alright, Stop pretending this is not our fight.
—Moira Smiley
INTERMISSION
THE SLOW SPRING, John Høybye
How slowly the spring has been coming this year.
How slowly the wounds of the ice disappear.
How sparsely the green on the earth comes forth.
It fears a sudden chill blast from the north.
The branches that shine are quite naked and lean,
The closed little buds can hardly be seen.
There shimmers a hidden, invisible sprout
But never a rift of the green flutters out.
And how could the tiny anemones dare
To dance and to frolic on maiden feet bare—
They stand there quite scared with their heads bent down
As if it is them we would pick, so neat,
So glittering light and so fluttering sweet.
Forget that in April the snow was still here,
For now it is May—let your smiles appear.
—Tom Kristensen, translated by Martin S. Allwood and Knud K. Mogensen
THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS, Sydney Guillaume
This, too, shall pass.
Time will go on.
As time goes on
Live will prevail.
When the halls are empty
and the canvas is bare;
When the clay is unformed
and no one is there;
This, too, shall pass.
Time will go on.
We will strive
When plague is upon us
and death is in the air.
We will strive
When joy is more difficult
than sadness and despair.
When winter rages
and spring overflows;
Life will prevail.
When summer is aflame
and fall, the color goes;
Live will prevail.
Time will go on.
Time still goes
When true love is found
and the race is won.
Time still goes
When new life is born
and we see the sun.
Time will go on.
As time goes on
We can remember how to love.
This moment on
We can remember to be kind.
Time will go on
Embrace each moment.
Time will go on
Welcome each moment.
This, too, shall pass.
—Lloyd Reshard, Jr.
LET MY LOVE BE HEARD, Jake Runestad
Angels, where you soar
Up to God’s own light,
Take my own lost bird
On your hearts tonight;
And as grief once more
Mounts to heaven and sings,
Let my love be heard
Whispering in your wings.
—A Prayer, by Alfred Noyes
REFUGEE, Moira Smiley
Refugee
In your world, I’m a refugee.
In your world, danger all around me.
In your world, I must flee,
I’m not free.
Bring me shelter.
I will not harm you.
Bring me shelter, please.
Bring me shelter,
I will not harm you.
I would shelter you.
I am only what you are.
Imagine your unbreakable world was broken,
No more rules to protect you.
Who was I?
In my world I was standing strong.
In my world, my heart did belong.
And now it’s gone
There is only longing.
—Moira Smiley
ONE STEP DANCE, Moira Smiley
I just had a stranger give me everything in a single glance.
We did a one step dance, and stumbled on.
Between two blinks a lifetime shouted out its name
in a single blast—first breath to the last, and we were gone.
And I walk on because he asked me to
And I kneel down where the flickering lights of the city
rise up on the water
And I look up because I feel too much.
Am I heavy or am I weightless? Am I burdened, am I blessed
with that moment burning heavy in my chest?
In the air between us there’s a trembling
It’s an honesty—it’s an injury we’ve known too long.
Stranger, could you hold me in
your tenderness?
We can travel light in some gentle night
where we belong.
—Moira Smiley
TREAT A STRANGER RIGHT, arr. Moira Smiley & Alexander Lloyd Blake
Chorus: Everybody ought to treat a stranger right.
When they’re a long way from home.
Be mindful how you’re speaking.
Be careful how you go along.
You must always treat a stranger right.
Don’t insult them in your home. Chorus
Well all of us are strangers,
And we don’t always know what’s home.
You must never hurt your brother or sister
And cause them to pull their own. Chorus
—Blind Willie Johnson
SEVEN GENERATIONS, Moira Smiley
Shall we go on?
Shall we go on together?
(oh, it’s too hard alone)
I see the seven generations looking back this way.
My daughter tells me the future’s in my hands.
My granddaughter says the future’s in my heart.
My great grandson remembers my hands.
My great granddaughter holds my heart.
Remember your heart.
—Moira Smiley
STAND IN THAT RIVER, Moira Smiley
I went to the river, but the river was dry.
The dust rose up to a darkened sky.
Tell me, where is hope?
Where do the waters run clear?
I do not know my way from here.
Come, and stand in that river.
Current, gentle and slow.
Send your troubles down water.
Down on that water flow.
When you stand in that river,
Angels sing in your head.
Secrets beyond every worry
dreams beyond every dread.
Tell me, sister, brother;
Where does that river flow?
It flows down to the great water,
Where soon my people will go.
Oh, Time passes.
Passes on down the stream.
Some days are so much sweeter.
Some days pass like a dark dream…so
Come, and stand in that river.
Current, gentle and slow.
Send your troubles down water.
Down on that water flow.
—Moira Smiley
