1. |
Never A Fair Wind Home
06:20
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Lost and alone, no fair wind home
never a fair wind home...
this is a long sad story but sit down
and I'll tell it to you my friend
it's the telling and the listening
because we all know how this will end
whole villages destroyed, now to die or to run
a mad king's army comes tramping through
looking for something
life in the bush, undisturbed eternity
dodging the slavers
then come the pale traders
seeking their fortune in the heat of the sun
destroyed a way of life, a population gone
from one hell to another
slavery is to be killed for the buyer's god
or to be working for him
slaughter in the forest once untouched
by the Kasai river
which flows with blood
the blood of a lost wife and children
Lost and alone, from one hell to another
never a fair wind home
this is a long sad story
but sit down and I'll tell it to you my friend
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2. |
Dreamed Another Circus
04:23
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The maintenance men have quit
I wouldn't drink the water
watch the riots from the roof
into this nightmare escaping slaughter
couldn't cut it at home, just monkeys in their suits
Livingstone was delirious and Stanley was a brute
people deal the cards they got and their kids play on the stairs
the poor they fight each other while the rich they don't care
I saw a circus in the dark dark city night
where there's an army of orphans who will try to stay lost
living in the nightmare you dream of the terror
baskets of severed hands and vultures in the sky
gather what washes in with the merchants and the tides
search for lost treasure and steal back your dreams
it's more than the circus that's just pulled into town
but there seems to be something cooking underground
start one dog barking and you'll have the whole block
but to bring down this Goliath it will take more than this rock
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3. |
Forced March
03:43
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There's Goliath on his throne
big and clumsy and scrambling for loot
another whole family with a treasure chest
another whole family with a poison in their heads
other mad kings have drawn their lines
carved up countries that they'd never seen
That river so big marches on to the sea...
beware the merchants and the tides
and ghosts from the sea as pale as death
weak and aggressive and mad from the sun
these drunken brutes were nothing at home
with sticks that speak and shoes to hide their hooves
they're taking people away in their ships
drop below the horizon they must have come up from hell
beware the merchants and the tides
and ghosts from the sea as pale as death
the butchers have a captain that leads their game
sends a shudder through when they hear his name
first thing is first that devil will lie
then there'll be the vultures too heavy to fly...
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4. |
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(chained together on this march
when one falls down the whole line goes)
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5. |
The Irish Orphan
03:47
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Crops are failing because the workers have gone
you'd know without opening your eyes
while the noisy shareholders are happy
as ever with their dividends
and an Irish orphan becomes the British consul
in the free state of Leopold
a place that is haunted by the ghosts
of all who had been enslaved
his report brings this mad king to the world
undoes the lies of an empire
then back to England with reports of slavery
to report just what he saw
he'll go to the docks to explain the difference
between moral grounds and the law
for reporting on the enemy
our Casement he was knighted
refused each and every bribe tempted by that devil king
reported back to England and it was to their liking
if this occurred in Europe all the workers would be striking
but England sends the guns and Belgium forged this chain
thousands have died of exhaustion
Joseph Conrad met with Mister Kurtz
who had gone mad from the sun
Casement told Conrad
there's a heart of darkness in everyone
(Ota an orphan bought at the slave market
from one hell to another
dreams of a circus a great carnival)
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6. |
Forced March II
06:50
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(Ota an orphan bought at the slave market
from one hell to another
dreams of the horror a great carnivore
a great crocodile to devour the world)
that river so big marches on to the sea...
this place is haunted by the ghosts
of all who had been enslaved
a population gone to die or to run
gone from slavery to genocide
through the forest a railway runs built of blood and of bones
a monstrous assembly line ignoring the victims' cries
Stanley led the way and he raped the land
it's a gold rush for Leopold to plunder
all the slavers and the cannibals
have turned agents of the state
severed hands are the devil's playthings...
only the ghosts are left here and the army of orphans
William Sheppard sees the horror tells of the living nightmare
sees the people disappearing tells of the butcher's harvest
tells Morel and Casement to watch the merchant ships
see what comes and goes and then go tell the world
using telegraph wires covered in black gold
chiefs and kings will always profit from the trade
you saw and now you know
you will reap just what you sow
the one who stands to gain the most
was already wearing a crown
Leopold sits on a throne a greedy man with a map in his hand
first thing is first that devil will lie fat as a vulture too heavy to fly
the king will always say that he is benign
under the cover of millionaires
who will tell the people just what to think
the state will always say that it is doing good
and the real devils have not ever
not ever set foot in hell
(a pirate fleet escapes to the sea
with a stolen treasure on a sinking ship
slaves chained by the neck
when one falls down the whole line goes)
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7. |
The Horror
04:24
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(out on the elephant hunt
I returned to a place I did not know
my family dead and my neighbors enslaved
a place I did not know
they captured me and forced me to march
then a white man came from beyond the sea
a messenger from the land of the dead
so I went with him)
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8. |
The Spectacle
03:11
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well, it's just as our story goes
I was out hunting and stumbled into this world
they took me to their faraway home
said that I must stay awhile
to dance and to entertain, to entertain these ghosts
in Saint Louis they are building a great city
and so quickly they will tear it all down
where a man they called Geronimo
sat there carving arrowheads
I was at the fair and it was never fair
the way they treated us, treated us like animals
and this place is so cold, this place is so cold
lost and alone no fair wind home
called us all all the wrong names
made us play these foolish games
with a one way ticket
staring is not seeing...
oh, the spectacle
all the noise...
from one hell to another
there was the fair and now the zoo
oh, quite the spectacle
I am a man in a cage at the zoo laughed at and prodded
living in the nightmare an ape's cage in a strange land
please enjoy the spectacle if you can believe it...
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9. |
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coming back to Ireland with an eye for freedom
Casement acted on what he saw
it's cruel to die with the public misunderstanding
the difference between morals and the law
the Irish orphan stands accused, stands accused of treason
he stands accused of biting the hand
the hand that fed him poison
so fare thee well my old Ireland
they knighted him and then they hung him
those bloody old imperialist whores
now the ghost of Roger Casement
it will be beating on the door
he said it's not the leaving, it's this world that grieves me
it's the injustice that I've seen in these lands
he said the name is Sir Roger Casement
and I'd sooner die than not take this stand
Casement made a cry for all the world to hear
could have been a hero but they condemned him as a queer
and the great war had begun and all the lines were drawn
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10. |
The Suicide Of Ota Benga
08:22
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The great war had begun and all hope had gone
for a fair wind home
living in the Bronx zoo laughed at and prodded
like any other spectacle just wanting to go home
all the noise, this place is haunted, there is no future
and there will always be this war
for ivory rubber diamonds and coltan
living in the nightmare, just wanting to be home
wherever that may be
lost, lost and alone
no fair, no fair wind home
never a fair wind home
A great war has begun and all hopes have gone
for a fair wind home
I took the revolver and turned it to my heart
thought of everything and nothing and fired
a subversive little man not fit to live among them
Otto Bingo is dead, buried in an unmarked grave
at least they won't misspell his name
no tombstone no garden for Ota Benga
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The May Day Orchestra St. Louis, Missouri
The May Day Orchestra was founded in 2008 by songwriter Tim Rakel. The current line-up features drummer Mary DeLeonardis, bassist Jake DeLeonardis and guitarist Charlie Tabing. The band is currently releasing installments of their fourth album.
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