““Paraphernalia never hides your broken bones””
“Ukraine soldiers weeping with guns
”
“Come back, Rosa Parks
From the back of the bus
Take the wheel from this idiot
Steer us back on the road
Teach us how to walk in freedom
’Cause I’m gonna walk in freedom
Even if it takes my life
Come back, Emma Goldman
Hold our hands as we go marching
Past the towers of arrogant
Tyranny’s name
Please teach us how to walk in freedom
’Cause I’m going to walk in freedom
Even if it takes my life
Teach us how to walk in freedom
’Cause I’m gonna walk in freedom land
Come back, Malcolm X
Raise your fist in our struggle
Give us courage to choose
Whatever means are necessary
Teach us how to walk in freedom
’Cause I’m gonna walk in freedom
Even if it takes my life
Teach us how to walk in freedom
’Cause I’m gonna walk in freedom land
Teach us how to walk in freedom
’Cause I’m gonna walk in freedom
Even if it takes my life
Teach us how to walk in freedom
’Cause I’m gonna walk in freedom land
[Instrumental]
[Outro]
Walk with me, talk with me (In freedom)
Walk with me, talk with me (In freedom)
Walk with me, talk with me (In freedom)
Walk with me, talk with me (In freedom)
Raise your hand up, raise your hand up (In freedom)
Raise your hand up, get up stand up (In freedom)
Get up get up, stand up
Get up get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Stand up for your rights
Walk with me, talk with me (In freedom)
Walk with me, talk with me (In freedom)
Raise your hand up, raise your hand up (In freedom)
Raise your hand up, raise your hand up (In freedom)
Get up get up, stand up
Get up get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Stand up for your rights
Walk with me, talk with me (In freedom)
Walk with me, talk with me (In freedom)
Raise your hand up, raise your hand up (In freedom)
Raise your hand up, raise your hand up (In freedom)
Get up get up, stand up”
Discovered this song when it was used for an American Express commercial on tv. That swirling sound is not some organ. Probably Jimmy Vaughn on some kind of steel guitar setup. To my way of hearing, it approximates what you’d expect of hillbillies from outer space!
“From St. Francis of Assisi to the fans of
AC DC”
An lp from the exquisite Nonesuch Records Explorer Series wherein the classical label took on a wide range of international music displays. Here: “Music of the Chinese Pipa.”
“Milford Graves New England Repertory Theatre
May 25th 1981
Calling this a concert would not do justice for what transpired on the evening of Monday May 25th 1981 at New England Repertory Theatre in Worcester.
From the back of the ninety-nine seat former Quaker Meeting house, a bird (Graves) entered flapping its wings. He descended slowly down the aisle dancing to the rhythms of his wings against his sides, eventually making his way to the stage. There he danced and moved to his percussive body sounds, eventually making his way to the drum kit where he showed that there was nothing that he couldn’t do in that standard setup. A concert, no. As complete a history of rhythm and percussion as can be accomplished in ninety minutes, yes.
In the decade before this performance Graves invented a martial art form called Yara based on the movements of the Praying Mantis, African ritual dance, and the Lindy Hop and he began a lifelong study of “the heartbeat as a primary source of rhythm.”
This study was inspired by a recording of heart rhythms in which he was astonished by the similarities between Afro-Cuban drumming patterns and cardiac arrhythmias. In the recording he heard polyrhythmic pulsations, variable duration between beats, and a whole spectrum of frequencies. This strengthened his conviction that true rhythm isn’t metronomic and that the tone of the beat is as important as its duration. He purchased equipment and wrote software that allowed him to record and analyze heartbeats, and began studying his own heartbeat rhythms as well as those of friends and other musicians.
From 1973 until 2012, he was a professor of music at Bennington College. Percussionist, acupuncturist, herbalist, martial artist, programmer, and professor, Milford Graves passed away on February 12, 2021.
Some of the information presented here was found in the 2018 movie Milford Graves Full Mantis, milfordgraves.com and the encyclopedia of our times, Wikipedia.
”
the poet Anne Porter
“Music
by Anne Porter
When I was a child
I once sat sobbing on the floor
Beside my mother’s piano
As she played and sang
For there was in her singing
A shy yet solemn glory
My smallness could not hold
And when I was asked
Why I was crying
I had no words for it
I only shook my head
And went on crying
Why is it that music
At its most beautiful
Opens a wound in us
An ache a desolation
Deep as a homesickness
For some far-off
And half-forgotten country
I’ve never understood
Why this is so
But there’s an ancient legend
From the other side of the world
That gives away the secret
Of this mysterious sorrow
For centuries on centuries
We have been wandering
But we were made for Paradise
As deer for the forest
And when music comes to us
With its heavenly beauty
It brings us desolation
For when we hear it
We half remember
That lost native country
We dimly remember the fields
Their fragrant windswept clover
The birdsongs in the orchards
The wild white violets in the moss
By the transparent streams
And shining at the heart of it
Is the longed-for beauty
Of the One who waits for us
Who will always wait for us
In those radiant meadows
Yet also came to live with us
And wanders where we wander.”