NIEHS - Spirit Lecture Series Film Short "Women in History"

Conceived and Produced by Brad Collins

Music and Lyrics by Sherry Lea and Larry Vellani

Arranged by Larry Vellani, Currie Wayne Clayton, Jr., and Mebanesville

Recorded by Mebanesville March 7 - 14, 2010, Haw River Studio, Haw River, NC

Spirit Lecture Series Soundtrack Lyrics ...

In shadows not of her own making
Chattel for another’s taking
Bartered at her father’s knee –
Injustices of history, say we –
They go on yet today
In places not so far away
In the now that we are living
Still they coldly stone her dead

And so do we remember each
Who bravely marched and loudly preached
That all we daughters of this world
Might great women be

So we must strive and we must reach
And all we learn we then must teach
That all the daughters of this world
May great women be …

=============================

Neath the stars of the drinking gourd
Moon glides on an inland sea
Birds call in the forest night

All sounds
In their time
No doubt
Find their own rhyme

Standing stone
Points me home
What I know

Three sisters serve our needs
Land of the living we tend
Longhouse people reap the wind

Turtle turns
Sisters yearn
Night fires burn
I hear you calling

Seneca, the waters roll down
Seneca, the moon is rising
Seneca, the walls have come down

Eastern winds
Western suns
Sisters see

Brick walls rise over hills and trees
Burned over white country
Wesleyan winds gather in

When in the course
Of the River bed
She called for a vote
And we all said

Seneca, the waters roll down
Seneca, the moon is rising
Seneca, the walls have come down

Chalkless slate
The whistle blows
Bent to the loom

So many from the North and South
Black, white, brown and grey
My right to learn or vote my say

Falling rise
My body’s own
Rising tides
To claim my own home

Seneca, the waters roll down
Seneca, the moon is rising
Seneca, the walls have come down

Flowing though the falls forsaken
Silt piles in the channel bed
I wander back to my sisters’ garden

Border lies
On the land
Crossing over
Holding my hand

Seneca, the waters roll down
Seneca, the moon is rising
Seneca, the walls have come down

Seneca, the waters roll down
Seneca, the moon is rising
Seneca, the walls have come down

Seneca, the waters roll down
Seneca, the sun is rising
Seneca, the walls must come down

Seneca, the waters roll down
Seneca, the sun is rising
Seneca, the walls must come down

====================

So we must strive and we must reach
And all we learn we then must teach
That all the daughters of this world
May great women be

So we must strive and we must reach
And all we learn we then must teach
That all the daughters of this world
May great women be …