2. Lightnin' Hopkins
3. Long Corner Turning
Song For Leonard Peltier
loan me a minute, let me borrow your ear
and I'll sing you a song about Leonard Peltier
he's gone so long in a federal jail
the innocent victim of a tangled tale
in South Dakota where the fear was thrown
while the presidents watch from a mountain of stone
they said all people were free to roam
there was a struggle for freedom in the Indian home
how many have gone before
and tell me how many more
must be lost to the Indian wars
the company spoke to the high command
"we need the deeds to the Indian land
to dig for oil and uranium ore
maybe have to start a little Indian war"
the orders came from way on high
and it was a job for the FBI
"it won't be hard, all we'll have to do
is cause a little trouble and follow it through"
in Oglala where the spirit did dwell
it was a time they remember well
there were women and children gathered there
when the wind blew a warning through the whispering air
and Leonard Peltier was one of those
who came to the call when the time arose
and dangerous strangers were prowlin' around
bringin' trouble to the reservation ground
and that was when the agents made their play
in a gunshot battle on a deadly day
and three men died in Lakota land
two FBI and an Indian man
how many have gone before
and tell me how many more
must be lost to the Indian wars
Joe Stuntz was a man who died that day
but the eyes of the law didn't see it that way
all they cared about was their own kind
gonna get somebody for a capital crime
the charge was set for homicide
but Leonard got away to the Canada side
where he lived for a while in the northern town
till they came up and got him and the brought him back down
the judge and the jury, they both agreed
two times murder in the first degree
they pounded the gavel and they rang on the bell
two times life in a federal cell
citations came from Washington
congratulations on a job well done
two agents gone is a mighty price
but if you want somethin' bad you gotta sacrifice
they took Leonard Peltier off away in chains
all of those years to suffer in pain
but all of those years make a warrior strong
and the struggle of the people goes on
how many have gone before
and tell me how many more
must be lost to the Indian wars
so it's been since days of old
when Custer died for a mountain of gold
but times have changed and passed him by
he's been replaced with the FBI
oh, it's all so easy to weep and moan
for a warfare fought so far from home
you can preach of peace from a righteous stand
while they struggle for peace on the Indian land
when Joe Stuntz was lowered down
the winds did blow with a mighty sound
and the answer came in the driving rain
this man will not have died in vain
for the hollow power of the lock and key
ain't nothin' to the power of the raging sea
or the lightning strikes in the angry skies
that puts the power into people's eyes
the weather is building to a mighty storm
and the words in the wind that come to warn
are once more spoken to your ear
only this time the name is Leonard Peltier
how many have gone before
and tell me how many more
must be lost to the Indian wars
-------------
Lightnin’ Hopkins
no one could sing the blues like Lightnin’ Hopkins
I don’t care what anybody said
I was 15 years old ridin’ by the passenger window
with my radio up against my head
that’s when I heard him for the first time
cuttin’ in through the noise of the car
and my whole world turned upside down
and I just had learn to sing and play guitar
so I’d get on my bicycle with the high rise handle bars
and I’d ride for twenty miles on a run
I got all of his records I could find back then
I had eleven of ‘em by the time I was done
and I never learned to play the blues
I hope that’s all right
I never learned to play the blues
but I can sing and play guitar all night
all those years later I was up in Seattle town
Lightnin’ came through playin’ three nights in a row
I caught up with him early in the dressing room
somehow I just had to let him know
I took out my guitar and I started playin’
and I made him up a song to tell it right
about the car and the radio and all of his records
and how glad I was to meet him that night
I sang about what he’d taught me without even knowin’ it
and all the lessons I still had to learn
and Lightnin’ he just grinned, and when I was done
he told me a story in return
and I never learned to play the blues
I hope that’s all right
I never learned to play the blues
but I can sing and play guitar all night
he said he was walkin’ in the backwoods down in Texas on time
when he was only twelve years old
he was carryin’ his guitar, it was almost as big as he was
he was tired, hungry and cold
he saw some people was havin’ a picnic
he asked if he could sing for his meal
they turned him away, he said, ‘cause he was too raggedy
he could still remember how it made him feel
the he looked off into the distance through his dark sunglasses
and he grinned a little more just for chance
and he said “now I got money in the bank back home
and they know who I am in France”
and I never learned to play the blues
I hope that’s all right
I never learned to play the blues
but I can sing and play guitar all night
Lightnin’ died back in ’82
I can still remember where I was and how I heard
I was playin’ at the Meetin’ Place in Dublin
a local blues singer gave me the word
some people pass right through you
and maybe they leave a little mark
some people shine like a light for you sometimes
help you find your way when it gets dark
they say the world is made of stories
and from those stories our songs are grown
sometimes the songs get so big
you just have to make a song of your own
and I never learned to play the blues
I hope that’s all right
I never learned to play the blues
but I can sing and play guitar all night
Long Corner Turning
for America in the days of Bush, after 9-11
we used to have elections but we don’t bother anymore
now it’s just backroom dirty deals behind cloak and dagger doors
oil money, family fortunes, slappin’ each other on the back
puttin’ people’s lives in their pockets and watchin’ while the money stacks
goodbye America I’ll say I knew you when
it was a long corner turnin’ gonna be a long corner turnin’ back again
we used to have our liberties, back in the day
but it was for our own good that they took ‘em away
now it’s Homeland Security followin’ you around
Old George cut that cherry tree and it finally hit the ground
‘cause there’s a new George now and he’s got an ax of his own
and he’s grindin’ it real sharp and he’s cuttin’ it to the bone
filet of America, and he’ll feed it to the dogs
all for a bunch of good old boys riding high on the hog
I’m gettin’ used to surveillance, and I’m getting’ used to the cops
I’m gettin’ used to law and order when it don’t know when to stop
I’m gettin’ used to soldiers, I can see them in my sleep
I’m gettin’ used to everything and that gives me the creeps
they say that once we were a beacon and we shone like a star
well, two hundred years later, well here we are
lookin’ out at the wide world through bullet proof glass
followin’ a gunslinger preppie with his head up his ass
we used think we were so superior, we could tell god what to do
we thought we’d last forever and we acted like it too
livin’ in a house of cards, waitin’ for a breeze
and I think I hear the wind blowin’ way up in the trees
so I got my compass and I got my flint rock spark
time is comin’ on, but I ain’t afraid of the dark
I got my eye on the future and it’s all green in clover
so if we make it through this one, I’ll meet you when it’s over
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