1. Yah-Win-Ma
2. Yang, Ru-Men
3. You Can't Make It Go Away
4. You Send My Wheat To Russia And My Logs To Japan

Yah-Win-Ma

deep inside the mountains and the valleys wide of Idaho

where tumbling fountains of the clear crystal waters flow

glitter in the sunlight shining, mirror in the moon

Yah-Win-Ma, Rapid River, giver of our boon

always to these rapids down the countless generations

came the great fisher people of the great Nee-Mee-Poo Nation

till they came to feel the waters like the blood within their veins

and the people and the river they were one and the same

oh Yah-Win-Ma, river of the salmon life

twisted ‘round with treaties, tied and tangled in the twine

the strangling was tightened with the passage of the time

and the shadow of the fear that came to haunt at every door

until it was they didn’t fish the river anymore

but some there were were younger with the courage of their years

to stand aground and challenge to the empty paper fears

remembering the memory of not so long ago

when Joseph of Walawa showed them all the way to go

oh Yah-Win-Ma, river of the salmon life

slowly spreads the fire when it smolders in the ground

slow and surely come the people to the drumming of the sound

as to the Rapid River only first a few arrived

then the few became the many and the river came alive

gathered by the hundred, women, children, young and old

on the teepee river fishing was a vision to behold

and though the air was joyful there was trouble in the wind

for the army of enforcement was slowly closing in

oh Yah-Win-Ma, river of the salmon life

trouble came that morning with no warning to relate

with rifles and with pistols on the order of the state

and the people rose to meet them just as quickly as they came

armed only with their tongues it was an uneven game

with a coward’s brutality three prisoners were claimed

taken from the people, handcuffed away in chains

and the rifles in reminder made a final sweeping pass

for the battle it was over now but it would not be the last

oh Yah-Win-Ma, river of the salmon life

around the sacred circle every heart was asked to speak

how brave had become the ones who used to be so meek

how long a road to travel on, how hard a way to stand

with the future of the unborn cradled in their hands

and in the silent aftermath the river sang its song

hopeful for the prisoners they not be taken long

thankful that nobody’s blood had stained its crystal flow

for a new days was dawning in the valleys wide of Idaho

oh Yah-Win-Ma, river of the salmon life

to the high windy heavens of the guardian wings

to the heart within the mountain where the salmon water springs

honor to the heroes whose vision is to see

that the people and the river must always be free

oh Yah-Win-Ma, river of the salmon life

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Yang, Ru-Men (The Rice Bomber)

Yang, Ru-Men was raised on the family farm

with the love of the land in the morning and the muscle in his arm

out in the China Ocean on the island of Taiwan

it’s a story worth the telling and I’ll sing it in a song

the family farm is the rock of humanity’s anchor

in the 21^st century world war between the farmer and the banker

the great corporate bullies ride on the money train

where the farmers stand to lose the corporations stand to gain

Yang, Ru-Men saw the danger comin’ from a dark and angry place

and he thought of all the farmers whose lives would be displaced

he made calls and he wrote letters but what good did it do

politicians never read them nor the newspapers too

Yang, Ru-Men went walkin' one night

the moon was like a lantern and the stars were shinin’ bright

and there came a voice was callin’ so clear inside his head

maybe it was the ancestors, this is what it said

when god closes a door he opens a window

Yang, Ru-Men, the farmer, he made a paper box

he folded in the corners and he weighted it with rocks

with a little black powder and a little bit of rice

a warning on the label, words of advice

“Danger” said the paper box, the words were bright and bold

“do not buy imported rice, our futures can’t be sold

support the local farmers, resist the foreign trade”

and he left it in the city where his point would sure be made

and he left one at the bank and outside the railway station

the little paper boxes with their little explanations

at the government offices, they put the bomb squad on alert

but they were only made of paper, no one ever got hurt

they called him the Rice Bomber and they made a great campaign

they said he was a terrorist and they vilified his name

but in the farming country when these matters were discussed

they would tip their hats and smile, and say “he’s one of us”

when god closes a door he opens a window

seventeen paper rice bombs, seventeen times

every one of them a statement though they called them each a crime

and though they scoured through the country side they did not have a clue

Yang, Ru-Men decided then just what he had to do

he drove down to the station to give himself away

he said “I am the one you’re looking for, this is your lucky day

“my name is Yang, Ru-Men” he said, and he took a little bow

he said “I did it for the farmers and I do this for them now”

“if you did it for the farmers, well, that’s just what you say

“but we have you in our custody and that’s where you’re going to stay”

and justice was a stone wall, it never shed a tear

they tried and convicted and they gave him five years

five years for seventeen little boxes of rice

what kind of mathematics could arrive at such a price

is the kind of mathematics turns the world upside down

and its up to us to turn it back around

when god closes a door he opens a window

the family farm is still the rock that holds humanity’s anchor

in the 21^st century world war between the farmer and the banker

one side has the money and the other has the plow

and its anybody’s guess what happens now

I went to visit Yang, Ru-Men, they had him in Taipei

in the detention center, it was on a visiting day

I didn’t speak his language and he didn’t speak mine

there was Plexiglas between us, we didn’t have much time

he said “you have to hold your purpose and you have to hold on tight

have faith in your accomplishments and don’t give up the fight”

and when the time was over, when they led him away

he put his fist up in the air and I can still hear him say

when god closes a door he opens a window

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You Can’t Make It Go Away

there’s somethin’ happenin’ that don’t seem right

there’s people on the sidewalk a-talkin’ at night

you can’t quite tell if they’re talkin ‘bout you

but you got a funny feelin’ that it might be true

you can’t make it go away

it’s gainin’ on you every day

it’s only natural anyway

and you can’t make it go away

you can cover your eyes, you can bury your head

you can duck inside and hide in your hot water bed

turn up the radio as far as it’ll go

you can go to the agogo or duck inside a disco

you can’t make it go away

it’s gainin’ on you every day

it’s only natural anyway

and you can’t make it go away

you can vibrate and meditate, evacuate your brain

you can tune into TV till your eyes go lame

you can grab onto god you can lock him in your pocket

you can even stick your fingers in the light bulb socket

you can’t make it go away

it’s gainin’ on you every day

it’s only natural anyway

and you can’t make it go away

you can laugh us off with a wave of your hand

you can look down upon us from where you stand

invent statistics to insult and degrade

you can make us illegal, you can lock us in the stockade

you can’t make it go away

it’s gainin’ on you every day

it’s only natural anyway

and you can’t make it go away

I can show you a dog, you can call it a cat

you can do anything you want like that

you can hammer your head in a solid brick wall

and still maintain that it isn’t there at all

you can’t make it go away

it’s gainin’ on you every day

it’s only natural anyway

and you can’t make it go away

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You Send My Wheat To Russia And My Logs To Japan

you send my wheat to Russia and my logs to Japan