"Cicada Season" lyrics

1. Integrity

People will fight you down

when you are following your light

but if you’re not wrong

you’ll be alright

Only your own heart knows

only your conscience is your guide

look into your soul,

what do you find?

Stand on your own two feet,

look the oppressor in the eye,

let Jah spirit speak

like thunder in the sky

Wherever you may be

whatever other people say

in times of war and peace

all we ever have is our true nature

Integrity      No one can take away my

Integrity      as long as I live my truth

Integrity      growin day by day and changin

Integrity      doin the best I can do

(ho’oponopono)

Do not suppose that I

have come to bring peace on earth, oh no,

I have not come to bring peace but a sword

People will polarize before they finally unite

We must exemplify the peaceful fight

Cuz we are the leaders now --

we are the ones who we must trust

We must show the world how,

how to set free our love

For your children and your friends

for whatever land you call home

survival on earth depends

on whether you and me are willing to be whole

Integrity      No one can take away my

Integrity      as long as I live my truth

Integrity      growin day by day and changin

Integrity      doin the best I can do

(ho’oponopono)

We’re on a mission of intuition / following a vision of our freedom

the abolition of competition / this is our decision  -- we will be one!

Integrity      No one can take away my

Integrity      as long as I live my truth

Integrity      growin day by day and changin

Integrity      doin the best I can do

Integrity      No one can take away my

Integrity      as long as I live my truth

Integrity      growin day by day and changin

Integrity      doin the best Jah can do

(ho’oponopono)

People will fight you down

when you are following Jah light

but if you’re not wrong

you’ll be alright

*

2. Revolution Blues

My baby didn’t get her paycheck

when it was due last week

My baby didn’t get her last paycheck,

& neither did the other teachers

The superintendent said ‘I’m under stress,

please have some empathy!’

To keep your public school,

it only takes a hunger strike

To keep our neighborhood schools open,

it only takes a hunger strike

You might even get the city to remove some lead from your building,

if you ask polite

There’s homeless folks on every corner –

some are old, some are in their teens

There’s homeless folks on every damn corner –

some are old, some are in their teens

& my people ain’t ready for revolution, naw,

they don’t even know what it means

Well, Nelson died & I miss him,

& I’m scared for the times ahead,

& my friend Nico died way too early

in his cold hospital bed,

& Donald Trump fucking won that election,

& it could be the last one that we get

They killed Sandra Bland & then framed her,

& they say the answer is more cops

& they killed those 43 students

down in Ayotzinapa

& it looks like another world war’s comin,

& artists just care about when their

project drops

Oh, I got the blues, I got Chicago blues,

yea I got the blues, I got the U.S. blues,

yea I got the blues, globalization blues,

yea I got the blues, civilization blues,

I got the red solution

revolution blues!

*

3. April

Walking down the city streets in spring

With a good book and a guitar in my hands

I can feel the little worms singing

Mother Earth in jubilee: “This is our land!”

Even as the soldiers are warring

Even as the politicians sell their lies

Every day we’re writing new stories

as the old world dies…

It was Easter Sunday in Chi-town

Everywhere were signs for “Chuy” or for Rahm

And I wonder how Jesus would fight now

If he could see how deep we’re in Babylon

But I feel the call of a new earth

I can hear it breathing in my quiet hours

And I don’t think tyrants can stop it

anymore than flowers…

Cuz April’s always right on time!

And the rain comes down and the crocuses sprout

And there’s a bright blue sky

Over the cities rushing

And robins fly

And the future rises in us in the tides

And as the days go by

Though we sigh, hope never dies...

And I don’t care much about money

But I’m working for the future all day long

And I love a woman who loves me

And we’re warriors together, fighting strong

So no matter whatever happens

I have to believe that in the end we’ll win

Even all their nuclear weapons

still can’t kill seasons

Cuz May is always right on time!

And the wind blows cool & magnolias blooms

And there’s a bright blue sky!

Over the highways choking

And bees still fly

And we make the world with our hearts and our minds

And as the days go by

None of them can stop the time!

And June is always right on time!

And the sunlight beams & the fireflies gleam

And there’s a bright blue sky!

Over the world dying

But still alive

And there’s so many good people I find

And as the days go by

God help me, I love my life!

*

4. (Be Your Own) Hero

mmm new moon new moon / mmm full moon full moon

mmm blue moon blood moon / super moon soon soon

mmm new moon new moon / mmm full moon full moon

mmm blue moon blood moon / super moon soon soon

mmm new moon new moon / mmm full moon full moon

mmm blue moon blood moon / super moon soon soon

Lookin at folks on the cta

I think of my comrade passed away

One thing he'd always say: “We're gonna win”

And sometimes i feel selfish to

be spending so much time making music

wonderin just how much it’s even doin

And some days I’d bet we’ll get free soon

and others I guess the world is doomed

tempted to think there’s nothing I can do

But that would dishonor Nelson's name

and all of the warriors who came

before me -- I think I know what they’d say:

Be your own hero

Be your own hero

Be your own hero

or there ain't gonna be no more heroes

Get ready to see a rock star now

Get ready to feel my full-blown power

Get ready to hear my spirit shout to the moon

I call upon Marley and Seeger

I call upon Che and Sojourner

I call upon all the ancestors who grew me

I know that our freedom takes its time

I know many people gave their lives

I know many more will have to die too soon

I need to believe there's something true

I need to believe I'm touching you

I need to believe there's love in every human

Be your own hero

Be your own hero

Be your own hero

or there ain't gonna be no more heroes

Go out there in the world open eyed!

You got something to offer humankind

Show us what you look like with no more fear

Do you know what's the reason you are here?

Be your own hero

Be your own hero

Be your own hero

or there ain't gonna be

no more heroes

*

5. Ripples

another sunrise

over the skyline

a city waking from slumber

the geese are flying

people are riding

the buses taking them to work

the rabbits burrow

factory workers go

back home from night shifts to get some rest

the grass is growin

the river flowin

a sparrow makes its nest

and O, I know,

thunder never lasts all morning

no, it goes,

like everything, it’s ever forming,

and deer in dusk and dawning,

they know a secret, don’t they?

connecting dark & light –

trees grow in roots & branches

they know just how to balance

they know the laws of Life

and O, I know

people are a part of all of this.

And we’ll fit

if only we can figure out our shit!

*

thing about nature

it’s always changing

and yet it’s always one big thing

wherever I go

Rome to Chicago

I’m always home so I can sing

the sun is burnin

the earth is turnin

every effect’s also a cause

amid the slaughter,

ripples in water --

take faith in nature’s laws

and O, we know

it goes around in seasons, always

flows, and grows,

life celebrates itself in so many ways:

the sound of owls calling

the autumn red leaves falling,

and then the bright white snow,

then yellow tulips blooming,

then cottonwood in June and

the fireflies’ light show!

and O, we’ll know

the life of nature, the nature of

life. and we’ll fight –

Now is the time --

the earth is still alive!