1. |
Southampton Insurrection
06:21
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Blood of the men, blood of the women, blood of the children, blood of the master!
Blood spilled by hands calloused by cotton, those same hands now clinched will break their chains!
Kill them before the wake! Do not let them cry out!
We must burn this cursed place! Will, bring a torch!
There is a fire at the plantation house! (There is a fire, plantation house)
The master’s world is burning. Their field hands set it ablaze (The master’s world burns, fields set ablaze)
There is a village in the swamp land filled with former slaves (Great Dismal Swampland, filled with freed slaves)
Southampton’s insurrection will seek refuge there… (Southampton’s in fear of slave revolt)
House to house the rebels creep through the night
Some on horseback, some on foot, all move with purpose!
Spilling blood of masters, sparing no one!
Taking rifles and horses as they go
Beating folks to death with a fencepost
Riding out! Rebels surround the next house! Keeping word from spreading
Will, bring me a torch!
Cut them down! No whites escape! They all die tonight!
Burn this plantation to the ground!
Dawn approaches. We must recruit more folk, grow this insurrection
Will, ride to the north, we’ll regroup after each of us has grown their strength
Free all the slaves you find burn all the plantations
Go quickly now! We meet in one day at Jerusalem
Did you see him riding on his horse? Nat Turner, the Prophet!
He leads an army of free slaves, he’s broken their chains!
A band emerges from the woods
Fires at my neighbor’s house
Screams from my neighbor’s house
The rebels point at my house
Now they have seen me
Now they approach me
The rumors are true, there is an insurrection, its leader standing in front of me
Now it is my time, these rebels will surely kill me. I will not live to see another dawn…
But Nat did spare me! He turned his men around, told them that I’m no master
Nat said to his men “this man does not think that he is better than us”
There is a fire at the plantation house! (There is fire, plantation house)
The master’s world is burning. Their field hands set it ablaze (Master’s world burns, fields set ablaze)
There is a village in the swamp land filled with former slaves (Great Dismal Swampland, filled with freed slaves)
Southampton’s insurrection will seek refuge there… (Southampton’s in fear of slave revolt)
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2. |
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Something is foul here, it stinks of rank injustice (Something is foul here, rank injustice)
We can agree the smell of hatred is dreadful (The smell of hatred)
It is a stench that gives us power as white men (Gives us power as white men)
Power is built on the backs of those who have none (Power is built on those who have none)
The white lives we live can’t be lived without black blood (Black hands build white lives)
Our world is built on exploitation of their blood and sweat and tears (Build with blood, sweat, and tears)
I know you don’t believe me, it’s not what we’re told as children (You don’t believe me. Not what we’re told)
Take an honest look now how our nation’s constructed (Look now with new eyes)
You’ll see the price of our lives is the blood and pain of earth’s most wretched (Price of our lives is misery)
I used to think just like you, that the world was as it should be (Just like you I thought the world just)
I respected the masters believing every lie they ever told me (Like you I trusted lies of masters)
My friend, you must open your eyes to the stories of the people, the most wretched of the people (My friend, you must open your eyes to the people)
You’ll only find a fiction in the speeches of the masters so seek the truth from the people (Fiction in the lies of the masters, seek people)
I believed the lies about black folks, I believed they deserved their station.
It's strange to me now what I accepted as truth then.
My blood boils thinking how these lies are still told to our children!
Have you ever seen a plantation? Have you seen how the work goes on there?
It's a brutal affair, the worst of our species.
Dividing humans from the labor and the land sustaining all of our kind
The masters know this. It's exactly how they designed this world
The masters of mankind lie to us all to keep their power.
The masters want the people of the earth divided
It is the only way to keep us down (The masters want the world divided)
The master live in constant fear of only one thing: the unity of everyone under their boot (They live in constant fear of solidarity)
This world we live in cannot go on! Its injustice will not do! (Cannot go on with injustice)
If things don’t change peacefully the violent birth of revolution is certain (If things don’t change now blood is certain)
My friend, you must open your eyes to the stories of the people, the most wretched of the people (My friend, you must open your eyes to the people)
You’ll only find a fiction in the speeches of the masters so seek the truth from the people (Fiction in the lies of the masters, seek people)
I have much guilt for living my life as I do
(I have much guilt for living as I do)
I have taken so much more than I can give,
And I know people struggle to live each day
(How can I repay my debt?)
Our problems are so vast, it makes it hard to know what is to be done
(So vast, it's hard to what’s to be done)
And I know that my woes are nothing compared to the woes of the field hands
(I know my problems are nothing)
I hope to change our violent ways and help birth a new world for us all!
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3. |
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I couldn’t sleep a wink. Not after what had happened
I had looked upon my death and been spared by the Prophet’s hand
Then I felt compelled to follow his rebel band, keep myself out of sight, but know what was at hand
I crept through the woods as I followed the flames and cries and now I face the dawn
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4. |
The Battle of Jerusalem
11:14
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I heard horses galloping on the road, I went to see what news they brought
“We are a militia raised from Boykins, we heard the alarm raised for the insurrection
Why aren’t you riding with a militia? You best be coming with us! Ride on your horse or tied to ours!
Get your gun, mount up! We won’t ask a second time!
Riding to meet Nat Turner’s men
Why did I speak to militiamen?
Riding towards Jerusalem!
Gunshots echo down the highway
The militia quickens its pace racing towards the fray
We are nearby the Parker’s farm
I see Nat Turner’s men engaged with militias
Terrified, I hang back hoping to slip away
Where you goin’ boy? We got killin’ to do!
“Fire your gun,” he told me, “don’t just sit there and stare like a fool!”
I looked out on the field of cotton that served as a battlefield
White bolls streaked with red!
Militiamen advance cutting down Nat’s men
Red mist drifts from the field, mixing with gunsmoke
My horse is frightened by gunshots, she races towards the treeline
The militia charges as the rebel soldiers volley fire, shots sail by my head
We’re almost to the treeline before my horse goes down
The last thing I remember…
There will be no savior for you, there will be no savior for you!
What did you think would happen, coming here without your papers?!
(The sun is hot today, the sheriff’s mean today, why did you come today, you done fucked up today)
Now you see what lies in your bloody future
Back the fuck up boy, this does not concern you
You must not know that I am the sheriff
I won’t think twice to string you up next to this slave
I wake to find the battle raging, I wake to find the battle raging
Bullets sail past me
I am still in the trees nearby where my horse was downed
I move towards the sounds of gunfire
Nat Turner’s men are driven back
Bodies litter the field
Rebels are fleeing, they wither under gunfire
All is hopeless now! For the rebels are outgunned and outmanned!
All is hopeless now! The insurrection is doomed!
All is hopeless now! Nat Turner and his band will die today!
All is hopeless now!!
I hear cries from militia, mounted rebels charge them from the road
A new dawn rises on the insurrection
Praise be to Will’s Charge!!
A glorious sight to behold on this day
Will leads his mounted band amid the fray of the Battle of Jerusalem
Militias melt before the charge
A glorious sight to behold on this day
Will’s band plunge headlong, cutting down those who would keep them in chains
The rebels win their freedom!
I hear cries from militia, they break before Will’s fury
A new dawn rises on the insurrection
Praise be to Will’s Charge!!
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5. |
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Fleeing from the battle, I stagger through the woods with a limp, stealing myself away
Night descends as I stumble through thickets, hoping to stay alive
In the twilight I find a clearing and the remains of some poor runaway
I will spare you the details of the scene that I found
The treatment of the body was meant to send a message
Of what will happen to those who seek their freedom
I stagger away before falling and vomiting
Sun dips behind trees?????
I know this tragedy is repeated across the nation
These heinous acts benefit me, reenforcing white supremacy
It sickens me to know that my life is built on others blood and pain
What can I do to give back what I have received from those forced to give?
Convince the whites you know of their complicity
Now listen, listen to cries for freedom to know what you must do
Give material support to those who seek their freedom
I’m stirred from my thoughts by hooves of horses and shouts of men
Unclear if they’re rebels or militia
I must steal away as night falls
The world looks as if in dreams
I feel no more pain from my leg
What is that hanging from a tree?
The sight shakes me from my daze, the body hanging there
I feel the fear rise, I turn and sprint away
I walk through the forest at night
I stumble through the forest at night
I see a commotion, a group of men ahead
I stumble to see the sheriff and his posse
They beat a black man, a noose around his neck
Now I see myself and a bloody future
I can’t sit by and watch like I have before
Barely breathing as I hide in shadows of moonlight
I steal myself to fight and cast my fear aside
I run with pistols drawn and take them by surprise
My gun to the sheriff’s face, I watch that bastard die
The sheriff’s face disappears in red mist, I fall with his body to the ground
His posse is on me before I can move, clubbing and beating me
Darkness creeps in my vision
I would be dead if not for the band of rebels nearby who heard the screams
I still don’t know what became of the man targeted by the posse
I see a black hand reaching over the sun
(My friend, you must open your eyes)
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6. |
Go in the Wilderness III
02:47
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If you want to find Jesus go in the wilderness
Come along brother go in the wilderness
Oh, weeping mama go in the wilderness
Mourn your children go in the wilderness
I wait upon the Lord 'cause man can't face his crimes
If you wan to find freedom go in the wilderness
Come along brother go in the wilderness
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7. |
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Come on down to the swamp lil moma, the swamp people treat you just right!
Come on down to the swamp lil moma, I’ll show you a good time!
Swamp people know that workin’ ain’t livin,’ swamp people do it just right!
We work and we play and we love and we eat and we sleep real good each night!
We ain’t got no masters here, we work hard for us and no one else
We ain’t got no violence here, but don’t come tryin’ to take what's ours!
Come on down to the swamp lil moma, the swamp people treat you just right!
Come on down to the swamp lil moma, I’ll show you a good time!
Swamp people know how to treat their women, they ain’t their man’s slave, that’s right!
If you don’t like your man just throw him out the cabin, if he don’t leave we’ll give him a good fright!
We don’t let no one go hungry (just don’t go causing hunger now!)
We share the fruits of our bounty (unless you’re the sheriff!)
Come on down to the swamp lil moma, the swamp people treat you just right!
Come on down to the swamp lil moma, I’ll show you a good time!
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8. |
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Blood in the Swamp
Blood in the swamp, today’s front page news!
Lone survivor tells a tale of death!
“We sought to apprehend Nat Turner,” said the man.
“Maroons had set an ambush for us, we did not see them until they struck
They fired from concealed locations. I never saw the ambushers, only their shapes.
They cut us down easily. We stood no chance
It’s a miracle I was not killed. I fled before the fury of the ambush, there was nothing else I could do.
These maroons fought like men possessed!”
Some have claimed Turner is dead but there is no body
Some militia members claim they saw Turner shot, others claim to see him flee the battle of Jerusalem.
Turner’s whereabouts remain unknown and unconfirmed
His rebel band remains at large in the swamp
His principle lieutenant, Will, has been spotted in the swamp
A local man living near the swamp is accuse of the murder of the sheriff in Southampton county
Charles Wilbur is alleged to have attacked the sheriff’s posse in the aftermath of the slave riots
Wilbur was subdued after he killed the sheriff but then a band of marauding slaves attacked the posse and Wilbur slipped away in the fight
Wilbur has long been suspected of trading with maroons in the swamp
Authorities stress that this is a crime in the state of Virginia
Any tips regarding Wilbur’s current whereabouts will be rewarded
Assembly Considers Abolition
A great debate will occur among the men in the State Assembly
They will take up the question of the future of slavery in Virginia
12 eggs
Mayonnaise
Butter
Sugar
Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
Hard boil the eggs, crack and peel them
Slice eggs in half lengthwise
Remove the yolks to a bowl
Add mayonnaise, mustard, butter, sugar, hot sauce, salt, and pepper
Mash well with a fork
Spoon filling into each egg white
Sprinkle with paprika and serve
Petitions poured in from citizens all across the state
All manner of ideas from liberation to removal to colonies
“A system that’s repugnant to the laws of God,” reads the petition that the Quakers wrote
The Tidewater elites had a different view: “the torch of freedom need the fertile soils of slavery”
Lost on sunday last on Main street between thirteenth and eighteenth streets, my free papers in a pocket book
I will give a liberal reward for them if left at this office
Polly Grimes, free woman
Lost on sunday morning at or near the Episcopal church, a small pocket book containing my free papers
A suitable reward will be given the finder on leaving it at this office
Bettsey Anderson
Although we’ve made known our views on tariffs some gentlemen request us to reprint Mr Calhoun’s letter
You’ll find it printed below. He calls to heed the founders, respect the constitution’s spirit
We are the serfs of the system of whose labor is raised rewards for manufactures interests
An oppressive system this is, bringing ruin to our nation and corruption to our leaders
This outlaw still is at large and dangerous
Authorities have doubled the bounty
Still wanted dead or alive
Nat Turner
There will be fire at the assembly house! (There will be fire, assembly house)
Preventing black liberation ensures new flames (Preventing freedom ensures new flames)
Emancipation must be our goal, done without delay! (Emancipation must be our goal)
Anything less than freedom is but reform of chains (Anything less than just reforms chains)
Things here have not changed, the masters got their way
But there is beauty still in the struggle for freedom
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Fire at the Plantation House San Francisco, California
One-human prog metal project based in San Francisco, CA. I like writing music about how the world could be if we stop fucking it up.
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