Lyrics — Crys Matthews

Exactly Where You Are
Music and lyrics by Crys Matthews
© BMI
v1. I've traveled all across this land
up the gold coast and back home again.
Found common ground ‘round every bend
and far fewer strangers than I found friends:
a little princess drawing at breakfast
with wonder in her eyes,
an immigrant on the phone
with her abuela saying goodbye.
Planes and trains and buses too,
no ‘us and them,' just ‘me and you.'

ch. And every person's like a book
with a story yet to tell,
a hidden gem buried deep
withinthe depths of their well.
Hello! How's it going?
How's your journey been so far?
It's nice to meet you, nice to meet you
exactly where you are.

v2. I've been from sea to shining sea
from Mendocino to Carolina Beach,
and what I’ve found town after town
is folks getting up when life knocks ‘em down:
a sweet widow from Ohio who still sings with every track,
a ramblin' man with his whole life packed
upon his tired back.
Planes and trains and buses too,
no ‘us and them,' just ‘me and you.'

ch.

v3. As I've journeyed far and wide,
I've tried to reach out across the great divide,
across those knowns and those unknowns
that keep us in opposing corners so alone:
this or that (insert whatever
social construct that you'd like).
I hope that all our better angels
take the wheel for a while.
Planes and trains and buses too,
no ‘us and them,' just ‘me and you.'

ch.

Changemakers
Music and lyrics by Crys Matthews
© BMI
v1. Sitting alone in this hotel room,
TV on, tuned in to the news
and it's another day here in paradise:
mass shootings, deportations, wildfires.
Meanwhile, Mr. 'make America great'
is busy Tweeting his worst and spreading more hate
while some of us are so poor they can't afford shoes on their feet,
while some mother's sweet baby starves to death in their sleep.

ch. Can you see us?
We are Dreamers.
Can you feel us?
We are believers.
We are more than
keyboard warriors —
we are the changemakers,
yes, we are.
Yes, we are.

v2. Somewhere in a hundred no-name towns
are a million lives being turned upside down.
And you know this is the only home those kids have ever known,
refugees from wars and regimes being overthrown.
Meanwhile too many of these united states
ignore the words Lady Liberty spake.
Doors being kicked down in the dead of the night,
no more sanctuary cites — how's that for religious right?

ch.

Bridge: “And if there's anyone out there who questions
what America at its very best will feel like now,”
remember 66 million united in love,
steadfastly indivisible across countless cities and towns,
the bluest wave crashing from shore to shore,
and all the "hate has no home here" signs on all those doors —
we know who we are like we know how to breathe.
Sing it with me, sing it with me please...

"Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Give me the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these — the homeless, tempest-tossed — to me."

ch.

Time Machine
Music and lyrics by Crys Matthews
© BMI
v1. We are a nation built on stolen land,
hearts less open than our outstretched hands.
It's ours if we see it and say it is —
burn our treaties and feed you ashes.

The White House is a time machine —
power is such a dangerous thing.
and so back, back, back we go
a new kind of trail of tears,
but the same old road.

ch. Is this America?
Oh, yes it is.
It's the same place now
that it was then,
Tearing families apart
without a second thought,
cruel for cruelty's sake.
This is America.
When will we learn, when will we
learn from our mistakes?

v2. We are a nation of immigrants,
but oh how quickly we forget
in this age of golden escalators,
doublespeak, and cruel dictators.
The White House is a time machine,
and humanity is a long-lost thing
so it's back, back, back we go
to when strange fruit hung high and
sweet chariots swung low.

ch.

v3. We are a nation founded on religious freedom
with leaders who call themselves Christian.
So tell me what would Jesus do,
would he sell his soul for a judge or two?
The White House is a time machine,
and empathy is dead it seems,
so it's back, back, back again
to the days when internment
was just a pretty way to say prison.

ch.

v4. We are a nation, home of the brave and free,
the standard bearer for Democracy.
But we take so much more than we give,
turn our backs on folks just trying to live.
The White House is a time machine,
but immigrants don't get to 'live the dream'
and so back, back, back you go.
Turns out we don't really mean it —
guess that statue is just for show.

ch.

How Many More
Music and lyrics by Crys Matthews
© BMI

v1. Aiyana and Darnisha
Tamir, Tyisha, and Trayvon
Michael Brown and Jordan Davis William Chapman and Laquan Keith McLeod and Tyree Crawford Jordan Edwards and De'Von Antwon Rose, Victor Steen
Jeremy Lake, and Paterson Brown

ch. How many times must my people ask why? How many times must we watch another mother cry? And if we were you, would what you've done be enough? Would our reactions be as hard on you as yours are on us?

How many more marches will it take? How many more days like this until we break? And if you were us, how much more could you bear? How many "I can't breathe"s before you care?

v2. Oscar Grant and Eric Garner Yvette Smith and Shelley Frey
Eric Harris and John Crawford George Floyd and Freddie Gray Shantel Davis and Tarika
Breona Taylor and Kendra James Ramarley Graham, Danny Brumfield
Terrance Crutcher, Deravis, and Dontre

Amadou Diallo
Sam DuBose and Botham Jean Jordan Baker and Alton Sterling, Lavon, Shem, and Stephon
Atatiana and Rekia,
Johnathan Ferrell and Ricky Ball Janisha Fonville, Mya Hall
Akai Gurley, Philando, Ahmaud

ch.

v3. Eleanor Bumpurs and Margaret Mitchell
Alberta Spruill and Kathryn Johnston
Walter Scott and Joseph Mann Ollie Brooks and James Allen Gregory Gunn and Charles Goodridge
Fred Barlow and Dennis Hudson Deborah Danner and Mary Truxillo Bettie Jones and Pearlie Golden

ch.

Call Them In
Music and lyrics by Crys Matthews
© BMI

v1. The battle lines are drawn and, once again,
somebody's saying "wait, be patient."
If they knew how long it would be before all people could truly hear freedom ring
I wonder which end of that moral arc would they choose,
I wonder if more would have walked in his shoes.

pre. ch. This is what (this is what) revolution looks like —
You've got to get in and then stay in this fight.

(You've got to)
ch. Find a way, to get 
in the way.
Speak up, speak out
every day. 
Freedom riders or
letter writers,
do what you can —
just shine your light brighter.

v2. Somebody called him a saint among men, 
a founding father, an icon, a legend. 
Ordinary people with such extraordinary vision in a country so young.  
Hard-pressed on every single side, but not crushed
saying in God, love, and justice we trust.

pre. ch.

ch.  1

ch. 2 Make good trouble every chance you get
Eyes on the prize!
We're not finished yet.
Don't tolerate
injustice, my friend.
Call them out, then
call them in.

Bridge:  If you see something that's not  right, not fair
stand up and say we can do better.   He said, "I may not be with you  when we reach the other side,
so let the power of love 
everlasting be your guide."

pre. ch.

ch.  1

ch. 2