song for palestine

Monday February 24, 2003 20:26

by randy reposter

i heard this song and i'm passing it on for others to sing

I heard a young woman sing this song at a dinky writer’s night (open mike) in Nashville, and when she finished you coulda heard a feather drop. Nobody said a word, or clapped, or nothing. Later I got the lyrics from her and she said someone had given them to her who had gotten them off the internet. Said it was a public domain song, using the same chord progression as Bob Dylan’s song ‘Chimes of Freedom Flashing’, with more or less the same melody, however that was up to the singer. So, hearing about so many Palestinians killed in the last couple of weeks I decided to repost the lyrics around. Hope some of you singer-songwriters start singing it like she did. It gave me goose-bumps to hear it all out in public.

Song For Palestine
Use Chord Progression from ‘Chimes of Freedom’ by Bob Dylan

In the burning streets of Bethlehem deserted and forlorn
Standing with our stones of freedom waiting
As prophetic swells of sirens ripped all silence from the air
We sang our freedom song and started throwing
Throwing at the soldiers, whose guns we do not fear
Throwing at the deadly tanks rumbling far and near
And at all the mindless money that put the soldiers here
We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

In our city’s raging violence, undauntedly we threw
Our faces fixed on armored cars approaching
F-16’s echoing over bombed out neighborhoods
Steadfast we raised our stones and kept on throwing
Throwing at the Generals, War Criminals and Crooks
We throw at writers justifying murder in their books,
At racist settlers squatting on the land the soldiers took
We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

Five of us together, none more than twelve years old
We stood below the circling ‘copters cracking
Defying evil elements of hatred laced in steel
Then Israeli hidden snipers started shooting
Shooting at our fathers, kneeling on the ground
Blindfolded with the rags of peace, their hands obscenely bound
While our mothers search for water they hear the bullets’ sound
We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

Throughout the Territories, the name of Palestine
Is ringing from the tongues of angry children
Denied a child’s necessities, we claim our right to be
We claim our rights with every stone we’re throwing
Throwing at Americans who pay the Butcher’s bill,
Whose diplomats are Generals, they’re only trained to kill,
We throw at fat politicians who’ve never missed a meal
We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

Bulldozers crush our olive trees, our homes, our terraces, our fields
To eliminate all trace of our existence
But as the cactus that we planted is reborn on stolen land
Our freedom grows with every stone we’re throwing
Throwing at the newspapers, whose Truth is bought and sold
At talking television heads who keep our tale from being told
Throwing at reporters who ignore us dying in the cold
We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying.

None dare to call us heroes, none dare to find out why
We risk our lives to throw these stones at our oppressors
Instead they call us terrorists to justify their terror war
In their world soldiers shooting children is not terror
We’re throwing at the bureaucrats in the United Nations’ Hall,
At world leaders doing nothing as the bombs of terror fall
Throwing at the whole wide world who refuse to hear our call
We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

The U.S.A. is waiting, watching from on high
Pretending that their hands are clean and guiltless
But they provide the weapons, they prevent the Peace
Apartheid is the goal they are pursuing
We’re throwing at the hypocrites, the whole dishonest crew
At all those participating in what Israeli soldiers do
And American taxpayers, we throw our stones at you!
We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying.

Occupation takes our innocence, we’re sacrificed for greed
We’re sacrificed for God and Gasoline
They shoot us ‘cause we have the nerve to demand our liberty
Freedom is now all we have to live for
We’re throwing for the future, for other children to be free
While Israel destroys our childhood with blind stupidity
We’re throwing stones at all you cowards doing nothing so silently
We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying