From the recording This Land Belongs to the Ones Who Belong to this Land
LEAD SHEET with melody and guitar chords.
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In 2013 I volunteered for a Sierra Club service trip to reseed the desert in Big Bend National Park. By the edge of a cliff overlooking the Rio Grande River I came across a park service sign. On it were pictures of plants that grow along both sides of this narrow, meandering river that forms the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. The sign declared, "Nature does not recognize the artificial boundary that divides the two countries."
Yes. How artificial. How unnatural.
The images in the song are based on my observations during the week in Big Bend.
Lyrics
This Land Belong to the Ones Who Belong to This Land
Begun in Big Bend, finished in New York City, August 2013
Copyright Dana Clark 2013
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The bones of their fathers lie deep in this desert
The dust of their mothers, it drifts with the sand
The blood of their children flows in this river
This land belongs to the ones who belong to this land
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For thousands of years they have walked these arroyos
They've clung to these canyons with heart and with hands
Now the walls have gone up and the village is dying
But this land belongs to the ones who belong to this land
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Guilty of nothing but labeled illegal
These families do what survival demands
Risking their lives for the sake of their children
This land belongs to the ones who belong to this land
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My family came when this country proclaimed,
“Give us your tired, your poor.”
What right do we have to close the door?
How can we say, “Not anymore?”
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A guard whose own grandparents once swam this river
Takes orders that come down a chain of command
From those who are hungry to feed on our fear
This land belongs to the ones that belong to this land
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When centuries pass and this age is forgotten
The moon will still rise, the sierras still stand
This river, still winding, will no more divide us
This land belongs to the ones who belong to this land
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Recorded in my home studio.
I sang and played all the instruments.
Mixed and mastered by Brant Sankey.