My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying

Now that the longhouses breed superstition
You force us to send our toddlers away
To your schools where they’re taught to despise their traditions
You forbid them their languages, then further say
That American history really began
When Columbus set sail out of Europe, then stress
That the nation of leeches that conquered this land
Are the biggest and bravest and boldest and best
And yet where in your history books is the tale
Of the genocide basic to this country’s birth
Of the preachers who lied, how the Bill of Rights failed
How a nation of patriots returned to their earth
And where will it tell of the Liberty Bell
As it rang with a thud Over Kinzua mud
And of brave Uncle Sam in Alaska this year

My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying

Hear how the bargain was made for the West
With her shivering children in zero degrees
Blankets for your land, so the treaties attest
Oh well, blankets for land is a bargain indeed
And the blankets were those Uncle Sam had collected
From smallpox-diseased dying soldiers that day
And the tribes were wiped out and the history books censored
A hundred years of your statesmen have felt it’s better this way
And yet a few of the conquered have somehow survived
Their blood runs the redder though genes have paled
From the Gran Canyon’s caverns to craven sad hills
The wounded, the losers, the robbed sing their tale
From Los Angeles County to upstate New York
The white nation fattens while others grow lean
Oh the tricked and evicted they know what I mean

My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying

The past it just crumbled, the future just threatens
Our life blood shut up in your chemical tanks
And now here you come, bill of sale in your hands
And surprise in your eyes that we’re lacking in thanks
For the blessings of civilization you’ve brought us
The lessons you’ve taught us, the ruin you’ve wrought us
Oh see what our trust in America’s brought us

My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying

Now that the pride of the sires receives charity
Now that we’re harmless and safe behind laws
Now that my life’s to be known as your “heritage”
Now that even the graves have been robbed
Now that our own chosen way is a novelty
Hands on our hearts we salute you your victory
Choke on your blue white and scarlet hypocrisy
Pitying the blindness that you’ve never seen
That the eagles of war whose wings lent you glory
They were never no more than carrion crows
Pushed the wrens from their nest, stole their eggs, changed their story
The mockingbird sings it, it’s all that he knows
“Ah what can I do?” say a powerless few
With a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye
Can’t you see that their poverty’s profiting you

My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying

NOVEMBER 26 BELFAST IRELAND @ COMMON GROUNDS CAFE 7:30pm
NOVEMBER 27 DERRY IRELAND @ CAFE DEL MONDO 7pm

we’ll be running around ireland from the 25th-30th…get in touch if you want to hang out! desark@gmail.org

i suppose it seems as tho and is totally probably true that i’m always asking for something impossible in every post, but seriously…can someone please be our web manager something or other personal person with benefits? i invented a new raw cookie recipe. i will cookie deliver. HAND DELIVER DAMNIT!

thanks if you make it! it was further toward the bottom of the awkward scale!

anyway, here’s a live recording of an Oh Shenandoah cover we did in Richmond last year. cut us some slack. we were probably tipsy (it’s richmond, what could we do?), definitely nervous, i was sad for missing my friend’s wedding because my car died earlier that morning, certainly pissed to be driving a rental ford focus… HOWEVER, i can proudly say that i managed to play a show in richmond without picking any fights. probably because i’d been subdued with tater tots (this trick works on me, btw).

new york, you were great last night. so many nice people. thanks for that!
love, aimée

what follows are my notes on a conversation with a friend this morning (btw, this whole entire post is completely non-music related), who i called to be like “dude, i’m sorry but i gotta bail on camping sunday, because i uh, well something came up, i mean sundays are kinda bad for me now, from now on anyway, and um, hey so like, what are your thoughts on football?”

but then to my surprise he was really supportive, which is an understatement because what in fact happened, before he responded–anyway this is what i’m pretty sure i could tell was happening from the other end of the line–was that in his mind he was like oh man, i gotta sit down for this one as he pushed through the old busted screen door of his house, sunk into a broke ass rocking chair on the front porch, poking his fingers around the ashtray till he found a half-smoked cigarette from earlier, took a long thoughtful drag and then at that point i bet he probably propped his right leg onto his left knee, resting his left hand on the right ankle and then he goes:

“aimée, the average football game lasts 3.5 hours.”

pausing, considering carefully, he continued…

“aimée, how much time do you think you actually spend watching the game? i mean like real, actual football playing?

13 minutes. that’s all you get is 13 minutes of actual football action

the rest is closeups of cheerleaders,
closeups of fans,
closeups of players,
and other game hoopla bullshit

so what you need to do
is make an event out of watching the game
like my brother, and mike, like they do. they make an event out of it, they know what they’re doing, they’ve been doing this for years

first off,
ok so first off dont get drunk, cuz if you get drunk and your team loses, then yr fucked

i mean we get drunk but our team sucks, they’ve always sucked and we know that so it’s ok

and wear something warm, even if it’s hot in yr house because it gets you in the football mood

and commercials. dont watch one single commercial. make sure you have an activity planned for the commercials. we go outside and smoke cigarettes, but you can go outside and toss around the pigskin, um, you know, stretch your legs, something. oh! you could have a magazine, yeah go get yourself a magazine, and then when the commercials come on, open up the magazine, hit mute on the television and read an article. and then when the commercials are done you will have read the article.

here’s the most important thing, and you probably won’t have a problem with this since you’re new at it:

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, PERSONALLY INVEST ANY EMOTIONAL REAL ESTATE INTO THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME. this is really important. because if you do, you might fuck up the rest of your week. but if you ever get to that point, like, ‘FUUUUUUUUCK,’ then you need to call me and i’ll talk you off the ledge.”