[Intro – Almost A Cappella, one lone voice] SOLO VOICE (low, trembling): Mmm… Mmm-hmm… O Lord, keep watch… ’Cause the night’s been long… [Verse 1 – Field Lament, call-and-response] LEAD (soft): They took our names… CHORUS (whispered): Took our names… LEAD: They took our homes… CHORUS: Took our homes… LEAD: They took our fathers from flesh and bone… CHORUS: Left us alone… Left us alone… LEAD: They took our babies from mama’s breast… CHORUS: Lord, give them rest… Give them rest… LEAD (aching): They took the sunlight from our eyes… CHORUS (barely above breath): And filled the dawn… with someone else’s skies… [Refrain – Harmony grows, still gentle] ALL (soft harmony): They took our tomorrows… left us fightin’ for today… They took every start before it found its way… But the soul keeps walkin’— Lord, the soul keeps walkin’— and the chain can’t steal what the heart won’t lay… [Verse 2 – Blossom toward Gospel] LEAD WOMAN (clear, trembling): My mama’s mama told me plain— “Child, this life is woven pain…” LEAD MAN (answering): “But pain ain’t all, oh no it ain’t— there’s a freedom flame they cain’t contain…” CHORUS (soft swell): We hum for the children we’ll never see… We hum for the ones that we hoped they’d be… [Bridge – quiet gospel ascend] ALL (rising a little, still mournful): Oooooooooh… No sunrise in our pocket… No promise in our hand… But heaven hears the broken better than any man… Oooooooooh… And Lord, if You can hold us— hold the ones who come behind… Let the tomorrows stolen come back in another time… [Final Chorus – Powerful but soft, not loud] ALL (gospel harmonies, rich but restrained): They took our tomorrows— took the seed before it grew… Took the path our feet could wander, took the sky that once was blue… But the soul keeps walkin’— Lord, the soul keeps walkin’— and the fire in the field is still burnin’ true… [Coda – Whispered, like a prayer] LEAD (alone, broken and strong): Mmm… They took our tomorrows… but they won’t take the truth.
