[Intro — leader alone, unaccompanied, free tempo. Choir hums a low drone beneath the second line] [Leader] There is a bird that came from far away. [Choir] Mmm — mmm — [Leader] It didn’t ask to stay. It stayed. [Verse 1 — call and response] [Leader] Planted in the granite [Choir] In the granite [Leader] Nineteen eighty-six [Choir] Eighty-six, eighty-six [Leader] No water but the rain [Choir] Only rain, only rain [Leader] No hand upon its back [Choir] No hand, no hand [Leader] Forty harvests [Choir] Forty harvests [Leader] Nobody told it how [Choir] Nobody, nobody [Leader] It found its own rhythm [Choir] Its own rhythm [Leader] And it’s singing now [Choir] Singing now, singing now [Chorus — full choir in harmony, leader above] Free bird, free bird Living among us without fear Free bird, free bird Without permission, and still here Nobody owns the sky Nobody, nobody Nobody owns the bird Nobody, nobody Open it — and set it free Mmm — set it free [Verse 2 — call and response] [Leader] It was born across the water [Choir] Across the water [Leader] In a country far from here [Choir] Far from here [Leader] But it made its home in the Swartland [Choir] In the Swartland [Leader] And it sings the way we hear [Choir] The way we hear [Leader] Whole bunch, pressed slowly [Choir] Slowly, slowly [Leader] Old wood, old ways [Choir] Old wood, old ways [Leader] Nobody interfered [Choir] Nobody, nobody [Leader] It took its own days [Choir] Its own days, its own days [Chorus] Free bird, free bird Living among us without fear Free bird, free bird Without permission, and still here Nobody owns the sky Nobody, nobody Nobody owns the bird Nobody, nobody Open it — and set it free Mmm — set it free [Bridge — basses alone on a slow walking pulse; leader speaks unhurried] [Leader] To be free is not only to have no chains. It is to leave room for the next one to be free. The vine knows this. It takes only the rain it is given, and leaves the rest for the ground. [Choir] Mmm — rising — [Final Chorus — twice, fuller, stamps louder, leader higher on second pass] Free bird, free bird Living among us without fear Free bird, free bird Without permission, and still here Nobody owns the sky Nobody, nobody Nobody owns the bird Nobody, nobody Open it — and set it free Mmm — set it free Free bird, free bird Living among us without fear Free bird, free bird Without permission, and still here Nobody owns the sky Nobody, nobody Nobody owns the bird Nobody, nobody Open it — and set it free Mmm — set it free [Outro — everything stops; leader alone, spoken, then one held low choir chord] [Leader] Drink it freely. [Choir] Free bird.
