[Instrumental Intro] [Balafon and Dundun Groove] [Verse 1 - restrained] They called me Sogolon's son Before I learned to bear my name The child they watched upon the ground Still walks beside me to this day I crossed beyond the lands I knew And left Manden far behind Yet every road that carried me Still left its dust upon my feet [Pre-Chorus] Then riders came from Manden With sorrow in their eyes Manden bears the weight of Sosso We have come to call you back [Chorus] I learned to stand when they said I never would I learned to walk when no one thought I could If Manden calls me home again Then I will answer while I can I stood alone once long ago But I won't walk that road alone Come take your place, come take my hand (Together we will stand) [Verse 2 - heavier] I did not find one army Waiting underneath my name I found the chiefs of Manden Each with reasons of their own One by one our roads were joined One by one our voices grew Not for promises of glory But for what we had to do [Pre-Chorus] From every road they gathered No single hand commanded all But where one man could be broken Manden would not fall [Chorus - male choir] We learned to stand when hope wore thin We learned our strength when we began to join If Manden answers Manden now No king can break us one by one We walked as many, side by side Now hear the ground beneath our stride Come take your place across this land (Together we will stand) (Together we will stand) [Guitar Solo] [Bridge - heavy] At Kirina the lines were drawn Manden faced the power of Sosso Dust rose beneath a thousand feet As both sides closed across the ground We held our line beneath the sun Until the power of Sosso broke The hand that once had held the land Could hold Manden no more [Break - maximum intensity] [Verse 3 - sparse] Now silence follows victory And every road returns to us A battle leaves a field behind It cannot tell us what comes next So let the clans speak before us Let every promise have a voice What we build cannot be carried By one man's strength or one man's name [Pre-Chorus] I once rose up from the earth Now something greater has begun No single hand can hold this ground Manden must stand as one [Final Chorus - massive communal] We learned to stand when they said we never would (We will stand) We found our strength where none believed we could (We will stand) Manden, remember what we found No single hand can hold this ground So take your place and speak your name (Speak your name) Let those who follow do the same Long after I release my hand (Together you will stand) [Outro]
