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Picture of the Statue of Liberty

from When I Stayed Home by JAMES GORDON

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about

written by James after reading reports of the terrible treatment of immigrants attempting to enter the USA from Mexico, and the misplaced dream that compelled them to do so

lyrics

Beneath a murderous moon, a flash of machete
A scream and a keening in the night
With our babies and wives, we ran for our lives
Turning north we set our sights
Turning north we set our sights

On a place that we’d heard that you’d be just as free
As the eagle that’s on their green money
Where work waits for you, jobs the gringos won’t do
In the land of milk and honey
In the land of milk and honey

I kept a picture of the Statue of Liberty
Close to my broken heart
And I prayed to the saints to deliver me
To where our families would never be torn all apart
Where we could all make a new start

All through Mexico tall tales were told
About what lay in store at the border for you
In the home of our dreams, how could it be,
How could those stories be true?
How could those stories be true?

They rounded us up, put us in pens
Like cattle waiting for slaughter
Big men with big guns, tore fathers from sons
And mothers from their daughters
And mothers from their daughters

That statue says “give me your tired your poor
The refuse from your teeming shore”
But they don’t mean it any more
No lamp to lift, no golden door

Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria

credits

from When I Stayed Home, released July 14, 2021

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JAMES GORDON Guelph, Ontario

James Gordon is a Canadian songwriter/playwright/musician/producer/author and community activist. Co-founder of the legendary Canadian folk trio Tamarack, He’s released 40 albums in 40 years!
His newest release on Borealis Records- "the Heritage Hall Sessions" has been very well received world-wide. James Moonlights as a CIty Councillor in his hometown of Guelph, Ontario. www.jamesgordon.ca ... more

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