Matana Roberts I Am
Ives, Ives, Ives, Ives...
[Screaming in pain]
I have laid down my body with this man for nineteen years
[Background vocals in foreign language throughout the verse]
I have bored him fifteen children, ten of them his, all seen as illegitimate in the eyes of the church our lord Jesus Christ
After laying down with me for nineteen years he decides to marry that widow that has my name, but not my face
After laying down with me for nineteen years
For nineteen years, but he set me free and he gave me land so that I might understand that I can perhaps be something more than what I was before
67 acres of land, rent them along the red river south of town
And I worked that land and saved every penny so I can start to buy back my children, my children, my babies
Who were taken from me and sold like cattle
I bought my crippled child first and four years I saved enough
I walked a hundred and twenty miles, and bought the freedom of my second daughter and my grand baby...
...Coin, coin, my second daughter...
...Coin, coin, I bought back all my children, that I could find
And then we just kept buying cousins, mothers, brothers, uncles, aunts, daddies, mothers, cousins, mothers, brothers, cousins, aunts, mothers, daddies
And we kept buying babies seen as slaves, but at least they be with us and we worked that land
And we survived, and we prospered, we'll use it all to own our own big church, where white folks have to sit in the back
And we prospered, I now own twelve thousand acres of land
From 67 to 12,000 acres of land
My family has become the wealthiest set of coloreds this side of the river, they called [?]
All because I hustled to survive, so that others may strive, to be something more than me
All because I hustled to survive
So that others could strive, to be something more than me
I am...
...I am Coin, coin
I am Matana, I am Matana, I am...
...Coin, coin
I am Matana, I am Matana, I am...
...Coin, coin
I am Matana, I am Matana, I am Matana...
[I am... different names in the background]