AGATE STONE
BEFORE I TOOK MY REST
[Verse]
I worked as hard as the Apache
who raised me.
I burned those small pox tents and tilled
the debris.
I worked as hard as death
before I took my rest.
I worked hard
before I took my rest.
[Verse]
I worked as hard as a thief
digging a hole to hide his grief.
I dug a hole to the devil
and died.
I worked hard with that leech
who shows his tail willingly.
I worked hard
before I took my rest.
[Bridge]
I slept in a room without windows,
no one to see my smoke signals.
No one knew where to find me
and they were right.
Whenever I come back again
to touch the wheel of sin
fallen men on that day
will all be right.
[Verse]
I worked as hard as a priest
in the rain planting trees.
Some were for the worms
but most were for me.
I worked at that awhile,
but soon grew tired.
I worked hard
before I took my rest.
APACHE: PART I
[Verse]
I worked as hard as the Apache
inside of me.
I never made a face;
I forgave the snake sting.
What else would you expect
from an Apache,
sleeping on the ground
dreaming of mercy?
[Verse]
When they challenged me
I accepted.
I gave up ground
and learned their legends.
But when they offered death
I grabbed my weapon
and without a sound
struck them down.
[Chorus]
'Cause I'm an Apache
like the ones who raised me
and I choose life
over death and slavery.
What else were we to do?
We gave them our native lands
and withdrew.
But they wanted more.
[Bridge]
She says, “there will be smoke wars
above a river
where men sleep with gold.
There will be fevers
and a year of winter.
Through our blankets
running faces enter.”
Oh that Navajo woman,
she speaks in riddles.
[Verse]
“Above a river,” she was right.
Formations trained to kill.
They kicked their horses
as we watched from the hill.
Reading lines in spider webs
we knew a storm was near
and by reading their lines
knew which ranks to kill.
[Chorus]
I'm the Apache
the cavalry is chasing
'cause I choose life
over reservations.
What else were we to do?
We gave them our native lands
and withdrew.
But they wanted more.
[Outro]
Grab your horse, put out the fire.
It's time to run again.
From the mountains in the distance
come a hundred men.
And they want to bury you
and purge you from the land.
With the sun to our backs
we may have a chance.
With the sun to our backs
we may have a chance.
NAVAJO WOMAN
[Verse]
Trees your mother planted bloom
and often give fruit,
dropping like those truths
you hide in stories.
It’s true your mind sees behind
both worthy and unworthy eyes.
Will you be in my head tonight
dropping truths in the fire?
[Chorus]
Navajo woman
I can hear your voice
in bold desert snakes,
several days away.
If my place is with you,
what am I to do
if our paths change
like shadows in the rain?
[Verse]
Beauty unfolds effortlessly
down your body, spreading
like dogwood seeds on the breeze.
Who knows where they land?
It's time to dance so I dance
and wait for my chance,
near enough to glance
into your silver eyes.
Now you stop dancing to explain
bad men are bringing rain,
but take our rivers away.
While we wander for 100 years.
[Chorus]
Navajo woman
I can hear your voice
in bold desert snakes,
several days away.
If my place is with you,
what am I to do
if our paths change
like shadows in the rain?
[Verse]
You ask us to take a stand.
“They’re building a road through our land.
With fortresses and slaves they command
us to make peace.
But if we surrender to them
like all our cousins did
their greed will never end
and we will wander for 100 years.”
[Chorus]
Navajo woman
I can hear your voice
in bold desert snakes,
several days away.
If my place is with you,
what am I to do
if our paths change
like shadows in the rain?
[Bridge]
The fruit trees you’ve planted
are growing lush,
but I'm afraid there won't be enough
children to eat them.
[Chorus]
Navajo woman
I can hear your voice
in bold desert snakes,
several days away.
If my place is with you,
what am I to do
if our paths change
like shadows in the rain?
RUMORS AND GHOSTS
[Verse]
Word spread like the wind
on those dry desert nights;
they called us wolves and said
we’d devour our own kind.
Those were only rumors
but rumors served us well.
Maybe they would leave
and settle somewhere else.
[Chorus]
Rumors about our horses.
Rumors about our men.
Word spread quickly about
the Apache's revenge.
They say our dead become ghosts
who ride without a sound,
wearing nothing but charcoal
and oily human scalps.
[Verse]
It's because we've seen death,
the life darkness displays,
that we dress in such symbols
and carry on this way.
Working hard and killing,
we'll be digging ‘til the end
when violence turns to the pleasures
civilized men call sin.
[Chorus]
Rumors about our horses.
Rumors about our men.
Word spread quickly about
the Apache's revenge.
They say our dead become ghosts
who ride without a sound,
wearing nothing but charcoal
and oily human scalps.
[Verse]
And word was spreading like the wind
on those dry desert nights,
the kind that turns a flaming arrow
into a whirlwind of revenge.
They may call us savages
and curse the funny ways
we reinvent their dead
and leave them displayed.
[Chorus]
But there are rumors about our horses,
rumors about our men.
Word spread quickly about
the Apache's revenge.
They say our dead become ghosts
who ride without a sound,
wearing nothing but charcoal
and oily human scalps.
[Epilogue]
The most skillful among us
was known as the thief
'cause he could enter their camps
without being seen.
There was no end to our warring;
heroes had become beasts.
And so it was
with the thief and his leech.
THE THIEF
[Verse]
Few have actually seen
into the pitch black eyes
of the man we call the thief,
but if the story’s right
he moves like a snake
towards every life he takes
then dissolves into night.
[Chorus]
He is known as the thief
'cause he sneaks into our camp
without ever being seen.
I pray he makes it quick
if he ever catches me.
[Verse]
Most of our company
reckoned him mad,
said, "It was plain crazy
the way he dressed the dead.
But behind those eyes
you might see why
he did what he did."
[Chorus]
He is known as the thief
'cause he sneaks into our camp
without ever being seen.
I pray he makes it quick
if he ever catches me.
[Verse]
Our captain once was trapped
in the light of a waning moon,
and by the thief was scalped
then bandaged and turned loose
to spread word about the fun
they have watching us run
once our heads are removed.
[Chorus]
He is known as the thief
'cause he sneaks into our camp
without ever being seen.
I pray he makes it quick
if he ever catches me.
SO FAR OFF THE GROUND
[Verse]
Walking around again
by myself.
Drunk on stolen whiskey
for my health.
'Cause these days it's getting harder
to keep on killing.
Circles of vultures mock
the blood I'm spilling.
[Chorus]
They call me a thief
but I've never taken anything
a man hadn't offered for free.
Maybe they shouldn't sleep
so far off the ground.
So far off the ground.
[Verse]
They found me in the desert
shallow breathing.
Our rain priest said my heart
had stopped beating.
I don't remember death but
for some reason
there’s a leech on my chest
and nobody sees it.
[Chorus]
They call me a thief
but I've never taken anything
a man hadn't offered for free.
Maybe they shouldn't sleep
so far off the ground.
So far off the ground.
[Verse]
I still can't sleep very well
and when I walk around
I think of how all this looked
before those men came around.
I see wrinkles on their faces
from desperate screams,
then take a pull from my bottle
as a toast to the leech.
[Chorus]
They call me a thief
but I've never taken anything
a man hadn't offered for free.
Maybe they shouldn't sleep
so far off the ground.
A ROOM WITHOUT WINDOWS
Darkness falls from the air,
false pictures of truth.
Alone in this room
without windows.
No way to see outside.
Still I look around
and see mountains blowing by.
I don’t see why,
just some reptile in the distance
peopled by past chiefs.
Then hands I didn't know existed
take my soul and twist it.
I can hear my heartbeat sway,
spreading ripples through space.
Now the room is muted
and memories show their face.
Are these memories of the past
or memories of the future?
Inside a seed are many paths
towards growth and towards stupor.
This dream leaks like a water basket
filled too high to carry
and if you thought darkness was scary
wait ‘till you see the light.
Brightness falls from the air.
At first I’m pleased
and overwhelmed,
then terrified.
If you thought darkness was scary
wait ‘till you see the light.
THE RAIN PRIEST
[Verse]
Like mosquitoes, they could be
repelled by the smallest things,
like the scent of minted herbs
or calculated smoke rings.
[Pre-Chorus]
Far away
I would go.
Float away,
come back with hope.
Showed me days
ancestors spoke.
Went away,
still sitting at home.
Which medicine
will make
my people whole?
[Chorus]
I tell them stories all day.
There's no more to tell.
Goddamn this new way;
it's taking us all to Hell.
We tried following the animals,
but we cannot fly.
Now visions of us crawling
flood through my mind.
[Verse]
They used to be easy to defeat
until they moved our home,
and stopped fighting face to face
but with sickness alone.
[Pre-Chorus]
Far away
rising to stars,
making my way
to teachers afar.
Speak to me
in tongues so dark.
Speak through me
in tongues of light.
Which medicine
will help
my people fight?
[Chorus]
I hear stories all day
about the fires of Hell.
But mission life I say
is a far greater Hell.
We tried learning their language
but we cannot sing
those songs of salvation
under their lock and key.
A LITTLE BIT OF LIFE
[Verse]
Follow coyote through the hills.
Don't stop for men promising deals.
If we make it to the ridge we're safe
but there are no prayers to say.
If there were who would hear them?
Only the demons in our loins will listen.
We are in the dark and alone.
For weeks we’ve eaten nothing but bones
'cause fire gives us away.
If we make it down the ridge we're safe,
but there are no prayers to say.
So we ask our horses
to give a little more
and they do.
Some give their lives.
[Chorus]
Just a little bit of life.
I'll give a little bit of life
so I can send those men
to the spirits on the other side.
[Verse]
I won't regret a thing,
even losing good men
‘cause it will help our healing
to watch those cowards pleading
for a little bit of life.
Some say it's not right
but they burned our village.
How can we not avenge it
and take a little bit of life?
Forfeit any afterlife.
We have nothing else to lose.
Just a little bit of life.
[Chorus]
Just a little bit of life.
I'll give a little bit of life
so I can send those men
to the spirits on the other side.
[Verse]
Sleeping with teeth clenched.
What kind of life is this?
Maybe we can find peace
on the ground where we sleep.
There's spies coming our way
with white flags to parlay.
But why make deals
for men who steal?
Death still runs or walks
if we fight or if we talk.
At least we find revenge
in this life we live again.
[Chorus]
Just a little bit of life.
I'll live a little bit of life
so I can send those men
to the spirits on the other side.
THE SPY
I am a spy,
unless you think I lie.
Spying on my brother
with a truce in mind.
Can a deal be signed
without a dotted line?
The same question
time after time.
I am a spy,
and at least I tried
to find peace in the shadows
some men despise.
When it’s all on the line
will you help them find
your brother’s campground
or stay behind?
I am a spy.
Who knows why?
Spying on my brother
until the day I die.
Who's guilty? Am I?
The same questions
from this age,
time after time.
APACHE: PART II
[Verse]
I worked as hard as an Apache
and everything burned.
We fought hard all day
but more returned.
Keeping watch all night
we took our turn.
Days without sleep,
the fire spoke.
[Verse]
The sun in the sky leaves us blind.
We don’t see who we fight,
just week after week of
an eye for an eye.
Was there any other way?
We tried, and we tried, and we tried
to coexist as brothers
but the enemy changed his mind.
[Chorus]
So we lived like Apaches,
killing all who survived.
In the morning we drank the water
while the smoking river cried.
What else were we to do?
We gave them our native lands
and withdrew.
But they wanted more.
[Verse]
I worked as hard as an Apache
and everything burned.
Still I don’t regret a single day
we sent those cowards home.
PENTECOSTAL FIRE
There's a fire burning in the sun above us.
It will burn after we're dead and turned to dust.
But there's another we don't often discuss:
the fire that brings change and sets you free.
You cannot cease a man from exploring,
and once one comes, others will cross the ocean
to preach of love and devotion
even as they’re exploiting you and me.
But at the end of the wars and battles,
when our bands are tired and out of arrows,
we will arrive where the river narrows,
narrows before returning to sea.
We will know this place for the first time
though we were born here last time,
many more riddles to unwind.
A lifetime exploring mysteries.
AGATE STONE
"Stone sharpens stone.
Fire breeds fire.
So was it that our anger ignited.
Layer after layer it rose up
and burned us all."
-Apache elder
[Verse]
From the plains to the hilltop cliffs
where the ruins are extended
you no longer see that wooden fence
that kept order in the mission.
All that remains are coyote dreams
appearing through plumes of sage
where faces of catastrophe
come to take their place.
[Chorus]
Some claim to hear
a whisper in the smoke
speaking of the ways
their peaceful hearts were turned.
[Verse]
As soon as their dogs started barking
they could hear burning tents,
and there was no time for talking
to the men making their decent.
Some were too surprised for anger
but many knew the risk
of trusting a greedy stranger
whose promise was a trick.
[Chorus]
Some claim to hear
a refrain soft and low
rising from the fields
their trusting hearts were burned.
[Verse]
For many years they learned to fly.
For many years they raided.
Some poor fools even turned to spy
for the men whom they hated.
You can see phantoms of those days
in shadows spun like smoke
from the rocky cliffs and sedge
to the mines of agate stone.
[Chorus]
Some claim to see,
layered in the rock,
where coolness turned to heat
and heat turned to stone.