Song Circle

Lila

Artist: Sarina Partridge
I learned this song from Sarina at Let My People Sing 2023.

This recording is from a song circle on June 30, 2024 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
I will go down to the well
Let the water ring me like a bell
Let the water rock me like a child
For this well will not run dry
No this well will not run dry

Down to the Well (Sarina Partridge)

Part 1:
Swaying body, swaying soul
Swaying body, swaying soul

Part 2:
Move to the rhythm of your heart,
Move to the rhythm of your soul

Lyrics and melody by Theresa Martin and Christine Kick

Theresa Martin's Album

Swaying Body, Swaying Soul

A powerful contemporary spiritual with a unique and compelling rhythmic arrangement from Sweet Honey In the Rock founding singer Ysaye Barnwell.

Caint No One Know by Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock

This song was born out of John O'Donohue's poem, "For Someone Awakening to the Trauma of Her Past"; it has come through me in a season when the long buried wounds of past trauma have surfaced, inviting healing and renewal. "Only you know where the casket of pain is interred," John O'Donohue wrote. "You will have to scrape through all the layers of covering and according to your readiness, everything will open." 

May this song bring you healing, too.

Part One: 
As your tears fall over that wounded place,
may they wash away your fears and free your heart

Part Two:
I am coming home, I am coming home,
this body now, a meadow -- gentle, my love.

Awakening

This one (chorus) came through in Northeast Missouri while singing with a couple people and (verses) in California outside the house I grew up in, standing at the foot of a great Monterey Cyprus tree (not a Redwood!) and watching some vines climb up the brick outside of the house.

Chorus:
Sister you are not too far holding
I need your strength to carry on

Verse 1:
Our bodies are bound like the vines on the side of a house somewhere deep in the heart of the earth

Verse 2:
Our roots intertwine like the Redwood tree somewhere deep in the soil in the soul of the earth

Sister, You Are Not Too Far for Holding

Your Heart Knows the Way

Artist: Unknown
I learned at Adamah (Jewish Farming Fellowship) in 2014. The song was brought to the Isabella Freedman community from Cara Michelle Silverberg who learned it at The Art of Mentoring (a workshop from the Vermont Awareness School). **please correct me if I'm wrong about any of this info!

Sung at a song circle on April 13, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
Learn to live your life with all your heart, and
All your soul and all your mind, and
Love all humankind as you would love yourself

Part 2:
Learn to live your life
With all your heart
And all your soul and mind and 
Love all humankind

Part 3:
We've got happy lives to live
We've got open arms to give
We've got hope down deep inside
Because in love we do reside

Learn To Live Your Life (Unknown)

Artist: MaMuse
I learned at a MaMuse concert in August 2018.

Sung at a song circle on August 18, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
Findin' my way (x5)
Findin' my way back home
Findin' my way (x5)
Findin' my way back home

Part 2:
Oh river
I hear you feel you callin' me
Oh river
Who will I be when I reach the sea

Part 3:
I am, I am home
I am, I am home

Finding My Way / Oh River (MaMuse)

Artist: Sol Weiss

I learned this song from Sol at Let My People Sing 2019. They taught it during the trans/non-binary/queer mikveh just before we all jumped in.

Sung at a song circle on September 15, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Lyrics:
Great waters, great waters
Pour over me
For I am your child
Make me yours again

(Second verse:
Great waters, great waters
Pour over me
Heal my broken places
Make me whole again)

**Photo credit: Sarah Snyder!

Great Waters (Sol Weiss)

Artist: Miner
I learned this song at Let My People Sing 2019.

Sung at a song circle on September 15, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
Let the wave wash over me
Let the wave wash over me
I am already under
Let the wave wash over me

Part 2:
There will be better days

**Photo credit: Sarah Snyder!

Let The Wave (Miner)

Artist: Kate Sutherland

I learned this song at Let My People Sing 2019.

Sung at a song circle on September 15, 2019 on Chinook land/Portland, OR.

Part 1:
When I am waiting out a storm
I come back to my breath
When I am waiting out a storm
I come back to my heartbeat

Part 2:
Mmm, madeo, madeo
Mmm, madeo, madeo-o

**Photo credit: Sarah Snyder!

Learn To Live Your Life (Unknown)

Ary Solomon