One Hundred Years & Counting
(Honoring Ms. Viola Ford Fletcher)
 
One hundred years and counting
Since that massacre
One hundred years and counting
Nobody said a word
When that White mob descended
Into Greenwood from Tulsa town
One hundred years and counting
Since they burned Black Wall Street down

One hundred years and counting
Since a mob of those white men
With guns came a-blazing
Still burns beneath my skin
Over eight-hundred wounded
Over three hundred dead
One hundred years and counting
Got no place to lay my head

One hundred years and counting
Since that Black teenager tripped
Over the foot of a white woman
As he began to flip
She began to scream
As if she had been raped
One hundred years and counting
Over ten-thousand displaced

One hundred years and counting
Black bodies in a heap
One hundred years and counting
Piled up in the streets
In this land of broken promises
Death is in the air
One hundred years and counting
Does anybody care

One hundred years and counting
Two pandemics, maybe more
Through the Great Depression 
The Second World War 
Eighteen sitting Presidents
Including, a Black one
One hundred years and counting 
Time for justice to be done

One hundred years and counting
Before I’m buried in the ground
Time for reparation
Before the next global meltdown
Nothing can be change
Until it has been faced
One hundred years and counting
For the whole human race

One hundred years and counting
Since that massacre
One hundred years and counting
Nobody said a word
When that White mob descended
Into Greenwood from Tulsa town
One hundred years and counting
Since they burned Black Wall Street down

Words & Music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 2021 | BMI

Song inspired by Mr. Tony Norman
Pittsburgh-Post Gazette Columnist

ONE HUNDRED YEARS & COUNTING BY LARRY LONG MAY 30, 2021

ONE HUNDRED YEARS & COUNTING by Larry Long

George Floyd (Say His Name)

He came from Texas to this northern town
Where a policeman laid him down
He said to the cop, “I cannot breathe.
Momma won’t you please save me.”

With a knee on his neck
A foot on his back above his chest 
I can still hear poor George scream
Twenty times I cannot breathe

George Floyd
Say his name
George Floyd 
Don’t let him die in vain
George Floyd 
Say his name
George Floyd 

Always fun to have around
Never one to put someone down
A gentle giant like Muhammad Ali
George as strong as a man can be

“Let him go.” T he people cried
Three more police standing by
Not one of them intervened
Murder in the Nth degree

George Floyd
Say his name
George Floyd 
Don’t let him die in vain
George Floyd 
Say his name
George Floyd 
 
Streets now burning beneath the sun
Good God we pray justice be done
We can rebuild imagine that
But we cannot bring his life back 

George Floyd
Say his name
George Floyd 
Don’t let him die in vain
George Floyd 
Say his name
George Floyd 

Words: Larry Long
Music: Larry Long & Van Nixon 
Copyright Larry Long 2021 | BMI
www.larrylong.org

Larry Long: Lead Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica
Van Nixon: Response & Choral Vocals
George Parrish: Electric Guitar
Daryl Boudreaux: Percussion
Yohannes Tona: Bass

Brett Huus: Recording, Mixing & Master Engineer 
George Parrish: Recording & Studio Engineer 
Nathaniel Nelson: Music Video

George Floyd (Say His Name) By Larry Long

Happy Birthday Jacob from Fiddlin' Pete Watercott & Pops Larry Long

Happy Birthday Jacob

Dr. Bauer You Mean The World To Me

Cracking jokes with a drill in your hand
Taking me on a trip to Wonderland
To help ease the pain, six shots of Novocain
Surely not the day I had planned

Dr. Bauer you mean the world to me
You’ve cared for my whole family
Always on call since my children were small
You’re a gift to the whole community

During one of my earlier visits with Dr. Bauer I asked, “How many more years do you plan to work before you retire?”  He just laughed and said, “Why would I want do that?  Plus, if I did, who would take care of the people, many of whom are homeless, who come into our clinic without insurance, without money and in need of dental assistance.”   

In this world filled with the dispossessed
Doctors like you are surely blest
Helping those in need, with love and dignity
Always there to lend a hand and do your best

Dr. Bauer you mean the world to me
You’ve cared for my whole family
Always on call since my children were small
You’re a gift to the whole community

Words & Music by Larry & Jacqueline Long
Copyright Larry Long Publishing 2021 | BMI

Dr. Bauer You Mean The World To Me

Love Will Lay Hatred Down

There’s a woman from Japan
folding paper with her hands.
Singing songs of peace.
Teaching the young, teaching the old,
teaching the world how to fold
paper cranes of peace flying now.

There’s a girl in the park
making lanterns to float across
the river on Nagasaki-Hiroshima day.
She lights candle in the dark,
hoping that it will spark
peace the world around.

There’s a man in Red Square,
passions to share
with the one he’s holding tonight.
Kremlin Wall, Lenin’s tomb,
change of the guard, iridescent moon,
singing a song of love.

Beauty before.
Beauty behind.
Beauty above.
Beauty below.
Beauty all around.
Love will lay hatred down.

One stitch at a time 
from many old designs.
A symbol of a world yet to come.
We will stitch 
this world together yet.
Don’t give up my friends, my love.

Words & Music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 1986; Renewed 2022 | BMI

Run For Freedom/Sweet Thunder

Love Will Lay Hatred Down by Larry Long

In 2011 Larry Long was commissioned to compose two songs in honor of Joe Reid with the Matins Youth Choir of Des Moines Plymouth Congregational Church.  As Catherine Reid Day, daughter of Joe Reid, wrote,, "“Always Show Mercy, feels so right for healing today's anger, vengeance, fear, and war."  



Mercy, mercy, always show mercy (4x)
We will always adore 
When we show mercy 
God gives more and more
When we show mercy
In safe company
In trying times
We look to love
When we show mercy
Our faith comes from 
God above
When we show mercy
In safe company
We will fight fear today
When we show mercy
See the world
In a different way
When we show mercy
In safe company
Mercy, mercy, always show mercy (4x)
Look up
To find our way
When we show mercy
Your love is here to stay
When we show mercy
In safe company
Hearts are open
Love is pure
When we show mercy
God’s love
Will endure
When we show mercy
In safe company

Words & Music by Larry Long & & Matins Youth Choir
Copyright Larry Long Publishing 2011 | BMI

Larry Long's Album

Always Show Mercy by Larry Long & Matins Youth Choir

Lucky Jacob

Baby boy, New Year’s Eve
Rosh Hashanah baby
Lucky Jacob do not fear
Lucky Jacob your daddy’s here

Filled with love
Filled with grace
God now has a baby face
Lucky Jacob do not fear
Lucky Jacob your daddy’s here

My father’s eyes I do see
Looking now straight up at me
Lucky Jacob do not fear
Lucky Jacob your daddy’s here

I never thought he’d return
I guess I have much more to learn
Lucky Jacob do not fear
Lucky Jacob your daddy’s here

Through this life I’ve known joy
None as pure as my baby boy
Lucky Jacob do not fear
Lucky Jacob your daddy’s here

All that is circles round
One day your feet will touch the ground
Lucky Jacob do not fear
Lucky Jacob your daddy’s here

Your momma she loves you so
Momma loves to help you grow
Lucky Jacob do not fear
Lucky Jacob your momma’s here

All of whom I have known 
Are with us now in out sacred home
Lucky Jacob do not fear
Lucky Jacob your family’s here

Words & music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 1989 / BMI


Lucky Jacob (In Honor of Jacob Amos Keith Long)

'The Soil', by Brittany Delaney, spoken within 'We Shall Overcome', as sung by Robert Robinson at For Pete’s Sake: Celebrating Pete Seeger’s 95th Birthday, May 3rd, 2014 at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota.   Produced by Larry Long and American Roots Revue.  Sponsored by Community Celebration of Place. www.larrylong.org   www.communitycelebration.org


The Soil
By Brittany Delaney

The soil has seen so much where we are growing up
Has swayed with history
And waltzed with the hands of inequality
A romance
Kissed on the lips of generations long before we  arrived here

we paddle feet across this very dirt
Tracking over footprints so deep we stumble in the ridges
Swing on trees were strange fruit dangled
Turn corners on the tips of angels whose wings lie like murals
On top of shoulder blades
that carry the bridges that will link us from one hand to another


The soil has seen so much where we are  growing up
Has danced through the deafening sounds of disparity
Ballads played on the keys of human instruments
Melodies of inhumanity swirled into the blueprints of the sidewalks we play hopscotch on
Drenched into the music that lulls generations of family into separation
The soil
Where our grandparents patted
Tattered too tight shoes for miles to school houses not designed to teach them freedom
Where the sirens spray from blue and red lights
Unearthing the heartbeats from frightened souls who recognize the Jim Crow in the soundtrack
Symmetrical like hands above heads and prayers above tongues
Where mother’s arthritic hands have been broken into permanent steeples by late nights and empty beds in their wombs
Seen the marching of all colors  
Linked hands and arms fighting back bones forward


we paddle our  feet across this very dirt
Tracking over footprints so deep we stumble in the ridges
Turn corners on the tips of angels whose clipped wings lie like murals
On top of shoulder blades
Scared and beaten
But not defeated

some ask why not take the easier road
The less scenic route
Why not be like those who walk with their eyes closed to history as though it would stop guiding the way of our future if we just ignored it
Like the drums in our blood could stop beating if we just stopped listening to the snare line   
It is because we have to
Because every day we wake with one more opportunity to move air through our lungs
our necks have the duty to stay in alignment with the sky
our minds,
the responsibility to shovel deeper grooves into ridges embedded in the palms of our hands like hieroglyphics maps from God
we take this road because
this is the world that the meek shall inherit
That our children’s minds will make home in
daring young leaders waiting to run
their torches held high in hand
spirits unbroken like healing
like believing
like tomorrow
Because it chose us
Because there is too much before and after for us to pretend like we didn’t see the hands of ancestors lying like angel wings spread wide in our dreams
Interlocked with the steal of revolutions holding up our feet from birth
Whispering the hymns of equity deep into our souls
singing melodies of freedom in the wind
singing melodies of overcoming in the wind
sinding melodies of purpose in the wind


We paddle our feet across this road everyday
Tracking over footprints so deep
we will often stumble in the ridges but….

Our hands
though scared
                          are bridges
                                                 each finger
                                                                     representing
one half of a pink promise to overcome

we are all meant for this

we are all meant to develop
                                            what was planted
in the soil

Copyright Brittany Delaney 2014
All Rights

'We Shall Overcome: Brittany Delaney with Robert Robinson

Mother’s Song

On the day that I was born
On the day I’m with you now
Through these times that seem forlorn
Standing on ancestral grounds

You were there when I first spoke
You were there when I first stood
You were there to give me hope
You are there in all that’s good

If I were to save the world
Who on earth would save me
If not for you, who am I
If not for you what would life mean

You’re the breath inside the song
You’re the note that lends an ear
You’re the prayer that gives me calm
You free this heart from fear

Now here I am the wheel has turned
Holding you in my arms
Now here I am the candle burns
Listening to you gently call

Whenever I’m in need of friend
You are there to help me through
With a love that never ends
Now here I am I’m here for you

By Larry Long
 Larry Long 2009 / BMI

Featuring Larry Long (vocals) & Ricky Peterson (piano) 
Don't Stand Still (Cereus Records)  www.larrylong.org

Mother's Song  by Larry Long

Road To Freedom
by Larry Long  with Michael Johnson

Music by Larry Long
Words by Larry Long & Ron Miles
Copyright Larry Long Publishing 1987 / BMI

All that is will surely change
Flesh will go but the heart remains
We all ride a single train
It’s life's only road to freedom

With each mile that we go
Listening to that whistle blow
The more we hear the more we know
We’re on that road to freedom

We’re on that road 
We're on that road
We're on that road to freedom


We have been to both sides
Walls can’t hold what love won’t hide
Papers talk, powers lie
People we know that road to freedom

We’re on that road 
We're on that road
We're on that road to freedom

While the world splits in two
With talk of war all will lose
Let us sing.  Let us choose
To bridge the walls to freedom

We’re on that road to freedom
We’re on that road to freedom

Lead Vocal: Larry Long
Guitar & Lead Vocal: Michael Johnson
Upright Bass: Billy Peterson

Produced by Billy Peterson

www.larrylong.org
larrylong@communitycelebration.org

Road To Freedom by Larry Long with Michael Johnson

I Don’t Believe In Violence
Words & Music by Larry Long
Produced by Melvin James

Larry Long - Lead Vocal & Guitar
Melvin James - Harmony Vocal & Guitar

If someone strikes I won’t strike back
If the strike again I will not attack
I’d rather talk then hear bones crack
I don’t believe in violence
 
Streets are filled with gang warfare
Some people don’t mind, they just don’t care
When children get killed, it’s never fair
I don’t believe in violence
 
Talk of war in the news
Iraq, Syria, Palestine, too
It all comes back to me and you
I don’t believe in violence
 
Nuclear missiles and Tomcats
Stealth bombers and poison gas
Oil spills and M-1 tanks
I don’t believe in violence
 
Jumping off buildings just like flies
Killing machines, don’t believe my eyes
Late at night I can hear them cry
I don’t believe in violence
 
Women are scared at night
There’s abduction, rape, filled with fright
Keep on running until you find the light
I don’t believe in violence
 
People living in landlord shacks
Keeping warm by burning trash
In need of food, they steal for cash
I don’t believe in violence
 
Martin said, “Do not kill.”
I don’t want dead bodies in landfills
Committing violence is not God’s will
I don’t believe in violence

Words & Music by Larry Long
 
© Larry Long Publishing 1991, Renewed 2017 / BMI

Larry Long - Lead Vocal & Guitar
Melvin James - Harmony Vocal & Guitar

Email: larryl@larrylong.org      
Web: www.larrylong.org · www.communitycelebration.org

I Don't Believe In Violence by Larry Long

Generations 2 Come
 
Keep on riding. Keep on riding.
Them dog sleds into town
Stop that mining.  Stop that mining
In the Boundary Waters right now
To be protected! To be respected! Generations 2 come!

Keep on talking. Keep on walking
Nobody can stop us now
Legislation. Devastation
Some things should be kept in the ground
To be protected! To be respected! Generations 2 come!

Sulfide mining . Sulfide mining
Sulfuric acid running over the ground
Acid rock drainage
Don’t let them poison what we need to pass down
To be protected! To be respected! Generations 2 come!

To take the profit. To leave the jobless
With mountains of toxic waste
Squander the treasure of clean water
All across the Great Lakes
To be protected! To be respected! Generations 2 come!

Pollution. Solution
Cleanup that taconite mess
Before mining sulfide
Before there’s nothing left 
To be protected! To be respected! Generations 2 come!

Clean water. Clean air and water
For Mahnomen to grow
For the living to keep on giving
To this beautiful earth we call home
To be protected! To be respected! Generations 2 come!
Words & Music: Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long Publishing 2012 / BMI
Generations 2 Come was written with help from Jan Attridge, Diadra Decker, Marco Good,
Betsy Bowen. 


Generations 2 Come

Liliana
(For my granddaughter, Liliana)

From silence, prayer, prayer to faith, from faith the gift of love
We have come to be with you with peace from above
To share your new life begun

Liliana, Liliana, Liliana

A soft pink halo of light above San Francisco bay
Shining now down on you on this your birthday
A song of love I play

Liliana, Liliana, Liliana

For your mother and father and for your grandmother, too
And for those who’ve come before, may all your dreams come true
I give my heart to you

Liliana, Liliana, Liliana

Words & music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long  2007 / BMI

Liliana by Larry Long

Dove With Claws

Walking Like Rain by Larry Long

Be The Change by Larry Long

Be the change you seek in this world
Be the change you believe in
Give support to each boy and girl
Be the change you believe in

Stand up for the children
Stand up for the people
Stand up for each other

Lift up your voice let it roll like thunder
Be the change you believe in
Where hatred sleeps and truth never slumbers
Be the change you believe in

Stand up for the children
Stand up for the people
Stand up for each other

Stay on fire be good to yourself
Be the change you believe in
Health care for all no more politics of wealth
Be the change you believe in

Stand up for the children
Stand up for the people
Stand up for each other

When all do better we all do better
Be the change you believe in
Children of earth standing together
Be the change you believe in

Stand up for the children
Stand up for the people
Stand up for each other

Words & music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long Publishing 2002 / BMI

Larry Long & Tonia Hughes:  Lead Vocals 
JD Steele: Support Vocals

Produced by JD Steele

                              

Be The Change by Larry Long & Tonia Hughes

To End All Hatred The Time Has Come 
(Ballad of the 1920 Duluth Lynching)

To travel north imagine that
To never have to tip your hat
To some white man who just might pass  
Cookhouse by day, big top by night
Keep your nose clean just do what’s right
Keep those white girls out of sight  
Haul them tents and strike them down
Long after the circus crowd 
Has gone back home to their northern Duluth town  
Twelve A.M. the train hits the track
At six A.M. forced from the rack
With a night stick stuck in your back  
Up she drives to the line
She’s not sure yet she still identifies
Each not by looks but each by size  
Clayton, Jackson, Williams, Greene
Thomas and young Isaac McGhee
Who joined the circus late that spring  
Even though after exam
There was no pain by speculum or hand
There was no rape deduced Dr. Graham  
Yet rumors spread she was hospitalized
Which soon became that poor girl died
For what truth is found in a lie  
With battling rams, axes, songs
Now's the time to right this wrong
To storm that jailhouse 10,000 strong  
For not a drop of white man’s blood
Shall be spilled orders did come
No deputy may use a gun or club  
Against the mob who soon prevailed
Like a flood gate sprung straight from hell
The mob rushed into those dark damp cells  
Behind the bed sat young McGhee
Rocking back and forth on his knees,
“Help me Jesus won’t you please help me.”  
“The less you kick the less it hurts.”
That Duluth lynch mob cursed
From a lamp post strung above the earth  
Left to rot in unmarked graves
These free men descendants of slaves
Each of whom we know by name  
For what good if not for love
For the accused wrongfully judged
To end all hatred the time has come
 
Words & Music by Larry Long 
Copyright Larry Long 2020/BMI

Larry Long: Vocal; Guitar 
Peter Schimke: Keyboards; Percussion

To End All Hatred The Time Has Come (Ballad of the 1920 Duluth Lynching)by Larry Long

Lifelong social justice advocate, Larry Long is a singer-songwriter, poet, educator, organizer, activist, and storyteller. Long’s work has taken him from rural Alabama to the Lakota communities in South Dakota. He has given voices to struggling Midwest farmers, embattled workers, and veterans. He was the troubadour on the American Agriculture Movement Tractorcade to Washington DC for parity, ran with Oceti Sakowin children on the Run For Freedom from Standing Rock to the prison in Sioux Falls, performed on Soviet/American peace cruises along the Volga and Mississippi Rivers, sang for Mrs. Rosa Parks at the 45th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and organized the Mississippi River Revival, a decade long campaign to clean-up the Mississippi river.

Larry Long

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