Black people taken from an ancient land
Suffered trials by cruel White hands
ln this circle, theres gotta be room for them,
Move on over, make more (a little) roam for them
There’ll be trouble if there’s no room for them…
Vietnamese with slanted eyes
Fighting for their land, not standing by
They can't make it if there's no room for them.
Move on aver, make more (a little) roam for them
It won’t hurt you if there’s more room for them…
Little brown boy with straight black hair
In India’s land there’s no food there
He can't make it ‘cause there's no room for him.
Move on aver, make more (a little) roam for them
There’ll be trouble if there’s no room for him…
Seneca, Black Hawk, Cherokee
Choctaw, Cheyenne, Sioux, Pawnee
They can't make it if there's no room for them.
Move on over, make a little room for them
It won't hurt you to make a little room for them.
Way overdue now, there’s gotta be room for them…
White man, we know you don’t know how
To save the circle, let me tell you how:
Loose your hold, there's gotta be room for all.
The circle will break, man, if there's not room for all.
Move on over, make a little room for all
In this circle, there`s gotta be room for all.
Save the circle, make more room for all
In this circle, there`s gotta be room for all.
Suffered trials by cruel White hands
ln this circle, theres gotta be room for them,
Move on over, make more (a little) roam for them
There’ll be trouble if there’s no room for them…
Vietnamese with slanted eyes
Fighting for their land, not standing by
They can't make it if there's no room for them.
Move on aver, make more (a little) roam for them
It won’t hurt you if there’s more room for them…
Little brown boy with straight black hair
In India’s land there’s no food there
He can't make it ‘cause there's no room for him.
Move on aver, make more (a little) roam for them
There’ll be trouble if there’s no room for him…
Seneca, Black Hawk, Cherokee
Choctaw, Cheyenne, Sioux, Pawnee
They can't make it if there's no room for them.
Move on over, make a little room for them
It won't hurt you to make a little room for them.
Way overdue now, there’s gotta be room for them…
White man, we know you don’t know how
To save the circle, let me tell you how:
Loose your hold, there's gotta be room for all.
The circle will break, man, if there's not room for all.
Move on over, make a little room for all
In this circle, there`s gotta be room for all.
Save the circle, make more room for all
In this circle, there`s gotta be room for all.
Contributed by Alessandro - 2010/3/30 - 09:54
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Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.
Words and music by Bernice Johnson Reagon.
Album “Give Your Hands to Struggle”, Paredon Records.
Ristampato nel 1997 su etichetta Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
“The "circle" song came to be in 1968, when I began to want the Vietnamese people to win. I began to see the Vietnamese struggle in relationship to our freedom struggle. It is one of my first efforts at addressing the fact that there were people outside of Albany, Georgia. who were also being squeezed to death because their space, too, was being defined by a minuscule but powerful group whose primary aim was their own profit rather than the meeting of human needs. Looking back, I can see that when I first tried to draw the human family together, I wrote lyrics naming people by physical traits - humbling to look back at yourself…”
(nota introduttiva al brano dal libretto che accompagna l’album)