Verse One – Rex Smallboy
My reservation
As I look into your eyes I realize
that were living out the Whitman’s lies
There was no compromise just deceit as I face the defeat
that was put here long before me
At times I find it hard to accept
I ask god is this a test
is this really all we have left
cuz my sons life is just getting started
and life is seeming harder
just to try stay above the water
I remember the days of way back when
we had no gang fights; we had no crack pipes
and brothers got along in the families
What the hell went wrong with the families
My reservation
Verse Two – Karmen Omeosoo
I’m feeling the pain
The strain on my mental weighs heavy
Genocide makes me live my native life deadly
I hope you get me if you don’t let it marinate
The mind-state of my people, we try to set that strait
We never brought residential schools to this place
We never brought alcoholic fluid to our taste
We would never go and try change you
What you did to my descendants changed the elder’s lives too
And all the Time you knew, now we feeling reserved
Living disturbed, living a life huh we never deserved
The native way of thinking ain’t the way of the old
Its time to look toward the future let our story unfold
(Chorus)
I’m feeling reserved
Man that’s how I’m living
I gotta do with this mic I was given X 2
To try to get by, no word of a lie
We gotta try to restore pride
Verse Three – Ryan Small
Reservations only
No need to wait for seating
Natives continue bleeding
The circle just keeps repeating
This feeling filling a void
Exploit a people changing
It’s why I turn the tables like time
Turning the page going against the grain and
Engaged in health through out the day and
No way it’s simple or plain
Need to maintain through these pains
Taking these short ends making encores and
Acrylic abortion it all costs so all the real could gain applause
Reserves relentless yo it’s what I gotta contend with
Sundance the rez demented genuine arson of lessons
From beneath the ground sentence to blessed with four elements
This mic this light this rez this life
I represent my residents
Verse Four – Cynthia Smallboy
Sweet Grace how music lets my mind take flight
Rez life my life living a wake of sleepless nights
Be my eyes color blind catch a glimps of babies sight
Realize there’s more to see than all this rock around me
Grant this girl a beat and let my soul run free
Amidst the plague of war there ain’t no way I’d rather be
One love for my people U. N I. T. E
Instead of feeling reserved my reserve feel me
(Chorus) x 3
My reservation
As I look into your eyes I realize
that were living out the Whitman’s lies
There was no compromise just deceit as I face the defeat
that was put here long before me
At times I find it hard to accept
I ask god is this a test
is this really all we have left
cuz my sons life is just getting started
and life is seeming harder
just to try stay above the water
I remember the days of way back when
we had no gang fights; we had no crack pipes
and brothers got along in the families
What the hell went wrong with the families
My reservation
Verse Two – Karmen Omeosoo
I’m feeling the pain
The strain on my mental weighs heavy
Genocide makes me live my native life deadly
I hope you get me if you don’t let it marinate
The mind-state of my people, we try to set that strait
We never brought residential schools to this place
We never brought alcoholic fluid to our taste
We would never go and try change you
What you did to my descendants changed the elder’s lives too
And all the Time you knew, now we feeling reserved
Living disturbed, living a life huh we never deserved
The native way of thinking ain’t the way of the old
Its time to look toward the future let our story unfold
(Chorus)
I’m feeling reserved
Man that’s how I’m living
I gotta do with this mic I was given X 2
To try to get by, no word of a lie
We gotta try to restore pride
Verse Three – Ryan Small
Reservations only
No need to wait for seating
Natives continue bleeding
The circle just keeps repeating
This feeling filling a void
Exploit a people changing
It’s why I turn the tables like time
Turning the page going against the grain and
Engaged in health through out the day and
No way it’s simple or plain
Need to maintain through these pains
Taking these short ends making encores and
Acrylic abortion it all costs so all the real could gain applause
Reserves relentless yo it’s what I gotta contend with
Sundance the rez demented genuine arson of lessons
From beneath the ground sentence to blessed with four elements
This mic this light this rez this life
I represent my residents
Verse Four – Cynthia Smallboy
Sweet Grace how music lets my mind take flight
Rez life my life living a wake of sleepless nights
Be my eyes color blind catch a glimps of babies sight
Realize there’s more to see than all this rock around me
Grant this girl a beat and let my soul run free
Amidst the plague of war there ain’t no way I’d rather be
One love for my people U. N I. T. E
Instead of feeling reserved my reserve feel me
(Chorus) x 3
Contributed by Pierree-André Lienhard - 2025/7/18 - 11:04
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Album: The Reign
War Party - The Reign
On their next album (The Greatest Natives From The North, 2002) they recorded a remixed version of the song.
The Greatest Natives from the North, by War Party
War Party made it their mission to lead, inspire and empower young fans with socially conscious music, and to raise mainstream awareness around issues associated with poverty, systematic oppression, addiction, and the disturbing legacy of residential school trauma."
Taken from: War Party - Studio Bell
A powerful song about the effects of the reservations system on the living of native people and particularly on the consciousness of the self. It plays with the double meaning of "reservation", confined territory and administration on one side, the personality trait in the construction of the self on the other hand.
"I'm feeling reserved / Man, that's how I'm living / ... / We gotta try restore pride" !