The Great Salish Sea Lyrics

Listen to The Great Salish Sea here.

Trade Winds

Green, endless green mountain side
Blue ocean waves in your eyes
She comes to me softly, slowly
And brushes me gently, carefully
Like the trade winds back home

Come walk with me in the garden
Taste purple fruit on the tree
Won’t you tell me your story, slowly
We’ll dance through the garden, carefully
Like the trade winds back home

Look, smell the blue magic flower
Rainwater falls from the mountain
Water falls into rainbows, slowly
Bending down to the ocean, carefully
Marry me by the ocean, hold me
Like the trade winds back

Welcome home

Salmon Come Home

Chorus
The salmon come home, again and again
Since the beginning of time, the beginning of when
We’ve been living here
And we’ve been living here forever
The salmon come home, again and again
Since the beginning of time, the beginning of when
We’ve been living here
And we’ve been living on this land forever

Then the Russians came
For the fur and ground
They built log forts
And we burned them down
Then the great flu came
Taking old and young
We gathered who was left
And we begin again

Then the oil rigs came
Promising us jobs
Leaving oil sheens
As we carry on
Then the loggers came
Taking the great trees
Leaving mountains bare
Leaving muddy streams

Now they come for the coal
Underneath our river
To destroy our home
Take our children’s future
We are one small town
We are one proud people
We are one with salmon
We are one with eagle

We are one small town
We are one proud people
We are still surviving
We are still surviving

I do not believe creator wants this to happen

Everybody’s Got a Shovel

Everybody’s got a shovel to answer the call
I’ve got a 20-foot ladder for your 18-foot wall
It’s $8 an hour, or $8 a day
Everybody’s got a shovel, and everybody needs pay

It takes more than a bug screen to hold back the wind
And a whole lot a cowboys when the stampede begins
And there ain’t enough concrete to turn back the tide
Everybody’s got a shovel and everybody’s got pride

I work in the grape fields to make your fine wine
And I clean your toilets when you don’t have the time
And to change your baby’s diapers really isn’t a crime
I wait upon your table, would you wait upon mine

You got a real nice country and the people are fine
But if you don’t mind it, I’ll only be here a time
Cause I miss the bright colors, the children running around
I miss the pre-dawn rooster of my grandfather’s town

I Need The Water

I am a farmer and I need the water
To water my garden and irrigate the fields
I am a father and I need the water
To provide for my family
You can’t take that from me

I was born on the river, and I’ll die on the river
Surrounded by my children where we grow the apple trees
From the trees I make my living, from the fruit the good Lord’s giving
And I’ll go home by the river where I raise my family

(Alternate Melody Lyrics)
We’ve always lived here
We’ve always worked here
Now I’m afraid, they’ll take our jobs away
We built our home here
We raised our family here
Now I’m afraid

I am an engineer and I need the water
To make all the power that lights our great cities
I am a father and I need the water
To provide for my family
You can’t take that from me

I was born on the river, and I’ll die on the river
Surrounded by my children where we make electricity
From the dam I make my living, from the light the good Lord’s giving
And I’ll go home by the river where I raise my family

I am a fisherman and I need the water
To run through the rivers so the salmon can run free
I am a father and I need the water
To provide for my family
You can’t take that from me

I was born on the river, and I’ll die on the river
Surrounded by my children who will return to the sea
From the sea I make my living, from the fish the good Lord’s giving
And I’ll go home by the river where I raise my family

I am a salmon and I am a fisherman and
I am an engineer and I am a farmer and
I am a father and I need the water to
I need the water to
I need the water too

The Great Salish Sea

We will swim a thousand miles
To reach the shores of emerald isles
With salmon spawning by the million
Herring spawning by the billion
Gather with our pods again
The summer food, the summer friends
To raise our babies safe and free
We gather in the Salish Sea

Oh hush hear the swish of the boats on the water
The hollowed out cedars, the sons and the daughters
The rhythm of paddles caressing the water
The rhythm of paddles to come greet the orca
Remember the legend, the myth and the story
A long time ago when we witnessed the glory
With thousands and thousands of whales swimming free
The orcas come home to the great Salish Sea

I hear your song for many miles
Your distant thoughts, your distant smiles
Today we fish in different bays
Tonight we meet again to play

Oh hush hear the swish of the boats on the water
The great sailing ships with the sons and the daughters
The wind and the wood as it cuts through the water
The wind and the wood sailing out to the orca
Remember the legend, the myth and the story
A long time ago when we witnessed the glory
With thousands and thousands of whales swimming free
The orcas come home to the great Salish Sea

One hundred times around the sun
I saw the slaughter, smelled the blood
The water turning blue to brown
The metal ships, the screaming sound
I cannot hear your song today
The salmon gone, the herring late
And more and more the ships do come
Will anybody hear my song

Oh hush hear the scream of the ships on the water
The great supertankers, the coal ports, the freighters
The deafening noise overtaking the water
The deafening noise overcoming the orca
Remember the legend, the myth and the story
A long time ago when we witnessed the glory
With thousands and thousands of whales swimming free
The orcas come home to the great Salish Sea

Oh hush hear the voice from both sides of the border
The rallies, the blockades, the brave sons and daughters
The people speak out for protecting the water
The people are rising to come save the orca

Sometimes

When you feel the ground a rumbling
When you hear the great horn sound
The big steel wheels a grinding
The three lights bearing down
When a sound that once seemed friendly
Now is tearing at your heart
There’s no backing down

Sometimes the people stand up for a reason

When you see the long train coming
And it’s coming to your town
And it’s carrying the poison
In a hundred thousand cars
And you hear your daughter coughing
When it wakes her in the night
There’s no backing down

When you know it drops the value
Of every home in town
When you know the kids with asthma
Jumping rope on the playground
When you know we’re all against it
And our voices do not count
There’s no backing down

When they hit you with the sales pitch
While they’re buying off the state
While the feds are gonna tell you
That the towns don’t have the right
To block interstate commerce
To protect your family’s health
There’s no backing down

When every mom in Billings
Down through to Bellingham
When every doc and teacher
When every mayor stands
When every child who lives within five miles of the track
There’s no backing down

Sometimes the people stand up for a reason

The Fingers of Jesus

The fingers of Jesus write the music you hear
And he plays mariachi for us year after year
And he plays for his living and he plays for his life
But the strings of his guitar cut as sharp as a knife

And the blood from his finger splatters on his guitar
As he plays us a love song under Mexican stars
Underneath a volcano that erupts every day
Releasing the pressure, for our people we pray

On his 60th birthday, born in Comala town
First he sang for his cousin, laid to rest in the ground
Then he played for a wedding, see the lines on his face
Lines of joy mixed with sorrow, woven rivers of grace

And he carves out such beauty on his ancient guitar
As he plays us a love song under Mexican stars
Underneath a volcano that erupts every day
Releasing the pressure, for our people we pray

And old men with their fiddles, and old men with guitars
Younger men with their trumpets, bands that travel so far
Singing songs of their country, songs of love and of war
Songs that tend to remind us, just what we’re living for

It’s a Matter of Asking

It’s a matter of asking
It’s a matter of listening to us
It’s a matter of honoring
The elders, the council, the will of the people

Your people came here so long ago
Took the land, destroyed our culture
Now you say you want to make it right
Create a country within a country

You call a homestead Native land
But then Monsanto farms it with poison
You want to bring in your cruise ships
And dump your garbage because we are poor here

On an island of waterfalls
Where the great monsoon rains cry
On an island of memories
We survive

It’s easy talking about justice
A little harder when you’re sharing the power
Asking the will of the people
The people say yes, sometimes they say no

Just Want to Be With You

When the sun comes up I can hear your voices
And the girls are laughing while they’re making coffee
Round the camping stove
The day is young and we already know
Surrounded by our friends
I hope this week will never end
Just want to be with you

As the sun moves high into the Montana sky
And we’re scrambling up the goat trail, one slip and you could die
Here where the spirits hide
So strange to feel joy when I want to cry
But when my heart goes down
I just take a look around
Just want to be with you

In a world gone crazy
Sometimes taking a lazy day’s
The best thing we can do
And I don’t need to know
Exactly where were going
Just as long as I’m going with you
I’m going with you

We can talk forever, stories into the night
We can laugh so easy by the campfire light
Singing the cowgirl blues
I’ll play a love song if you want me to
And when the moonlight falls
On the Scapegoat Mountain walls
Just want to be with you

Where the prairie rolls up to the Rocky Mountainside
Where a wheat field ocean meets the lodgepole pine
Our summer day is through
I’ll feed the horses then I’ll feed you too
And when the sun goes down
On our sleepy little town
Just want to be with you

Singing Home

The snow is falling lightly as I slip outside the door
The time has come when I must find my home
My suitcase on the pavement on the highway on the land
Stick out my thumb and start the trip alone
Singing home

As the windshield wipers clear the glass I watch the land unfold
Past the towns and farms and suburbs on the way
Past the parking lots and driving spots and neon shopping malls
And I understand why I must leave today
Singing home

The first night I lay sleeping in the forest all alone
I listened to the sounds I’ve never heard
And somewhere in the frightened lonely hours of the dawn
I knew that I was home

Good Morning Eliza

Good morning Eliza
Can you hear me
Can you hear me
Can you hear me
Can you hear me calling to my baby
My little baby
Not so little anymore

Good morning Eliza
Can you feel me
Can you feel me
Can you feel me
Can you feel me begging you to save me
My little baby
Not so little anymore

I’m sorry I forgot about you
When the rocks came tumbling down
On my heart, I was crying

Good morning Eliza
Can you reach me
Can you reach me
Can you reach me
Can you reach out to rescue me my baby
Rescue me baby, I can’t swim here anymore

Good morning Eliza
Can you see me
Through the window
A small window
It’s the window I’m begging you to open
Open the window
I can’t breathe here anymore

I’m sorry I forgot about you
When the rocks came tumbling down
On my heart, I was dying

Cane Toad Muster

There’s never been an issue here
Where everyone agreed
Aside from needing more cold beer
At a Friday evening feed
And any family’s gonna fight
Over how the money’s spent
And God knows there ain’t consensus here
About the environment

But now in modern times
There is a plague we all can see
Where the redneck and the greenie
And the miner all agree
White fella, black fella, rich and poor
The immigrant Timorese
The punter and the banker
The stockman, the hippie

They brought ‘em into Queensland
And they spread to New South Wales
They moved on into Kakadu
And killed the crocodile
No one could stop the menace
Of the cane toads running free
Till they ran into the crazy mob
In the Eastern Kimberley

The Kimberley’s a rugged place
There ain’t too much to do
‘Cept sit around and drink a beer
And argue family feuds
But when bush tucker is threatened
And the goannas become few
The cowboys here got ornery
They drank, and thought it through

To rally every Aussie
Every woman, man and child
To kill off every cane toad
Who is decimating the wild
To unify the country
From the outback to the ports
It’s gonna take a lot of beer
And a violent brand new sport

Cane Toad Muster

We’ll issue special uniforms
And sell air pellet guns
For a 100 rounds of ammo
Who will be the champion?
Tourism gone wild
They will come from every land
From Sydney and Tasmania
New York, Afghanistan

And the moment when you thought
This tale could not be more insane
An invitation comes from Greece
Cane Toad Muster in the Olympic games
And let’s not forget the children
They must get in on the fun
Now every day is Easter
The toad hunt has begun

Now the moral of this story here
Is becoming quite clear
One twisted sports idea
And a few more rounds of beer
Can unify a nation
To fight a plague they fear
Join the Kimberley Toad Busters
To protect the Outback, so dear

Cane Toad Muster

Have you got the nerve
To swerve?

Listen to The Great Salish Sea here.

All songs copyright by Dana Lyons
Lyons Brothers Music, BMI