Lyrics
WE ARE THE CHILDREN
music, lyrics - Chris Iijima/Nobuko Miyamoto
We are the children of the migrant worker
We are the offspring of the concentration camp
Sons and daughters of the railroad builder
Who leave their stamp on America
We are the children of the Chinese waiter
Born and raised in the laundry room
We are the offspring of the Japanese gardener
Who leave their stamp on America
(chorus)
Sing a song for ourselves
What have we got to lose
Sing a song for ourselves
We’ve got the right to choose
We’ve got the right to choose
Foster children of the Pepsi generation
Cowboys and Indians – ride red men ride!
Watching war movies with the next door neighbor
Secretly rooting for the other side
(chorus)
We are the cousins of the freedom fighter
Brothers and sisters all around the world
We are a part of the Third World People
Who will leave their stamp on America
Who will leave their stamp on America
Who will leave their stamp on America, America…
Sing a song sing it, sing a song sing it
We’ve got a song to sing….
NOT YO’ BUTTERFLY
music, lyrics - Nobuko Miyamoto
I’m not yo’ butterfly
I’m not yo’ picture bride
I am a samurai woman
who holds up half the sky
I have unbowed my head
I have unbound my feet
I have endured the heat
I’m not afraid to leap
I AM, I AM
I have crossed waters wide
I have climbed mountains high
I carried you inside my heart
When I took a stride
I am your memory
Story of you and me
Moment of breaking free
So you can be, you can be
I AM, I AM
I do not know my age
I am born every day
My spirit can’t be caged
I’m living to create
I AM, I AM, I AM, I AM
I’m a grandmother
I’m a barefoot gardener
A lover, a healer
I’m a memory keeper
I am a dancer
I’m a freedom believer
I am a seeker
I’m a cultural weaver
I AM, I AM
I’m not yo’ butterfly
I’m not yo’ picture bride
I am a samurai woman
who holds up half the sky
I have unbowed my head
I have unbound my feet
I have endured the heat
I’m not afraid to leap
I AM, I AM
I am a woman
who holds up half the sky
You are the women
who hold up half the sky
We are the women
who hold up half the sky
GAMAN (to endure)
music, lyrics - Nobuko Miyamoto
120,000 stories buried in the sand
120,000 stories
120,000 stories buried in my skin
120,000 thousand stories
Pacing the barbed wire, measuring my life
You're all our there and I'm here inside
Why did you put me here?
Will I be here all my life?
They're planting flowers, using up their time
Counting the hours, some are losing their minds
How long will you keep them here?
Will we be here all their lives?
Walking to mess hall, I hold Obaachan's hand
Passing rows of barracks, we fight the wind and sand
Why do they hate us so, grandma?
Will we be here all our lives?
And my baachan said:
GAMAN – you be strong, moto gaman shite iko, neh
Dance class and graduations, make life go on
Pretending things are normal as the war rages on
When will it ever stop?
Will we be here all our lives?
We enlist, we swear allegiance, they never found a spy
The bravest of battalions, 800 soldiers died
Did they prove their loyalty?
And will we be repaid?
Stories unfolding, hidden feelings burst like flames
We tried so hard to forget, but now we re-live the pain
So no one will say again
Will we be here all
Manzanar, Poston, Rohr, Tule Lake
Will we be here all
Minedoka, Amachi, Gila River, Heart Mountain
Will we be here all
Jerome, Topaz, Crystal City, Fort Sills
Will we be here all…our lives?
GAMAN - be strong, moto gaman shite iko neh
TAMPOPO (Dandelion)
music, lyrics - Nobuko Miyamoto
The seed of a dandelion scatters in the sky
A windblown weed, a wild flower, watch it fly
Dancing on the wind, spinning from a world it leaves behind
Dancing on wind, new life, new life begins
Okagesama de - Okagesama de (thanks to the unknown forces)
Through all the forces
Through the shadows and the light
The unknown forces, dandelion
Okagesama de - yare yare sore - okagesama de
The seed of a dandelion scatters in the sky
Tampopo, tampopo – tadano tampopo, tampopo
A windblown weed, a wild flower, watch it fly
Tampopo, tampopo – tadano tampopo, tampopo
Dancing on the wind, spinning to a world beyond the eye
Dancing on wind, new life, new life begins
On this night past and present are one
On this night of Obon, dandelions return
On this night, the old and the young
All the dandelions dance, dance as one
Not a rose or an iris, not a bird of paradise
Not an orchid or a lily, just a simple dandelion
We are simple dandelion
Tadano Tampopo - tadano tampopo…
SOMOS ASIATICOS
music, lyrics - Chris Iijima/Nobuko Miyamoto
Nosotros somos asiaticos
Y nos gusta cantar pa la gente
Hablamos las mismas lengua
Porque luchamos por las mismas cosas
La lengua de libertad
Lyricas de amor
Canciones de la lucha
La musica del pueblo
La lengua de libertad
We are Asians
And we like to sing for the people
We speak the same language
Because we struggle for the same cause
The language of liberty
Lyrics of love
Songs of the struggle
Music of the people
This song was born in 1972, in a liberated zone New York City
Where anyone who had the heart and heard the beat could enter
This song was a victory cry for people who took over empty buildings for poor families
They called us squatters, but aren’t we all squatters here?
This song was a thank you to members of El Comite
Who helped find a gathering place for Asians in their territory
Where we could hear echoes of their congeros and swim the rivers of their struggles
This song came with the help of my roommate, Aida Cuascut
Not only did she help me with my Spanish
She taught me to love cafe Bustello and cook aroz con pollo
In our neighborhood coffee house this song mingled with singers of Nueva Cancion
From Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Chile, Colombia
Their words flew like bullets and music fed the fire of struggle in their homelands
For a moment in time the will of the people reigned here
We crossed invisible borders and dared to create what others couldn’t imagine
And we learned the power of the song
The power of the song was in the struggle that it came from
La lengua de libertad
Lyricos de amor
Canciones de la lucha
La musica del pueblo
Yo para tu gente, tu para la mia Me for your people, you for mine
Podemos hablar juntos We can speak together
Podemos cantar juntos We can sing together
Podemos pelear juntos We can fight together
Siempre juntos Always together
Yo para tu gente, tu para la mia Me for your people, you for mine