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The Clearing of the Land

from August 2023 Bandcamp EP by Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

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about

A story of plantation/colonization that I wrote and sent very quickly for a benefit comp (bandtogether.bandcamp.com/album/band-together-a-benefit-for-ukraine) my friend, Janis Chakars, put together to aid an organization in Ukraine, called Razom (www.razomforukraine.org). I did some remixing and mastering to make it available it here, as well; in part because, it being Celtic in flavor, I thought it fit with a Big Country cover, but also because I want to be playing it live soon, and hope you'll be familiar with it (and some of the new songs from other recent EPs), by the time we get on stage next.

lyrics

THE CLEARING OF THE LAND

Though they didn’t come at once
Oh, they all brought sporting guns
And their own police and army came in with them
On our roads, their horses trod
Still, they needed to be shod
So they hired us to feed and breed and smith them

And some of us on seeing our cousins stung
Were all too quick to scrabble up that bottom ladder rung
And we learned our lessons wrong behind their hedge
And the first mistake was giving them the space to drive the wedge

Then they turned their language loose
To ennoble the abuse
And their papers called a people, now, a problem
Just the word would give them cause
To enforce their penal laws
So they could start accusing us of trying to rob them

And some of us refused to see they’d planned
To kill us all or drive us year by year off of the land
And in exile we would wallow in our shame
While in all our halls they’d sing our songs and steal our heroes’ claims and loved ones’ names

Satellites and TV towers program fealty to the powers
They get paid for the charade that they’re projecting
And when our patience starts to sour
Years to months, and days to hours
In the end, friend, really what were you expecting
And who is it you want to be protecting

credits

from August 2023 Bandcamp EP, released August 4, 2023
Played, recorded, mixed, and "mastered," by Ted Leo

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Ted Leo & The Pharmacists Bloomfield, New Jersey

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