From the recording On a High Hill
Anna Fritz - cello and vocals
Produced by Ji Tanzer.
Recorded and mixed by John Askew at Scenic Burrows in Portland, OR.
Mastered by Bruce Winter at The Pantry, Norfolk, CT.
All songs written and arranged by Anna Fritz c2016 except:
Ella's Song by Bernice Johnson Reagon (Workshop Productions Inc / Songtalk Publishing)
Paradise by John Prine (WB Music Corp. / Walden Music, Inc.)
Balm in Gilead - Traditional / Anna Fritz
On a High Hill draws from "May the Circle Be Unbroken" by Habershon/Gabriel
Lyrics
By the River
by Anna Fritz
chorus:
Meet me by the river
where they won’t hear our voices.
Lately there’s been trouble
and we can’t be too careful.
Your people came here begging.
We offered you a home.
I took you in to my own bed,
I loved you as my own.
CHORUS
I heard them on their horses,
riding in the stream.
They lay two women down with hatchets
in a bloody nightmare dream.
CHORUS
This forest is my body,
the raging stream my blood.
You can drag me off or kill me dead
but I belong to this here mud.
CHORUS
Your people took my elders,
my sisters and my child.
If you have any love left for me
you’ll let them all run wild.
CHORUS
outro:
This land is my only home.
My body, of sand and stone.
I eat from the fertile ground.
The ground eats when I lay me down. X2