Between 1995 and 2008 I lived and worked as an outreach coordinator with the Ye’kuana, and subsequently, the Piaroa peoples of the Venezuelan Amazon. Impossible to qualify and quantify how much I learned, experienced and subsequently changed. Nor how much I owe them. This song and the album in its near entirety are my modest attempt at ‘Thank You’. The lyrics here are as incomprehensible as life itself, but please go with it, because in the end maybe the shamans are right. In our desperate attempt to exert some sort of control over the chaos, treachery and murder which is our Universe, we might as well just get hammererd and speak in tongues... A nod here to the entire Rodriguez clan, Eloy and Helena, The Raggis, the Michelangelis.... my students... And Werner Herzog. Of course. NB: So’to, in the Ye’kuana language, means ‘people’.
lyrics
Tall man, you take the short man
You take his wisdom, you take his homeland
You take it all...
Because when all fell out the floor fell in, the traffic lights and the urban din...
Into the jungle with a matchbox and a plan...
And yes I can...
Tall grass, I see the serpent
Its light was golden, Its life had fallen - Was I scared?
Because when all fell out, the doors collapsed, the ceiling lights, the broken glass...
Into the jungle with a matchbox and a grin...
Because the full way back is the full way in
The fleeting life, the life within
Beneath a canopy of milk and ink and fire ...
And yes we can
Tall man, you take the short man
You take his river, you take his mind off everything
Now I sing in tongues and I sing the past
The End of all the life that’s passed
Into the jungle with a matchbox and my plan...
Because the man who kills is the one who leaps
The one with spots, the one with teeth
Beneath a moon of virgin blood and razor eyes...
And yes we can...
Da da da, Da da da....
Now I sing in tongues and I sing the dead
The life of all, this little kid
Into the jungle with a matchbox and a plan
And yes I did !
credits
from Modern Folk,
released June 12, 2015
SO’TO
3:10
Words: David Rosane
Music: David Rosane, with Lucie Rouits and Stéphanie Le Boulluec
Before becoming a full-time singer-songwriter, Dave had a career in Ecology and humanitarian work. He toiled in the Amazon
for 10 years conducting research and teaching with Cornell University, including working as an outreach coordinator with the Ye’kuana tribe. He then moved to New York City as an environmental and social justice advocate in the years building up to the Occupy Movement....more
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