My Father Said – Lead Sheet
 

Nora Willauer – teaching artist, cello, vocals
 
From the Songs of #MeToo project
 
If I spoke up
After 40 years
Would it take away
What you’ve done
Would my life get any better
If you spent yours in jail
 
My father said
Do you have your legs
Do you have your arms
Then you will be okay
These words have kept me standing
And I’m still here
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Something Was Stolen – Lead Sheet
 

Nora Willauer – teaching artist, cello, vocals
 
This song is part of the Songs of #MeToo project.
 
Grandpa came to visit us
For two weeks I didn’t talk
I was three, I shut down
Mom told me the tale
 
Something was stolen from me
Something happened to me
I feel like I’m chained
I want to be free
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Learning that a long-time friend is gay and has decided to move away, Malcolm Brooks wrestles with losing contact but wanting what’s best for his friend.
 
You finally told me your secret
You told no one for years
You tell me that soon you’ll be moving
There’s nobody like you here
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Cat Bennett, a farmer in upstate New York, reveals her experience of the changing American dream.
 
What do you do when money fails?
For me, wealth was measured in healthy food
And getting to play outside. I never noticed we were poor,
I had cows to hug and trees to climb.
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Before his passing at the age of 96 in early 2017, Lester Tenney recounted this story and inspired this blues song about finding hope during World War II. After Lester heard Will Foote on a sketch recording, he requested a CD so that he could practice singing like Will. He and Will differed in age by 73 years, but something about this song bridged that gap.
 
When we walked by the Filipino’s hut,
We saw the apples and we knew
Americans were sending us a message, saying
Prisoners, we have not forgotten you.
We were Americans on a death walk,
Prisoners of the Japanese.
We didn’t know whether we were going to live
To walk, to walk, to walk another ten feet.
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Li Meiling left her home country of China, but that doesn’t mean she can leave home. Her family has a long reach.
 
I was raised by my grandma.
My parents are always busy.
When I wake in the morning,
They’re already at work.
They sent me to boarding school
Since kindergarten.
My dad used to hit me
And he drinks a lot.
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Grace Tamlyn vacillates between compassion and ambivalence. She raises the question, can you care for someone even if they never care back?
 
The cat was never playful
But I was getting paid
A friend came over
The cat bit my friend
So she didn’t come over again
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Mia Bertelli heads to New York and learns about the city and herself.
 
They told me, “Look up Jimmy’s no. 43”
I could hear the sounds of singing, but the entrance wasn’t clear
Iron bars in front, stairs that just went down
And this fellow smoking a cigarette
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