-
I've been torn from the desert, dragged
-
over the sea. Chain on my body, but my
-
soul's still free. They took away my
-
prayer and they beat me down. Cruel,
-
tried to break my faith, make me forget
-
the golden rule. Oh Lord, I got the
-
blues. The stolen faith blew so deep.
-
Cry to the sky.
-
My ancestor souls to keep.
-
[Music]
-
[Music]
-
My mama's mama prayed in wool of th
-
under midnight sky
-
whispering Allah Akbar when no overseers
-
I by day they called me slave
-
gave me some stranger's name but I
-
remember Moses
-
who stood up to Pharaoh's game
-
they can whip my back Lord and scar me
-
through and through, but they can't
-
strip away these stolen faith blues.
-
You can steal my body.
-
You can burn my courage,
-
silence my tongue,
-
put a cross in my hand. Oh, but listen,
-
there's a light inside me that no lash
-
can kill.
-
is the love of a rasola
-
and I feel it burning still from the
-
land of the love to these carol hues. We
-
still singing ash hard la
-
in these stolen faith blues.
-
They painted the prophets to look
-
nothing like me.
-
Gave some blue eyes on my church fan for
-
me to see. But my heart it knew better.
-
Truth cut clean through the lies. Cuz
-
most I was dark skinned.
-
Had the strength of 10 lions alive.
-
Miam's baby boy Issa was a bronzekinned
-
Jew. So I ain't bowing to no false
-
image. I want the true message too.
-
Devil in the cotton field said forget
-
who you are.
-
Forget who you are.
-
Angels in my heart kept faith storage.
-
Oh yeah.
-
From Timbuktu to Savannah we carried the
-
Nord all along.
-
Now the spirits of my father's got me
-
singing this song.
-
Oh,
-
you can change my name.
-
You can shackle my hands,
-
make me kneel to your king
-
in these strange new lands.
-
But our last 99 names still beat in my
-
breast.
-
And the love of Muham
-
let my soul rest. No, you can't steal my
-
heartbeat or the truth of my music in
-
Christ. La
-
through these stolen faith blues.
-
[Music]
-
Now generations later, I hear grandpa's
-
hidden song,
-
he was huming all when the night were
-
long. I feel a people loves God's
-
beloved smile shining in my dark eyes.
-
That's rush to lo her. The promise they
-
couldn't disguise. From the soil of
-
Medina to the fields where we'd weep, we
-
found our way home. What was sown, we
-
shall reap. I had the stolen faith
-
blues, but those blues made me strong.
-
Turn my pain into prayer and my sorrow
-
to song.
-
Through mercy and patience,
-
I paid my dues.
-
Now I lost grace.
-
Guides me out of these blues.
-
Oh Lord of the worlds, let my children
-
never lose the faith that was stolen
-
in those long ago blues.
-
[Laughter]