Jeannie Lewis - "Feathers, Donna, Wing Clippers" (1973)
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MusicTranscript
00:30On a wagon, bound for market, there's a calf with a mournful eye
00:47High above him, there's a swallow, winging swiftly through the sky
00:56How the winds are laughing, they laugh with all their might
01:04Laugh and laugh the whole day through, and call for summer's night
01:13Dona, dona, dona, dona
01:32Stop complaining, said the farmer, who told you a calf to be
01:42Why don't you have wings to fly with, like the swallows so proud and free?
01:50Oh, the winds are laughing, they laugh with all their might.
01:59Laugh and laugh the whole day through, and half the summer's night.
02:07Dona, dona, dona, dona. Dona, dona, dona, don't.
02:16Dona, dona, dona, dona. Dona, dona, dona, don't.
02:26Carves are easily bound and slaughtered, never knowing the reason why.
02:36But whoever treasures freedom like the swallow has learned to fly.
02:44Oh, the winds are laughing, they laugh with all their might.
02:53Laugh and laugh the whole day through, and half the summer's night.
03:01Dona, dona, dona, dona. Dona, dona, dona, don't.
03:10Dona, dona, dona, dona. Dona, dona, dona, don't.
03:19Dona, dona, dona, dona. Dona, dona, dona, don't.
03:29But whoever treasures freedom like the swallow has learned to fly.
03:44They clipped my wing, they clipped my wing, they clipped my wing.
03:54Just when I was getting to make it off the ground, see, clipped wing.
04:02Touch with your eyes, see with your feet, mold with your will.
04:10So for a while you'll have to fly on other wings, to soar and swoop with different sounds.
04:16Then, as the new wings grow, you'll learn to smash all the wing clippers,
04:22and to break through all their blocks and barriers.