Get all 19 Matt Epp releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of When The Day Is Done, Rolling Wave, Touch Yourself, Treehouse, Ring Them Bells, Made For Love, You Were Chosen To Be Here, Indian Song, and 11 more.
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You were chosen to be here
You were chosen to hear this
You were chosen to build
something that will last forever
And the sky is yellow
The Beggar has spoken
Holding both hands open
Did the Prophets’ words mean nothing?
Hey-yah, Hey-yah We live in a sacred time, together
Hey-yah, Hey-yah Writing the story of our lives, and
Hey-yah, Hey-yah It’s hard to believe, and it’s hard to feel it
You wouldn’t believe how much you’re needed
You were chosen to be here
There are millions working
No we’re not alone
There are beautiful children
who will have a future and a home
If you build a home
You do it one step at a time
May be a drop in the ocean, but
Just like water, people rise
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2. |
Keep It In The Ground
03:42
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Wake up early one morning to the sound of flapping wings
Birds are gonna sing a song for you
Thundering in the ground, it makes an eerie sound
You know they're coming down for you
And fires are burning nicely, they’re blocking out the sun
Go and grab your gun, like you do
Should have kept it in the ground
Ah, in the ground
Deers are running frightened, fire falling off their backs
Go ahead and take a look back at what you’ve done
And the sky is orange and yellow as the lightning strikes the ground
Even though you know you’re found, what shall you do?
Should have kept it in the ground
Should have kept it in the ground
Ah, in the ground
You’re hiding inside the church, trying not to make a sound
Your money can’t save you now, no no no
And do you hear the pecking, as they’re knocking at your door
You’re gouging through the floor, look at you
Should have kept it in the ground
You should have kept it in the ground, you should have kept it in the ground
Should have kept it in the ground
You should have kept it in the ground, you should have kept it in the ground
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3. |
Water & Love
03:25
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Next time that you can
lower down your hand
into the river, and let the memories flow past
Life is always changing shape
But whatever form it wants to take
It’s the water that holds the memories that last
Listen to the Earth speak, listen to her heart beat
When you’re dancing, your heart opens wide
It’s easy to see
It’s not us and them, it’s you and me
All life is made of water and love
It rains down, we rise up
Swimming in the hole we dug
While the babies are building castles on the sand
Well it’s the water that holds the love
Like the spirit is in the blood
The present is the future in the past
Chorus
We have relations with tails
And feathers and scales
The swimmers, and the crawlers, and the birds
You could stop the song, or cut the sound
but what goes around, it comes around
The voices of all creation, they will be heard
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4. |
I Was Planted
03:48
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Human dignity
and the right to be
on Mother Earth
Living in community
with our responsibility
to each other first
I was planted and I grew
The winds of change grow stronger roots
My friend, we’re going to see it through
Will you stand with me, as I stand with you
Our planet’s right to life
Is under the knife
It’s under attack
And they try to divide us
They don’t know what’s inside us
And we’re not turning back - we’re not turning back
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5. |
Everything We Need
03:51
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Out here in the trees
with these flowers at our feet
and the branches waving free
they say hello, we say aanii
like the mushrooms on the ground
communicate without a sound
oh we forage and we’ve found
that there’s enough to go around
we can give our best
why don’t you take your rest
we can live with less
we have everything we need
because we have each other
everything we need
and if we work together
live right with the earth
it’s right there in the dirt
and if love will be our seed
and if we give it water
it will grow up like a tree
taller than the others
look around and you will see
we have everything we need
first we ask the land
then we build our home with our two hands
we’ll carry water from the lake
we’ll give back when we take
there’s a place for you and me
we can grow the food we eat
we have everything we need
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6. |
Indian Song
03:38
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You see me on the corner
Sitting on twenty-second street
Do you have a couple quarters
It’ll make you feel so complete
As I sit on my cardboard box and the cold wind blows
I keep on hearing voices
They’re yapping all day long
I wish they’d stop and listen
And just sing my favourite songs
Some good old fashioned pow wow Indian songs
Mother I need you to know that I miss you
Father I wonder if you’re still there
My medication’s on vacation
And my mind it keeps on racing
Leaving me nowhere to go
I need my Indian songs
*Isaac chants*
“Ah, one day, a giant thunderbird is going to come down and pick me up and take me back to my homelands. And once I’m there, I’m gonna start searching for that sacred medicine, and that sacred medicine is gonna search for me. And once we are united, we’re gonna cast this all across the Earth for you and your people, so that you too can be well, so that you too can be healed.”
*Isaac chants*
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7. |
Someone Like Me
03:30
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I don’t know your name
You can say the same
But you sit a few minutes with me
You ask about my day
Though it’s written on my face
Could be nothing to say
But you don’t walk away
That’s something I need
Like shoes on my feet
When you offer your hand
I know you don’t see
The line that they drew
That separates someone like you
From someone like me
Could you walk a mile
In my shoes and smile
My way up and out is hard to see
But if you pass me by
If you don’t even try
You’re lost in a dream
Can’t see the human in me
Chorus
Oh what will it take for me to go without so that somebody else can have a little
And what will it take for you to give a hand, a bed, a meal, a place, a friend
That’s something I need
Like shoes on my feet
When you offer your hand
I know you don’t see
The line that they drew
That separates someone like you
From someone like me
Out on the street
You offer your hand
I know you don’t see
The line that they drew
That separates someone like you
From someone like me
Someone like you, and someone like me
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8. |
Kindness
03:42
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The only thing that will save us now is kindness
(repeated)
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9. |
Gichi Mnido Nagamon
03:36
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Matt Epp Ontario
Award-winning songwriter Matt Epp is the quintessential troubadour. Born in the Canadian prairies, he has won the admiration and hearts of an audience that spans the globe.
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