Some Things Are Not For Sale (Honoring Melvin Jones)

From the Album Well May The World Go (Smithsonian Folkways)

My name is Melvin Jones
From the Red Lake Reservation
From the Bear Clan
Of the Anishinaabe Nation
The only tongue I knew
Was the tongue I heard spoken
By the elders of my clan
Beside the great fresh-water ocean

They taught me well
Some things are not for sale

On the first night
The brushes started cracking
When a white horse with wings
On the second night came passing
An old man appeared
On the third night of the vision
On the fourth night
A woman spoke and I listened

She taught me well
Some things are not for sale

Standing on the shore
The little people of the water
Danced upon the rocks
Of my great-grandmother and father
The more you give away
The more you are given
The more you trust in God
The more that you keep living

They taught me well
Some things are not for sale

Words & Music by Larry Long
Copyright Larry Long 1996 | BMI

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Well May the World Go is exclusively available on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Larry’s music is available on Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, Bandcamp and select e-tailers