Larry Long will be performing in Fredrikstad, Norway at a gathering with Rigoberta Menchú. Rigoberta Menchu received the Nobel Peace Prize for dedicating her life to publicizing the rights of Guatemala’s indigenous feminists during and after the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996), and to promoting indigenous rights in the country. Other performances between September 3- 11 will include a concert at the International Meeting Point and a cultural-diversity workshop with students at Haugeåsen Middle School. Larry will be singing My Rainbow Race in honor of Pete Seeger at each event. My Rainbow Race by Pete Seeger was sung by over forty-thousand people in Norway at a “rose rally” in response to the murder of seventy-seven innocent people by a far-right extremist in Norway on July 22, 2011. These performances coincide with the 450th Anniversary of the founding of Fredrikstad in 1567.
My Rainbow Race
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I’ll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It’s too soon to die.
Some folks want to be like an ostrich,
Bury their heads in the sand.
Some hope that plastic dreams
Can unclench all those greedy hands.
Some hope to take the easy way:
Poisons, bombs. They think we need ’em.
Don’t you know you can’t kill all the unbelievers?
There’s no shortcut to freedom.
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I’ll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It’s too soon to die.
Go tell, go tell all the little children.
Tell all the mothers and fathers too.
Now’s our last chance to learn to share
What’s been given to me and you.
One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I’ll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It’s too soon to die.
WORDS & MUSIC: PETE SEEGER