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Momma Nature (ft. Dasan Ahanu)

from This is Our Environment by Joseph Herbst

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lyrics

If Momma said be in by the time the streetlights came on,
We did it
If Momma said clean up your room,
We did it
If Momma said go outside and play,
We did it
If she’d say stay outta grown folx business,
We got quiet then said “Yes ma’am”
If Momma said say your prayers before bed,
We did it
Then said “Amen”
If she spoke manners
We straightened up and said “Thank you”
This is a reciprocal relationship
She give
We love back
She say
We listen
She work
We give thanks
Come to understand what work is
Then tell me
Why do we treat this world so disposable
Ain’t it disrespectful when dust settles
Shouldn’t we be in place to enjoy what the night brings
Not be in practice to mistreat what Momma gave
Shouldn’t we keep our communities clean
Urban sprawl
Environmental waste
Landfills, polluted air, trash covered streets
Shouldn’t we preserve our lands,
Protect our parks,
Make sure our rivers and lakes are chemical free
We clear land to build buildings to sit in all day
Aren’t we supposed to be able to go out and play
Isn’t an indulgent pretentiousness to interfere with the work those forests do?
Those flower beds
Those fields
Ain’t that grown folx business
Momma have we lost our way
I mean
Ain’t each prayer a prelude to a rising dawn
Each morning we wake up is an amen
And is it blasphemous to interrupt that greenhouse effect
Pretend global warming doesn’t exist
Where are our manners
We build to destroy
That ain’t a thank you
We should build and preserve
But instead we talking fossil fuels
Giving oil companies the right to dismantle Indigenous preserves
Our presence on this Earth is a reciprocal relationship
She gives
We love back
She say
We listen
She work
We give thanks
Come to understand what work is
I mean
I don’t know, Momma
I can’t explain it, Momma
I know you taught us better, Momma
Momma, this ain’t our nature
We have to do better
For you

credits

from This is Our Environment, released January 22, 2021

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Joseph Herbst New York, New York

Composer, arranger, copyist, and saxophonist Joseph Herbst uses music as a medium for storytelling, often as part of collaborative projects, in order to push ourselves to see the world in different ways while strengthening our sense of community.

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