The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #8548   Message #536862
Posted By: Jim Dixon
28-Aug-01 - 02:48 PM
Thread Name: songs of Victor Jara (1932-1973)
Subject: Lyr Add: IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME^^
Here is the complete text of Holly Near's, "It Could Have Been Me," of which Filipa posted only one verse and the chorus, back at 12-Jan-99 - 07:44 AM. I found it at Holly Near's Art and Activism page:

IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME
(Holly Near, 1974)

CHO: It could have been me, but instead it was you,
So I'll keep doing the work you were doing, as if I were two.
I'll be a student of life, a singer of songs,
A farmer of food, and a righter of wrongs.
It could have been me, but instead it was you,
And it may be me, dear sisters and brothers, before we are through.
But if you can work for freedom,
Freedom, freedom, freedom,
If you can work for freedom, I can too.

Students in Ohio at Kent and Jackson State,
Shot down by a nameless [or "vicious"] fire, one early day in May.
Some people cried out angry, "You should have shot more of them down,"
But you can't bury youth, my friend. Youth grows the whole world 'round.

CHO: ... if you can die for freedom...

The junta broke the fingers on Victor Jara's hands.
They said to the gentle poet, "Play your guitar now if you can."
Victor started singing but they brought his body down.
You can kill that man, but not his song, when it's sung the whole world 'round.

CHO: ... if you can sing for freedom...

A woman in the jungle so many wars away,
She studies late into the night, defends the village in the day.
Although her skin is golden like mine will never be,
Her song is heard, and I know the words, and I'll sing them till she's free.

CHO: ... if you can live for freedom...

Holly Near's live rendition