Lyr Add: The Land Knows You're There (Hinton)

Subject: The Land Knows You're There
From: Brad Reynolds
Date: 25 Jun 98 - 03:36 PM

I am looking for the lyrics to "The Land Knows You're There" - a great song. I can't remember the songwriters name, but I think it is Sam Hinton's sister.

Subject: RE: The Land Knows You're There
From: rich r
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 12:27 AM

Guy Carawan has recorded it on at least 2 albums. I will have to look and see if a lyric sheet is included with the one I have

rich r

Subject: RE: The Land Knows You're There
From: Barbara
Date: 01 Jul 98 - 04:09 AM

And I have it on a Faith Petric tape around here someplace, dang. Maybe if I clean out the trunk of the car...if no one else finds it I can always e-mail Faith... let me look... Barbara

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LAND KNOWS YOU'RE THERE (L Hinton)
From: Barbara
Date: 06 Oct 98 - 02:24 PM

You asked for this a long time back. I finally got it, and then the Mudcat went belly up. So, here, finally, are the words. I'll post the tune next.
Blessings,
Barbara

THE LAND KNOWS YOU'RE THERE
by Leanne Hinton
(changes; Faith Petric on her Womanchild tape)

I know some people who live in the north:
They've lived there since Columbus and many years before.
They live in the wilderness where few men (people) go,
But they say that in that country no man (one) can be alone.

CHORUS: For the land knows you're there.
The land knows you're there,
And the rocks and trees and rivers
Give you friendship and care.

Every rock and tree has its own true name,
And you can tell them that you're coming as you pass through the land.
You never can be lonely, alone though you may seem,
For a tree is like a person and it keeps you company.

You give a happy greeting when you come to a spring,
As if it were a relative or a long-lost friend.
And when you've sat and rested and drunk your fill,
You give the spring a "thank-you" and a fond farewell.

And when you come into a country that you have never known
You bend and touch the soil and you tell it why you've come.
You tell it where you're going, and you tell it where you've been,
For they say that if you're kind to it the land will be your friend.

And when a man (you are) is old, and his (your) life is near its end,
He (You) take(s) a final journey to say farewell to the land.
He (you) tell(s) it not to miss him (you), and he (you) tell(s) it not to mourn,
But to learn to live without him when he is dead and gone.
Faith sings: For the land will go on living when your human form is gone.

Faith does not sing this verse:
This northern land is healthy, on love and care it thrives;
But down in my home town, they forgot the land's alive.
They've poisoned every river, they leveled every hill --
But underneath the concrete, the land is living still.

The Havasupai Indians live in a tributary of Arizona's Grand Canyon. In their daily activities and many special customs, they demonstrate their deep involvement with and concern for the land that nurtures them; in explaining this philosophy to Leanne Hinton, Mrs. Lola Montana used the phrase "The land knows you're there."

The custom of saying a formal farewell to the land when one feels the approach of death is embodies in a Havasupai Medicine Song sung by Mr. Dan Hanna, translated by Ms. Hinton in collaboration with the singer and published in ALCHERINGA, Journal of Ethnopoetics, #3, 1971.

Faith adds: adaptations were primarily to de-sex the song. However, only men do take the final formal journey when ‘life is near its end'.

Subject: RE: The Land Knows You're There
From: rich r
Date: 06 Oct 98 - 10:25 PM

Thanks Barbara, I've wanted the words myself and I forgot all about this threadling. Glad your active memory is more active than mine.

rich r

Subject: RE: The Land Knows You're There
From: GUEST,MichaelGreenman
Date: 04 Nov 02 - 04:11 PM

It's amazing to find this "thread" four years after it was started. I've been singing the song for about 10 years, but had no information on who wrote it, other than the words: "Havasupai Indians" on the page with the words and music. I'm delighted to learn it's origins at last!

Subject: RE: The Land Knows You're There
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 04 Nov 02 - 05:35 PM

Leanne Hinton is Sam's daughter.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: The Land Knows You're There
From: CapriUni
Date: 04 Nov 02 - 06:19 PM

Thank you, Michael Greenman, for reviving this thread... I wasn't around for its first incarnation.

For some wonderful explorations of this philosophy in non-musical form, I recommend two books:

Spell of the Sensuous: Language and Perception in the More-Than-Human-World by David Abram,

And Wisdom of the Mythtellers by Sean Kane.

Subject: RE: The Land Knows You're There
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 04 Nov 02 - 06:48 PM

Thanks for reminding me... This song is really good. I have reached the 'judgemental PC" as well as melted (a little) the frozen demeanor of agressive "capitalists" with it! If you like this as much as I do, try Dana Lyons's "Willie Says"... which comes with "Cows with Guns"...

All the Best, ttr

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Land Knows You're There
From: GUEST,shawney
Date: 23 Apr 04 - 02:34 PM

I heard this song a long time ago, and it
has crossed my mind alot....thanks for the lyrics...
can you tell me the chords?
thanks
shawney

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Land Knows You're There
From: GUEST,marco
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 06:26 AM

I haven't heard or played this song since the 90s. There's an Am and a Dm in it if I remember right. Maybe a D or an A7 or so.

cheers,
marco

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Land Knows You're There (L Hinton)
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Apr 10 - 10:08 PM

So glad to find these lyrics. Just heard this for the first time on www.hober.com (Hober Radio) It was on a CD called "Living Planet" by "Magpie" and expresses the way I have felt since earliest memories. Thanks,
kat

Subject: RE: req/ADD: The Land Knows You're There (L Hinton)
From: GUEST,LaMarca's OM
Date: 30 Apr 10 - 10:12 PM

Larry Hanks recorded it on "Tying A Knot In The Devil's Tail". Great stuff. -- George

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: The Land Knows You're There (Hinton)
From: GUEST,dena clements
Date: 14 Jun 19 - 06:05 PM

I am looking for the chords to the song "the land knows you're name"
can you help me with that. My email is [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Land Knows You're There (Hinton)
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jun 19 - 09:38 AM

what are the Chords for guitar to this song?? I am not good enough to figure them out. thank you for time with this. If you so kindly know please email me at [e-mail]
thank you DEna

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Land Knows You're There (Hinton)
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jun 19 - 09:40 AM

If you have the chords for guitar can you email them. I want to play it. [e-mail]
thank you Dena