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The African Elephant Song

from People Are Animals by Darth Nater

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lyrics

It’s been three long months
Of steady walking
Our feet are bloody stumps
And there’s no sign of stopping
My grandmother leads us
She cleans us and feeds us
She can sense a stampede by the way the soil shakes
She can spot a mamba from 100 feet away

And she keeps marching on
She remembers the paths the ancestors taught her
We will survive this - yes, yes
We will find water

And on that day
The kids will play in the marshy savanna grass
And laugh and splash
Their voices will be joyous horns forged in everlasting brass
The sky will split in half like a stone struck with a staff
And shower us in telegraphs, raindrops of dots and dashes
Wash our scabby hides until our flesh is as immaculate
As a calf that’s just been born, all wide-eyed and miraculous

But for now my grandmother marches on
She remembers the paths the ancestors taught her
We will survive this - yes, yes
We will find water

But I snap back to real life
And realize where I am
I’m recounting the times that we had
That were both awful and sweet
But you hear the tales I tell like they’re someone else’s stories
I hate the way you look at me
I hate this sterile facility
I hate the condescending tone that I constantly appropriate
But what I hate the most is that I can’t wait to escape

And each passing day
A few more memories are purged from your brain
They rise up from your rotting mind and try to fly to heaven
But dementia is a poacher with an AK47
Yes, dementia is a poacher with an AK47

And each passing hour
A few more of your memories are lost forever
Completely devoured
Cause old age is a pride of lions that cannot be overpowered
Old age is a pride of lions that cannot be overpowered
Old age is a pride of lions that cannot be overpowered
Old age is a pride of lions that cannot be overpowered
Old age is a pride of lions that cannot be overpowered

credits

from People Are Animals, released June 24, 2017

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Darth Nater Buffalo, New York

Funny songs. Sad songs. Funny, sad songs.

Darth Nater is the solo project of Buffalo-based musician Nate Noworyta.

Lyrically dense story-songs filled with detailed imagery and characters. Musically rooted in folk and indie rock. ... more

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