Chords for Brother Ali - The Travelers

_ [Eb] _ _ [Ebm] _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [Abm] _ _ [F] _ _ [Ebm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [Abm] _ _ [F] _ _ _
[Ebm] Oh, shackles are heavy on the wrist, stacked like sardines, belly of a ship, [Fm] living your
own piss [Abm] and shit, being [F] seasick, cracked across the back with [Ebm] a thick leather whip,
salt water burned through your wounds, women are starving with babies in their wombs, [Eb] on
your hands [Abm] and knees, trying to cry, God [Fm] please, exhausted, your voice is [Ebm] too weak to speak,
neighbors and strangers are dying beside you, the decaying bodies you're tied [F] to, cling
tight to your [Abm] flight for survival, [F] wonder if your tribe will [Ebm] ever try to find you, arrive
somewhere strange, the air is cold, you can see your breath and your belly [F] close, your
first time [Abm] ever seeing snow, [F] sleeping next to it on [Ebm] a hard dirt floor, ho from KC in
the morning, we can't see at night, you work till your hands bleed white, [F] your native [Abm] language
you can't [F] recite, murdered on [Eb] sight if you try to read or write, when you bend all [Ebm] your
life and can't see the light, it gets painful to stand [F] upright, right?
and your [Abm] eyes bitter
sight of your [F] wife being pulled out your shack and [Ebm] brutalized at night, you only taste joy
when babies are born, which became an occasion to mourn, [F] separated, torn from your [Abm] celebrating
arms, [Fm] then as quickly as they came they were [Ebm] gone, sold away from your farm, this is all
they've known, never heard stories from home, they forget your name, [Abm] the culture from which
you [Fm] came, teaching it'll get you [Ebm] slain, praying to your God'll get you the same, torture to
near death lets you complain, [Fm] no choice left, you [Abm] sing through the pain, [Fm] and pray that your
suffering wasn't [Ebm] in vain, end of your chain, end of your life, your grandchildren born with
no end in sight, [Eb] so you muster up all of your might, [F] and your last breath comes out, [Eb] this
is [Gb] actually true, [Eb] now stop and [N] imagine that's you, [F] now stop [Abm] imagining, unravel the [F] truth,
and ask just who is [Ebm] it happening to, everything that the passenger drew, the driver experienced
too, [F] so if humanity is [Abm] one, then we all get [F] burned when it's hell that we're traveling
[Ebm] through, you're about to save my soul, _ put me back [Ab] together, make [Abm] me whole, [Fm] _ said [Ebm] we don't
know which way to go, _ [Eb] [Ab] take my hand and [C] praise me all [Abm] that I've grown, [Fm] _ _ _
_ [Ebm] trapped in a history
we don't understand, can't remember how [F] this blood got on our hands, [Abm] never been taught
about [F] the ugly past, expecting [Ebm] God not to punish man, our ancestors bought us control,
we realize now that the cost was [F] our soul, got me [Abm] feeling like an empty [F] shell, prison
guard that inherited a [Eb] cell, I'm [Ebm] desperate to find my place, emptiness lies behind my
[F] face, flowers only [Abm] die in a vase, [F] our heart only dies encased in a lie we [Ebm] call race, I
hate a song but I can't sing along, something's really wrong, I can't put my [F] finger on, [Abm] terrified
to admit it's [F] wrong, cause I'm hiding in [Ebm] the ruins of a legacy that still lives on, our
identity is hinged upon a miserable myth we've been [F] taught since we're born, [Abm] until we mend
what was [F] torn, the debtor's sin lingers [Ebm] long after the victim's moans, this is actually
true, now stop and imagine that's you, now stop [Abm] imagining, unravel the truth, and ask
[F] just who is it happening [Ebm] to, everything that the passenger do, the driver experience too,
so if humanity is [F] one then we all get burned when it's hell that we're traveling [Ebm] through
you got to save my soul, _ put me back [C] together, make [Abm] me whole, [Fm] _ [F] said we don't [Eb] know which way
[Ebm] to go, _ take my hand and place me on [Abm] that road, [Fm] _ _
[Ebm] you got to save my soul, _ put me back together,
make [Abm] me whole, [F] _ [Ebm] said we don't know which way to go, _ take my hand and [Eb] place me on that road
[F] _ _ [Db] _ _ [Ebm] _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ [Eb] _ _
_ [Fm] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Ebm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Fm] _ _ [Abm] _ _ [Fm] _ _ [Bb] _
_ [Ebm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Fm] _ _ [Abm] _ _ [Fm] _ _ _
[Ebm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ [Abm] _ _ _ _ _