We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Sheep, Sheep, Don't You Know the Road?

from Full Moon in June by Ears to the Ground Family

supported by
kennethrwettig
kennethrwettig thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Limited edition of 200 CDs of Full Moon in June. Cardboard CD jackets printed on a treadle-powered Chandler & Price platen letterpress and stamped with beautiful handmade rubber stamp art and black archival ink. Lyric booklets bound on a sewing machine with colorful thread!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Full Moon in June via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 200 

      $10 USD or more 

     

about

We want to acknowledge outright that this song would not exist were it not for the rich tradition of Black American spirituals. It’s not lost on us that this tradition was birthed by centuries of creative Black resistance against slavery and oppression-- oppression that continues to this day in so many forms. We have been inspired and enriched by this tradition, whose songs illustrate brilliant resistance in the face of oppression and whose lyrics proclaim a deliverance both physical and spiritual!

To the best of our knowledge, this particular song with the same title was popularized by Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers on their 1960s album “Get in Union”. Jones was a gospel and folk singer who traveled extensively in the 1960s with a personal mission of preserving African American culture and history through dance and through song. On a recording of a 1960 interview we found in the online archives of the Association for Cultural Equity, Jones shared that she learned this work song from her grandfather, who was born in Africa and brought to America as a slave. We have also found this song annotated as “Traditional: South Georgia Islands” in songbooks. For our part, we originally learned it in 2014 from Aaron Ulysses Miller, who was traveling with the Carnival de Resistance when the carnival came to Harrisonburg that year. The call and response is part of the traditional song; we added new “call” verses and maintained the chant response.

lyrics

Traditional
As interpreted by Ears to the Ground Family

sheep, sheep, don’t you know the road? || yes, my Lord, I know the road
sheep, sheep, don’t you know the road? || yes, my Lord, I know the road

don’t you know the road cause there’s no price tag?
yes my Lord, I know the road

don’t you know the road cause the stories are told?
the stories are told of forgotten souls

don’t you know the road cause the sword’s beat down?
the sword’s beat down into a plow

don’t you know the road cause we feel the pain?
we hear the pain, we don’t just put it away

don’t you know the road cause there’s life to give?
when we find a chasm, we build a bridge

credits

from Full Moon in June, released December 18, 2020
Dimitris Campos (vocals, classical guitar)
Nichole Barrows (vocals)
Hannah Win (vocals)
Matt Dog (trumpet)
Jake Cochran (percussion)
Jay Beck (djembe)
Tevyn East (shekre)
Joby Morey (cello)

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Ears to the Ground Family image

Ears to the Ground Family Harrisonburg, Virginia

Ears to the Ground Family is a minimal, totally acoustic group with guitar, hand percussion, and banjo. They have a serious focus on lyrical content and sometimes achieve a body-shivering vocal harmony. They make music of resistance to oppression and empire, of communities of hope, and of a faith that sustains us. Our tunes draw from R&B, spiritual, soul, folk/americana, chant, hip-hop, and jazz. ... more

contact / help

Contact Ears to the Ground Family

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Ears to the Ground Family, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now