Digging up the Bones

[WarpCanada]

I live in the north-central Okanagan, in British Columbia, Canada.  Like many countries, the european settler population drove out the indigenous peoples of Canada, took the land in many cases without even a treaty ever being signed, and if anyone dared stand their ground we wiped them out.    The legacy of that remains a wound on all our consciences, I think, as Canadians. This song is in honor of the little children, some as young as three years old, recently discovered in a mass grave near a former "Residential School" in Kamloops british columbia, less than an hour from where I live, by car, from the era when we had stopped trying to actually kill first nations people, and were instead trying to force them to assimilate to our "superior" culture.  Sometimes that "cultural genocide" turned into neglect, and death for many of these children.  The children of the "60s scoop" were forcibly removed from their parents homes and sent to these schools, the last of which closed in the late 1990s.   Many survived.  Many did not.

From my fellow "white" Canadian friends, sometimes I hear, "why can't they just get over it?".  Uh.  No words for that question. But I do have this song as my reply.

Acoustic Nylon string guitar, and Arturia Pigments synth, vocals into an inexpensive large element condensor mic (Neewer NW-700) which also recorded the guitar. I think for $50 or so, this mic sounds good.

melancholy sunshine
perfunctory rain
just coz you're here today...
doesn't mean that
anything will ever be the same

got some bad news today
ya ain't that the way
everything falls, falls apart.

thinking about the children
who never got to live
thinking about the gifts
that they never got to give
wishing that we
had all done better

i'm asking myself
what do i believe in?

and is something that you believe is true
a good reason for killing?
i don't think that's so.

can't we just learn to live and let live
can't we learn to forgive?
although we're still digging up the bones.

tell me what should i believe in?

[DarrenG / The Devil's Toupee]

Its disgusting what the human race has done to each other through history..it seems we never learn. Its truly terrible what happened there.
Thus is a beautifully written lyric and the way you sing it gives it real thought provoking sentiment. Lovely music too, nice acoustic and the synth pads sound great and add to the vocals a treat. 

Darren

[StephenM]

I was wondering where you have been Warren!  Good to hear something from you...glad you are ok.  Big questions you ask...
the music is lovely and soothing for a difficult subject.  Sadly genocide still happens today, sanctioned by governments in parts of Africa.  We humans seem to justify all sorts of bad behavior. 
As a parent nothing brings me more pleasure than when my children love each other and get along. 
looking forward to hearing more from you in the future!

[des0free]

Great writing, performance and production!  The vocal is especially good.  Dark and haunting, yet gentle sounding

[WarpCanada]

Thanks everybody.  I had been going through a two or three month "low period" emotionally, and this was my first songwriting effort now that I'm in a brighter place. It's funny that it took sad news to bring a song out. 

The thing is, I'm actually less sad and less unhappy, after my creative "juices" started to move again. I've been playing a lot of guitar during that "writing dry spell" and I have a lot of strong emotional guitar material saved up on my Boss BR waiting for lyrics...

The thing is I believe in my fellow human beings, even despite the sad weight of our history,  there are amazing things happening, and there are amazing human beings out there.   It's the folks trying to make art, and beauty and to be kind to each other that inspire me. 

This is a kind and welcoming community and y'all are something I'm grateful for.

[Hilary]

Hello Warren - your kindness and intelligence shine through on this and I really like the guitar work too.

We are still digging up the bones aren't we.

I'm sorry you have been in a "low patch" and am glad you are on the way out of it now.

This is a special song, be proud.

[Ray Brookes]

A very moving and emotive song, Warren presented appropriately/perfectly considering the subject matter.

So many terrible events from our past that they defy reason, not least of all during European colonisation and so called civilisation of indigenous peoples. Similar events have transpired here in Australia since European settlement.

[StephenM]

Thanks everybody.  I had been going through a two or three month "low period" emotionally, and this was my first songwriting effort now that I'm in a brighter place. It's funny that it took sad news to bring a song out. 

The thing is, I'm actually less sad and less unhappy, after my creative "juices" started to move again. I've been playing a lot of guitar during that "writing dry spell" and I have a lot of strong emotional guitar material saved up on my Boss BR waiting for lyrics...

The thing is I believe in my fellow human beings, even despite the sad weight of our history,  there are amazing things happening, and there are amazing human beings out there.   It's the folks trying to make art, and beauty and to be kind to each other that inspire me. 

This is a kind and welcoming community and y'all are something I'm grateful for.

cool hearing Candadiens saying y'all!!!!   yee haw!!!

[Kenneth]

So we live very close to each other...I'm just south of you.

I am wearing orange all week in honour of the children.
I am glad you are back to creating music.

[Mike_S]

Heavy stuff indeed. Plenty of similar terrible events here in Ireland too. The global shame is that we really never do learn... it just seems to shift from one place to another. A great piece of music. Great choices of instruments. That acoustic guitar shines against the synths. Super stuff.

Mike