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Originally written in 1991 and recorded at Dynamic Recorders at 3CR, another version of this was recorded in 2010 with updated lyrics. The updated version is available on the album "Legacy"

lyrics

Legacy (1991 version)
© Penelope Swales 1991

I wake into the morning,
I find no joy in waking
Coz with waking comes remembrance
With remembrance, recognition
Recognition, comprehension
Comprehension, obligation
in the frailness of the morning
To find the strength to shift a nation, Ohh

And what will be my legacy?
One of the luckiest people in the world

Young and free, young and healthy,
Young and wealthy, young and white
Our poorest are still among the affluent
Running water, food and shelter
Can be yours without a fight
Living in the Lucky Country
By some strange twist of fate

The suffering of millions
Is too big to get a grip on
If defies all explanation
It’s beyond our comprehension
But I reflect on my mortality
Reflect on its finality
I have it on authority
That my own death is a certainty, And

What will have been my legacy?
One of the few with the time to change the world

Young and free, young and healthy,
Young and wealthy, young and white
Our poorest are still among the affluent
While our brothers and our sisters shiver huddled in their tents
Drinking water tainted with their excrement

So I went into the street
Yes we were voting with our feet
Surprised to see how quickly
It cost us all our respectability
Being rough-housed by policemen
Give you some indication
Just a little comprehension
Of life beneath oppression, and

People on their lunchbreak say
“What those wierdos bitching ‘bout today?”
And the ask me “Just what do you think you’re doing with your life?
You should straighten up and realise your potential
Young and free, young and healthy,
Young and wealthy, young and white
You should be thinking of your future, my girl!”

The machinery of nations
Offers up no explanations
About why its machinations
Must be oiled with exploitation
While politicians ramble,
Words like security, economy
Equality, leave it to me
Stay meshed in your complacency, and

What will have been our legacy?
Riding bloated on the back of the great pacific bully
While the Penan, Irian Jayan, Bouganvillian, Timorese
Have their homes and lands destroyed to feed our factories
Lose their culture, lose their courage
And are beaten to their knees
Silenced by fear for their families

Young and healthy, young and wealthy,
Young and free and young and white
Our poorest are still among the affluent
Running water, food and shelter
Can be yours without a fight
Living in the Lucky Country
By some strange twist of fate

While Palestinians, Panamanians
South Africans, Burmese
And out own home-grown oppressed,
The Aborigines
And the refugees of Kurdistan
Lie huddled in their tents
Drinking water tainted with our excrement

credits

from Between Light and Dark, released September 11, 1993
Penelope Swales - vocals, guitar
Trish Anderson - bass

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Penelope Swales Boolarra, Australia

Penelope Swales has been articulating the human condition with passion and humour for 30+ years. She sings about politics, love, friendship, the unbreakable bond between us and dogs and the impact of the Internet on society. She won the 2019 Alistair Hulett Songs for Social Justice Award with “Cambridge Analytica”. “The Ides of March in Christchurch" was short-listed for the same award in 2020. ... more

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