Rise & Shine - Bunny Wailer

This is the cry of a people

Who were robbed and raped from their homeland

And their loved ones.

A people stripped of their culture,

Their dignity, their liberty and their rigths

And by the cruel and presumptuos

Hands of the colonial and imperialistics slavers

Were cargoed into the west,

Where for over 400 years they have toiled and laboured,

And with their blood, their sweat, them tears and hands

They have built the great city of Babylon,

Only to be paid with the wages of the taskmaster’s

Whip,

Torture and death.

Oh yea yea!

This is my history!

Oh yea yea yes!

Oh!

We’ve been down in the valley much too long.

We’ve been down in captivity oh so long.

We’ve been down in humillity much too long.

We’ve been down in slavery oh so long.

But we’re gonna rise and shine!

And win our liberation,

For now is the time

When all nations must be free.

So rise and shine!

Restore your strength and power,

Waste no more time,

Remember your history.

We’ve been down in a sufferation much too long.

We’ve been down in a condemnation oh so long.

We’ve been down in a segregation much too long.

We’ve been down in humilliation oh so long.

But we’re gonna rise!

As the morning sun that surrounds you,

It’s international morality time,

Where mankind must be born anew.

So rise and shine!

For the sake of the younger generations,

Putting hearts and minds,

To brotherhood and unity.

Oh yea yea yea yea yes!

Remember the slavemaster’s ship!

Remember the taskmaster’s whip!

Oh yea!

We’ve been down in the valley much too long.

We’ve been down in captivity oh so long.

We’ve been down in slavery much too long.

We’ve been down in humillity oh so long.

But we’re gonna rise and shine!

And win our liberation,

For now is the time

When all nations must be free.

Rise and shine!

Restore your strength and power,

Waste no more time,

Remember your history.

Yes we’re gonna rise and shine!