GARRETT, Peter

Beds Are Burning

Out where the river broke
The bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
Steam in forty five degrees

The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share

The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning
How do we sleep while our beds are burning

Four wheels scare the cockatoos
From Kintore East to Yuendemu
The western desert lives and breathes
In forty five degrees

The Dead Heart

We don't serve your country

Don't serve your king

Know your custom, don't speak your tongue

White man came took everyone

We don't serve your country

We don't serve your king

White man listen to the songs we sing

White man came took everything

We carry in our hearts the true country

And that cannot be stolen

We follow in the steps of our ancestry

And that cannot be broken

We don't serve your country

We don't serve your king

Know your custom don't speak your tongue

White man came took everyone

We don't need protection

Don't need your hand

Keep your promise on where we stand

We will listen, we'll understand

We carry in our hearts the true country

And that cannot be stolen

We follow in the steps of our ancestry

And that cannot be broken

We carry in our hearts the true country

And that cannot be stolen

We follow in the steps of our ancestry

And that cannot be broken

Mining companies, pastoral companies

Uranium companies, collected companies

Got more right than people

Got more say than people

Forty thousand years can make a difference to the state of things

The dead heart

The dead heart lives here

Forgotten Years

Few of the sins of the father, are visited upon the son

Hearts have been hard, our hands have been clenched in a fist too long

Our sons need never be soldiers, our daughters will never need guns

These are the years between

These are the years that were hard fought and won

Contracts torn at the edges, old signatures stained with tears

Seasons of war and peace, these should not be forgotten years

Still it aches like tetanus, it reeks of politics

How many dreams remain? This is a feeling too strong to contain

The hardest years, the darkest years, the roarin' years, the fallen years

These should not be forgotten years

The hardest years, the wildest years, the desperate and divided years

We will remember, these should not be forgotten years

Our shoreline was never invaded, our country was never in flames

This is the calm we breathe, this is a feeling too strong to contain

Still it aches like tetanus, it reeks of politics

Signatures stained with tears, who can remember

We've got to remember

The hardest years, the darkest years, the roarin' years, the fallen years

These should not be forgotten years

The hardest years, the wildest years, the desperate and divided years

We will remember, these should not be forgotten years

The hardest years, the darkest years, the roarin' years, the fallen years

These should not be forgotten years

The hardest years, the wildest years, the desperate and divided years

We will remember, these should not be forgotten years

The hardest Forsaking aching breaking years, the time and tested heartbreak years

These should not be forgotten years

The blinded years, the binded years, the desperate and divided years

These should not be forgotten years, remember