Legend of the Warrior.....

I first heard this song a couple of years ago on WVXU, a local NPR station. It's a cross-cultural fusion, on which Joseph Fire Crow (on Native American flute), is backed by rock band instruments (piano, synth, bass, electric guitar, drums). The grandfather's spoken words, from The Lakota Way by Joseph Marshall III, are full of wisdom.

I found a copy of this on Tribal Legends, a compilation released by EarthBeat! records in 2002.

I find this song electrifying. So much so that I bought the CD for this one song. I think it's going to get a lot of play on the jukebox.


Legend of the Warrior / Keep Going
Joseph Fire Crow and Joseph Marshall III
2001

The young Lakota asked his grandfather why life had to be so difficult sometimes.
This was the old man's reply.

Grandfather says this:
In life, there is sadness as well as joy.
Losing as well as winning.
Falling as well as standing.
Hunger as well as plenty.
Bad as well as good.

Grandfather does not say this to make you despair,
but to teach you reality.
To teach you that life is a journey sometimes walked in light,
sometimes in shadow.

Grandfather says this: You did not ask to be born, but you are here.
You have weaknesses as well as strengths.
You have both because in life, there are two of everything.
Within you is the will to win, as well as the willingness to lose.
The heart to feel compassion, as well as the smallness to be arrogant.
Within you is the way to face life, as well as the fear to turn away from it.

( (continued) )