Roots

Roots

words & music by Mike Buchman
© 2010

Grandpa never talked much of the place where he’d come from
Silence swallowed up his past, I only know he’d run
I’m from Dallas Street was all he’d say, We’re American today
I guess that was kind of true since the soldiers took his town away

(Chorus)
Yeah it was some no man’s land that traded hands
Between Russia and Germany
And you know that’s about as far as I can
Draw the roots back out of me

Just a kid when they left for a country across the sea
Fleeing the threat coming down, the tide of history
They carried what they could, the clothes on their back, and when they got to our shore
They pieced together a new life, never looked back no more

Chorus

There’s waves of people come here, from all parts of the world
Thru Ellis Island, the Rio Grande, on anything that can bear a soul
Most of us weren’t born here, when we follow our roots back
This county’s been the land of the free, we got to make that last

Chorus

Yeah, I got no grasp of history, my stories are all smudged out
But I got this ache inside of me from trying to figure them out
I’m blessed I guess, at least for now, I don’t have to run
But I wish I had my stories to teach my little ones

Chorus

Yeah it was some no man’s land that traded hands
Between Russia and Germany
And you know that’s about as far as I can
Draw the roots back out of me