Keep On Keeping On ft. Tanaya Winder Lyrics

Back at Sac and Fox

Agency boarding school

Jim was, faced with the prospect

Of having to mourn the news

Of his, twin brother Charlie

Contracting a dangerous illness

A ten year old made to feel this

Mind shackled he faced the realness

Typhoid contaminated food

Or water was the problem

Charlie got it then Pneumonia

Also wrought upon him

Powerless the GOAT

Had to watch his brother fade

Little did he know his brothers

Change would make him great

Told his children decades later

Charlie was his strength

Inspired him surpassing

Competition in his name

It's like he had his brother's

Spirit flowing through his veins

With him he had the power

To destroy this Nation's chains

Jim distrusted boarding schools

Again he ran away

Hiram whooped him but not even that

Would make him go back

He never did fully recover

From his death just know that

At times when family tried to get close

He was known to pull back

A Bright Path can only last

When you dig deep inside

Push through the pain and hurt

That can eat you alive

Don't lose your stride or grip

Your fighting for the will

To keep on, keeping on

And on and on

Gotta keep on

Keeping, keeping

Hiram finally grew tired

Of whooping son

So he retired and sent

Jim off in the sun

So far away he thought the baby

Goat would never run home

Few hundred miles to Haskell

There's little chance he could roam

The Captain of Haskell's team

Brought a slim Jim under his wing

And gifted him his first football

He fell in love with the thing

This fella's name was Chauncey

Archiquette a legend himself

Invented the zone in basketball

It's inventor he helped

I first got acquainted with Jim

At Haskell Institute, we were

Twelve years of age. Jim stated to me

That while he was there, he received

A letter one day, from home telling

Him that his father was quite ill and

Jim, for that reason, wanted to

Request leave from the school to

Visit his father in the Sac and Fox

Country. But his request to go and

See his father was denied by the

School authorities, so Jim took

French leave and went home to

See his father

Jim was frail and young

When his athletic trail begun

An early teen he'd run three

Hundred miles until he'd come

To his family's home

Via train and soles of feet

Soul was deep, so to speak

Scared his dad was home deceased

Cause he heard he fell ill

He was actually still well

Didn't let little Jim stay

Though he was homesick for real

Fate would have it momma died

Birthing her 11th child

After Jim had left again

Upon return he probably cried

A Bright Path can only last

When you dig deep inside

Push through the pain and hurt

That can eat you alive

Don't lose your stride or grip

Your fighting for the will

To keep on, keeping on

And on and on

Gotta keep on

Keeping, keeping

Could stallion manhandle

Adolescent on the road

To the Texas panhandle

Taming horses was the goal

I never met a wild one

I couldn't saddle and ride

That's one achievement from my

Boyhood that I'll always hold proud

To top it off he returned

To pops with a team of 'em

A lot of crops were homegrown

To chop he's the cream of 'em

Attended Garden Grove School

And became a star player

Colonizers from Carlisle

Came into town later

Jim's resilience was brilliant

Amidst the illness he'd kill it

He was passing his classes

While feeling all of these feelings

On top of that he was fearless the

Neighbors bull was just reeling

So all his friends was just peeling

But he took aim and he pierced it

With a bow and arrow

Like he's a native hero

Hiram paid Dinero to the

Neighbor to be fair though

Proud of Jim's courage still

Demanded he be careful

Like father like son

Bad to the bone and the marrow

A Bright Path can only last

When you dig deep inside

Push through the pain and hurt

That can eat you alive

Don't lose your stride or grip

Your fighting for the will

To keep on, keeping on

And on and on