Faige Etke (Acoustic, Klezmer Intro) Lyrics

Faige Etke was born in a shtetle

Little village that Jews were forced to live in

Forced in shtetles and then came the ghettos and then extermination camps

זי אנטרונען צו אַמעריקע פֿאַר אַ בעסער לעבן

(zi antrunen tsu Amerike far a beser lebn)

She escaped to America for a better life

Lower east sweatshops

Then on to the prairie

homesteading cowgirls

Lakota land taken it's true

Keeping the sabbath

And raising smart daughters

Old traditions in new lands

And here I am singing to you

It's our job to remember

Our privilege to fight

So that others can prosper

And share the same rights

Open the borders

There's room for us all

This isn't just your land

We'll tear down your wall

Gabriela was born in Planeta

Honduran district of San Pedro Sula

Rival gangs, violence and threats

Then when they came for her son

Huyeron a los Estados Unidos buscando seguridad

They fled to the U.S. for safety

The journey alone could have cost them their lives

Hopping trains and through deserts

Keeping hope as their light

If it was death or papers

Which would you choose

Remember when your family was

Singing the immigrant blues too

Though not all our people came here by choice

Lives and land stolen

This past has a price

Our right to asylum

Was no more than theirs

Emma's words ring true

Give me your tired, your poor

Huddled masses yearning to breathe free...

It's our job to remember

It's our privilege to fight

So that others can prosper

And share the same rights

Open the borders

There's room for us all

This isn't just your land

We'll tear down your wall