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The Chant of Pemulwuy

from The Return of the Magic by Dada Nabhaniilananda

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about

More than two hundred years ago the British invaded Australia, declaring it uninhabited in order to justify their claim to sovereignty. All news of resistance was suppressed by the British, but resistance there was, and many deeds of courage were left unsung.
Pemulwuy of the Eora people was a tribal leader and medicine man who united the tribes near Sydney, to fight in invaders. He swore never to use the weapons of the white men as he considered them to be evil. People believed this gave him special power, and that he could not be killed by those weapons.
On one occasion he was wounded and captured, bound hand and foot in chains and kept in a guarded cell. Then his people began a chant, which continued for five days and five nights. On the fifth night Pemulwuy disappeared and was soon seen leading his warriors against the whites again.

lyrics

In this land my spirit is ever free,
Iron chains can never hold me long
You think that you are free, but there’s a world that i know to be
more real than this dream and we all belong there.

In this land my spirit is ever free,
Iron chains can never hold me long
You think that you are free, but there’s a world that i know to be
more real than this dream and we all belong there.

I don’t regret my 12 year fight, we fought you well, we had the right
But could not win, for we were new
To you harsh world

Walk with me, but cast a veil before my eyes, filled with tears by a sight too sad too see
Take my bleeding land and, make it whole again, green like the time when our world was filled with trees.

In this land my spirit is ever free,
Iron chains can never hold me long
You think that you are free, but there’s a world that i know to be
more real than this dream and we all belong there.

In this land my spirit is ever free,
Iron chains can never hold me long
You think that you are free, but there’s a world that i know to be
more real than this dream and we all belong there.

The chant began and built a sound
That spread far up through and around,
The flowing streams and gum tree glades
into the mountains far away.

Where warriors dead spirits walk
In the bush, across the hills
Amidst the memories and ghosts
With my secret war my dreams are filled.

A song that echoed on and on
drew me back where I belong
i lay there wounded in a trance
But in the dreamtime world I danced.

Walk with me, but cast a veil before my eyes, filled with tears by a sight too sad too see
Take my bleeding land and, make it whole again, green like the time when our world was filled with trees.

credits

from The Return of the Magic, released January 1, 2005

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Dada Nabhaniilananda California

Dada Nabhaniilananda, originally from New Zealand, is a yoga monk of Ananda Marga, The Path of Bliss. Through his music and songs he seeks to connect us with the source of love within and remind us of our connection to to all life. He had his 15 minutes of fame in 1992 when he appeared on stage with the Dalai Lama before 10,000 at the 1992 Earth Summit, in Brazil. ... more

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