You’ve Got to Have Freedom

You can murder a freedom fighter, but you can’t murder freedom  (1)

You’ve got to have freedom

Who ever walked behind anyone to freedom?  (2)

You’ve got to have freedom

I’m not quite sure what it is, but I know damn well what it ain’t  (3)

You’ve got to have freedom

By any means necessary   (4)

You’ve got to have freedom

It cannot rest  (5)

You’ve got to have freedom

Freedom is a cymbal crash

It is a saxophone screeching like a siren

in the absence of flashing red and blue lights

I am the seed of the free. I intend to bear great fruit   (6)

You’ve got to have freedom

Quotes by

1. Fred Hampton

2. Hazel Scott

3. Assanta Shakur

4. Malcolm X

5. Ella Baker

6. Sojourner Truth

Written September 2023, after “You’ve Got to Have Freedom” by Pharaoh Sanders

This was part of my 2023 appearance on Interprotations, a Tyler Hawes event, where three different artists covered/interpreted the same set list in very different ways.