Songlines from Twinlines by Alanna and Alicia

Songlines
lyrics and music Alanna Egan

Beneath the roads and the railway tracks
deep down under the statelines
below the Western maps
the old songlines echo through time
I wish I had permission to listen
to the ancestors walking all over this land
singing the rivers into existence
singing the mountains into life

Each and every rock, tree, bilabong and creature
has a story, song and a dreaming
cause an unsung land's a dead land; singing's believing
they follow the old songlines to sing the land to life
I wish I had permission to listen
to the ancestors walking all over this land
singing the deserts into existence
singing the tall trees into life

“Doesn't look too sacred to me” said the miners from their truck
“Just a heap of rocks and a tree and underneath lie the big bucks”
sparks and rhythms flew
as they drilled their way straight through
the meandering curves of the songlines

“From the land we were born” the ancestors warn
“When we die the land takes us back in”
“From the land we were born” the ancestors warn
“Where will we go when the land's core is torn?”

• Folk
• jazz
• roots
• Melbourne