Note: Our show is produced for the ear. We recommend listening if you can! But we also provide a transcript here.
This is the fourth installment of Homegoings, a special series from Brave Little State that features conversations with musicians of color who live in Vermont. Follow the series here.
Check out more Homegoings episodes:
- Homegoings: Bobby Hackney Jr. On Rough Francis' Punk-Rock Inheritance
- Homegoings: Senayit Tomlinson On Art As A 'Way Through'
- Homegoings: Rivan Calderin On Hip-Hop As His 'Oxygen Mask'
Subscribe to Brave Little State for free, and never miss an episode:
Loading...
Who is DonnCherie?
DonnCherie is a Burlington-based, soul-folk singer-songwriter whose first love was the blues. She's a model, a dancer, and a practicing witch. She's also a bookkeeper for artists of color in Vermont. She says as a Black artist in this state, your only job is to show up as yourself.
Watch/listen to "For Keeps":
Lyrics:
"For Keeps"
Rome is bleeding on a tall, tall, hill put the light on
A sister dreams, while the flood waters recede, put the light on
We’re salivating to the war slides, always hoping God’s on OUR side
Put the light on,
Hey!
Put the light on
In the shadows where, nothing matters there the darkness breeds, while action sleeps, in
In the light of day, we have to make a play that
Might just be for keeps
There is plenty of blood on my hands, put the light on
But the bones are steel here in my stance, put the light on
The baby is nursing from a funeral urn, as we stand and watch our island burn
Put the light on,
HEY!
Put the light on
In the shadows where, nothing matters there the darkness breeds, while action sleeps, in
In the light of day, we have to make a play that
Might just be for keeps
In the absence of
Light! In the absence of light!
(Self-deception grows in the absence, the absence of light)
In the absence of light!
In the absence of light!
(Self-deception grows in the absence, the absence of light)
We’re acclimated to a sick gray world,
It doesn’t matter which flag unfurls
The buried corpses we know we’ve kept, they woke up and found us while we’ve slept
Put the light on,
Put the light on
In the shadows where, nothing matters there the darkness breeds, while action sleeps in
In the light of day, we have to make a play that Might just be for keeps...
Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah
Credits:
Reporting, production & original music: Myra Flynn
Mix & sound design: Angela Evancie & Myra Flynn
Digital production: Myra Flynn & Elodie Reed
Brave Little State executive producer: Angela Evancie
Homegoings is a special series from Brave Little State that features conversations with musicians of color who live in Vermont — about Black grief, resilience and music.
