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My name is Yvonne Johnson
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My native blood is Cree
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I'm here to tell the story 
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Of the life stolen from me



My grandfather's grandfather was 
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The great war chief Big Bear
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And Flora my grandmother worked
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With medicine and prayer



My mother is Saskatchewan
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My daddy ex-Marine
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And I was just a half-breed 
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Falling somewhere in between
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Somewhere in between


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Raised up in a reckless world
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Of drugs and alcohol
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The police killed my brother, Earl
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The only one who cared at all


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Cleft palate split my face in two
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No surgery can repair
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I lived in shame and ridicule
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Foundations of despair
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Foundations of despair



First memory of my brother, Leon
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I was only three
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He threw me on the table
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Forced himself inside of me



All the kids stood 'round
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As I descended into hell
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When I told my daddy 'bout it
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Well, he had his way as well, boys
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He took me down as well


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I didn't have a language
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For the pain I suffered through
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Escaping into marriage
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But your past just catches up with you


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Until I had three children
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And a ragged family
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A desperate urge to keep them
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From the wolves that got to me, boys
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Wolves that got to me


INSTRUMENTAL: C    F C  G  C  F  C  F  C    G  C  G  C  G  C  F  
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I wish I could forget that night
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The way the cards all fell
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The deck was stacked against me
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And I played my part so well



Three days on the party
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In a drunken revelry
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Shirley Ann said Chuck had plans
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To lure my kids from me
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Lure my kids from me


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We stuck him with a dagger
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And we beat him 'round the head
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I unleashed all my anger
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And I didn't stop when he was dead


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They set me up to take the fall
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I went down willingly
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Now I'm doing life in prison
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While the rest of them run free, boys
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They're all running free


INSTRUMENTAL: C    F  C  F  C  F G C  


Grandmother, grandmother
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Send your prayers to me
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Protect me and my children
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For I love them endlessly



Creator, creator
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I have come alive
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Medicine Bear Woman
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Doing life at thirty-five, boys
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Life at thirty-five 


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I pray, help me to make my amends
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To those that I have harmed
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Grant them love and peace so they may
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Understand I'm sorry


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Help me share my shame and pain
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So others they might do the same
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And so awaken to themselves
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And to all peoples of this world


OUTRO:
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Oh, Hai hai, hai hai
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Ho ho, ho ho
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Ohh ooh
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Ohh ooh
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Ohh ooh
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