Chorus:
So many lives that were sold, talking bout slavery, not
too long ago
Sad stories of I and I people unfold
Lamentations of the Afrikan soul
Slave ships were filled to capacity from top to bottom
and in their belly
Of our people big and small, young and old, some short
some tall
Separating our families taking mothers from suckling
babies
With their human cargo they sailed away
Vehicles of death, vehicles of misery
So many died along the way, unresting souls in the
Atlantic sea
So don't you forget your history, show some respect to
your ancestry
Chorus:
Arrived in shackles, arrived in chains, took our culture
and they change our names
Imagine the pain and misery, in a foreign land to face
more atrocities
Built up their countries with our blood sweat and tears
Force to work a life time without pay
Reparations could never repair, four hundred years of
torture and pain, but
We're still singing songs of hope, never again with our
backs against the ropes
So don't you forget your history, show some respect to
your ancestry
Chorus:
So many lives, so many lives taken, stolen, taken away,
so many lives
So many lives, stolen never to see home again
So many lives, so many lives taken away, so many lives