2. Put Your Roots Down

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Song: Put Your Roots Down
​Music & Words: Molly Hartwell
Composed in: unknown

Lyrics
Put your roots down, 
put your feet on the ground,
can you hear what she says
when you listen?

'Cause the sound of river
as it moves across the stones is the
same sound as the blood in your body
as it moves across your bones.

Are you listening?

Notes: This is a grounding song that's popular in the community singing movement, and in August 2021, I learned from Heather Houston that she had just learned it is a Molly Hartwell original. As a white, European American cis female in my 50s, raised to value formal education, let me tell you, my brain is littered with words like, evaluate, compare, weigh, measure, process, careful…. For me, it can be a real challenge to get out of my head and into my body! But, oh the difference when I do… the connection, the power, the sense of being enough. I love the way this song reminds me of the soles of my feet and to sense the blood rushing through my body. Trillions of cells working together so I move and breathe… and I can just watch and feel all that with amazement.

Links:   
Here's the Thrive Choir singing it;
I learned it in person from Lisa Littlebird, a vital, generous songleader whose course, Flight School, helped me expand my musical world in 2019.
And here's an update in September 2021: Molly Hartwell shared her own original version in Heather Houston's song library (which is a magical internet spot to learn fabulous songs!).
Molly also generously gave permission for songleaders to continue sharing the song however it came to them, since the song took on a life of its own after she created it!

Song Learning Time Stamps:
Start time of teaching: 00:02:35
Start time of reprise: 00:13:04

Nuts and Bolts: It’s harmonized, in 4:4, Aeolian & Dorian modes (minor with shifting harmonies....)
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