DESCRIPTION:
World Premiere
Of War, Mvts. 1-2
Black Gold
Manifest Destiny
Lewis Spratlan, composer

University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra
University of Illinois Oratorio Society
University of Illinois Chamber Singers
Andrew Megill, conductor

1. Milk Duds (Exxon has my back)
Text by Constance Congdon and Lewis Spratlan

Gold
Gold
Black gold
Black gold flowing
Black and gold Cadillac, going
Flowing Cadillac, black
Bold black flowing Cadillac
We stood in line
And I was glad to be there
Black and gold Cadillac, going
They took our names
Black gold flowing
And cut our hair
Flowing gold
Black gold flowing
They gave us numbers
Flowing Cadillac, black
We were weighed and measured
[Shouted] Get rid o' them Milk Duds, boy, you're in the army now!
And ridiculed anything we treasured
Black, black gold, Cadillac gold - bold!
And, in its place, grew a band of brothers
And we loved them more than our fathers and mothers
Gold, black Cadillac bold
Black gold
How does this happen? Because happen it does,
Bold black flowing Cadillac
Again and again
Black gold flowing
As ever it was.
Bold black flowing
Gold, black gold.


Mvt. 2 Manifest Destiny
Text by Constance Congdon and Lewis Spratlan

Mine! No, ours!
No property.
All is shared.
I saddled up my buckskin and put on my sacred shirt,
With the daybreak star on the left shoulder.
All is shared.
It didn't take me long, in my sacred shirt,
To ready myself as a soldier.
I painted my face all red, and in my hair
I put a white eagle feather for the One Above.
No property.
All is shared.
It was my duty and my honor to be there
And fight for the people I love.
The First People united will fend the monsters' rage, live and be free.
I could hear the shooting and I sang aloud:
A thunder being nation I am,
A thunder being nation I am.
Mine! No, ours!
All is shared.
No property.
You shall live. You shall live. You shall live. You shall live. And be free!
In my ghost dance shirt at Wounded Knee.