Amma Jerusalem School
by Matana Roberts
From the album: Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
Duration: 04:10
Lyrics for Amma Jerusalem School
When thunder shook the ground Be not afraid And heard the master crying Be not afraid of dying The storm is passing over Obituary Easter White man built us a chapel Moved down to the Mississippi Went to your Baptist church Ama Jerusalem school Baptist Zion Chapel AME Methodist and the heaven and joy In the center of return There are some things I just can't tell you about Honey I stepped on the stage one night My heart went pity pat I heard somebody say Whose little pretty girl is that? Joshua won the battle on Jericho Jericho, Jericho The daffodils steady The lilies tall and fair All the children love me So why should I care? Four months of school Four months for sharecrop children October 1st to March 1st Fifty cents a day for chopping cotton Sun up to sun down Honey times was hard Honey times was hard January 1949 I graduated when I was Daddy bought me a ring And a picture and a yearbook And I got my hair all fixed Teaching for free Hoe and dig grass around the cotton May 1949 There are some things I just can't tell you about Honey We grew our own vegetables And daddy quilted too But mama always said His stitches were too low I sing because I'm happy I sing because I'm free His eye's on the sparrow And I know he watches over me You'd have the bottom layer And the top layer And the cotton in between Cotton in between And we just put it between these two big frames Like a picture honey You know what I'm talking about Like a picture honey And we hang it from the ceiling And work on it like a picture honey You know what I'm talking about Like a picture honey Mama didn't want me to go far She said don't go following no man Lessie Emma not Lessie Mae My mama's name was Emma Gray My mother passed away When she was eleven He gave the power of becoming