Joy and Truth - Chorus and Piano

Ensemble: Choral Unison with Descant and Piano (Optional Solos and 2-Part)

Duration: 4:15”

Written: Summer 2025

Text by Composer

Teaching Materials: Discussion Guidelines, Prompts, and Relevant Quotes (included with score)

Ranges (in C Major)
Descant: A4-E5, Part 1: C4-E5, Part 2: C4-C5

Ranges (in Bb Major)
Descant: G4-D5, Part 1: Bb4-D5, Part 2: Bb4-Bb5

“O-o-oh, I'm responsible to that.
When the powerful take all the joy from life
and they try to sell it back.
We don't own the land, the sky, the sea
or each other, that's a fact.
Let's all find our self-respect, and be responsible to that.

Knowledge is so powerful, people fear it,
the way that it changes them, the way that it heals us.
Those who fear the knowledge yell out a lie instead.
Lies have long legs, they run faster than the liars.
That's why I'm gonna run to you.

(Refrain)

And if the knowledge brings you pain,
remember that the pains we share have all been felt already.
We've felt it all, it's on the wind, in the rain.
They will try and tell us "It’s not worth our time to change."
Oh, but it's on the wind, in the rain.
Can you feel it? Oh, you're never alone.

(Refrain)

We don't own the land, the sky, the sea,
or each other, oh these lies are history.
So I'll plant my grief, and I'll plant it with you,
oh we're responsible to joy and truth.

Oh, we don't own it!
It's on the wind, in the rain.
Plant it with me, we're responsible to
joy and truth.

Oh, I'm responsible to that.”

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