If I'd been in his dusty sandles and Jesus had been in my walking shoes
If Jesus had lived my life and my story and he had all the details and clues
If he'd met you as I did my darling and if he'd loved you like I do
Jesus also would have rolled up his sleeves and he would have got a tattoo
Darling it is love that makes me do anything
And oh, what love, can turn us all into
If I'm a sinner darling I'll be unoriginal but I'll commit some unoriginal sins with you
There's no song like goodness
there's good and bad in all of us
I've a vision of the world
I'll be myself and I'll be true
I want to help to build a heaven on earth
that's what the very first and the very last Christian
Jesus the wanderer from Nazareth would do
what Jesus the working man would do
The priests, the money lenders, and the powerful few
tell me I'm damned, my heart, my soul, and every tissue
because I refuse to close my eyes and to pray
that's how the missionaries stole the people's land away
the mercenaries used the bible to take power and to rule over me and to colonize you
I don't believe in their pie in the sky
way up above the birds and the sky so blue
I'll be all religions, I'll be Muslim, Christian, Pagan, Buddhist, and the Hindu
I want to fight to build a heaven on earth
that's what I think Joe Hill would do
what Jesus the Carpenter would do
Well, I'll fight to build a heaven on earth, that's what I want to do
To do what they wouldn't let Joe Hill carry through
I'll fight to build a heaven on earth, like Che Guevara tried to do
To do what they wouldn't let Stephen Biko carry through
When I die cut me and pass me all around mix me into a healthy stew
To help someone to live on give my organs away to somebody new
Let them have my eyes, my liver, and my heart to let this sweet life continue
I want to fight to help to build a heaven on earth, that's what I think Jesus would do
The low paid nurses aren't walking out on the sick
they're astray because they're challenging the greedy few
I'm not crossing the picket line
I'm not a scab not the one bound fifty over two
I want the lame to walk I want the blind to see
I'll fight for all healthcare to be free
it shouldn't just be for the well to do
it's a struggle, it's a war, it's a life and death issue
I want to fight to build a heaven on earth
that's what I think Emma Goldman would do
what Sojourner Truth would do
Jesus Christ was murdered up on the cross
like Che Guevara ended up too
and like Joe Hill for everything he did
for what he felt and for everything he knew
If Christ was around on earth today too
the klan would lynch him he'd be a very strange fruit,
the FBI would double cross him and beat him black and blue
and twist the evidence until all their lies became true
they'd throw him into jail as a trouble making Jew
I want to help to build a heaven on earth
that's what I think Sacco and Vanzetti would do
what John Maclean from Glasgow would do
I'll fight racism wherever I find it, that's what I think Nat Turner would do
I'll fight the fascists and the Ku Klux Klan, I'll fight 'til we win and I'll fight 'til were through
I want to help to build a heaven on earth, that's what I think Stephen Deacon would do
what Jesus from Africa would do
I'm talkin' about Jesus a black man who
loved to laugh and to joke with you
he wasn't a god or a ghost he was an African Jew
and a humble and inquisitive carpenter who
was handy with a saw and a hammer and a screw
maybe once he tried to make a didgeridoo
if he'd been born in Mississippi he would've sung the blues
or born white he would've been called a boy named Sue
he moved around so much they never built a statue
he never read a script or an auto-queue
everything he said and did was impromptou
aged forever but going on 22
he would've swung with Crazy Horse and Geronimo's crew
and yes, Jesus would've ridden on the side of the Sioux
he wanted to build a heaven on earth that's what I think Paul Robeson tried to do
for Christ's sake I want to help to build a heaven on earth that's what I think Rosa Luxemburg would do
what Tom Paine from Thetford would do.
I'll fight to build a heaven on earth, that's what I want to do
to do what they wouldn't let Martin Luther King carry through
I'll fight to build a heaven on earth, like Gandhi tried to do
to do what they wouldn't let Malcom X say to you
and to sing what they wouldn't let Victor Jara sing to you
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This is such a good song and timely to share at christmas, thanks
jenniferinblue 2 months ago
my favourite <3
mikejameswood 7 months ago