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lyrics

LILY
AND THAT’S WHEN THE WORLD STARTS SPINNING.
THIS IS NOT THE END, VINCENT.
THIS IS A BEGINNING.”

VINCENT
IT’S MY BACH’LOR PARTY. IT’S DETROIT.
IT’S 1982.
SO DRINKIN BEERS AT THE STRIP CLUB
IS THE GREATEST THING TO DO.
THE DRINKS AND EYES ARE ALL ON ME.
FOR ONCE I KNOW THAT I CAN’T BE
INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE.

TWO GUYS SHOUT AT ME ABOUT
LOSING JOBS TO JAPANESE.
NOW, I’M CHINESE AMERICAN
BUT THAT’S NEWS TO GUYS LIKE THESE.
I’D LET THEIR WORDS SLIDE RIGHT THROUGH ME,
BUT TONIGHT I REFUSE TO BE
INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE.

WE GET INTO A FIGHT.
THEY LOSE.
THEY’RE WHITE.
THEY’RE USED TO BEIN RIGHT.
IN THE PARKING LOT,
THEY SWING AND SWING
THEIR BASEBALL BAT AT MY HEAD.
THEY THINK THAT ONCE THEY KILL ME,
I WILL BE INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE.

LILY
THIS IS NOT THE END.
THIS IS A…
I CANNOT BEAR A CHILD…
I CANNOT BEAR YOU DYING.
THIS IS NOT THE END.
THIS IS A…

VINCENT
WILL I BECOME INVISIBLE
IN THIS MOMENT, WHEN I DIE?
WILL MY FIANCÉ AND MY MOTHER
HOLD MY BROKEN HEAD AND CRY?
TELL ME YOUR LOVE IS HOLDING ME.
TELL ME THAT I WILL NEVER BE
INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE.

LILY
When your killers get off and get let off with a tiny fine
by a judge who says “These aren’t the kind
of men you send to jail,” I know that if we stay invisible now, we will fail.
If men did this to my son, they will do it to another’s son, or try.
So I’ll fight to make sure no other mother’s son will die.
When we see your killers freed, we all begin to bleed
from the blunt trauma to our heads, from the baseball bat in front of us
so people like us across the country start saying “Vincent, you were one of us.”
And though you don’t get justice, I feel us getting stronger
and maybe, Vincent, this is when I begin to feel we’re no longer
INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE.

LILY
THIS IS NOT THE END.
THIS IS A BEGINNING.
YOU WILL NOT BE INVISIBLE.
YOU WILL SET THE WORLD SPINNING.

VINCENT
I WILL NOT BE
INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE.
I WILL NOT BE
INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE.
INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE. INVISIBLE...

credits

from Activist Songbook, track released May 5, 2018
Kao Kue (voice)
Richard Chan (voice, guitar)

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Byron Au Yong Seattle, Washington

Byron Au Yong composes songs of dislocation, music for a changing world.

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