[Chorus: Denise Chaila]
You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
[Verse 1: Denise Chaila]
Hear the call but don’t phone it in
For crones or for omens
We’re riding out here like Rohan
Diogenes but got hope; “behold a man”
Or Artemis me, I’m only fowl when I’m floating
Freedom is potent, the future’s in focus
Hear the call but don’t phone it in
For crones or for omens
We’re riding out here like Rohan
Diogenes but got hope; “behold a man”
Or Artemis me, I’m only fowl when I’m floating
Freedom is potent, the future’s in focus, focus
[Chorus: Denise Chaila]
You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
[Verse 2: MuRli]
Flesh it out
Save a little time
Can’t let them take my eyes off this
Bottom line
Keep it by my side
Rolling out my best life
Flesh it out
Save a little time
Can’t let them take my eyes off this
Bottom line
Keep it by my side
Rolling out my best life
Make it out this storm, and return to the shore where we departed
Holding onto faith, letting go of the past 'cause it’s distorted
Taking it back everything you’ve stolen while I was starting out
It was all by design, I’ve got the pencil now
[Pre-Chorus: Denise Chaila]
And you, you can’t take my energy
[Chorus: Denise Chaila]
You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
You can’t take my energy
You can take my energy
You can’t take my energy
You can take my, take my, take
[Verse 3: Denise Chaila]
Hear the call but don’t phone it in
For crones or for omens
We’re riding out here like Rohan
Diogenes but got hope; “behold a man”
Or Artemis me, I’m only fowl when I’m floating
Freedom is potent, the future’s in focus
[Break: vocalizing]
[Outro: Denise Chaila, spoken]
I know exactly who I am. And because I know who I am, I know who you are
I am the child of the soil and of the sun
I am the continuation of a song of faith and power that my people have never stopped singing
I am just one voice
So even if I quit tomorrow this will never end
Even if I pause tomorrow, baby there will be another one and another and another one for eternity until this work is finished
And if we do not sing and speak and march and dance and love, then even the rocks will cry out “justice”
So whether they have nurtured me by blood or by their vision, I know the path has been paved for us by everyone who has ever taken a risk for their righteousness, is holy
So I lay my heart at the feet of:
Toni Morrison
Of Maya Angelou
Of ODB
James Baldwin
Gladys Bentley
Maurice White
Aretha Franklin
Audre Lorde
Kenneth Kaunda
Patrice Lumumba
Tina Turner
Josephine Baker
Langston Hughes
Whitney Houston
Frantz Fanon
Roxanne Shanté
Marsha P Johnson (the ‘P’ stands for ‘pay the hate no mind’)
Bayard Rustin
Diana Ross
Thomas Sankara
Kwame Nkrumah
Assata Shakur
Nanny of the Maroons
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Saul Williams
Ida B Wells
Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)
Renee Cox
Julius Nyerere
Malik El Shabazz
Angela Davis
Lydia
Elijah
And every preacher, singer, lover, dreamer, survivor and believer who would never allow the odds or the opposition to prevent them from being exactly who they were without shame
So this is a blessing
For everyone who has ever said enough was enough
Nothing will slow you or allow your steps to falter
You are the head and not the tail. You
You will bless and heal the very ground you step on
You will recover. You will recover
No weapon formed against you will prosper
No conspiracy will throw you
No conspiracy will slow you
And that goes for superstition, bad faith intuition, imposter syndrome, “common sense” traditions, every “obia” and “ism”, cloudy vision; and anybody or anything that’s ever tried to get me or you to believe giving up is what you need to do before you’ve even tried
Your confidence cannot be sacrificed
And you can’t take my energy
