See the docked ship
In Old Calabar
It came from Liverpool
It came from real far
It still had miles to go
And a cargo to catch
Strange fruit to transport
From the motherland

A motley crew
And a rich captain
Bargaining with leaders
For human captives
Wait for the hull
To fill to the brink
Push off to the gray
Atlantic

Headed to a world
Full of sugar cane
Tobacco and cotton
Rice and pain
Many thousands gone
It’s a money game
Money fuels politics
Start all over again

Lives were lost
And many were lived
Violence created
Blackness
Come on now
Get on this ship
We’re about to tread
The middle passage

They’d make the enslaved
Dance twice a day
And a girl they named Sarah
Blew them away
She could sing
She could dance
And she did it with grace
She put them in a trance
With a smile on her face


She moved to the sounds
Of the African band
On the deck of a ship
Bound for distant lands
A hungry crew would watch
Whip ready in hand
To rest was to resist
And we ain’t having that

The captain took notice
Of this beautiful girl
He took her as his favorite
He made her his own
Her spirit disconnected
When he did what he did
And when he was done
She came together again

Back to the songs
Back to the dance
Back to the laughs
Of their ancient lands
These things would survive
For the children and theirs
So she kept it alive
Despite circumstance

They’d make the enslaved
Dance twice a day
And a girl they named Sarah
Blew them away
She could sing
She could dance
And she did it with grace
She put them in a trance
With a smile on her face

Sarah’s fine ways
Gave her some free rein
She paced the ship
Loved by all on it
But our friend Sarah
Had a larger plan
To help sisters and brothers
Chained at the hands

She passed along tools
To the holds below
And breaths got deeper
As they lightened their load
On one fine day
In the middle of the sea
The enslaved rose up
Cuz they wanted to be free

The plan was to kill
Those that kept them in the pen
But soon enough
The rebellion was suppressed
The captain looked around
How could this be?
Did Sarah have a hand
In this conspiracy?

No one suspected
Sarah’s melodies
Harmonized with whispers
Plotting liberty
The ones below
Spoke in different tongues
But hope knows no borders
Hearts were beating as one

They’d make the enslaved
Dance twice a day
And a girl they named Sarah
Blew them away
She could sing
She could dance
And she did it with grace
She put them in a trance
With a smile on her face

Sarah got to Grenada
Miraculously
Her role in the plot
Didn’t leave her at sea
At the end of the day
Her body was sold
But those radical movements
Were still in her soul

Who can know
Where she rested her bones
How long her laughter lasted
Where her spirit now roams
Sarah is one
Of a long, lovely train
Of those who sing
Through heartbreak and pain

She sang for her people
And she sang for her self
She sang to the skies
And she to the depths
She sang as way
To keep herself sane
And she sang a song
That lives to this day

They’d make the enslaved
Dance twice a day
And a girl they named Sarah
Blew them away
She could sing
She could dance
And she did it with grace
She put them in a trance
With a smile on her face