Blood on the Stones

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How many days to wipe streets clean of tears?
How many lives to hold China in sway?
How can you live with their blood on your hands?
China held fast by your fears

A thousand thousand watched unbelieving
A thousandfold more in the land under guard
And somewhere in the dark of a warm June night
You ordered the slaughter begun

How many must die to shore up your regime?
How many must mourn for the young?
The young are the hope of the future it is said
Can it be that your vision has none?

Now, years later by moonlight we gather
To mourn those we never may know
Their murder, their slaughter engraved in our minds
And the torch that they kindled we hold

Words and music copyright © David Weinstein, 1989-1990

I wrote the words six months to the day after the massacre. About 5 months later, the people working on the memorial asked if we would be interested in playing (Reed and I had played at the 90 day memorial). We agreed, and this piece was the result.

The song itself is in D minor, a key made for laments. For performance, it was transposed into A minor, and Christopher Alex North-Keys wrote a countermelody, which has unfortunately been lost in the intervening years. The performed arrangement was Susan Harwood (vocals), Reed Oliver (dunebeck), Christopher Alex North-Keys (synthesizer), and David Weinstein (tenor recorder). The drum came in for a single beat at the start of every measure, and the tenor recorder played the counter melody. If by any chance there is an extant recording of this performance floating out there, I would deeply appreciate a copy (and would gladly pay for duplication and shipping fees).

This song may be freely played and recorded. There is no copyright fee for its use, so long as the authorship of the song is noted. I would appreciate a copy of any recordings made, but that is just a request, not a requirement. This is part of the long tradition of angry folk songs, and they do nothing if they are never played.

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Dave Weinstein
olorin@sff.net