Tom Morello sings powerful slavery ‘You Belong to Me’

With racial equality and human rights a lot in the spotlight, Tom Morello adds to the conversation with a previously unreleased poem that linked the history of America with slavery to the current unrest. The song, titled ‘You Belong to Me,’ has recently arrived and can be heard in the player below.

The track is more in the style of Morello’s Nightwatchman project, and takes a more solemn acoustic approach, revealing the story of a slave taking a stand to a chain. Morello also directed the video for the song that can be seen below this post.

The guitarist explained via Twitter, “Our present is connected to our past. The whip and nose of history are re-recorded today in the baton & gun of the policeman. I had a very clear idea that I wanted to express myself with the song and the video and that is: sometimes, enough is enough. #YouBelongToMe “Check out the lyrics for the song below:

Summer day knocked
On cotton fields of Virginia
Strong hands work the strong black earth
At the call of the chickadee

A tall man rides with shiny boots
On a horse named Robert E. Lee
Now whip will tear back and men of the back
And ankle chains will glisten

He said eagles fly and rabbits run
And fire leaps from tree to tree
You may think you belong
But you belong to me
You belong to me
You belong to me
Yes, you belong to me

Shiny boots cut ‘cross the wet grass
Doorscharn crawls’ bout quarter to three
Slave quarters are quiet and peaceful
Strong hand covers her mouth as she sleeps
She holds her breath and begs that death
Will pick her up from this dream
In the next room, her young children are crying
When they hear that muffled scream

He said eagles fly and rabbits run
And fire leaps from tree to tree
You may think you belong
But you belong to me
You belong to me
You belong to me
Yes, you belong to me

Fire left behind the stranger
When he stood on the porch
In his right hand he held a gun
In his other hand a torch
Master’s shot went wide
Nat Turner stood him on his knees
The plantation burned around them
Master cursed and whispered, “please”
Nat threw up the torch
That his other hand was free
He slammed the hammer back
The fire blazed from tree to tree

He said eagles fly and rabbits run
And fire jumps as you can see
You may think you belong
But you belong to me
You belong to me
You belong to me
Yes, you belong to me

Morello also made the song available through Bandcamp. Watch the video below.