Little Songbird from Ancestry by Samantha Lindo

Little Songbird is about my great uncle Robert Brown and his family, who moved with his family to Canada in the 1970’s, along with thousands of middle class Jamaicans fleeing political and economic upheaval after independence from Britain rule.

Out of their struggle and upheaval, he founded a charity called the Tropicana Foundation, to serve other black families who experienced the same prejudice and struggle his family did on arrival.

The meaning of Little Songbird is two-fold: it’s about both migration, and the importance of relationships that stretch across the globe. I never met him in person, but I have strong memories of talking to him on the phone at my Grandma’s, and affirming words and his nickname for me ‘Little Songbird’ after my grandma has sent him CDs of me singing in my school concert to him via air mail. It’s also about remembering and bringing forth that capacity to create communities of solidarity, counterculture and resistance out of struggle.

Although I wrote it relatively late in the process in one of the last sessions and it ended up being one of the band's favourites. The understated haunting melody of the chorus in contrast to the, quite seismic, sax solo means I think this track both musically and emotionally stretches you, like the experience of having loved ones, like parts of yourself, scattered across the globe.

Tracklist

3.	Little Songbird	4:11

Lyrics

LITTLE SONGBIRD

And I think you would have laughed with me
Little girl from your little sister’s tree
Her eyes were full when you said to me
Oh little songbird, will you sing for me

Little songbird, you used to call me down the telephone
After words and melodies, burned on CDs were flown
Overseas, where with your family you made a home
Equality and community, you made your own

And I think you would have laughed with me
Little girl from your little sister’s tree
Her eyes were full when you said to me
Oh little songbird, will you sing for me

Little songbird, came from seeds she’d sewn
After years like hurricanes, had made you finally roam
Overseas, with your family, whose lives were overthrown
With grief to leave the sweet fruit that they’d known

And I think you would have laughed with me
Little girl from your little sister’s tree
Her eyes were full when you said to me
Oh little songbird, will you sing for me

And those words
That you said
Oo oo ooo
Are still resounding in my head

And the ones
Who you grew
Oo oo oo
Are giving me a part of you

And I think you would have laughed with me
Little girl from your little sister’s tree
Her eyes were full when you said to me
Oh little songbird, will you sing for me

Credits

from Ancestry, track released July 10, 2023

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