Rachel Bagby: Music

• MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

REACH ACROSS THE LINES
Lyrics © 1989 Rachel Bagby

I watch in silence as you pass
You avoid my eyes

Mine is the garb of a different class
Your skin—too dark, too light

You know I dance to your music
I know you eat my food

Are you all as bad as they say you are?
Are we all as good?

CHORUS
Keep on reaching
Across the lines
Let your eyes meet mine
Across the lines, across the lines

Tell me what you see
That’s saying we’re not free
To re-e-each…
Across the lines

VERSE
An angry fear comes over me
When I see your face

You are a symbol
Of your sex, your class, your race

I enshroud you in memories
A legacy of pain

Your kind has hurt mine over and over
You’ll try it again.

Reach across the lines

CHORUS
Keep on reaching
Across the lines
Your legacy and mine – touch
Across the lines, across the lines

Now we have the chance
To end this deadly dance
And re-e-each…
Across the lines

BRIDGE
Fire answers fire
Pain answering pain
Memory and desire
Colliding again

Terrible the freedom
Unbearable the life
If in this moment eye-to-eye
Each of us dares to reach
Across the lines
Across the lines
Across the lines
Across the lines
Across the lines

CHORUS
Keep on reaching
Across the lines
Let your eyes meet mine
Across the lines, across the lines

People can’t you see
All of us are free
To re-e-each
Across the lines

Keep on reaching
Across the lines
Your legacy and mine – touch
Across the lines, across the lines

And now we have the chance
To dance a brand new dance
And reach
Reach across the lines