Notes To The Future
Patti Smith

Listen my children and you shall hear

The sound of your own steps

The sound of your hereafter

Memory awaits and turns to greet you

Draping its banner across your wrists

Wake up arms

Delicate feet

For as one to march the streets


Each alone, each part of another

Your steps shall ring

Shall raise the cloud

And they that will hear will hear

Will hear voice of the one

And the one and the one

As it has never been uttered before


For something greater yet to come

Then the hour of the prophets

And their great cities


For the people of Ninevah

Fell to their knees

Heeding the cry of Jonah

United

Covering themselves in sackcloth and ashes

And called to their god


And all their hearts were as one heart.

And all their voices were as one voice.


God heard them and his mind was moved.


Yet something greater will come to pass.

And who will call?

And what will they call?

Will they call to God?

The air?

The fowl?


It will not matter, if the call is true.

They shall call and this is known.

One voice and each another

Shall enter the dead, the living flower,

Enter forms that we know not.

To be felt by sea,

By air,

By earth

And shall be an elemental pledge.


This is our birthright.

This is our charge.

And we have given over to others.

And they have

Not

Done

Well


And the forests mourn.

The leaves fall.


Swaddling babes watch and wonder

As the fathers of our spirit nations

Dance in the street in celebration

As the mountains turn pale from

Their nuclear hand

And they have

Not

Done

Well


Now my children

You must overturn the tables

Deliver the future from material rule

For only one rule should be considered


The eleventh commandment

To love one another

And this is our covenant across your wrist


This offering is yours

To adorn, adore

To bury

To burn

Upon a mound


To hail

To set away


It is merely a cloth,

Merely our colors,

Invested with the blood of the people

All their hopes and dreams.


Our flag

It has its excellence

Yet it is nothing

It shall not be a tyranny above us


Nor should god

Nor love

Nor nature


Yet we hold as our pleasure this tender honor

That we acknowledge the individual

And the common ground formed


And if our cloth be raised and lowered

Half mast

What does it tell us?


That an individual has passed

Is saluted

And mourned by his countrymen.


This ritual extends to us all.

For we are all the individual.


No unknown.

No insignificant one

Nor insignificant labor

Nor insignificant act of charity


Each has a story to be told and retold

Which shall be a glowing thread

In the fabric of Man


And the children shall march

And bring the colors forward

Investing within them


The redeeming blood

Of their revolutionary hearts.


  Purchase "Notes To The Future"   Purchase Entire Album   Email Video to Friends   Play Youtube "Notes To The Future" Video   Play Spotify "Notes To The Future" Song   View Wikipedia "Notes To The Future" Entry   Receive Emails for Future Patti Smith Lyrics

Email:

  Link to "Notes To The Future"   Share on Facebook, Twitter, and more
  See Recommended Lyrics For You

Loading...

Lyrics by Patti Smith

  1959   25th Floor   25th Floor (& High on Rebellion)   25th Floor (& High on Rebellion)   25th Floor High on Rebellion   About A Boy   After the Gold Rush   Ain't It Strange   Ain't It Strange   Amerigo   April Fool   April Fool (Single)   Are You Experienced?   As The Night Goes By   Ask The Angel   Ask the Angels   Babelogue   Banga   Because The Night   Beneath The Southern Cross   Birdland   Blue Poles   Boy Cried Wolf   Break It Up   Broken Flag   Capital Letter   Cartwheels   Cash   Changing Of The Guards   Chiklets   China Bird   Come Back Little Sheba   Come Back Little Sheba (Outtake)   Constantine’s Dream   Dancing Barefoot   Dead City   Dead City [Live]   Dead To The World   Death Singing   Distant Fingers   Distant Fingers (Demo)   Don't Say Nothing   Don't Say Nothing   Dream Of Life   Easter   Elegie   Everybody Hurts   Everybody Wants To Rule The World   Farewell Reel   Fire of Unknown Origin   Fireflies   Frederick   Free Money   Fuji-san   Gandhi   Ghost Dance   Gimme Shelter   Glitter In Their Eyes   Gloria   Gloria: In Excelsis Deo; In Excelsis Deo\\ Gloria   Godspeed   Going Under   Gone Again   Gone Pie   Grateful   Gung Ho   Helpless   Hey Joe (Version)   High On Rebellion   Hymn   It Takes Time   Jubilee   Just Kids   Kimberly   Land   Land:; Horses\\ Land Of A Thousand Dances\\ La Mer...   Landmine   Last Call   Libbie's Song   Libbie's Song   Lo & Beholden   Lo And Beholden   Look At What Love Has Done   Looking For You   Looking For You (I Was)   Maria   Memento Mori   Memorial Tribute   Midnight Rider   Mosaic   Mother Rose   My Blakean Year   My Generation   My Madrigal   New Party   Nine   No Mistakes   One Voice   Pastime Paradise   Paths That Cross   Peaceable Kingdom   People Have the Power   Persuasion   Piss Factory   Pissing In A River   Poppies   Privilege   Privilege (Set Me Free)   Pumping   Pumping (My Heart)   Radio Baghdad   Radio Ethiopia/Abyssinia   Radio Ethiopia\/Abyssinia   Ravens   Redondo Beach   Revenge   Rock N Roll Nigger   Seneca   Seven Ways of Going   Smells Like Teen Spirit   So You Wanna Be   So You Wanna Be (A Rock 'N' Roll Star)   So You Want To Be   So You Want To Be (A Rock 'n Roll Star)   So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star   Somalia   Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough   Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough   Soul Kitchen   Space Monkey   Spell   Strange Messengers   Stride Of The Mind   Summer Cannibals   Tarkovsky (The Second Stop is Jupiter)   The Boy In The Bubble   The Jackson Song   The Mermaid Song   The Wicked Messenger   This is the Girl   Till Victory   Trampin'   Trampin'   Trespassers   Trespasses   Up There Down There   Upright Come   Waiting Underground   Walkin Blind   Walkin' Blind   Wave   We Three   When Doves Cry   Where Duty Calls   Whirl Away   White Rabbit   Wicked Messenger   Wild Leaves   Wing   Wing [Live]   Within You Without You   Words Of Love

Related Songs

  A Song For You - Dan & Paddy  Mystic and Divine - Luca Turilli  Bachelor Degree Burn - Baptists  The Future - Boo Hoo  Porch Wine - Smoke Or Fire  Your Town - Kursner Rich  Notes on Achieving Orbit - Future of the Left  Alienation - Morning Parade  ZD576 - Rome Burns  Notes To The Coroner - Chely Wright  Laying In Black - Cadaveria  Slow Slow Tune - My Morning Jacket  Notes - The Dodos  Notes - Meric Long  Notes... - Andrew Lloyd Webber  Notes - Phantom Of The Opera  Notes - Elliott Brood  Notes - Warhead  Notes - Modern Baseball  Notes To You - Sleep Party People  Notes to Myself - Jonwayne  Angel Song - Gram Rabbit  To the Future - Xilent   The Dream Is Still Alive - Xandria  Bouken Rider - Hey! Say! Jump!  Better Life - Laleh  Whisper - Alien Ant Farm  Isle Of Man - Ministry  Toss My Cookies - F.Y.P.  Die Alone - U.S. Bombs  Die Alone - U S Bombs  Whisper [Live In Germany] - Alien Ant Farm  The Liner Notes - Evidence  Welcome to My World - The Lodger  New Year's Revolution - NOFX  New Year’s Revolution - NOFX  Oh, Brother - Eleventh He Reaches London  Blacknuss - Rahsaan Roland Kirk  Goodnight - Leslie Mendelson  According To My Notes - LaGrecia  The Miniature Philosopher - Of Montreal  Jade De Lafleur - Solange  Notes & Bills - Sandy Mouche  Eight Beautiful Notes - Sesame Street  All I Wanna Do Is Sing - Charlie Green  Johnny B Goode - Back To The Future  Earth Angel - Back To The Future  Back To The Future - Futuristic Sex Robotz  Welcome To The Future - DJ Aligator Project  Letter to the Future - Heavy D & the Boyz  Been To The Future - Joey Eppard  Been to the Future - Three  Back To The Future - Ultraviolet Sound  Way to the Future - Katie Herzig  Back to the Future - Dru Hill  Back to the Future - Bad Boys Blue  Back to the Future - Bad Boys Blue  Back to the Future - Bad Boys Blue  Back To The Future - Brad Paisley  Welcome To The Future - Hawkwind  Way To The Future - Katie Herzig  Letter To The Future - Heavy D  Back To The Future - Diana Ross  Black To The Future - Def Jef  Back To The Future - Pitbull  Back To The Future - Eric Bellinger  Welcome To The Future - P Reign  Letter to the Future - D Heavy  Ak to the Future - Akrobatik  Letter To The Future - Alchemist  Look to the Future - Alphanaut  Run To The Future - W.A.S.P.  Welcome to the Future - P. Reign  Back to the Future - Farruko  Welcome To The Future - Hypnogaja  Welcome To The Future - Brad Paisley  Back to the Future - Ahmad Jamal  Back To The Future - ASAP Rocky  Back To The Future - New Found Glory  Hello To The Future - Kurt Braunohler  Back to the Future - Enigma Dubz   Back To The Future - Cherry Filter  Forward To The Future - The O.C. Supertones  Welcome To The Future - P.Reign  Back To The Future - Stereo Skyline  Jump To The Future - Starlight  We Are Tomorrow - Sarah Geronimo  Blue C Note - 2 Chainz  For Sure - Nelly Furtado  Railroad - Melanie  Mackey Sasser & Steve Balboni Ride Again...  physics notes - South Of Sound  Decemberunderground Notes - AFI  Ghost Notes - John Brown's Body  Blue Notes - Jose Vanders  Cliff Notes - Time Tells All  Calendar Notes - In Fiction  Rock Notes - Monty Python  Hollow Notes - Novi Split  Imaginary Notes - Imadethismistake  Moving Notes - Jane Vain & The Dark Matter  Ransom Notes - SOHN  Notes & Rhymes - The Proclaimers  Filthy Notes - Lacrimas Profundere  Love Notes - 2AM Club  Frozen Notes - Warren Zevon  High Notes - Marques Houston  Choice Notes - Alex Winston  My Notes - Atmosphere  Ransom Notes - S O H N  Cliff Notes - Action Bronson  Liner Notes - Rickie Lee Jones  Last Notes - Shaun Groves  Cliff Notes - Emarosa  Take Notes - Chill Moody  Field Notes - InCircles  Lighter Notes - Panic Sun  High Notes - Perrion  Take Notes - Paul Wall  Blue Notes - Meek Mill  Drain Notes - The Ready Set  Blue C-Note (feat. Lil Wayne) - 2 Chainz  Tapetro - Hodgy Beats  Notes Falling Slow [DVD] - Cowboy Junkies  Ever-Opening Flower - At the Gates  Future Of The Future - Everything But The Girl  The Horrors of 6th Period English...  Relax and Take note - Eightball & MJG  Blue C-Note - 2 Chainz  The Future of the Future - Everything But the Girl  The Future of the Future - Deep Dish  He Used To Cut The Grass - Frank Zappa  The Future - The Limousines  The Future - Hyper Crush  THE FUTURE - Dub fx  The Future - Guy  The Future - Patrick Wolf  The Future - Roy English  The Future - Ill Castle  The Future - Joe Budden  The Future - Spiraling  The Future - Michael Franti And Spearhead  The Future - Have a Nice Life  The Future - Dead to Fall  The Future - David Guetta  The Future - Intergalactic  The Future - Prince  The Future - The Drums  The Future - Soulja Boy  The Future - Diddy  The Future - Frank Sinatra  The Future - P. Diddy (puff Daddy)  The Future - De La Soul  The Future - Lonestar  The Future - P. Diddy  The Future - Nada Surf  The Future - Lil' Bow Wow  The Future - Michael Franti & Spearhead  The Future - Austra  The Future - Bone Thugs N Harmony  The Future - Mystery Skulls  The Future - Michael Franti & Spearhead  The Future - Puff Daddy  The Future - Leonard Cohen  The Future - DMX  The Future - Michael Jackson  The Future - Lil' Bow Wow F/ R.O.C.  The Future - Cohen Leonard  The Future - Diddy - Dirty Money  The Future - Epik High  The Future - Eleni Mandell  The Future - Bow Wow  The Future - Everyone Everywhere  The Future - Dan Talevski  The Future - Bassnectar  The Future - Bow Wow Wow  The Future - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark  The Future - Limousines  Just What Nobody Wanted - Skyclad  Fever Pitch - Morgan and the Hidden Hands  Jordan VIII - Black Milk & Danny Brown  No Defeat - Attack Attack!  Monsters In Disguise - O'connor Hazel  Dozier-Holland-Dozier - Coltrane Motion  Notes Falling Slow - Cowboy Junkies  Welcome To Future - DJ Aligator  Oldselves - Theologians  Your Ode to Music - 8track Ruido  All I Need - The Blue Notes  Sad Guitar [Instrumental] - The Bell Notes  I Cover the Waterfront - The Blue Notes  Shake it Up, Baby - The Top Notes  The Love I Lost - The Blue Notes  I've Had It - The Bell Notes  Colonise the Moon - Super Furry Animals  Two Notes and A Beat - The Lonely Forest  Passenger Song - Great Lake Swimmers  Too Many Martyrs - Ochs Phil  I Heard I Was In Town - Jimmy Buffett  Bob White - Carmen McRae