Medicinals - PJ Harvey
I was walking through the national mall
Thinking about medicinals how they used to grow there
When the ground was a marshland
Undisturbed by human hands and I heard their voices
Sumac said we're always here
Witch hazel we're always here
Sassafras we're always here
Bluestem grasses always here
I looked about and what I see
Medicinals grow around me rising from the gravel
Sumac and the witch hazel
Come to soothe our primal sores come to soothe our troubles
Sumac said we're always here
Witch hazel we're always here
Sassafras we're always here
Bluestem grass is always here
But do you see that woman sitting in the wheelchair
With her redskins cap on backwards
What's that she's singing
As from inside a paper wrapper
She sips from a bottle
A new painkiller
For the native people