I Was Here

Lyrics

[ENSEMBLE] I've never felt so alive before Out here together I realize I'm not alone anymore I feel a part of something bigger Than me (I feel a part of) Something bigger exploding open I feel my world completely change I finally feel it change [IDA, spoken] Hello, Ida Wells speaking [MARY, spoken] It's Mary, here with Phyllis in Nashville [IDA, spoken] And? Mary, what happened? [MARY, spoken] It passed [IDA, spoken] They did it [MARY, spoken] We did it [IDA, spoken] Go on now Tell me how much easier this all would have been Without my troublemakin' [MARY, spoken] Not this time [IDA, spoken] I bet all the white ladies were cryin' rivers, huh? [PHYLLIS, spoken] Oh, they sure were But me and Mama, we danced our way right out the State House Didn't we? [IDA, spoken] Your mama dancin' Now I would like to see that [MARY, spoken] I like to dance, okay? [IDA, spoken] They'll still stop our women from voting Same as they do to our men [MARY, spoken] I know But I'm so tired of fightin' [PHYLLIS] As so, lifting as we climb Onward and upward we go [PHYLLIS, spoken] Say it, Mama [MARY] And so [IDA] Lifting as we climb [IDA, MARY & PHYLLIS] Onward and upward we go And so, lifting as we climb Onward and upward we go [MARY] I want my mother to know I was here [IDA] I want my sisters to know I was here [PHYLLIS] I want my great-granddaughter to know I was here [MARY] I was here [IDA & PHYLLIS, MARY] I want your mother to know I was here (I was here) I want your children to know I was here [IDA, MARY & PHYLLIS] I want your great-granddaughter to know I need her to know I was here