This ten-track debut album by Hummingbirds acappella trio is an evocative mix of innovative arrangements and self-penned songs to lift the spirit and soul. Some are political, some are sweet, others just good fun. All are heartfelt.
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This song was written about the baker who, during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, risked his own safety by selling extra bread to Miep Gies, Otto Frank's secretary, for Anne Frank and the eleven other Jews in hiding with her.
lyrics
The Baker
At four in the morning, the sweat and the flour
A good man's routine at a criminal's hour
There's no sound of jackboots, tonight he can rest
Though he's risking his life doing what he knows best
At seven he lovingly surveys his batch
With the three extra loaves and the bill that won't match
He tempers the trembling he feels in his breast
As he's saving lives with the trade he knows best
Chorus:
Knead your dough, weave your thread
Sow your bed, plough your land
A man is a man when he does what he can
Build your hearth, turn your mill
Raise your quill, take a stand
A man is a man when he does what he can
The last in the queue at a quarter to nine
An unmemorable face wearing God in each line
She opens her bag as she closes her eyes
Prays for safety and sanity and leaves with her prize
The Amsterdam street once was sweet where she passed
Now each lamp like a searchlight such cruel shadows cast
Her simple intention could not be revealed
The hidden mouths hungry, the trembling lips sealed
Chorus
A good man's routine till 1944
Though good food alone can't keep wolves from the door
And when the time came for his debt to be fulfilled
He humbly turned and tore up the bill
"I am no hero”, he said,
“I have no choice but to do what I can.
It's just bread.”
credits
from Hummingbirds,
released September 3, 2016
Written and arranged by Ami Lee
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