I used to play and play I SNUCK OFF THE SLAVE SHIP And then when I got to the shoreline

And then when I got to the shoreline I snuck off the slave ship
Never got tired of playing I saw those that was harvesting from the ocean deep To see humans crying and dying
How far is spaced out? LONNIE HOLLEY – PIANO/NORD; VOCALS I saw the front of planting over and over Nowhere to be buried
MARLON PATTON – DRUMS, PERCUSSION,
Until I got in this band AND MOOG SYNTH BASS PEDALS
Replanting seeds Bodies laying all around
I got off in this band DAVE NELSON – TROMBONE AND LOOPS Working in the fields laboring from sun up to sundown Then I saw museums being built all around the world
I was playing and playing and playing and playing SHAHZAD ISMAILY – SYNTHESIZERS Laboring and laboring Just to house the information
RECORDED AT OAK AVENUE STUDIO; TUCKER, GEORGIA
How far is spaced out? Oh, the slave masters whipping and beating them down For the formal of education
ENGINEERED BY MARLON PATTON
I was trying to impress, impress all kinds MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY
Dragging them around For every man, woman, boy, and girl
All kinds of minds AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING And those that were being rebellious To learn
How far? I saw them hanging Before I began to sneak on another
How far is spaced out? In a distant shoreline By the limbs Cause of sneaking off the slave ship
I kept playing and playing I could see me standing there Of trees I snuck off
Watching ships, oh, sailing in I snuck off I snuck off the slave ship
For years I was playing
Ship after ship after ship I snuck off Just to
I was in this band, I was in this band
I’M A SUSPECT Just a dust speck Bits and pieces Coming to the ground
I was doing all the funk that I can Oh, sailing in I snuck off the slave ship Just
Out in Mother Universe Lying down ground all around Come back for me Standing in wonder I saw the blood Just to sneak on another
LONNIE HOLLEY – FENDER RHODES/NORD; VOCALS I had did pop
After working and building and creating Come back for me Dwell in me Standing there Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip Now I’m on
DAVE NELSON – TROMBONE AND LOOPS And played around with hip hop
RECORDED AT ESTUDIOS SA DA BANDEIRA; PORTO, PORTUGAL
Parts of humanity Bits and pieces Come back for me, spirit Watching the capture of my body Dripping after drip I’m on further exploration
And then played the blues
ENGINEERED BY JOAO BRANDAO While being, oh, while being, yeah Come back for me Come back To take me somewhere I saw the sweat, oh, mixing up Further, further, further, further, further,
MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY How far? Mixing up in the tears further, further, further, further, further
A suspect I had to put them together again Great spirit of love Net drop, oh
AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING How far? Humans working fields Further, on and on
Some of us been bound down and roped and tied Don’t forsake me Protect me Net drop, oh
How far? Down in the valleys along the hills Further, further, further, further, further,
And chained and shackled Please don’t leave me Great spirit of love Chains bound
I’m a suspect If you hear the news All the way up the mountain side further, further on
And pulling around iron bars Here I feel so all alone Guide me Rope tied
In America Is spaced out And then the laborers kept laboring On and on
And stressed in all kind of messy functions Come back Be for me Me down
I’ve been going around My baby said Turned civilization I saw human made probes
Became information on our brains So all around Hey, hey Beating me bloody
No matter if I’m up or if I’m down All I’ve been giving I snuck off Probing me behind
As a suspect Spirit come back Oh, Oh, oh And drug me around
I’m a suspect As she greased my head I snuck off Saw human made satellites
Listed on all kinds of pages So need to be Be with me Dragging me along the way
In America So spaced out I snuck off the slave ship Circling the earth around
Sometimes appearing to be most wanted Oh, oh, Oh, Oh sometimes all day without food
I thought beyond the chain gang How far? In my imagination I saw space shuttles
Then again, whoa, dead or alive Often times I’m in such a, oh, place a wonder Before they lay me down Or water
The games were still the same How far? By way of a mental flight Establishing space centers
When we arrive So wonderful Before they put this body of mine in the ground Me and so many others
So survival coming as a slave How far? I’ve seen the wounded land I saw in the windows of technology
When we arrive Been rush in a storm Come back for me Oh, oh, oh
So many of my people I probably drowned my tears off in alcohol Days and land nights Mirrors that reflected
To the point of being a dust speck Oh, loud be the thunder From mountain high Drug us to the shoreline
Friends and relatives I drank beer and champagne and whiskey, too And fields turn into factories How humanity would turn out
Out in Mother Universe Come back for me Down to valley low Put us on the boat
Are now in their graves How far? Full of those humans that once they called them slaves To be
So now Great spirit Down to the bottom of the ocean floor And, oh, floated us out to the sea
I’m a suspect How far? Industries I snuck off
Now The keeper of humanity’s love Come back Tossing us down in the galleys
Oh, oh How the music made me feel is spaced out To the industrial manner Snuck off the slave ship
Watch them put me down Come back come back come back Come back Tossing us down into darkness Building and building, inventing Just to sneak on another
Battered up and down I snorted a little bit
In the ground Come back Come back for me So many humans crying Fixing and allowing all to come to be Now here it is
Ah, been whipped around Did a little bit of coke
Watch me deteriorate into a dust speck Oh, and guide me along the way Great spirit of love Whining, wiggling and moving Oh, I snuck off I snuck on
I thought about the many fields Did a little bit of dope
Into a dust speck Guide me futuristically Come back for me Trying to break free The slave ship I sneak off
Plantations real I did a little bit of speed sometime
I’m a suspect Come back for me Great spirit And just before drowning, my head down in the water I saw humans and humans, I snuck on
Full of me How far is spaced out?
To the time of being a dust speck See me through Great spirit An old woman said to me oh, in companies and factories To sneak off in it
I’m a suspect I did angel dust
Out in Mother Universe See me through Great spirit “Hold your head” Working their fingers to the bone By putting on to the slave ship
In America I had them on the floor
What a brain “Hold your head” And then I looked up I snuck off the slave ship
For some’s mentality Where I couldn’t hear no fuss
What a brain could do “Hold your head up high” You remember I snuck off Just to sneak on another
Here I stand accused I had ‘em coming through the door
See, see, see, see, see me through And that’s when I took a ride on my imagination Off the slave ship From the slave ships
My life has been so misused BACK FOR ME HOW FAR IS SPACED-OUT? I never had time to cuss
Hey, hey can I say where they laid you down I took a mental flight off To look up and see
Through blood sweat and tears How far?
Our busy winds scattered you around Into reality In flight above me
I’m a suspect LONNIE HOLLEY – VOCALS LONNIE HOLLEY – PIANO/NORD/MICROKORG; VOCALS
How far is spaced out?
LARAAJI – PIANO and sow you like seeds in the wind DAVE NELSON – TROMBONE AND LOOPS Just above all the slaves Flying things
Oh, oh Spaced, spaced, spaced out
SAM GENDEL – SOPRANO SAXOPHONE Over again MARLON PATTON – DRUMS, PERCUSSION,
Tied and shackled down I saw the airplanes I WOKE UP IN A
Around in America RECORDED AT ESTUDIOS SA DA BANDEIRA; PORTO, PORTUGAL MOOG SYNTH BASS PEDALS Spaced, spaced, spaced out
To a dustly degree Saw the formation of the Hindenburg
And lately, it seem to be dark shadows ENGINEERED BY JOAO BRANDAO ELIZABETH LAPRELLE, ANNA ROBERTS – GEVALT, COURTNEY
Space, space, spaced out Piled up on each other
Oh
FUCKED-UP AMERICA
MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY And now you are the dust speck of the Universe HARTMAN – BACKGROUND VOCALS Men, womens and children, too
Catching up with me Space, space, space, space, space, space Big balloons floating around
AT FIGURE 8 RECORDIN For the wonders of SHAHZAD ISMAILY – SYNTHESIZERS
And some of the womens was pregnant
LONNIE HOLLEY – PIANO/NORD; VOCALS
Keeping me running and running RECORDED AT OAK AVENUE STUDIO; TUCKER, GEORGIA I was like a mule with blindfolders on Big balloons floating around, now, now, now, now, now DAVE NELSON – TROMBONE AND LOOPS
One day I will be I said, “What are they going to do?
and running to a running degree I went picking up in my memory
ENGINEERED BY MARLON PATTON
Going straight ahead With humans above
MARLON PATTON – DRUMS, PERCUSSION,
Come back for me MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY What they gonna do?, What they gonna do?” AND MOOG SYNTH BASS PEDALS
I’m a suspect (Picking up, Picking up) Spaced out With humans aboard
Come, come back for me AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING
I snuck off
SHAHZAD ISMAILY – SYNTHESIZERS
In America I went picking up in my memory Spaced out Tossing and laboring RECORDED AT OAK AVENUE STUDIO; TUCKER, GEORGIA
Come back for me I snuck off
But I will end up being a dust speck (Picking up, Picking up) I’ve been thinking and thinking I would go all the way to the stop Just to drop stuff back down ENGINEERED BY MARLON PATTON
Back, back, back I snuck off the slave ship MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY
out in Mother Universe I said oh great spirit And thinking and thinking Saturn in a dreaming heart And bombs
Now play it there In my imagination
AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING
Just a dust speck Picking up picking up And thinking and think I was spaced out And destroy all around
Play it there Snuck off the slave ship
Just a dust speck Come back for me How far? Spaced on Explosive I went to sleep
Play it there brother Saw the bodies that was tossed over
Moving around and around and around (Gathering and gathering) How far is spaced out? Spaced out Destroying cities I went to sleep
Give them some love Along the way
Universally I went picking up I remember playing and playing and playing and playing Until I was gone Destroying parts of society Anticipating on dreaming
Bring it down Unaccounted for bodies
I thought about all us humans Spaced out That humans called civilization I fell deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper in a dream
(Bits and pieces) Bring it down How far?
Where we’ll end up Unaccounted for bodies I snuck off
Gathering and gathering Bring it down How far is spaced out? And I dreamed
And how we become to be Drowned in the water I snuck off
And there, there, there they lie I remember I played and played That I woke up

“Watch me deteriorate into a dust speck.” “Mirrors that reflected how humanity would turn out to be.”
That I woke up Fucked up Thought about Mother Earth going around
In a fucked up America Fucked up Mother Earth going around
Things was going so bad Fucked up The biggest rock towards the top, just to see if maybe it was last year’s the state fairgrounds and to the larger, Valley Creek the him. “Testimony time just wasn’t long enough for all I had When Just Before Music (Dust-to-Digital) and Keeping a
line-up. It wasn’t. The title very clearly said, “Les Recontres other. That creek channel would act as a superhighway to say,” he said once about his experience in the church. Record of It were released, they seemed, to many people,
Humans was crying, crying America The biggest rock for human kind
Trans Musicales, December 6-10, 2013; Rennes, France” for the ever adventuresome Tonky McElroy. By the age By the time he was 16, Alabama had held him too long, to come out of left field. Writers, like the wall designers
I woke up America The biggest rock of five, he’d talked the owners of the drive-in theater into and he needed a change, so he went to Florida to live with at Le Trans, didn’t know what to do with, or make of,
I woke up Please, please, please, please A rare, rare rock That’s where we found him. In the blank space
giving him a job picking up trash after the busy weekend his oldest brother Sonny. Lonnie or his music. I imagine that’s why so much of the
between the diagram’s circles and the bold title of the
In a fucked up America Skip, hop, and jump shows. Through the modest amount of money they paid writing about Lonnie’s music referenced Sun Ra, because
festival were two words––Lonnie Holley. Sure enough, In Florida, he spent a few years doing odd jobs, before
In a fucked up America Over many rocks him and the change he picked up off the ground and in both seemed to come from nowhere. Ironically, Sun
they had not known where to put him, so he ended up landing a job as a cook at the soon to open Disney World.
America I woke up Over many rocks the popcorn and candy bags, he could sneak into the state Ra’s music was the one music that Lonnie doesn’t have
in No Man’s Land. It wasn’t really a first for Lonnie. As Florida turned out to be no better a place for a young,
fairgrounds and spend the day wandering the midway and any recollection of ever hearing, nor can he remember
Plans, oh, that had lasted for years I woke up See I don’t know very much about a visual artist, he’d usually ended up in No Man’s Land. African American man than Alabama, and after finding
seeing and hearing the very best Alabama had to offer. ever hearing of Sun Ra. But had Lonnie not been in the
Was now causing tears Stop America all the other planets His art often defied easy, and sometimes even not-so-easy, trouble everywhere he didn’t look for it in Florida, he
He’d already spent years being immersed in burlesque, wrong place at the wrong time and gotten picked up by
And walls In a fucked up America I don’t know nothing about Jupiter characterization and classification. moved back to Alabama and on the hill near the airport
and now at the fairgrounds he had access to country and the Birmingham Police when he was 11, he would likely
where he would live for the next 25 years. By the time
And walls Stop America I don’t know Mars or Venus Contemporary art galleries and museums usually western, big band, blues, bluegrass, choral music, among have stayed right there on Lomb Avenue, near the drive-in
Lonnie returned to Airport Hill, he’d encountered almost
All about the walls Would you make a change? I don’t know Mercury thought of Lonnie as a folk artist, not belonging inside other music styles being offered. and the state fairgrounds. Or, had he been successful
all of the musical styles popular in 20th Century America.
All about the walls I woke up And I surely don’t know the moon their institutions. Folk Art museums and galleries thought in finding his family up on Airport Hill, and stayed in
From the top of the McElroy’s house, Lonnie had The rich soil of Alabama proved to be not just fertile land
of Lonnie’s work as too contemporary and not easily Birmingham during his teenage years, he’d have attended
Arguing, fussing, and fighting I woke up even though I see it a clear view to the drive-in theater screen behind the for growing cotton (and producing ample supplies of iron
fitting into the themes and ideas of the work they showed. A. H. Parker High School, formerly Industrial High School.
About the walls I woke up See it house. Holley wired up speakers to the top of the house ore and coal), but for nurturing and creating many of the
To say nothing of the materials Lonnie used to make said That is the same high school attended by Herman Poole
All the way up on Wall Street In a dream I see it, hey so he could sit up there at night and watch the movies. musical forms the country is known for today. Lonnie was
art. Lonnie once said in an interview that “All those terms Blount, who would eventually become Sun Ra. And on
For four or five years, he watched every movie that came there, paying attention, and absorbing the things he was
I woke up in a fucked up America In a dream Skip, skip, skip, hop, and jump they’ve called me––outsider, folk, visionary, self-taught–– those days the young Tonky McElroy spent headed to the

From Many, One:

And brutality
Seemed the better part of my dream
to the theater and heard the classical music, jazz, and encountering.
In this dream Now you find a rock then you want to try to copy it they’ve all clung to me like an ill-fitted suit.” airport area to look for his mother, he walked right past
contemporary music that served as the soundtracks and In 1979, his sister lost two young children, Maurice
Oh, I Copy it Seeing his name separated from all the other the house where Sun Ra grew up, though he’d never hear
scores for those films. Each night, he would fall asleep

The Music of
and Fredia, in a house fire. She was despondent at the of him, or his music, until other people started comparing
Of reality Please, please I say players performers, not by circles, but by space, confounded next to the Rockola jukebox that was a centerpiece of the loss and when she couldn’t afford to pay for tombstones Lonnie’s music to his.  
Of what the future would be Oh, I Hey, human players him but didn’t really surprise him. Lonnie has never house where he lived until he was 11. That jukebox spun for their grave plots, sank into a deep depression. Lonnie
Lonnie Holley
been outside from anything he’s ever been a part of. He’s all the popular musical hits of the day, beginning in about Back to Rennes, France, December, 2013.
I woke up Please, please Hey, you humans playing around wanted to do something to help ease her pain, and found
very much a community person. I said to Lonnie that 1955 and lasting until 1961, when Lonnie left the McElroy
Yeah, humans fighting in the street Let me out of this dream You’ve been playing around some discarded “core sand” stone, a remnant of steel By the time Lonnie went out that night and sang, alone
day in Rennes, “Hey, look, if they really knew you and house. Around that time, he learned that he had another
cellphone abuse Let me out of this dream And I remember way back in the time production, and carved tombstones for the two children. (on a huge stage in front of thousands of people in an
understood your life and music, they’d have made your family and that his birth mother lived somewhere out near
BY MATT ARNETT The act lifted his sister’s spirits, and unleashed something airplane hangar in France), about growing up black in
Computer misusers of rock ‘n’ roll name about a foot high and had it span all the circles.” the airport. He wanted to find her, so he would often in Lonnie that remains to this day. He realized that the Birmingham, Alabama, during the most awful days of the
Overdatafying Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, When Lonnie’s first and second records came out spend time each week using the creek beds and railroad act of creating could please other people around him and Civil Rights Movement and the time spent at Mt. Meigs
Ah, data feed to the cloud rock, rock, rock, rock (13 months apart), most music writers and critics didn’t tracks to move around the periphery of the city, looking relieve his own pain and take his mind off the many things and trying to find his way in the world, he’d already heard
It was the last day of Lonnie’s first full European tour. for his family.
I woke up COPYING THE ROCK Then you saved me down to pop, pop, We were excited to pull into Rennes, France, site of the know how to classify him. Most readily admitted it. that troubled him. A few years later, while on one of his enough music to fill thousands of jukeboxes.
Woke up pop, pop, pop, pop, pop renowned festival Les Recontres Trans Musicales. Le Sometimes they’d compare his music to other music, One night, after getting lost, Lonnie was spotted by the numerous weekly trips to flea malls and thrift stores, he And what came out didn’t sound like he’d adapted
Woke up
LONNIE HOLLEY – KEYBOARDS; VOCALS
Then you made the rhythm turn into blues, Trans, as everyone there refers to it, is known for being a more frequently they’d talk about the artist himself, but police. He was only 11 and had no idea that Bull Connor, stumbled upon a Casio keyboard at a Goodwill store. He
RICHARD SWIFT – DRUMS some of those musical influences, it sounded like he’d
festival that introduces great new music to the world. We most often, they’d just say his music wasn’t classifiable. the notorious Birmingham Commissioner of Public took it home and discovered that most of the keys worked,
Woke up RECORDED AT NATIONAL FREEDOM; blues, blues, blues, blues, blues adapted them all.
were honored to be there. This was best articulated by Frieze, which wrote, “Most Safety, had instituted a curfew, or, for that matter, what and those that didn’t, Lonnie found a way to rewire them
In a fucked up COTTAGE GROVE, OREGON Then you say with your news writing to date on Holley’s unique music does not go far a curfew was, but he was now violating it. He went to jail, so they did. He would then sit and play the keyboard
ENGINEERED BY RICHARD SWIFT
America All across the land We entered the festival headquarters to pick up our beyond characterizing it as ‘unclassifiable.’ Yet, while it and though he was never really charged with any crime, and sing and chant, often long ruminations about what
MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY
Talking about this vote don’t count Extra! Extra! Extra! laminates and to do a few interviews before Lonnie’s may not slot neatly into any known music genre, echoes he ended up in Mt. Meigs, Alabama, at a place called the was happening on the news, what was going on in the
AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING
performance later that night. As we walked in, we were of earlier styles and artists can be detected.” That article Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children. It was a neighborhood, or what he was currently making visual art
And that vote don’t count Read all about it
greeted by an orange wall with a large Venn diagram on it went on to talk about Holley’s music and its similarities, school in name only. According to Lonnie’s accounts, and about.
And the miscount of voting around the world Skip, skip, skip, hop, and jump Destroying the rock (or as the festival called it, a “sky map”). Lonnie had never at times, to Miles Davis, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Gil the accounts of others who were housed there, it was a
And all the terrorizing Skip, hop, and jump Destroying the rock we love seen such a diagram and asked me what it was for and A few years after that Lonnie found an old karaoke
Scott-Heron, Sam Cooke, and others. Holley’s music was slave camp. Young boys and girls, many as young as 11
Please, please, please, please Til you find you a rock Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, how it worked. I explained that each circle had a genre machine at a flea mall and brought it home and hooked his
frequently compared, as it was in The Guardian, to the or 12, were leased out to farms, businesses, the state,
Terrorize rock of all the rockers of music and each artist who was playing in the festival keyboard and microphone up to it and started recording
Til you find you a rock “experimental deep space blues of Sun Ra.” municipalities, and other groups, to do work for which
fit into a circle. Where the circles overlapped, it showed the music he was making so that he could go back and
I woke up That you want to copy Trying to copy a rock To fully understand Holley’s music, if one can fully the “school” was paid. While there, Lonnie spent time listen to it. He amassed hundreds of these tapes, most of
that artists fit into different categories. Lonnie asked picking cotton and doing other field work, “flat-weeding”
I woke up Copy the rock Hey, hey, hey, hey understand anything as singular as Holley’s art or music, which were lost or destroyed.
where they’d put him. We began to look. And look. And along the roads and highways, cleaning the ditches and
I woke up Copy the rock Trying to copy a rock look, without success. We checked “folk” and “jazz” and it is important to understand his relationship to other
swamps, canning meats and vegetables, and too many He never really played “for” anyone but himself, but
Please, please, please, please Skip, skip, skip, hop, and jump Satellites are all so far from the ground “traditional” and “blues” and finally even “electronica.” music throughout his life. When Lonnie was one-and-
other jobs to name. They sang songs, too, lots of them–– if you were lucky enough to arrive when he was playing
In wordsmithing So far from Mother Earth going around We could not find his name anywhere. a-half years old, a woman offered to help his mom with
Til you find you a rock worth copying in the fields as they worked; out on the highways with the and singing, he’d continue playing as if you weren’t there,
her young baby boy (she had two other babies under the
Breakdown of words Skip, skip, skip, hop, and jump Listen at me Lonnie, who has had as hard a life as anyone I’ve road crew; in the dining hall as they ate; and wherever or work your presence into the composition he was
age of four and needed some relief). The woman took
Humans, Please Skip, hop, and jump Satellites now with one eye known and whose life and work has been misunderstood they were as they did the Mt. Meigs Stomp, a dance that creating. And he’d often bring these tapes with him when
him for what Holley’s mom thought would be a few days
Makeovers of words I remember when I was growing up by more people than I could possibly count, is a very Holley still remembers almost 55 years later. The dance we traveled together, and we’d listen to them over and
Skip, hop, and jump and never returned. Instead, she took Lonnie away and
sensitive guy. I could sense that he felt overlooked and was always accompanied by songs and words of comfort over in the car. The music always resonated with me, but
Humans, please You skipped and you hopped I used to look at Sinbad traveled the country with him for the next two-and-a- half
it hurt me that it hurt him so badly. Plus, he was about to like “Knock time coming and it won’t be long, gonna see I, too, struggled to know what it was or where it fit. But
Words get made over and you jumped over so many rock Sinbad years, dancing in burlesque shows. When she returned to
do some interviews and then perform, and I was worried ol’ Sallie with the red dress on.” (Sallie was the cook in the once I heard him sing and play, I could never get it out of
Please, please, please And the one-eyed Cyclops Birmingham with the now four-year old Holley to perform
Rock, rock, rock, rock that this slight would affect his performance on stage and kitchen, and singing songs about her always meant that my head and always looked forward to those times when
at the Alabama State Fairgrounds, she stopped in the
I woke up So many rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, Yeah, one eyed Cyclops his time with the media. Given that Lonnie’s performances their bellies would soon be full). he’d show up with a tape of new recordings.
“whiskey house” on the periphery of the fairgrounds for
I woke up, oh rock, rock, rock, rock Lived off in a rock, rock, rock, rock, rock are always unique and the songs are created on the spot, a drink. The proprietress, Ms. McElroy, took one look at When Lonnie was about 14, his grandmother (on his In 2006, I was working on recording what I thought
As babies cried You skipped, hopped and you jumped He would set a trap having him mentally prepared and with a clean mind was the malnourished boy, and convinced the dancer that she father’s side) heard through a friend that her grandson was a disappearing gospel music tradition in Gee’s Bend,
Mothers cried With gold, silver, diamonds essential, especially in those early days of him performing should turn the child over to her so he could be properly might be down at the Industrial School. She traveled Alabama, and asked Lonnie if he wanted to come along
Until you found you a rock worth copying
live. So, I said, “I think we got added to this festival late, cared for. This exchange has often been characterized to Mt. Meigs, Alabama, about 13 miles east of the state to help during the day, and record some of his music at
Fathers cried Then you found out Oh, pretty things
and knowing how long it takes to produce these big vinyl as Holley having been traded for a bottle of whiskey, capital of Montgomery, and found her grandson there. night. Lonnie had spent a lot of time with the quiltmakers
Humanity’s crying Then you found out Pretty things that yet dug a hole signs, I’m sure this was made before you were added to which while maybe technically true, is hardly an accurate For the first time in 12 years, Lonnie Holley was reunited in Gee’s Bend and had become close to a lot of them,
Women Then you found out That he had dug a hole beyond the gold the festival.” I did not believe what I was telling him, but depiction of what happened. From the age of four and he wanted to be there. We built a recording studio
with his biological family. Hixie Jones Canady, “Momo”
Marching Yes, you found out I think about us humans digging our holes hoped he would. He responded that we’ve known about until eleven, Holley lived with Mr. and Mrs. McElroy on to Lonnie, was a very spiritual woman. Not only did she in an old wooden church and recorded a cappella hymns
In a fucked up You found out Prying way down this show for a long time, and that explanation wasn’t Lomb Avenue near Fairgrounds Drive in Birmingham. go to church often, she had aspirations for her young and spirituals all day long in the makeshift studio/church.
I woke up Drilling, drilling, drilling, drilling, drilling, possible. He was known as “Tonky” McElroy; “Tonky” was short grandson to become a preacher. He spent the next year When night came, we’d set up keyboards for Lonnie and
You couldn’t copy a rock
I woke up You had no idea drilling, drilling, drilling, drilling I then suggested that perhaps this was last year’s for honky-tonk.   and a half logging many hours in the church, singing record his music. This would be the first time his music
I woke up Drilling, drilling, drilling, drilling, drilling, festival line-up, perhaps a look back at the artists they’d spiritual songs, “moaning out” hymns, and listening to would be “professionally” recorded. That session only
Skip, skip, skip, hop, and jump The creek behind the McElroy’s house was not much
introduced last year. Not exactly unbelievable, but it was the Baptist and AME preachers sermonizing from the produced three finished songs, one of which eventually
In a fucked up Hey, til you find you a rock that was worth copying drilling, drilling, drilling, drilling of a barrier between their property and the drive-in
the first thing that came to my mind. I put my hand on pulpits of the churches Momo and his mother, Dorothy appeared on Lonnie’s second album, Keeping a Record of
theater out back and the creek’s culvert provided a
Lonnie’s shoulder and said, “Hey, maybe they just didn’t Mae Holley, attended. Lonnie found that he had a lot to It (released on Dust-to-Digital).
perfect entryway into the Alabama State Fairgrounds for
know where to put you,” as my eyes scanned up the chart a curious young boy. The creek led in one direction to say, but the church just didn’t feel like the right place for

“Overdatafying.”
When we got it all to the top Coming back from the distance of time Then it makes a stream I’m And all of her ghostness of darkness Around and around
And we said we want to cop, cop, cop, To, oh, share and try to explain Down the Earthly way I’m down, down, down So, keep me please Around and around
cop, cop, cop, copy a rock Why humans we need to look together Information In the ghostness You ghostness of darkness Around like the world’s going around
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, From the small, small, small, small, small, small All the way to the little drips, oh Of darkness Keep me please Come on and dance
rock, rock, rock, rock, rock Space in the spaces From the little drips, oh Oh, I’m down I, oh, futuristically Baby, dance
Copying a rock Of what we know as time Down, yeah, yeah Oh, in the activities of memories Want to be You can even dance in the class
Copying a rock Coming back Down the creek, now Yeah, yeah My, my, my, my, my
You can make a dance last
Thought about all the rock ‘n’ rollers Coming back And down the creek Be not afraid I want to be among the spirits Dance through the daytime
Thought about all the humans Coming back Down the creek I’m seeing humans being born Of you ghostness of darkness Last through the night
Looked around on mother earth I wondered what to say It fills up lakes I’m seeing children, oh, children of the humanity When this life of mine’s is over You can dance, dance
At the rocks I wondered what to play It fills up, oh, mighty seas Playing on I still want to do the best I can And dance, dance
If I gathered them all together it’d be a rock pile Hey, hey Spills into rivers Oh, I bet you’re wondering And I want to be Management · Matt Arnett & Seth Loeser All songs by Lonnie Holley
Some dancing just for fun
Of tombstones Coming back, yeah Keeps running on Where I am Always management@lonnieholley.com (except tracks 3, 4, 5, and 9 – Lonnie Holley,
Making it all right
Of tombstones From a human’s journey out in space Keeps running on Don’t be afraid Be not afraid Legal · Robert Meitus at Meitus, Gelber, Rose LLP Dave Nelson, and Marlon Patton)
Make it all right
Hey, hey, hey From way, way, way, way This here water Sometimes we as humans Since you are wondering where I am If it’s wrong, you can make it right Mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk
The final rock Long deep within Water like magic Say brains, brains, brains I bet you humans are wondering where I am
That all of us Coming back All life need it Don’t stop smithing on me You can dance Original works of art by Lonnie Holley
Be not afraid You can dance
Can get put upon us Coming back All life need it Darkness I dedicate this record to my grandmother, Hixie Jones Design and direction by Nathaniel David Utesch
I’m down in the ghostness of darkness Baby you can dance
The copying of the rock, rock, rock, rock, Coming back Think about a mother’s womb Go ahead Canady (Momo); my mother, Dorothy Mae Holley Additional design by Susan Archie
Singing this song And some dancing up in the mind
rock, rock, rock, rock, rock Having water in it Go ahead Crawford; my friend William Arnett; and to all of the Cover photo by Timothy Duffy
Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, And she gets ready to give birth And work this old body to a master’s degree I said, “Even little baby’s dancing along” Back cover photo by Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
“oldies and gone-ies” who made the music that kept me
rock, rock The water breaks, ah I’m down Some baby’s crawling and dancing Booklet photos courtesy of James Fuentes Gallery
inspired and happy.
Hey THERE WAS ALWAYS WATER And it spills In the ghostness of darkness
SOMETIMES I WANNA DANCE Moving their hips, now – Lonnie Holley, 2018
Art on jacket interior appears courtesy of
Make me almost cry And then here you come Be not afraid Moving their hips Paulson-Fontaine Press; Berkeley, California
LONNIE HOLLEY – VOCALS
Because I cannot copy the rock LARAAJI – PIANO; THUMBJAM APP
And then you’ll be born They’re all around me LONNIE HOLLEY – VOCALS Mama’s little baby Produced by Matt Arnett and Lonnie Holley
LARAAJI – PIANO/FENDER RHODES
MARLON PATTON – DRUMS Be born out of water I see elders, elders down on their knees Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
SHAHZAD ISMAILY – PERCUSSION
SHAHZAD ISMAILY – SYNTHESIZERS
Water, water, water Praying don’t forget RECORDED AT ESTUDIOS SA DA BANDEIRA Mama’s little baby dancing
RECORDED AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING; BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
We all need water Praying don’t forget about the realities of the ways of life ENGINEERED BY JOAO BRANDAO Shake, shake, shake Thank you to the people who helped make this record: Joao Brandao, Richard Swift, Philip Weinrobe, Shahzad Ismaily,
ENGINEERED BY SHAHZAD ISMAILY
COMING BACK MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY Oh, wonderful water Some say go on a-living MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY
Mama’s little baby dancing
Dave Nelson, Marlon Patton, Laraaji, Sam Gendel, Anna Roberts-Gevalt, Elizabeth LaPrelle, Courtney Hartman.
AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING
(From the Distance Between AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING Drink, drink, drink, drink, drink Ah, go on a-living Shaking around
the Spaces of Time) The wonders of water I see the ghostness of darkness
I notice humans, they love to dance Shaking around
It’s like magic Just to sustain us Oh, oh
I said, “Dance, dance, dance.” Stroll around
LONNIE HOLLEY – NORD/MICROKORG; VOCALS It’s like magic Down to the oceans deep Building up
DAVE NELSON – TROMBONE AND LOOPS; OP1
I notice humans, they love to dance Up or down A very special thank you to Eric Deines, Bill Arnett, Paul Phil Proctor, Allen Peterson, Lou and Calynne Hill, Sam
Water Just to sustain us Oh, building up
MARLON PATTON – DRUMS, PERCUSSION,
Dancing in and dancing out In and out Arnett, Seth Loeser, Carrie Amestoy, Chris Swanson, Amidon, Rhea Fontaine, Renée Bott, Paulson-Fontaine
AND MOOG SYNTH BASS PEDALS It’s like magic And all the formations in the oceans Ghostness
Dance, dance, dance Dance, dance, dance Darius Van Arman, Jagjaguwar, Secretly Group, Grocery Press, Stacy DeHart, Mark Sloan, Nick Carter and Dan’s
SHAHZAD ISMAILY – SYNTHESIZERS Water Life formations The ghostness
RECORDED AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING; BROOKLYN, NEW YORK Some just shaking on Home, Robert Meitus, Alyson Miller, Jordan Gutglass, Painting, Ryu Takahashi, Brooke Davis Anderson, Bernie
We all need water Just to sustain us Becoming mountain high Bodies up and bodies down
ENGINEERED BY PHILIP WEINROBE Dance, dance, dance Bradford Cox, Ben Sollee, Marshall Ruffin, Diego Cortez, Herman, UNC, Red Hot Organization, Mike Behr, Ric
MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY It’s like magic And all the acts of precipitation Building up Bodies moving all around
Some just shaking Amos Harvey, Dave Eggar, Kelly Pratt, Ted and Dale Geyer, Other Music, Criminal Records, Eddie’s Attic,
AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING Water’s always been around Just to sustain us And high I notice humans
Water’s been up and, ah, and water’s been down Shaking their head Rosengarten, Stevie Nistor, Brian and Lurah Blade, Alex Andrew Hingley, Steve Gunn, 4244, Allison Kendrick,
Being a part of every sea, yeah Building up Dance, dance
Coming back So mystifying It’s all on the mind Krispin, Daniel Lanois, Deerhunter, Lance Ledbetter, William Andrews, Tom and Erin Arnett, Grayson Haver
Water Oh Like dancing coming through so many doors
Through the years We all need water It’s all on the mind James Fuentes, Bill Callahan, and Animal Collective. Currin, Sarah Owen, Chris Johanson, Richard Rosenthal,
Ah, we all need water Be not ye afraid Dancing going on, on so many floors
Light years away It’s been around Dance Erin Brauer, Frank Meadows, Ethan Payne, Jimmy Rowalt,
Humans Of your own reality Dance, dance
Coming back Oh, oh, oh Deep off into Mother Universe Be not Baby, baby, baby, baby Thank you to Jordon Ellis, Aaron Embry, Will Glass, Victoria Warren, Tim and Carole Reed, Matt Sand,
We can even dance on the beach
Oh, from thousands of years out into space Ever since Deep off into Mother Universe Oh Groove Danny Meyer, Dave Portner, Jenny Hval, Julia Haltigan, Keirsten Jarvis, Joao Brandao, Estúdios Sá da Bandeira,
We can dance on the mountain side
Humans, how deep it is Ever since There’s still water We get so afraid of ghosts Oh, move Kristin Diable, Jim White, Dave Hartley, Lizzi Bougatsos, Institute 193, Pickathon, Tinwood, SGD Foundation,
We can dance down by the river
How deep the light years Earth was bound To the smallest Sometimes we develop no love at Baby, dance Cole Alexander, Justin Vernon, Bon Iver, Scott Peek, Chris Appleton, Joaquim Durães, Doug DeLoach,
We can even, in our eye
Yes, researching to tell And created To the tallest and the largest Moving around Groove Jessica Park, Standard Deluxe, Figure 8, Phillip March The Whitney Museum of American Art, Tony and Diane
Dance, dance, dance
Looking through these windows of my brain’s So small We all need water Moving around Baby, dance Jones, Justin Landis, Terry Groves, Jane Fonda, Denise Riffel, Octane Coffee, The Metropolitan Museum of
I notice humans, they love to dance
ability to see We need water Moving around Dance, dance, dance Markonish, MASS MOCA, Dawn DeDeaux, Doria Roberts, Art, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, The High
Dance, dance, dance
Coming back This here water Moving around Ooh, let it groove you Brendan Canty, Minton Sparks, Anis Mojgani, Jon Batiste, Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Dance, dance, dance
From the light years Need water I remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dance, dance, dance, dance Walt McClements, Tani Cohen, David Byrne, Leslie The National Gallery of Art, BAM, Larry Rinder, Berkeley
Dance, dance
Machinery technically designed now So many times DOWN IN THE GHOSTNESS Singing about, oh, speaking about, oh Let the music move you Umberger, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Susan Archie, Art Museum and California Film Archives, The Halsey
Oh, dance
Now to digitally define Through the act of precipitation OF DARKNESS Our work, thinking about, oh
Ooh, let the body groove Baby, let’s dance April Ledbetter, Dust-to-Digital, Cyrus Moussavi, Robert Institute of Contemporary Art, Viva Vadim, Malcolm
The distance between the spaces of time Through the act of precipitation Agape love You need to start it over again Beatty, Tony Brewer, Binta Ayofemi, Mark Binelli, Maris Vadim, Miguel Dash Deines, Evvie Dot Deines, Vanessa
Coming back, humans And I remember LONNIE HOLLEY – PIANO/NORD; VOCALS Come on baby, let the body move Vadim, Daniel Fuller, The Atlanta Contemporary Art
DAVE NELSON – TROMBONE AND LOOPS
Agape love Baby, let’s dance Curran, Samantha Parton, George King, Chris Griffin, Joe
From distance of spaces Moisturizing all the way to rising That we as humans would have to develop Dance, dance, dance Center, Lynn Mullins (DJ Trouble), WFMU, Tod Lippy,
MARLON PATTON – DRUMS, PERCUSSION,
Ooh, ooh and Hilda Minter, Thornton Dial, The Holley family, Bob
If I could say anything that would help Up to the cloud AND MOOG SYNTH BASS PEDALS By ways of memories You can dance, up or down ESOPUS, Revel in Dimes, Scott Hull, Mickie Steier,
Ooh, ooh van Heur, Will Cash, Lotte van Riel, Virginia Prescott, Bas
the human brain expectation Gathering SHAHZAD ISMAILY – SYNTHESIZERS
From the, oh, ghostness of darkness In the house or out the door Brendan Ford, Brad Cook, and Tom Larkin.
RECORDED AT OAK AVENUE STUDIO; TUCKER, GEORGIA You need to rewind Flesseman, Dick van Doorn, Pam Paulson, Lee Bains III,
See I know it’s going to take, And ends up down in the ocean Memory, yeah Baby you don’t even need a dance floor
ENGINEERED BY MARLON PATTON
Just dance, you know Ooh
lonnieholley.com
it’s going to take to get there Now, now, now, now, now MIXED BY PHILIP WEINROBE AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY That’s wrapped around Mother Planet Earth
Participation from every generation That everything flows down AT FIGURE 8 RECORDING Dance, dance, dance Keep it going, keep it going
Oh, we have the air we breath
Continuation On a tiny stream Oh, oh Baby let’s dance
That be the reason for, oh, reality
Working, forward together On a leaf, you know I bet you’re wondering Baby, let’s dance Keep it going, keep it going
Mother Earth going around
And nobody, nobody could tell Then it drops, drops, drops, drops, drops Where I am And all of her ghostness, oh Baby, let’s dance Baby let’s dance
Oh, what it’s going to take to make the struggle Drop after drop Oh, Oh, oh, Keep it going, keep it going

“And then here you come. And then you’ll be born.” “Be not afraid. I’m down in the ghostness of darkness.”