Lyrics of 'My Own Eyes' by Xavier Rudd

Since I was just a little boy, I’ve been wondering why
This great old culture we should be helping to heal is so often pushed aside
So many children taken away, so much abuse and rape
When will it be high priority to educate and make some real change?

I’ve seen it in communities, so many that it’s hard to believe
Elders speaking wisdom, far beyond what they choose to teach in history
And young hearts just drinking it away, understanding why their culture was so shamed
Waiting for a reason, what was taken off still hasn’t been replaced

My own eyes...
I saw it with my own eyes
I did, I did (yeah, I did)
That’s why I know this is true (yeah, it’s true)

I’ve seen it down in sacred Tassie
Where they’re cutting all those big old trees
Forty-four football fields a day is what they clear and ain’t that hard to believe?
And all for the economy, raping country that our children won’t see
And even Peter Garrett is lying down when we thought that he might be the key

Yeah, well, my own eyes...
I saw it with my own eyes
I did, I did (yeah, I did)
That’s why I know this is true (yeah, it's true)

I’ve seen it up in Nhulunbuy, bringing alcohol to sacred soil
A place still thriving with language and culture by now should just fucken’ be preserved
People climbing up on Uluru, behind those fences are the people who know
Whoa, and Qantas is still flying to Ayers Rock, despite years and years of truth

Yeah, well, my own eyes...
I saw it with my own eyes
I did, I did (yeah, I did)
That’s why I know this is true (yeah, it's true)

Whoa, and I’ve seen it in the Kimberley, part of the key to human history
See there’s rock art as old as the great ice age, still there for the world to see
But demolish it for industry. We’ll create so many jobs you see
In a country so wealthy, still burning coal for electricity

Yeah, well, my own eyes...
I saw it with my own eyes
I did, I did (yeah, I did)
That’s why I know this is true (yeah, it's true)

Same old things we always hear
Lies to fill the pockets of the rich
No respect for culture, the animals, the environment
Our future or just the air we breathe

Yeah, our own eyes...
We’ve seen this with our own eyes
For years we did, for centuries we did
That’s why we know this is true

Yeah, well, my own eyes...
I saw it with my own eyes
I did, I did (yeah, I did)
That’s why I know this is true (yeah, it's true)