Keep On Keeping On (feat. Tanaya Winder)

Back at Sac and Fox
Agency boarding school
Jim was, faced with the prospect
Of having to mourn the news
Of his, twin brother Charlie
Contracting a dangerous illness
A ten year old made to feel this
Mind shackled he faced the realness
Typhoid contaminated food
Or water was the problem
Charlie got it then Pneumonia
Also wrought upon him
Powerless the GOAT
Had to watch his brother fade
Little did he know his brothers
Change would make him great
Told his children decades later
Charlie was his strength
Inspired him surpassing
Competition in his name
It's like he had his brother's
Spirit flowing through his veins
With him he had the power
To destroy this Nation's chains
Jim distrusted boarding schools
Again he ran away
Hiram whooped him but not even that
Would make him go back
He never did fully recover
From his death just know that
At times when family tried to get close
He was known to pull back
A Bright Path can only last
When you dig deep inside
Push through the pain and hurt
That can eat you alive
Don't lose your stride or grip
Your fighting for the will
To keep on, keeping on
And on and on
Gotta keep on
Keeping, keeping
Hiram finally grew tired
Of whooping son
So he retired and sent
Jim off in the sun
So far away he thought the baby
Goat would never run home
Few hundred miles to Haskell
There's little chance he could roam
The Captain of Haskell's team
Brought a slim Jim under his wing
And gifted him his first football
He fell in love with the thing
This fella's name was Chauncey
Archiquette a legend himself
Invented the zone in basketball
It's inventor he helped
I first got acquainted with Jim
At Haskell Institute, we were
Twelve years of age. Jim stated to me
That while he was there, he received
A letter one day, from home telling
Him that his father was quite ill and
Jim, for that reason, wanted to
Request leave from the school to
Visit his father in the Sac and Fox
Country. But his request to go and
See his father was denied by the
School authorities, so Jim took
French leave and went home to
See his father
Jim was frail and young
When his athletic trail begun
An early teen he'd run three
Hundred miles until he'd come
To his family's home
Via train and soles of feet
Soul was deep, so to speak
Scared his dad was home deceased
Cause he heard he fell ill
He was actually still well
Didn't let little Jim stay
Though he was homesick for real
Fate would have it momma died
Birthing her 11th child
After Jim had left again
Upon return he probably cried
A Bright Path can only last
When you dig deep inside
Push through the pain and hurt
That can eat you alive
Don't lose your stride or grip
Your fighting for the will
To keep on, keeping on
And on and on
Gotta keep on
Keeping, keeping
Could stallion manhandle
Adolescent on the road
To the Texas panhandle
Taming horses was the goal
I never met a wild one
I couldn't saddle and ride
That's one achievement from my
Boyhood that I'll always hold proud
To top it off he returned
To pops with a team of 'em
A lot of crops were homegrown
To chop he's the cream of 'em
Attended Garden Grove School
And became a star player
Colonizers from Carlisle
Came into town later
Jim's resilience was brilliant
Amidst the illness he'd kill it
He was passing his classes
While feeling all of these feelings
On top of that he was fearless the
Neighbors bull was just reeling
So all his friends was just peeling
But he took aim and he pierced it
With a bow and arrow
Like he's a native hero
Hiram paid Dinero to the
Neighbor to be fair though
Proud of Jim's courage still
Demanded he be careful
Like father like son
Bad to the bone and the marrow
A Bright Path can only last
When you dig deep inside
Push through the pain and hurt
That can eat you alive
Don't lose your stride or grip
Your fighting for the will
To keep on, keeping on
And on and on