This
winter, more than 40,000 New Zealanders will be either
sleeping on the street, in cars, garages or on couches, or
living in emergency accommodation. Christchurch city has
about 6000 homeless, while its Christians(sic)
are rebuilding two grandiose and empty
Cathedrals.
Tune - Streets of London
C Have you seen
old G Jimmy
be-Am-hind
the closed-down Em
cafe
F Searching
wheelie C bins
there
for a D7
meat pie or a G
bun.
He C spends
the whole night G
looking
for our Am
thrown-out cafe Em
cooking
Falls a-F-sleep
upon the C pavement
as our G7
workday’s just C
begun.
So F
how can you Em
tell me
your C bed
is G hard
and Am
lumpy
D7
And a softer mattress you must G
find?
G7
C
Let me take you G
by the hand
I’ll Am lead
you through
the Em
streets of Christ-church
F I
will show you C
something
that will G7
make you change your C
mind.
Have you seen the schoolkids
who sit beneath a streetlight
Trying to do their homework
the best way that they can?
They shiver in the autumn cold
'til finally their books they fold
Crawl in beside their mother
in the back of her old van.
Chorus
Methylated spirits
dulls the pain for little Ana
Dark memories: men molesting her
when she was very small.
In an alcove piled with old clothes
a boning knife protects her life
While we buy pretty trinkets
on the far side of her wall.
Chorus
Up 2 semitones
See the kids and Jim and Ana
chatting to the Orange Sky crew
Their showers and newly washed clothes
have given them new pride
.
In our winter city these guys
show a true Christ pity
For our forgotten neighbours
we've so often brushed aside.
Chorus
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Orange Sky.
Orange Sky is a non-profit organization working across
Aotearoa to provide people suffering homelessness and
hardship with access to free laundry services, warm
showers and non-judgmental conversation. Its mission is to
connect communities by providing a safe, supportive
environment for people who are often ignored or
disconnected from their community.
In 2014, Nic and Lucas – two 20 year-old guys in Brisbane,
Australia, heard the song Orange Sky.
I had a dream I
Stood beneath an orange sky
With my brother and my sister standing by.
And here is what I know now
In your love
My salvation lies in your love
My salvation lies in your love
So they built a free mobile laundry van to help people in
their community who were doing it tough. That van was
named Sudsy.
It didn’t take Nic and Lucas long to realize that while
clean laundry was important, it was their conversations
and regular connection with those
living rough that had the
greatest impact in the lives of those who were down and
out. So volunteers now pull out half a dozen chairs at
their shift locations to sit down and have a chat with
them while their clothes are washed and dried.
After
getting the laundry and shower service going all over
Australia, Nic
and Lucas looked across the
ditch and started helping the 40,000+ New Zealanders who
were homeless there, and with the support of the Hugo
Charitable Trust and the Ministry of Housing
and Urban Development, Orange Sky was launched in Auckland
on World Homelessness Day, 10 October 2018.
In 2023, 300 volunteers were operating in Auckland,
Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin, in association with
Christian city missions and food banks, with future
expansion plans on the horizon.
Alternative
choral performance
Tune
- Streets of London
Old man sings
Y'kin call me Jimmy, I'm behind this closed-down cafe
Searching wheelie bins here for a meat pie or a bun.
I spen' the whole night looking
for yer thrown-out cafe cooking
Fall asleep upon the pavement as yer workday’s just
begun.
All
How can you tell me your bed is hard and
lumpy
And a softer
mattress you must find?
Let me take you by the hand
I’ll lead you through the streets of
Christ-church
(Newtown?)
I will show you something
that will make you change your mind.
2 or 3 children sing
Have you seen us schoolkids sitting underneath a
streetlight
Trying to do our homework in the best way that we can?
We shiver in the autumn cold
'Til finally our books we fold.
And crawl in beside our māmā in the back of her old van.
Chorus
Young woman sings
This methylated spirits dulls the pain enough to sleep
with
Dark mem'ries of men hurting me when I was very small.
In this alcove piled old clothes
a boning knife protects my life
While you buy pretty trinkets on the far side of that
wall.
Chorus
Up 2 semitones
Jim and kids and Ana all sing
We've been sitting down and chatting to the Orange Sky
crew
Our showers and newly washed clothes have given us some
pride.
In your winter city these guys show a true Christ pity
For neighbours just like us who you've often brushed
aside.
Chorus,
with extra harmonies
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This webpage put onto
folksong.org.nz website in October 2023
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