[Verse 1]
I was walking through the National Mall
Thinking about medicinals
How they used to grow there
When the ground was a marshland
Undisturbed by human hands
And I heard their voices

[Chorus]
The Sumac said, "We were always here"
The Witch Hazel - "We were always here"
The Sassafras - "We were always here"
Bluestem grasses - "Always here"

[Verse 2]
I looked about, what did I see?
Medicinals growing round' me
Rising from the gravel
The Sumac and the Witch Hazel
Come to kill our pain, our sores
Come to soothe our troubles

[Chorus]
The Sumac said, "We were always here"
The Witch Hazel - "We were always here"
The Sassafras - "We were always here"
Bluestem grasses - "Always here"
[Outro]
But do you see that woman
Sitting in the wheelchair?
With her Redskins cap on backwards
And a plastic bag swinging
As from inside a paper wrapper
She sips from a bottle
A new painkiller
For the native people
A new painkiller
For the native people