Ongota Counts On Six Fingers

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Intro: full band, cold open

Six! (Ongota!)
Six! (Ongota!)
Six! (Ongota!)
Hit the iron — let 'em hear it

Chorus

How many left? (Six!)
Say the name! (Ongota!)
How many left? (Six!)
Say the name! (Ongota!)
One whole hand and one more finger
Six! (Ongota!) Six! (Ongota!)

Verse: male lead

Southwest Ethiopia, down where the Weyto runs,
Six grown people left who got the tongue.
Not a dialect, not a slang — a tongue,
And all six of 'em old. Nobody young.
They counted in the eighties, wrote down nineteen.
Now it's six, and six is thin.
So when I say the number, you say the word,
'Cause a word ain't dead till it ain't heard.

Pre-Chorus: woman

One finger (Ongota!)
Two finger (Ongota!)
Three finger (Ongota!)
Hold it up, hold it up!

Chorus

How many left? (Six!)
Say the name! (Ongota!)
How many left? (Six!)
Say the name! (Ongota!)
One whole hand and one more finger
Six! (Ongota!) Six! (Ongota!)

Break: percussion breakdown

Cowbell don't stop — (don't stop!)
Bucket on the floor — (hands only!)
Six on the iron, go:
One (Ongota!)
Two (Ongota!)
Three (Ongota!)
Four (Ongota!)
Five (Ongota!)
Six (Ongota!)
Kids in the front — say it to the back!
(Ongota! Ongota! Ongota!)

Instrumental jazz funk rock

Verse: woman

They hoe the sorghum, they keep the bees,
They talk it low in the acacia shade.
Their grandkids answer in a bigger tongue —
Same pot, same fire, different song.
So we gon' hold the six right here tonight,
Six little lamps in a room this tight.
Mouth to mouth to mouth like a cup passed down —
Pass it, baby. Pass it around.

Bridge

Six can hear me. (Ongota!)
Six can answer. (Ongota!)
Who gon' be seven? (Ongota!)
Who gon' be seven? (Ongota!)
Raise your hand, little man — that's seven!
Raise your hand, little girl — that's eight!
Nine! (Ongota!) Ten! (Ongota!)
Six can't count this room no more

Chorus: return bigger

How many left? (Six!)
Say the name! (Ongota!)
How many left? (Six!)
Say the name! (Ongota!)
One whole hand and one more finger
Six! (Ongota!) Six! (Ongota!)

Outro

Don't cut it — carry it
(Ongota! Ongota! Ongota!)
Six on the iron, walk it over
(Ongota! Ongota! Ongota!)
Somebody's waiting on the other side