Mud and Mercy

This track was born from a real headline: The community response and mutual aid in the aftermath, volunteers forming human chains, churches opening doors, local businesses donating supplies, the particular destruction of roads isolating rural communities on Maui and the Big Island. Muckraker's country production gives the story the weight of a front-page exclusive — journalism you can feel in your chest. Lines like "Hana Highway washed out in eleven different spots," anchor the track in specifics that generic coverage misses. The mood — gritty, warm, communal — reflects the emotional reality behind the numbers. Every Majik's Studio news track exists to make you feel the story, not just read it.

[verse 1] Hana Highway washed out in eleven different spots, Red dirt rivers running through the church's parking lots, Pastor Kalani opened up the doors before the ask, Said bring your babies, bring your blankets, bring whatever you got last, Miss Leilani from the grocery store backed up her truck at dawn, Every can of Spam and bag of rice until the shelves were gone, The surfers from the North Shore came with jet skis and resolve, Pulling coolers full of water down the roads the rain dissolved, No government was coming fast enough for Upcountry Maui's pain, So the people became rescue, became shelter from the rain. [chorus] We take care our own, We take care our own, When the bridges break and the power's gone, And the help ain't coming and the road is long, We take care our own, We take care our own, That's the island way, we take care our own. [verse 2] In Waianae the aunties set up cooking in the park, Kalua pig and macaroni salad, feeding through the dark, A construction crew from Pearl City brought their generators down, Ran extension cords like lifelines through the neighborhood in town, The kids from Punahou and Farrington forgot their rivalries, Stacking sandbags side by side with muddy hands and muddy knees, A fisherman from Kailua-Kona motored up the coast, Bringing fuel to families cut off in the places needing most, The roads were gone but not the will, the bridges down but not the bond, Every shovel full of mud removed was proof that love responds. [chorus] We take care our own, We take care our own, When the bridges break and the power's gone, And the help ain't coming and the road is long, We take care our own, We take care our own, That's the island way, we take care our own. [bridge] They'll write about the damage and the billions it will cost, They'll count the homes and highways and the acres that were lost, But the number they won't tally is the hands that reached across, The neighbor helping neighbor bearing everybody's cross, From Lihue down to Hilo, every island heard the call, And the thing about a Kona Low is how it shows us all. [chorus] We take care our own, We take care our own, When the bridges break and the power's gone, And the help ain't coming and the road is long, We take care our own, We take care our own, That's the island way, we take care our own. [outro] Spam musubi and a prayer, Island love is always there, We take care our own.