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Unlock the Rose © Jennie Avila

Guitar, Vocals, Shakers, Conga - Jennie Avila · #3 Ubang - Steve Wright

Doug Bast, of the Boonsborough Museum of History, has a slave punishment collar on display that was donated by a regional family who asked to remain anonymous. It was used on a Virginia plantation. The collar is circled with long iron thorns that would prevent the wearer from resting his head. Doug explained that generally, the collar was a punishment reserved for male slaves. In Maryland it was illegal to leave the collars on too long because they would cause infections. When Doug requested that I write a song about the collar, he showed me a copy of "Williams History of Washington County" from which I gleaned documented examples of slave abuse that I wove into the song. I found the subject matter to be horrific and could only approach it through the metaphor of a rose. It was the most difficult song for me to write.

He can't rest his head on an iron thorn
Can't rest his head on an iron thorn
Feels like he's punished for just being born
His neck is trapped in a punishing collar
His neck is trapped in a punishing collar
Tortured in thorns that are forged in iron

Chorus: Unlock the Rose and set him free
Tethered and torn, chained in iron
Unlock the Rose and set him free
Unlock the Rose, Unlock the Rose

To a strong body and a stronger mind
A strong body and a stronger mind
Some masters less cruel and some less kind
They threaten to sell him to the cotton fields
Threaten to sell him to the cotton fields
Bending all day, the slave won't yield

Chorus...

To keep their slaves in line
The masters threaten to sell them south
Disposable labor is in demand
A servant girl is so scared,
They say she has a sassy mouth
To make herself un-sellable
She chops off her own hand

We'll be judged when we are dead
We'll be judged when we are dead
"Unlock the Rose", the good judge said

Chorus...
Unlock the Rose (Repeat)