Bon Jovi, Bonnie Raitt, Springsteen, Natalie Merchant, more appear on benefit CD

A plaque on the Statue of Liberty contains a poem with the line, "Give me your tired, your poor..." Well, Ms. Liberty, we've given and you must be getting an arm cramp from being immobile about it for over a hundred years.

Luckily, Give US Your Poor (the benefit CD) is devoted to fighting the nation's homelessness. Out Sept. 25, it features new songs by Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Madeleine Peyroux, Michelle Shocked and Natalie Merchant.

Give US Your Poor (the non-profit homeless public education campaign) solicited original songs from U.S. homeless shelters for the compilation. After rifling through 50 demos, Merchant chose "There Is No Good Reason," a song written by 15-year-old Nichole Cooper when she was homeless.

The track listing:

1. "Land of 10,000 Homeless" - Minnesota
2. "Show Me the Way" - Jon Bon Jovi & Mighty Sam McClain
3. "Baby Don't Let Me Go Homeless" - Keb' Mo' & Eagle Park Slim
4. "There Is No Good Reason" - Natalie Merchant & Friends
5. "Hobo's Lullaby" - Bruce Springsteen & Pete Seeger
6. "So Lonely" - Sonya Kitchell
7. "Becky's Tune" - Michelle Shocked and Michael Sullivan
8. "Walking the Dog" - Bonnie Raitt & Weepin' Willie Robinson
9. "My Name Is Not 'Those People'" (spoken, with music) - Danny Glover
10. "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" - Madeleine Peyroux
11. "Portable Man" - Del Goldfarb & John Sebastian
12. "Boll Weevil" - Dan Zanes & Kyla Middleton
13. "Ink Falling (Father Outside)" - Buffalo Tom
14. "Stranger Blues" - Sweet Honey in the Rock
15. "1,000 Miles Away" - Jewel*
16. "Impossible Boulevard" (spoken excerpt, with music) - Tim Robbins
17. "Feels Like Home" - Mario Frangoulis
18. "When We Left Minneapolis" (spoken, with music) - Danny Glover
19. "Here and Now"- Mark Erelli*

All tracks previously unreleased except *

Related links:
NatalieMerchant.com
AppleseedRec.com
Appleseed to release 10th anniversary comps

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