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from Jerry Jeff Walker, Shell Game (1969)
The whole world's topsy turvey
You feel like you're upside down
Everyday is a push and shove
Ah, people trying to get around
Workin' hard tryin' to make some bread
Try to get it 'fore it get's away
Its too bad man must work to get along
But to live you know he needs to pay
The city is a place to build your dreams
A chance to give your ideas life
But a man gets a longin' for some country green
Just wants some peace and quiet
Peace and quiet....
Ah to be up and leaving this town
Heading down an open road
With all that you own kinda thrown on the back seat
Thinking 'bout where to go
Maybe New Orleans, maybe Mexico
If only you could pack up everything you love,
And everyone who'd ever been your friend
Keeping close to you the things that make you strong
Got to carry them with you around the bend
The fear to move and meet the new can keep you in line
To go you know that something stays behind
So separate the good and bad and take along the kind
To the place you'd like to be at right on time
Time...
Ah to be up and leaving this town
Heading down an open road
With all that you own kinda thrown on the back seat
Thinking 'bout where to go
Maybe New Orleans, maybe Mexico....
Got to get outta here, mama,
Got to head on down, right on down
Stop off down in Austin Texas,
See some friends of mine, yeah,
Down near the border...
Jerry Jeff Walker, Maybe Mexico (1968)
Copyright, Cotillion Music, Inc. and Danel Music, 1968
There's a young man dying
as he stands beside the sea.
You can see him smiling, unbelievably free:
wind in his hair, light in his eyes.
He looks a lot like you, and you look so surprised
that he would send you on your way
with no good-byes.
But he can't go, and you can't stay,
'cause in the years it takes
to make one man wise, the young man dies.
Meanwhile you're sailing,
as you wave good-bye to shore.
You're anticipating what these new days
will hold in store.
It's the mystery of the ocean,
but now he's in over his head.
This is no place for the young man,
he's got to send you on instead.
And still you're looking so surprised
that this change has come as prophesied
but the years won't compromise,
'cause in the years it takes
to make one man wise, the young man dies.
The young man:
He was such a lonely boy.
Yeah, but he could dream, all right.
He could picture you a perfect sunrise
in the middle of your darkest night.
And he could take a sip from someday,
like he had a secret well.
He could listen to the voices calling
from a distant time will tell.
It's you in that picture where you're looking far away
like you hear a whisper of the things
you'll know someday.
But back then your heart was
hungry
for something hard to find; you were
just holding out for someday,
but you've left that pain behind
'cause he walked you through those mountains,
for as long as he could bear.
He never reached the fountain,
but he could take you there.
The young man's dying
'cause in the years it takes to make one man wise,
the young man dies.
David Wilcox, Young Man Dies
©1999 Midnight Ocean Bonfire Music (ASCAP) Cindy Lou My Dear (ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved/International Copyright Secured
If you love somebody
Then that means you need somebody
And if you need somebody
That’s what makes you weak
But if you know you’re weak
And you know you need somebody
O it’s a funny thing
That’s what makes you strong
That’s what makes you strong
That’s what gives you power
That’s what lets the meek come and sit beside the king
That’s what lets us smile
In our final hour
That’s what moves our souls
And that’s what makes us sing.
And to trust somebody
Is to be disappointed
It’s never what you wanted
And it happens every time
But if you’re the trusting kind
This don’t even cross your mind
O it’s a funny thing
That’s what makes you strong.
Jesse Winchester, That’s What Makes You Strong,
(2000, from Gentleman of Leisure; and Live Mountain Stage)
Sing my songs to me
Sing them to me softly
Sing me sunlight and shadows
Orange groves and meadows
Let your voice ring back my memories
Sing my songs to me
Bring my dreams to me
Bring them from the darkness
Let the minutes and hours
Show my mind strange new flowers
But I`d like to know where they go
when the morning comes
Bring my dreams to me
Because it seems to me that there may never be
A better chance to see who I am
Come timelessly dancing
Through my dreams to me
Jackson Browne, Sing My Songs to Me
Above the dark town
After the sun's gone down
Two vapour trails cross the sky
Catching the day's last slow goodbye
Black skyline looks rich as velvet
Something is shining
Like gold but better
Rumours of glory
Smiles mixed with curses
The crowd disperses
About whom no details are known
Each one alone yet not alone
Behind the pain/fear
Etched on the faces
Something is shining
Like gold but better
Rumours of glory
You see the extremes
Of what humans can be?
In that distance some tension's born
Energy surging like a storm
You plunge your hand in
And draw it back scorched
Beneath it's shining like
Gold but better
Rumours of glory
Bruce Cockburn, Rumours of
Glory
Copyright Golden Mountain Music Inc., 1979
Video clip of a
portion of Mario Savio's speech
before the Berkeley
Free Speech Movement sit-in
(December 3, 1964)
| Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you Is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'.
|
Come mothers and fathers |
|||
| Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin'. For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'. |
The line it is drawn |
|||
| Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is ragin'. It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'. |
Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin' 
Listen to it
For a wonderful archive of related materials, visit The UC Berkeley Library/Media Resources Center Social Activism Sound Recording Project: The Free Speech Movement and Its Legacy
|
|||
In the clearing stands a
boxer,
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame,
"I am leaving, I am leaving."
But the fighter still remains
from Paul Simon, The Boxer
Disharmony gives way
To mute helplessness
Not enough communication
Too much not expressed
It's all to easy
To let go of hope
To think there's nothing worth saving
And let it all go up in smoke
What about the the bond?
What about the mystical unity?
What about the bond
Sealed in the loving presence of the Father?
Dysfunction
Of the institutions
That should give a frame to work in
Got to find our own solutions
Confusion
Pressure from all sides
Got to head right down the centre
In the love that will abide
What about the the bond?
What about the mystical unity?
What about the bond
Sealed in the loving presence of the Father?
Man and woman
Made to be one flesh
Nobody said it would be easy
But can we let go now and fail the test?
Now you could say
Life is full of moving on
But do you want the pain that's
Already been spent
To all be wasted -- c'mon
What about the the bond?
What about the mystical unity?
What about the bond
Sealed in the loving presence of the Father?
Bruce Cockburn, What About the Bond?
Sometimes out here on the road
Too late to call I see the telephone
My minds a line running straight for home
I think I see her sleeping soft and warm
'n she knows her daddy sings
We know all that the money brings
She thinks our world is everything
But does she know
She's the precious thing
I know we've had our ups and downs
Drove our love nearly out of bounds
Can't go back to a lot of towns
We were doin' what was goin' round
Now she knows her daddy sings
We know all that the money brings
She thinks our world is everything
But does she know
She's the precious thing ?
Two adults in a world alone
Take a little love, make a little home
The little hands touch your wavy hair
Then wave goodbye and leave us standin' there.
But she knows her daddy sings
We know all that the money brings
She thinks our world is everything
But does she know
She's the precious thing
She thinks our world is everything
But does she know
She's the precious thing
Jerry Jeff Walker, She Knows Her Daddy Sings/For Little Jessie
Sweetest little fellow,
everybody knows;
Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose!
Lookin' at his mommy with eyes so shiny blue,
Makes you think that heaven is comin' close to you.
When he's there a-sleepin' in his little place,
Think I see the angels looking thro' the lace.
When the dark is falling, when the shadows creep,
Then they come on tip-toe to kiss him in his sleep.
Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows,
Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose!
Lookin' at his mommy with eyes so shiny blue,
Makes you think that heaven is comin' close to you.
Mighty Like a Rose,
Words by Frank L. Stanton Music by Ethelbert Nevin (1901)
Here is my song for the asking
Ask me and I will play
So sweetly, I'll make you smile
This is my tune for the taking
Take it, don't turn away
I've been waiting all my life
Thinking it over, I've been sad
Thinking it over, I'd be more than glad
To change my ways for the asking
Ask me and I will play
All the love that I hold inside
Paul Simon, Song for the Asking
A lady stands before an open
window
Staring so far away
She can almost feel the southern wind blow
Almost touching her restless day
She turns from her window to me
Sad smile her apology
Sad eyes reaching to the door
Daylight loses to another evening
And still she spares me the word goodbye
And sits alone beside me fighting her feelings
Struggles to speak but in the end can only cry
Suddenly its so hard to find
The sound of the words to speak her troubled mind
So I`m offering these to her as if to be kind:
There`s a train everyday leaving either way
There`s a world, you know
There`s a way to go
And you`ll soon be gone -- that`s just as well
This is my opening farewell
A child`s drawings left there on the table
And a woman`s silk lying on the floor
And I would keep them here if I were able
Lock her safe behind this open door
But suddenly it`s so clear to me
That I`d asked her to see what she may never see
And now my kind words find their way back to me
There`s a train everyday leaving either way
There`s a world, you know
You got a way`s to go
And I`ll soon believe -- it`s just as well
This is my opening farewell
Jackson Browne,
My Opening Farewell
I makes money, money don't make me, that's
the way I am and it's plain to see
Get right for yourself, they can't put you on a shelf
Live and let live, you know its plain enough
There ain't a dollar in the world can make me change my stuff
I met lots of men who told me when they finally make their first million
They're gonna live like kings, gonna try everything
They're gonna flatter pretty women
If they know how to do it, why not get to it, instead of waiting all your life
'Cause life is only doing, what you think is worth pursuing
Instead of waiting all the time
So you'll never find the endin' of sittin' and pretending
You're gonna do it sometime
You keep knocking on wood, doing exactly what you should
Trying to save enough dimes
Build 'em up higher, so you can retire, to your castle in the blue
But you find it's all behind and it's probably slipped your mind
And you're too pooped to toot
from Jerry Jeff Walker, I Makes Money (Money Don't Make Me)
Warm and lovely mystery, fire smiling through Before this moment fades away I want to know you I've got lightning in my pocket, thunder in my shoe Have no fear I've got something here I want to show you Hey, low, under the falling sky Easily we will lie while I bring it to you It's a low road, a high wire going from me to you And in your eyes the distance left is closing I've got a feeling in my oceans Blood underneath my skin That into your bright fields this prison is opening Hey, low, under the falling sky Easily we will lie while I bring it to you Our shadows wake each day though they don't know why They hope and try - live and die So leave them in their frozen world Come and be my lover If only for one stolen moment we will live forever ForeverWarm and lovely mystery, can you hear the choir? Voices can no longer hold my desire Just abandon your sad history and meet me in the fire Our angels wait to take us higher and higher Higher and higher Hey, low, under the falling sky Easily we will lie while I bring it to you Jackson Browne, Under the Falling Sky (1972) with memories of Ga.
Mist hangs above hills
Above mist hangs face of mountain
Above mountain face hangs a net of sky --
Crack! There are wings and they rip the net!
And the Dance flows on
Everything flows toward the rim of that
Shining Cup
Crossed sticks lie on earth
Between crossed sticks -- pile of ash
Something rises on the wisp of smoke
Dog's feet move by fast
And the Dance flows on
Everything flows toward the rim of that
Shining Cup
Through these channels/words
I want to touch you
Touch you deep down where you live
Not for power but
Because I love you
So
Love the Lord
And in Him love me too
And in Him go your way
And I'll be right there with you
Leaving
No footprints when we go
No footprints when we go
Only where we've been a faint and fading glow
Bruce Cockburn, No Footprints (1978)
Copyright Golden Mountain Music Inc., 1979
Daylight falls upon the path, the forest falls behind
Today I am not prey to dark uncertainty
The shadow trembles in its wrath, I've robbed its blackness blind
And tasted sunlight as my fear came clear to me
I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones or sinking sand
Now the way leads to the hills above the steeple's chime
Below me sleepy rooftops round the harbor
It's there I'll take my thirsty fill of friendship over wine
Forgetting fear but never disregarding her
Oh, I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones or sinking sand
Sometimes voices in the night will call me back again
Back along the pathway of a troubled mind
When forests rise to block the light that keeps a traveler sane
I'll challenge them with flashes from a brighter time.
Oh, I think I understand
Fear is like a wilderland
Stepping stones or sinking sand
Joni Mitchell, I Think I Understand (1967)
Sunset is an angel weeping,
Holding out a bloody sword.
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward.
Sometimes you feel like you've lived too long.
Days drip slowly on the page
You catch yourself
Pacing the cage.
I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin.
And each time I was someone else
And everyone was taken in
Powers chatter in high places,
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage,
Set me to pacing the cage.
I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything,
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the Constitution of the Age
Sooner or Later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage
Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's around the bend.
Sometimes the road leads you through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached out sand
For the coming of the outbound stage
Pacing the cage
Pacing the cage.
Bruce Cockburn, Pacing The Cage (1995)
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun. Shine on you crazy diamond. Now there’s a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky. Shine on you crazy diamond. You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom, blown on the steel breeze. Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine! You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon. Shine on you crazy diamond. Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light. Shine on you crazy diamond. Well you wore out your welcome with random precision, rode on the steel breeze. Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
from Pink Floyd, Shine on You Crazy Diamond (on Wish You Were Here)
Underneath the mask of the sulphur sky
A bunch of us were waiting
Watching the people looking ill-at-ease
Watching the fraying rope get closer to breaking
Women and men moved back and forth
In between effect and cause
And just beyond the range of normal sight
This glittering joker was dancing in the dragon's jaws
Let me be a little of your breath
Moving over the face of the deep --
I want to be a particle of your light
Flowing over the hills of morning
....
from Bruce Cockburn, Hills of Morning
Copyright Golden Mountain Music Inc., 1979
Sometimes I want to say things
To one I think I've loved before
But when I look to let it out, I'm fear.
I see the love I held so warm within
Was just mine, not given, never shared
Perhaps back then I'd yearned --
And maybe, just for love, I'd dared --
To shake the tightness loose
And let my loving show
It seemed that then, perhaps, we were together,
Singing out a single song
Maybe it was just the smiling, sighing
That made the wrong no longer wrong.
But then in the coolness of a later day,
When once again he's come my way,
I look for words to bring the loving back.
I'm tempted to recall how sure I was
That he was sure of me,
How warm I thought we were.
Still, when I catch his eyes,
I dodge their question
Not knowing what to say.
Could we have been together
Singing out a single song
Or even sitting, smiling, sighing?
Or was there really something wrong?
By now my doubt controls.
It comes from what I should have known:
What's inside looks different seen from without.
The shadows of the softness of my soul
Fade in the clear light of words
Which define what has no definition
And emerges as pretentiousness.
That is, except to the shallow mind grown older,
Which tells its heart to heed the words
Which it itself still fears to think.
Then he simply nods his head and smiles.
And then, again, we are together
Singing out a single song
And maybe we're just laughing, sighing
And what was wrong is no longer wrong
Jimmy Winokur, Together
Tune me in to the wild side of life,
I'm an innocent young child sharp as a knife
Take me to the garrets where the artists have died,
Show me the court rooms where the judges have lied
Let me drink deeply of the water and the wine
Like colored candles in dark dreary mines,
Look in the mirror and stare at myself
And wonder if that's really me on the shelf
And each day I learn just a little bit more.
I don't know why but I do know what for.
If we're all going somewhere let's get there soon
This song's got no title, just words and a tune.
Take me down the alleys where the murders are done
In a vast high powered rocket to the core of the sun.
Want to read books in the studies of men,
Born on the breeze and die on the wind.
If I was an artist who paints with his eyes,
I'd study my subject and silently cry.
Cry for the darkness to come down on me,
for confusion to carry on turning the wheel
Bernie Taupin & Elton John, This Song Has No Title (1973)
You say you see no hope,
You say you see no reason we should dream
that the world would ever change.
You're saying Love is foolish to believe.
'Cause there'll always be some crazy
with an Army or a Knife
To wake you from your daydream,
put the fear back in your life...
Look, if someone wrote a play
Just to glorify what's stronger than hate;
Would they not arrange the stage
to look as if the hero came too late?
He's almost in defeat!
It's looking like the Evil side will win!
So on the edge of every seat
From the moment that the whole thing begins.
It is Love who makes the mortar
And it's Love who stacked these stones,
And it's Love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
There is Evil cast around us
But it's Love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness Love can show the way.
So now the stage is set.
Feel your own heart beating in your chest.
This life's not over yet.
So we get up on our feet and do our best.
We play against the fear
We play against the reasons not to try.
We're playing for the tears burning
in the happy Angel's eyes
It is Love who makes the mortar
And it's Love who stacked these stones,
And it's Love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
There is Evil cast around us
But it's Love that wrote the play...
For in this darkness Love will show the way.
David Wilcox, Love Will Show The Way (1994)
In my early years I hid my tears
And passed my days alone
Adrift on an ocean of loneliness
My dreams like nets were thrown
To catch the love that I'd heard of
In books and films and songs
Now there's a world of illusion and fantasy
In the place where the real world belongs
Still I look for the beauty in songs
To fill my head and lead me on
Though my dreams have come up torn and empty
As many times as love has come and gone
To those gentle ones my memory runs
To the laughter we shared at the meals
I filled their kitchens and living rooms
With my schemes and my broken wheels
It was never clear how far or near
The gates to my citadel lay
They were cutting from stone some dreams of their own
But they listened to mine anyway.
I'm not sure what I'm trying to say
It could be I've lost my way
Though I keep a watch over the distance
Heaven's no closer than it was yesterday
And the angels are older
They know not to wait up for the sun
They look over my shoulder
At the maps and the drawings of the journey I`ve begun
Now the distance leads me farther on
Though the reasons I once had are gone
I keep thinking I'll find what I'm looking for
In the sand beneath the dawn
But the angels are older
They can see that the sun's setting fast
They look over my shoulder
At the vision of paradise contained in the light of the past
And they lay down behind me
To sleep beside the road till the morning has come
Where they know they will find me
With my maps and my faith in the distance
Moving farther on
Jackson Browne, Moving Farther On
My grandmother's house is still there
But it isn't the same
A plain wooden cottage
A patch of brown lawn
And a fence that hangs standing
And sighing in the Seattle rain
I drive by with strangers
And wish they could see what I see
A tangle of summer birds
Flying in sunlight
A forest of lillies
An orchard of apricot trees
Secret Gardens of the heart
Where the flowers bloom forever
I see you shining through the night
In the ice and snow of winter
Great grandfather's farm is still there
But it isn't the same
The barn is torn down
And the fences are gone
The Idaho wind blows
The topsoil away every Spring
I still see the ghosts
Of the people I knew long ago
Inside the old kitchen
They bend and sigh
My life passed them up
And the world passed them by
Secret Gardens of the heart
Where the old stay young forever
I see you shining through the night
In the ice and snow of winter
But most of all
It is me that has changed
And yet I'm still the same
That's me at the weddings
That's me at the graves
Dressed like the people
Who once looked so grown-up and brave
I look in the mirror
Throught the eyes of the child that was me
I see willows bending
The season is Spring
And the silver blue sailing birds
Fly with the sun on their wings
Secret Gardens of the heart
Where dreams live on forever
I see you shining through the night
In the ice and snow of winter
Judy Collins, Secret Gardens
Go on, you know
you're only one
Set me free
You take me up and turn around
But let me in
Take this shadow from my eyes
And tell me everything
Take the desert from my soul
And lift me up from down below
Let me take some pride in your creation
Cause i have lived alone in castles that were lonely
And i have cursed the dawn and wondered why i do
Well i have wondered why i live
Now i know you must forgive
Let me stand inside your magic shadow
The night is coming faster
And you're feeling all unchained
In the north there is a jungle
Where rockets are aflame
And i hope that in the desert
There are ships and there is noise
And above the greatest city
There will shine a magic shadow
And a voice
It's taking long but i'm getting strong as i grow old
Bob Welch, Fleetwood Mac (the early 70's band), Night Watch
There's no use in crying, it's all over
But i know there'll always be another day
Well my heart will rise up with the morning sun
And the hurt i feel will simply melt away
from Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac (the early 70's band), Why
A couple of years back, I come across a great and wasted friend of mine
in the hallway of a recording studio; and while he was reciting some poetry to
me
that he'd written, I saw that he was about a step away from dyin' and
I couldn't help but wonder why. And the lines of this song occurred to me.
I'm happy to say he's no longer wasted and he's got him a good woman.
And I'd like to dedicate this to John and June, who helped show me how to beat
the devil.
It was winter time in Nashville, down on music city row.
And I was lookin' for a place to get myself out of the cold.
To warm the frozen feelin' that was eatin' at my soul.
Keep the chilly wind off my guitar.
My thirsty wanted whisky; my hungry needed beans,
But it'd been of month of paydays since I'd heard that eagle scream.
So with a stomach full of empty and a pocket full of dreams,
I left my pride and stepped inside a bar.
Actually, I guess you'd could call it a Tavern:
Cigarette smoke to the ceiling and sawdust on the floor;
Friendly shadows.
I saw that there was just one old man sittin' at the bar.
And in the mirror I could see him checkin' me and my guitar.
An' he turned and said: "Come up here boy, and show us what you are."
I said: "I'm dry." He bought me a beer.
He nodded at my guitar and said: "It's a tough life, ain't it?"
I just looked at him. He said: "You ain't makin' any money, are you?"
I said: "You've been readin' my mail."
He just smiled and said: "Let me see that guitar.
"I've got something you oughta hear."
Then he laid it on me:
"If you waste your time a-talkin' to the people who don't listen,
"To the things that you are sayin', who do you think's gonna hear.
"And if you should die explainin' how the things that they complain about,
"Are things they could be changin', who do you think's gonna care?"
There were other lonely singers in a world turned deaf and blind,
Who were crucified for what they tried to show.
And their voices have been scattered by the swirling winds of time.
'Cos the truth remains that no-one wants to know.
Well, the old man was a stranger, but I'd heard his song before,
Back when failure had me locked out on the wrong side of the door.
When no-one stood behind me but my shadow on the floor,
And lonesome was more than a state of mind.
You see, the devil haunts a hungry man,
If you don't wanna join him, you got to beat him.
I ain't sayin' I beat the devil, but I drank his beer for nothing.
Then I stole his song.
And you still can hear me singin' to the people who don't listen,
To the things that I am sayin', prayin' someone's gonna hear.
And I guess I'll die explaining how the things that they complain about,
Are things they could be changin', hopin' someone's gonna care.
I was born a lonely singer, and I'm bound to die the same,
But I've got to feed the hunger in my soul.
And if I never have a nickle, I won't ever die ashamed.
'Cos I don't believe that no-one wants to know.
Kris Kristofferson, To Beat the Devil
