Jimmy Winokur

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder I can think at all
And though my lack of education hasn't hurt me none
I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama don't take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew when I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match my sweet imagination
Everything looks better than black and white

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So Mama don't take my Kodachrome away

Mama don't take my Kodachrome
Leave your boy so far from home
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away

Paul Simon, Kodachrome 

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	You've long been on the open road. You've been standing in the rain. From the dirty words and muddy cells, your clothes are dark and stained, But the dirty words and muddy cells will soon be judged insane. So only stop to rest yourself and you'll be off again. So take off your thirsty boots and stay for awhile.  You're feet are hot and weary, come a dusty mile. And maybe I can make you laugh. Maybe I can try.  Looking for the evening and the morning in your eyes. Then tell me of the one's you've seen as far as you can see. Across the plains from field to town a-marchin' to be free, And of the rusted prison gates that tumble by degree Like laughin' children, one by one, they look like you and me. Eric Anderson, Thirsty Boots
	... I saw a film today oh, boy The English army had just won the war A crowd of people turned away But I just had a look Having read the book, I’d love to turn you on... Woke up, fell out of bed, Dragged a comb across my head Found my way downstairs and drank a cup, And looking up I noticed I was late. Found my coat and grabbed my hat Made the bus in seconds flat Found my way upstairs and had a smoke, Somebody spoke and I went into a dream Aaaaaah...... from John Lennon & Paul McCartney, The Beatles, A Day in the Life
	Keep a fire burning in your eye Pay attention to the open sky You never know what will be coming down I don't remember losing track of you You were always dancing in and out of view I must've thought you'd always be around Always keeping things real while playing the clown Now you're nowhere to be found I don't know what happens when people die Can't seem to grasp it as hard as I try It's like a song I can hear playing right in my ear I can't sing I can't help listening And I can't help feeling stupid standing 'round Crying as they ease you down 'Cause I know that you'd rather we were dancing Dancing our sorrow away (Right on Dancing) No matter what fate chooses to play (There's nothing you can do about it anyway) Just do the steps that you've been shown By everyone you've ever known Until the dance becomes your very own No matter how close to yours Another's step have grown In the end there is one dance you'll do alone  Keep a fire for the human race Let you're prayers go drifting into space You never know what will be coming down Perhaps a better world is drawing near Just as easy it could all disappear Along with whatever meaning you might have found Don't let the uncertainty turn you around (The world keeps turning around and around) Go out and make a joyful sound Into a dancer you have grown From a seed somebody else has thrown Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own And somewhere between the time you arrive And the time you go May lie the reason you were alive But you'll never know Jackson Browne, For a Dancer
	Oh end this day show me the ocean When shall I see the sea May this day set me in motion I ought to be on my way We were there We were sailing on the Terra Nova Sailing for the setting sun Sailing for the new horizon     May this day show me an ocean I ought to be on my way Ought to be on my way right now Stepping on the boat With a lump in my throat On my way right now I got a letter from a dear friend of mine The story of a spiritual awakening She spoke of her love Returning in kind She let me know that She'd be waiting And I should be on my way by now Walking across the floor Reaching for the door On my way by now But here I sit country fool that I am My elbow on my knee And my chin in my hand My mind in the gutter And my eye on the street Holed up in a cave of concrete And I ought to be on my way right now Packing my things While the telephone rings On my way right now I miss my lovely mother And I love my lonely father I know I owe my brothers One thing and another I hear my sister singing And I ought to be on my way right now Moving across the land With my heart in my hand On my way by now Ought to be on my way by now Oh end this day set me in motion Ought to be on my way Out of the west of Lambert's Cove There's a sail out in the sun And I'm on board though very small I've come home to stop yearning Burn off the haze around the shore Turn off the crazy way I feel I'll stay away from you no more I've come home to stop yearning James Taylor, Carly Simon, Terra Nova
	It was a slow day And the sun was beating On the soldiers by the side of the road There was a bright light A shattering of shop windows The bomb in the baby carriage Was wired to the radio These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all The way we look to a distant constellation That's dying in a corner of the sky These are the days of miracle and wonder And don't cry baby, don't cry Don't cry It was a dry wind And it swept across the desert And it curled into the circle of birth And the dead sand Falling on the children The mothers and the fathers And the automatic earth These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all The way we look to a distant constellation That's dying in a corner of the sky Therse are the days of miracle and wonder And don't cry baby, don't cry Don't cry It's a turn-around jump shot It's everybody jump start It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts Medicine is magical and magical is art The Boy in the Bubble And the baby with the baboon heart And I believe These are the days of lasers in the jungle Lasers in the jungle somewhere Staccato signals of constant information A loose affiliation of millionaires And billionaires and baby These are the days of miracle and wonder This is the long distance call The way the camera follows us in slo-mo The way we look to us all The way we look to a distant constellation That's dying in a corner of the sky Therse are the days of miracle and wonder And don't cry baby, don't cry Don't cry Paul Simon, The Boy in the Bubble

...And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon

from Pink Floyd, Brain Damage (on Dark Side of the Moon)

Now when the paint jar tipped
Off of the table
You watched as it started to fall
Glass popped, shattered and splattered
And paint spray hit the wall

Bright, blue glossy enamel
Across the kitchen floor
You said, "Good God, look at that pattern
I've never seen that before"

Leave it like it is
Never mind the turpentine
Leave it like it is
Its fine

Now when the paint dried
You gave it a title
You called it "Kitchen Blue"
A white frame painted around it
And gallery lighting too

Rich folks come over to dinner
They all want one of their own
They say "How much? Who's the artist"
And, "My what a beautiful home"

Leave it like it is
Never mind the turpentine
Leave it like it is
Its fine.

Now most folks suffer in sorrow
Thinking they're just no good
They don't match the magazine model
As close as they think they should

They live just like the "paint by numbers"
The teacher would be impressed
A life-time of follow the lines
So it's just like all of the rest

Leave it like it is
Never mind the turpentine
Leave it like it is
Its fine.

David Wilcox, Leave It Like It Is (Kitchen Blue)
© David Wilcox, all rights reserved

I did a thing last night
You know those future games
I turned off all the lights
Oh, the future came
You were by my side
Will you explain-oh yeah
Real rhyme or reason for those future games

Now you were there last night
And oh were you afraid
Of things we'd come upon
While playing future games
But baby it's alright and so have faith
Oh yeah, you invent the future that you want to face

How many people sit home at night
Wondering if they will be here tonight
Wondering if children will he bring to the light
Inherit the world, or inherit the night
Wondering if neighbors are thinking the same
All of the wild things tomorrow will tame
Talking of journeys that happen in vain

Well i know i'm not the only one
To ever spend my life sitting playing future games

You better take your time
You know there's no escape

Bob Welch, Fleetwood Mac (the early 70's band), Future Games

 

Come gather all around me friends
I'll tell to you about the minstrel band
Of children in their witches hats
And painting pictures with the pipes of pan

The young boy and his sister played
Some tunes upon a whistle made of tin
And led me through the flower gardens
Laughing at the postman's stubby chin

In my dizzy stupor I was trying
Hard to forfeit all I'd known
And listen to this music that could
Swirl me in a magic all their own

Somewhere in the distance you and I
Had fought the monster to a draw
In those days of books and wine
With Ferlinghetti grasping for a straw

Out along the highways we had
Journeyed far to find the mystic smile
With chasing down identities, my God
We must have run a million miles

Oh we can teach them nothing, nothing
But survival in a desert bare
But they can teach us how to love
And live and tie bright ribbons in our hair

Oh sing for us you children, tinkle bells
And rhyme the purple green and blue
And think of us as fighting fools
Who wintered through the seasons loving you

Oh we can teach them nothing, nothing
But survival in a desert bare
But they can teach us how to love
And live and tie bright ribbons in our hair

  

Paul Siebel, Then Came the Children (late 1960s)
Pumpkin /Nipper ASCAP
thanks to Barb Davidson Morris...and to Jerry Jeff
 

from Billy Jim Baker, Contrary to Ordinary
Copyright, 1978, Cedarwood Publishing Co.
thanks to Jerry Jeff

Well the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
Any fool can do it,
There ain't nothin' to it.
Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill.
But since we're on our way down,
We might as well enjoy the ride.

The secret of love is in opening up your heart.
It's okay to feel afraid,
But don't let it stand in your way, No now.
'Cuz everyone knows that love is the only road.
And since we're only here for awhile,
We might as well show some style,
Give us a smile now,

Isn't it a lovely ride?
Sliding down, and
Gliding down, and
Try not to try too hard.
It's just a lovely ride.

The thing about time is that time isn't really real.
It's all on your point of view,
How does it feel to you in there, and
Einstein said that you could never understand it all.
Planets spinning through space,
The smile upon your face,
Welcome to the human race,

Isn't that a lovely ride, 
Oh la la yes,
See me sliding down and gliding down,
Try not to try too hard,
It's just a lovely ride.

Now the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time...

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."