(listed alphabetically by title, if you want one that isn't posted yet, email me)
(a slight disclaimer: Although I do either occasionally still sing each of these, and/or have them posted somewhere online, keep in mind that some are from decades ago, and may not be representative of what I would write now, though each was, at the time, in its own way, true.)
(formal artsong for cello, piano, and tenor, ©1991-2008)
Has she been by this way? Is that her shadow there?She teases me until I close my eyes, and in that
moment she is gone, like a moon behind a cloud...
Without her, I am split apart, exploded,
a hollow hand holding pen to an ever-empty page,
if I have anything to say - I have no way to say it!
She teases me until I close my eyes, and in that
moment she is gone, like a moon behind a cloud.
Art is such a restless mistress!
I think I know where she would be
when those obscurities blow over, but no -
the sky is impossibly blank!
Infuriatingly empty, right where moon should be...
And I, I was so proud of my patience...
Oh stars, you've got to tell me if you know, oh
stars, oh stars whose cold and distant radiance, innocent
radiance, falls here laughing, radiance falls here laughing,
in a pose struck light years ago...
No moon where moon should be.
I thought I knew where she would be
when those obscurities blew over, but no...
Shh! Is that, is that her whisp'ring?
She teases me until I close my eyes, and in that
moment she is gone...
At first I see and then I cannot see
what separates itself from me,
receding...
(open D9 tuning, ©1986-2009)
All we have is stolen, or borrowed at best
If you tld me what you need could I keep the rest?
Could I keep on believing that you won't be
running off with what I offer to share with you...
I have behaved so stupidly - wasn't that I didn't know, I knew.
I just done exactly as I was told to do
sometimes I behaved well for them, and I behaved too well for you.
Everybody acting helpless, treat me so bad
while the drama's going on, and then
miss me when I'm gone, miss me when I'm gone...
"Not good enough" they say, "But please, stay anyway."
Why can't people hear what they're saying?
Bosses who toss you out - and this after lecture's about your
lack of loyalty. And lovers, longing for commitment,
lost, head turning, drifting away, even as you say,
"I love. I wanna love. I wanna be in love."
Well you will all find others.
It surely is not a case of short supply!
But as for me, I'm gone, so long, bye-bye.
Twice - before my brain had time to let the thought go free -
I had two different frineds on different days talkin' to me,
telling me about Art, about people who say,
"Can't those artists think of anything better to do, anyway?"
And I was thinkin' about it, and a mighty mighty grin
came over me as that thought sank in...
Oh what a world this would be!
Oh what a world this would be...
We are - most of us - day in and day out
doin' things we're gonna complain about,
forgetting that Happiness is different from Relief,
yes it is, and
Guarded Commitment isn't the same as Belief.
Oh to live that life supreme,
divine design, god's childhood dream...
Where no one's doin' nothin' 'less they can't think o' nothin' better to do
no one's doin' nothin' 'less they can't think o' nothin' better to do
no one's doin' nothin' 'less they can't think o' nothin' better to do...
Play on, play on these words,
let your laughter have its way,
but as for me I'm gone, gone away.
Singing "Gate Gate Paragate,"
ancient sanskrit chant to light my way,
people say "What's the matter with the old men in Tibet?
Chanting a chant for thousands of years,
haven't they got it right yet?"
and "Can't they think of anything better to do?
"Can't they think of anything better to do?
"Can't they think of anything better, better... better..."
(open D tuning, ©2005-2009)
Well we were all so sublime in the hippie-dippie times,
so full of Do-It-Yourself,
baby in a sling the whole Mother Earth thang,
Whole Earth catalog on the shelf.
We all rolled our own (tortillas!) by hand
and we filled 'em with organic beans.
It was easy to see, we all could agree on what
everything and anything means.
We had a book, called "Be Here Now,"
bits of ancient Eastern wisdom
(and the irony of that just slipped right by us somehow)...
We had what it took, when the VW bus broke down,
to say "OK, good, we'll make love in th woods and then
hitch-hike back to town." Crazy days!
They say nothin' lasts forever -
it's a blessing and a curse.
You let the good times roll and they rool away,
but hey, it could be worse...
Between hist'ry remembered and fantasy dreamed,
we all have more than we need.
So in my ripe old age, I'll play the sage -
Here's my Aging Hippie Creed:
Be There Then.
You laugh - but think about it while you
have another beer...
We've all known better, we've all dreamed better than
this right now right here,
so close your eyes
(or if you're lucky, lean over and whisper in your lover's ear)
- think about the past, dream up a future, and
right here and now - get outta here!
Well you can travel alone, you can travel with a friend,
Come on, let's go to the There and Then,
Here and Now is nice, but it could be more:
That's what imagination is for!
It don't take but a minute, don't cost a dime
and you can get up and go there any ol' time,
som if it's ever been or gonna be better than this,
by all means Be There Then!
(formal artsong for piano and soprano, ©1991-2008)
Between these words
Between these words
a thousand leaves are rustling, an opening to springtime,
both destined and daring, at the very edge of possibility,
the last of winter's bitterness yet to weather...
A thousand little pieces of the stream
lose their sense of gravity, and rise.
Clouds assemble, in waves of folding and unfolding.
Ah, to be fully open in time...
A thousand things ethereal, ephemeral, ineffable,
Ah... To sense, and to attend to,
the nature of the full and flowing world
between these words...
(open G tuning, capo 4, ©1981-2008)
I want to tell my daughter everything I know -
There's nothing that I think it pays to hide,
There's people who think I'm crazy to treat her like I do,
but I don't think I could change it if I tried.
My eyes look at hers -
how could I ever tell her lies?
She may have things to practice, details to memorize,
but don't be judgin' her by her size,
'cause she was born wise.
I want to tell my daugfhter that everything I know
may not be true for anyone but me.
I've done a bit of living, I've orked my answers through,
but still there's things I know just can't see.
And she takes my word -
she's got no grounds yet to disagree.
She's lookin' for definition, she always looks to me -
somehow I hope she still can see
that she was born free.
My own mother was a shadow,
she stood for my father, who stood for the church.
Questions not having bible-verse answers were useless,
made you feel guilty just to want to search.
Now I want to tell my daughter things my mother hid
and speak to her as if she were my size,
acknowledge her body, her spirit and her mind,
so they won't all come as some adolescent surprise.
Surprise: she's just a kid.
And she can drive you crazy if she tries.
Ah, but somewhere beyond behavior and that three-year-old disguise-
behind the games and the lullabyes -
I know she was born... born... born...
She was born wise.
(open D tuning, ©1985-2009)
They dance and they play, young and old, night and day,
they do not fight, in fact they don't complain.
They have no clothes, they have nowhere they have to go,
they're at home in the cold and in the rain.
They've nothing to defend, at peace among their friends,
their history's all the saem since time began:
they've never had a war. What would they fight for?
They don't have a church, and none of them owns land.
What kind of fantasy could this be?
Who is this I'm dreamin' up now?
Hard to believe, but they're as real as you and me,
and there's a lot we've got to learn from them somehow:
Does anybody here speak Dolphin?
Or any cetacean language at all?
Doesn't anybody here speak Dolphin?
I just really wanna understand their thinking.
They need no tools, children learn without schools,
they do not leave a trace where they have been.
No politics no trash no lawyers no cash,
they all have enough and everyone fits in.
No murder no crime no need to measure time,
and their art is simply everything they do.
They delight and bring a smile to every human child,
though their biggest foe is folks like me and you.
Poison from our land fills their ocean.
Thoughtless fidhing murders them, still.
I believe they know the human heart and mind,
and yet not one seems to wish us ill -
Does anybody here speak Dolphin?
Or any cetacean language at all?
Doesn't anybody here speak Dolphin?
'cause I think there's a lot we've got to learn from them...
[instr verse]
What if we could know how to let possessions go?
- let our art be ourselves, not our stuff,
have what we need and not exceed the body's speed,
and know when enough is enough...
Does anybody here speak Dolphin?
Or any cetacean language at all?
Doesn't anybody here speak Dolphin?
I just really wanna understand their thinking,
'cause I think there's a lot we've got to learn from them...
I'd say there's a lot we've got to learn...
(with piano and necessary cello, ©2008-2009)
The evening air is bright with breaking light the
storms have left behind.
The day is fading, fading down to fireflies, to fireflies...
And who can say where they might light upon the grass?
The future's not predictable based on the past.
And therein lies the essence of delight:
to look for that next blink of light.
And no one ever quite can say
the shape and color of the day,
and herein lies the true delight:
to never know just where the light
might shine.
("Fold your wings..." is from For Those Who Fell To Earth)
(standard tuning and necessary multitracked vocals, ©1983-2009)
Fold your wings, hold your song,
no one's listening, no one knows,
walk among them now, they'll never see,
you are invisible like the sun...
Go ahead and touch them, you are free,
they have no hold on you, be not afraid.
Power over oceans, like the moon,
they just don't realize, they don't know.
Walk among them now, just like the sun...
Suddenly, you will be seen and Known by someone...
Go ahead and touch them, you are free,
they have no hold on you, be not afraid...
(piano, ©2002-2009)
From the very first I knew there was a richness and a depth to you,
glorious stories to uncover - maybe I could even be a lover to you?
Sure enough not a thing could go wrong, felt as if we'd known each other
for a long time, couldn't explain it, couldn't deny it, couldn't contain it.
Now I want to hear your history, half familiar half mystery,
would there be a place in the story for me? Looking to see:
Would you take your coffee black, all the places you'd been and why you'd
ever come back. How in the world we ended up, talking over these coffee cups,
In this world of our own in this little cafe. The rest of the world just
fades away, and all there is and all I see is the glorious story of you and me
in my world, silent and cold and gray, suddenly this 3-dimensional day,
oh yes oh yes oh yes...
Now I want to hold you close to me, half familiar half mystery,
a moment of grace, as we grant each other this reality.
Now I see this perfectly clear, now i know you will disappear, but
if you want to find me - I'm here.
Whether there's more or whether this is the end,
if we're ever really lovers or forever just friends,
whatever we lose whatever we hold
whatever we're given whatever we're told
every moment of knowing what it is we Know,
of holding tight and letting go,
here we are, we can tell what's true,
there are reasons for me being here with you.
From the very first, I knew.
(piano, ©1986-2009)
Arthur is a simple man, but he's still tooo complex for his time.
Lancelot wins his battles, but he's not mine.
I suppose I should be grateful for everything we've got,
But all is not so rosey in Camelot.
Arthur's busy with the war. Lancelot's got his quest.
Petty words and wars at worst, god and dreams at best.
I suppose I should be grateful: Things have never been so nice,
so civilized and gracious, paradise...
Blindness in the eye of the Righteous Man,
the slightest of lies...
If you looked at everything, it couldn't be paradise.
And maybe they wouldn't give you the prize.
You can rule the kingdom: People still act the same.
Now my dear we are old. And I fear I shall bear all the blame.
I suppose I should expect as much: It all goes by the bloody rules
that we ourselves created, like fools.
Blindness in the eye of the Righteous Man,
the slightest of lies...
Could it be your history
is gonna take you by surprise?
surprise surprise surprise
ohh...
("How silent would the forest be" see Song For a Friend below)
(dropped-D tuning, ©2008-2009)
I have to wonder what it is about me - apparently
anyone can see I'm so easy to deceive. And it's my
own fault, for wanting to believe. I fool myself.
Long ago and far away you said the very words I wished some would say
and there's a reason for calling it "Falling in love."
[Cho] But here's the strangest thing of all:
I fall, and you're still standing.
And as I stumble past the edge,
I thought you might have said
"I never meant to hurt you"
I think you said
"I never meant to hurt you,
I never meant to hurt you..."
That is what you said...
So now I have time to imagine
all the many mangled ways that I might land.
And you have time to turn and walk away, dusting off your hands.
You can only see what's right in front of you, so
as I fall away I fade right out of view, but
just when you least expect it, out of the blue,
my voice might still come through to you...
[repeat Cho]
("I have mem'ries now I never should've had" see Who I Am With You below)
(multi-tracked Korg M1 synthesizer, multi-tracked vocals via Fostex 4-track to cassette tape, ©1990-2009)
I took that risk you're always talkin' about
I looked for you and found you writing me out
Look out, I just might take you seriously.
Look out, it all goes on mysteriously.
La-dee-da the time goes on,
let's forget about it now,
let's go on about our business.
[instr break, repeat various fragments]
Sometimes you just can't win.
Sometimes you must let go.
This falling
This falling
This Falling never has an end.
I'm gonna learn to fly I'm gonna fly away
[I am falling I am falling]
I'm gonna learn to fly I'm gonna fly away
[I am falling I am falling]
I'm gonna learn to fly...
(piano, ©1998-2008)
Invisibility in a life so rich and liquid
it swallows me up and I never quite exist.
If you are cypress root that ties above to below,
I am nothing but mist.
And meanwhile that linear dream of american aggregation,
of things lingering long enough to add up to something complete,
this just eludes me, completely,
like south poles of magnets that simply cannot ever meet...
And you, my northern star, my compass home,
my unreachable reason to look up in the night sky as I
sail on alone, you have taught me not to fear.
But if I blink and break my gaze, I will disappear,
as if I was never here.
It will be as if
I had never been here,
everything settles back into place,
everyone has long since forgotten and gone on,
not a trace.
And that's just how it is,
in my peculiar situation.
I was just a little chill that shivered up your spine.
And afterwards, confounding revelation:
no mark, no residue, no footprint, nothing that ever was mine.
But you granted me magnificent existence,
suspended in your state of grace...
Things unseen given substance,
indelible realm in which nothing is ever erased...
It is your breath, your voice I am hearing,
when my mind is disengaged and left to race and spin and race and spin,
your touch, your touch on my skin, absolutely,
every time I see others embrace... Still,
I was never here.
It will be as if
I had never been here,
everything settles back into place,
everyone has long since forgotten and gone on,
not a trace.
But just when you least expect it,
I will startle my way up your spine...
No mark, no giving up of secrets,
just an existence,
such as it is,
in some ineradicable corner of your mind...
(open D tuning, capo 2, ©1988-2008)
[Cho] If you taught her to fly, she might fly away.
If you taught her to love that sky, why would she ever stay?
But if you hold her too tight, you can only lose.
As hard as it might be, you gotta let her choose -
she might come back to you.
This day was destined to arrive -
the day she sees the meaning of her wings -
and you cannot tell the fledgling not to fly -
everything has led to this, everything.
And now the more you give her of yourself,
the less she needs you...
until it startles your heart to see that the gift that remains
is to give her her own freedom to choose.
[Cho]
A confusion of sorrow and of joy
has brought a teardrop into you eye -
she is all you ever saw that she could be -
she has come true before your very eyes.
There's not a soul on earth who'd fail to see,
there's not a heart she could not win,
and yet she turns her gaze to meet your own,
and a new kind of love begins.
[Cho]
And all this time, you thought you'd teach her all you knew,
when all this time, the one who had to learn was you.
[Cho]
And that sky is wide enough for two...
("I'll be the sea" see You Be The Beautiful, below)
("In the pale grey light of morning" see That Song About The Dolphins below)
(open D tuning, ©1986-2008)
Inappropriate affection, affection misplaced,
longing for an eastern mountain, caught in this midwestern place,
caught up in my own mind, racing and racing, never a moment's peace...
Longings better left alone. Longings that will not cease.
But my heart it is not sorry, as I spread these wings to fly,
for the love that rises from so deep becomes the wind that carries me so high,
as if longing were the feathers, and dreams the eagle's eye...
Although I fly alone, at least I rise and fly.
Inappropriate affection, affection misplaced,
longing to touch those tears as they run down your face,
and you write and say "Wish you were here" and my heart goes flying out to you,
knowing full well the distance this love must always travel through.
But my heart it is not sorry as I turn to catch this breeze,
for the winds that carry me so high arise in part from your own love for me,
as if longing were the feathers, and dreams the eagle's eye...
Although I fly alone, at least I rise and fly.
("Message in a bottle-nose dolphin" see That Song About The Dolphins below)
(open D tuning, ©1985-2009)
Sittin' in the kitchen, restless and sad, feeling
suddenly old, remembering dreams you once had...
Simple turn of fate, that one could never quite foresee, leaves you
worn out and weary, you're a little lost at sea.
Oh your daughter is half-grown now, you see the woman in her eyes,
she comes dancing in the door with another childhood surprise -
it's a stone, full of beauty, she puts it in your hand,
as she goes dancing out the door, you understand, you understand.
So you go running up a hill, you pick the highest hill in town,
and when you finally arrive and you turn around,
there are all those little mountains, rolling on like waves,
worn down but beautiful beautiful beautiful...
You see that some things gather beauty as they weather and are worn,
where one vision fades another can be born.
Some things gather beauty as they weather and are worn,
where one vision fades a new dream is born.
Oh you Ozark mountains, as old as you must be,
won't you soothe a weary spirit, calm and comfort me.
Rolling waves of hills carved by an ancient salty sea,
worn down but beautiful to me.
I see that some things gather beauty as they weather and are worn,
where one vision fades another can be born.
Some things gather beauty as they weather and are worn,
where one vision fades a new dream is born.
(open G tuning, © 1968-2009)
And it came to me from beyond the morning,
from the meadow, by the bay, and I
heard the words of the saints at dawning
as they rose to pray, they rose to pray:
Maker of mountains and of valleys,
you are one with earth and sky,
clothe me in the wondrous oneness,
open up my eyes.
And I joined the journey across the hours,
through the mirror to the dawn,
and I felt the universe like a flower,
and I heard this song, I heard this song:
Maker of mountains and of valleys,
you are one with earth and sky,
know the wonder of the oneness,
open up my eyes.
(open D tuning, ©1993-2009)
It's taken me a long time to climb back up this mountain -
last time up, I took a nasty fall.
And I guess that I am lucky to be here - I've seen a lot of
good people stumble who never seem to climb back up at all.
[Cho] But some of us have dreams that will not let us sleep,
a crazy sense of promises we still gotta keep,
some restless desire rooted way down deep
that will not let us go
It's taken me years to hear the wisdom I myself had once spoken,
and a long time to listen to my own heart.
But the river keeps on flowin' and flowin' no end
and the design remains unbroken.
Though I stand alone, I do not stand apart.
[Cho]
In the middle of the night, wide-eyed stare,
you're bolt upright in the easy chair,
it never is enough, you never get done,
lookin' for the way home.
Whatsa matter, whatsa matter with you?
You only gotta do what they tell you to.
Why bother to try so hard,
what're you trying to prove?
I got these dreams that will not let me sleep,
a crazy sense of promises I still gotta keep,
some restless desire rooted way down deep that will not let me
Never-ever forget, everything I see every hiuman every rock and tree
speaks forever of a grand design, now listen:
Leaf struggles for light, root goes deep down,
shape and color are lost and found.
First push, and the ripple goes on.
Give it a reason. Give it a reason.
It's taken me a long time to find some kind of answer.
Last Time I gave up, and I walked away.
But even in the bitter winter wind, the bare branch becomes a dancer.
I'm lookin' for the song that force and that dancer play.
[Cho]
(dropped-D tuning, ©2007-2009)
There are some things you had right in the first place:
How to love without fear. How to give without regret.
And if it feels as though you've lost your way, hey -
We're not done here yet!
Do you think you could know the future?
Do you think there's no surprise?
What if you said "Yes" when you might've said "No"?
What if you let go just one lie...
The road unfolds out of nowhere.
You travel your own trail until you die.
Remember that the road map's a tool, and not a trap,
and if you spin along just right, youn can fly...
So tell the people you love that you love them, and
be not afraid of those less kind, those who
find pleasure in other peoples' pain - Turn away,
don't stay to fight, leave them behind.
Every righteous fight since time began,
every war to end all wars,
might make martyrs and it might make heroes but it can't make peace...
leaves it all worse than before.
The road rises up out of nowhere.
We travel our own trails until we die.
Remember that the road map's a tool, not a trap, and if you
spin along just right, you can fly...
There are some things you had right in the first place:
How to have what you need. How to dream useful dreams.
And if it seems as though it's too late now,
slow down, turn around, head back upstream!
Do you think there was just one road to travel?
Do you think it's all one-way?
Bargain with the devil for a carrot on a stick?
Or laugh at the devil and dance, dance away!
The road unfolds out of nowhere.
You dance your own dance until you die.
Remember that the roadmap's a tool, not a trap,
and if you spin along just right you can fly...
(standard tuning, capo 3 or 4, ©2006-2009)
Here I am, livin' along the Cuyahoga River,
but this river's not my home.
I have rivers of my own, far away,
in places I know, where I am known.
There was a time, "the good old days," I used to
travel all around, found friends and lovers along the way...
All that's left from all those years -
here this day -
is this old guitar I still sometimes play...
Home can be a house a town your friends your family where you say
"This is mine, this is my history."
Sometimes it's just a mountain or a river
that pulls you Home to its own mystery.
Sometimes, Home is resting in a lover's arms,
that's all it takes.
Sometimes there's nothing left but exile,
and all the welcome in the world can't soothe the ache.
You win you lose, both sides now, you don't get to
choose if it's rain or cloud, it's hardly news, they even say
"The only constant is change."
So thank your lucky stars for all you love
that somehow still remains.
'Cause here I am, livin' along the Cuyahoga River,
I walk these autumn trails alone, thinking of Home,
of rivers of my own, far away,
rivers of my own...
("Sky growing light, Oklahoma dawn" is from To Get Free Of These Dreams below)
("...secret you keep from yourself" is from Say):
(open D9 tuning, ©2002-2009)
Say what you will, I still say it's not such a crazy idea.
We could lay low, talk in code, you could say Hello and I would know
exactly what you mean.
All you need is a little disguise, close your eyes, let it be one o' those
secrets you keep from yourself...
Say not one word. I will whisper sweetly terrifying things in your ear.
We could act innocent, shoot with a silencer, hold your tongue...
Left hand won't know what right hand is up to, it's a
secret you keep from yourself.
Truth is, I lie.
But domn't worry, to you I tell the truth,
but here's where it gets confusing, 'cause
I have been accused of skewing things in my mind,
where love is truth,
but truth is blind.
Say what you will, I still say it's not such a crazy idea.
Anything the least bit subtle goes right over their heads,
we could operate under the radar, right under their noses, trust me.
All you need is a little disguise, close your eyes, let it be one o' those
secrets you keep from yourself...
(open D9 tuning, ©2002-2009)
There's a darkness to this, when I want you so much, even though I'm alone I still
feel your touch. Rememb'ring to the core to the heart to the bone...
How'm I sposed to leave you alone?
One-way love. I gotta find a way to let it go.
And so I seek a stranger's kiss, as if a kiss could somehow heal me
(heal me heal me)
There is no fear, it all unfolds the way it always unfolds.
The liquid rush of first caress, anticipation of the rest
(break all the spells)
For this one night I will have someone and I will not be alone...
But it shoulda been you.
There's a darkness to this: Nothin's wrong biut nothin's really right.
I can only fool myself to a certain point, fumbling my way through this night.
Hungry to stumble and fall into some kind of distracting delight,
hungry for the way you made all that falling feel like flight...
And though I seek a stranger's kiss, as if a kiss could somehow heal me
(heal me heal me)
And even though it all unfolds the way it always unfolds,
There is no hope there is no help there is no way for me to leave you
(you're bedded in my bones)
For this one night I will have someone and I will not be alone...
But it shoulda been you.
Shoulda been you.
Shoulda been
you.
(piano, ©2004-2009)
So simple and not so simple -
She must have spoken but what did she say?
You're so enraptured in the swirl of her beauty
that you can only see her as she's walking away...
[Cho] How can this be happening?
You try [or "tried"] to turn it back around!
She goes [or "she's gone"] - and you're not watching where you're going yourself,
you're over the edge you're hovering you're
falling falling down...
The years go by and you're still falling,
your movie's stuck on the same damn frame.
You make a life it looks fine on the surface,
but deep in the night you're still calling her name...
[repeat Cho, and instr break]
And we who love you in the here and now
can only watch and wish you well.
There's just no way to push or hurry
the answers only time can tell...
[repeat Cho]
(standard tuning, ©2007-2009)
How silent would the forest be if only the best of the birds
were allowed to sing and the rest were expected to just sit and listen,
from the distance...
The world's too quick to say "You fail, you're wrong, you lose and you
just might as well give up, you can't dance, you can't sing -
just stand and mouth the words."
But I say: Do what you love to do, and
do whatever you can to soothe
the sad and weary ones, who might be right beside you.
How lovely would the whole world be if everyone breathed a sigh of relief
and quit fighting to win the war, the girl, the job, the spot in traffic.
The world's too full of wim and lose, black and white that you're
told you must choose, but you have colored outside of the lines, and you know
that's beautiful too.
So I say: Choose what you want to choose, and
do whatever you can to soothe
the ones who just feel so confused - they might be right beside you.
Love and life are such a fine dance! Take it easy, oh but
take a chance... Beyond the surface circumstance, we're all
in this together.
And this is who we humans are. This is what we humans do. And no,
it is not perfect. But it can be so true.
And I say: Do what you love to do, and
look and listen to find out who
might have a moment to spend with you - they might be right beside you...
How silent would the forest be, if only the best of the birds were singing...
(piano and cello, ©2009)
Here is the light of a star - only just now arriving -
as if we would be waiting. And we are waiting, yes we are.
Under this encircling sky...
Sailors knew the stars would guide them.
Dare to wander far from shore...
Stars will lead you home.
The baby laughs when you shake the rattle,
and it thinks the rattle's purely gone when you hide it away.
Every time the rattle reappears, it's such a complete surprise!
in this game every baby's born to play...
We will teach the child to know -
things you cannot see can still be there.
You can close your weary eyes,
the world will still be there.
And so we learn to take it all for granted.
We sleep and dream, and we assume the dawn...
Until someone we truly truly trusted lies.
Or someone we truly loved dies.
Then what is gone is gone.
Should we believe in things we cannot see?
Or keep looking up, at things like stars we can see -
which for all we know might have burnt out long ago...
Take as true whatever can guide you
whatever can guide you home.
Under this encircling sky...
Sailors knew the stars would guide them.
Dare to wander far from shore...
Stars will lead you home.
(standard tuning, capo 4 or 5, ©1983-2009)
Some kind of apology might help to finally set me free from you
History has me bound
Bound to lie, bound to fail - repeating every tale of you
Trying to get through
I don't know what I must prove before I'm free to move on
Befoe I can let it be
In my struggle to break free, I have spent my energy saying
"It wasn't me, was it, it wasn't me..."
Not me who told the lies, not me who never apologized,
Not me who knowingly hurt a fool
A fool so eas'ly confused, long-suffering and easy-to-use...
How do you think I feel?
Some kind of apolgy might help to finally set me free from you
History has me bound
Bound to dream, bound to wish:
Nothing should ever end like this -
Tatters and rags, our prescious love
Tatters and rags
Tatters and rags
Tatters and rags
(open G tuning, capo 3 or 4, ©1988-2008)
In the pale grey light of morning
before the sea and the sky divide
there's a body washed up on the cold cold sand
borne on the turning tide.
And the innocence of this young female
whose beauty in life ran so deep
is an image her mate and her baby and I will all keep.
Message in a bottle-nose dolphin.
Men of learning come to see what they can see.
Crews are filming for the news on TV.
People say, "It seems to be some immune deficiency but why they
beached themselves this way,
that remains a mystery."
(a mystery to we whose garbage feeds their children)
In the pale grey light of morning
before the sea and the sky divide
there's a body washed up on the cold cold sand
borne on the turning tide.
And the innocence of this young female
whose beauty in life ran so deep
is an image her mate and her baby and I will all keep.
Message in a bottle-nose dolphin.
("There are some things you had right in the first place" see Right In The First Place above)
open G with bass down to lowlow G, ©1988-2008)
Sky growing light, Oklahoma dawn, dreams won't let me go.
Don' matter now what I think, what I think I know.
And you sit in an airport lounge, waiting for your ride to the sky,
while I sit on an Oklahoma porch, waiting for the sun to rise.
Can you tell? Can you tell me how?
Can you tell? Can yu tell me how
to get free of these dreams...
The tiniest of touch and the smallest of talk and the festival all around...
A bit of a history, by surprise, we discover a common ground:
"Baltimore in the old days," I knew that same cafe,
but I didn't know there was you.
Now you and me and a bunch of my friends are walkin' around in my dream,
down in the mint with the Maryland cows at a childhood minnow-stream.
When I was young, I waited for the schoolbus there.
Now I dream we all are grown, still waiting for that ride.
Sky growing light, Oklahoma dawn, stars grow pale and die.
So many things by the common light of day are hidden from our eyes.
And you go, do the things you do, probably don't think about me.
While I sit, seein' things seein' things, seeing your long hair blown free...
Can you tell? (Can you tell I'm tinkin' of you now) Can you tell me how?
Can you tell? (Have you got that electricity on now?) Can you tell me how
to get free of these dreams,
to get free of these dreams,
to get free of these dreams...
(standard tuning, ©2008-2009)
I have mem'ries now I never should've had
of you, who I never should've known.
You chose to seek me out and speak to me,
You chose to close that book and walk away alone.
Across the years, across the distance,
even when you hadn't said a word,
I still heard somehow.
So who knows how I so misread
what you actually said,
just now.
You said we had a rapport beyond the ordinary,
talked about how you were enjoying my company, so I got bold
and I told you "So then, turn this next page WITH me"
Next thing you know, I'm surrounded by debris.
I crossed a line, it never was up to me,
and from the distance you send word, and I see that
Yours will be the last word. You'll say you're through with me.
You'll say I should go my own way now, on my own.
But who I am with you
cannot exist apart from you. You say
"Go on your way now, on your own."
But as you speak, there's no one there to hear,
'cause who I am with you
disappears.
So I have mem'ries now I never should've had
of you, who I never should've known.
You chose to seek me out and speak to me.
You chose to slose that book and walk away alone.
You chose.
(I would've loved to've been in that book of yours 'til the end, but no)
You chose.
(open D tuning, ©2005-2009)
I'll be the sea... You be the beautiful island that no one knows.
You be the breeze... I'll be the delicate scent of the wild woodland rose.
Mist in the moonlight, the dew on the tall grass,
the hiss of the breakers, the chill of the dawn, I will be the
stars through your branches, the whipporwill song,
the glimmer, the whisper, the here and gone and here and gone and here and gone...
I'll be the fire... You be the eloquent tinder that feeds the flame.
You be the air... I'll be the canyon that channels and echoes your name.
Shifting and shimm'ring, the fireflies, the snowflakes,
the dapple of shadow, the laughter of dawn,
we could be the play of the light on the ripples all around us,
the echo, the mirror, the many ev'ry ev'ry many many ev'ry one...
You be the mystery now I'll be the answer,
the road that goes everywhere from me to you to me to you to me to you and
I'll be the hist'ry now you be the fantasy,
til no one can tell who is who is who is who is who is who is who is who...
I'll be the sea, you be the beautiful island that no one knows...
(open D tuning, ©1987-2009)
You see in me a beauty that others seldom see,
and you vision is a mirror - brings out the brightest side of me.
When this world is dark and heavy and cold, you help me to rise above.
You see me, you see me, and that's a kind of love I love.
Others have seen me as graceless - demanding and so gruff -
a woman in her own weird world where nothing ever is enough.
And in these times when no one understands what I've been dreaming of,
you see me, you really see me, and that's a kind of love I love.
I thank you for the quiet times, the woodstove and the birds,
the hours spent in stillness, where even breath and thought are heard,
and I thank you for belivin' in me when my own heart felt so rough.
You see me you see me, and that's a kind of love I love.
You see in me a beauty that others seldom see,
and I wish that I could tell you what this has meant to me.
Though this song I sing is just a simple little song,
may it somehow be enough...
You see me you see me and that's a kind of love I love.
You see me, you really see me... and that's a kind of love I love.
(ones not yet posted, but which someone may have at some point heard, which I still have the words to, somewhere or other, include: Blackberries (with flute); Standards; Celebration; I Am With You; Reflection (Flashing Eye To Eye); Flashback (Lisa); Corner Of My Eye; Fallin'In Love; Beautiful Sometimes; River Of Music; Wonderful The Journey; Safe Distance Of A Song; I Never Knew; One Teardrop In The Lake; Woman of My Dreams; I Will Walk Away; Home; The Hand of Man; Blue-eyed Right-brain Leftover Hippie Campaign; Ain't It Amazing (How Fast You Think); Gate Gate; Sheltered Bay; Freeze These Moments In Time)
(ones totally lost now include the 1968 I Have A Dream, and Taught Him To Kill; the 1970 Touching Once Lightly which Arlo Guthrie sang at The Music Barn in Stockbridge and which Baltimore Sing-Out published; pretty much everything from the Heliotrope band days unfortunately; the 1974 Guess It's Time To Go from the Rainwater Touring Company album, etc. I don't have anymore, and can't remember enough to reconstruct, these lyrics, even though the songs obviously existed and were in public at some point. Sorry.)
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