Music
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Bountiful
$15.00
| 1. | Could You Be | Play | Could You Be
Could you be a window
In a darkened hall To give a passing soul A way of seeing through the wall And people stop in front of you And into you they peer Uncertain what they see because You’re not exactly clear? Could you be a lighthouse Standing on a shore Meant to send a light out To the sailor in a storm But even though you show your light Not a boat can tell You didn’t know you’re not supposed to Shine it on yourself? Are you a bell that hasn’t tolled? A drum that hasn’t rolled? A word of hope unsaid? A declaration never read? Could you be? Could you be a siren Made to raise your voice But sinking in the silence Afraid of making noise Even though the enemy is flying overhead Even though the fire is continuing to spread? Are you a spear afraid of flight? A constellation afraid of night? A principle unknown? A pilgrim holding on to home? Could you be? A flare afraid to burn? A wheel unfree to turn? A compass shunning north In a vessel straying way off course? Could you be? Could you be a lighthouse Standing on a shore That the lost are looking for? |
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| 2. | The Birthday Party | Play | The Birthday Party
I saw the Buddha open up his eyes
One Sunday morning Say he’s invited to a party for Christ And he must be going He heaved himself up with a groan, standing slowly Came down those steps of stone, and asked me Where to catch the next train to Jerusalem In India he sang with Hindus as they prayed By the Ganges when the dawn came Near Arabia, he saw Mohammed on the train And asked if he would join him Passing those teeming towns, they talked for hours All about the truth and how it’s discovered Trading bits of news and stories from these thousand years Saying “great idea, this party for Jesus” Then Mohammed said “hey Buddha, it’s great to see ya” Finding the place with the help of Abraham Waving from the doorway They greeted faces from a thousand holy lands Present day and all ages (always) Everybody talking, laughing, fiercely debating Saying how desperately the world is changing Then somebody lit the two-thousand candles And they all toasted Jesus, born in a stable Then Jesus said “hey, let’s not be such strangers” |
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| 3. | World of Dreams | Play | World of Dreams
Mr. Isaac Newton tested everything
Poked and prodded, then said “Solid things are as real as they seem” Mr. Albert Einstein pondered light and speed And with his mind’s eye, declared “oh my, This is a world of dreams” When we investigate the highest heavens They seem to race away faster than we can follow And when we penetrate the heart of atoms We find there something strangely resembling Nothing at all In the smallest measure of anything at hand Entities of energy are alive in a whirling dance Even our own bodies are not as we perceive But made of the same stuff our thoughts are made In this world of dreams So do we live and move amidst illusions? Has what we’re seeing fooled us And only exists in our minds? And what are we to do with such conclusions? For what cannot come true in a world of a Mystical kind? Mr. Albert Einstein woke one day from sleep To arise, to his surprise, in a world of dreams So as we move closer, the farther we must reach We may fight for what we like, but this is a world of dreams We may feel that this is real, but this is a world of dreams Or proclaim no, it can’t be so But this is a world of dreams |
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| 4. | Waking Up | Play | Waking Up
Last night I was dreaming I was in my GMC
I was feeling kind of empty because it was just a ‘93 So I filled it full of fossil from the bosom of the earth Which I burned up quite a lot of on my long commute to work Where I worked at what I hated just to keep up with the bills Which I paid to meet the rising cost of feeling unfulfilled Which I felt at every moment with occasional respite Like the times that I’d go shopping or watch TV shows at night CHORUS: But I’m waking up, but I’m waking up I’m waking up from the American Dream Last night I was dreaming of the one eternal hope That my life would be improved if the economy would grow Which already was a monster on a mission to consume And was eating almost everything and running out of room And it whispered to me “mister, here’s some products that you need And the standard of your living is too low” and I agreed! So I got myself a credit card with not a penny down And a long ride on the not-so-merry-money-go-round CHORUS: Yeah, the world was like an Amoco and I said “Fill er up!” With a house, a car, a VCR, a lawn and all that stuff But I got a nagging notion that enough did not exist And at the end of every day I’d wonder “is this all there is?” And someone said “Hey, you’ve already got ten times more than the rest And six-billion other people want the little that’s still left!” But I snapped “It’s a free country and by rights it’s mine to keep And by the way, who do I pay to take away this garbage heap?” CHORUS: It seemed that the beginning of the dream was so benign, I mean All I ever wanted was a smidgen of the pie And some comfort and security and good things for my kids And, OK, to please the neighbors and my ego while I did Anyway, it’s great to be awake and feeling satisfied With seeking out the simple and the deeper things in life And with giving to the world instead of hoarding it for me Boy, I guess I’m not too excited about falling back to sleep And as crazy as it was, hey, was it a dream or not? Well, just promise not to save me if I ever start to nod Put no-doze in my coffee, throw me outside in the cold Just don’t ever say “OK now, back to bed you go!” CHORUS: |
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| 5. | Yukon Sally | Play | Yukon Sally
Yukon Sally lives on the mountain side
Yukon Sally she likes to mountain climb She has a pack and an old canteen A hnudred little things that she has seen And a hundred stories if you've got awhile Helicopter Joe lives down the road a ways Helicopter Joe flies passengers all day Up to the highest peak around Takes a photograph and takes them down So they can verify their lofty claims CHORUS: Joe calls Sally every now and then He says "Cme on Sally, have a little sense That mountain climbing is a silly waste of time I've got a way you can skip all that Get you to the top in minutes flat" Sally just shakes her head and smiles wide And says "I think I'd rather climb" Joe sells rides to the hurried working class They want sights and they want to see them fast They say "this is nice and I hate to rush But we can catch a bite if we hurry up And maybe do the ocean after that" Sally dallies in the scent of evergreen Cools her feet in a chilly mountain stream Stays outside when the sky grows dark Walks in time to her beating heart And meditates a monment at the peak CHORUS She says "Joe, the climbing is half the joy You might reach the peak but that's not the point" Joe says "Sally, you're a mystery to me Yukon Sally lives on the mountain side |
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| 6. | Round World | Play | Round World
Oh Columbus
You become us With your scheme, your glorious plan And dream of a far-away land And with your blessing We keep pressing Giving this present place up For just one more America But, CHORUS: Every time I fly to the West I arrive nonetheless In the place that I left In this round world If I try to flee And leave this city To be free from humanity’s cares Humanity follows me there And if I steal aboard The boat bound for the farthest shore I’m told crossing the ocean won’t work And the only boat left is the Earth CHORUS: So Columbus Can you tell us That there are no more new lands afar If we don’t make it right where we are |
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| 7. | Little Jimmy | Play | Little Jimmy
Little Jimmy is a smallmouth bass
Little Jimmy got to watch his ass Fisherman be all around Trying to pull Jimmy out But though the danger lurks To Jimmy, caution is a dirty word ‘Cuz when it comes to getting off the hook Little Jimmy, he wrote the book With a form that’s well rehearsed He’s the Houdini of the underwater world Some fish have been let go But Jimmy’s never been inside a boat CHORUS: Little Jimmy say Fisherman got a hook in me I ain’t betting on him setting me free I’m gonna eat that minnow down Then I’ll lose that fishing clown I got a beard of fishing line One more strand will suit me fine That’s Little Jimmy’s bottom line Little Jimmy, he’s known all around By the fish in water town Some say he’s a swimming fool They say he don’t know a piece of bait from food But when they bet to win All the bets are placed on Jim The other day around suppertime I saw a fisherman cast a line Bang went that bobber down And I just new those bets were out And down there in the lake Jimmy was swimming in a mighty strange way CHORUS: Little Jimmy, a.k.a. The one that got away |
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| 8. | Dancing Song | Play | Dancing Song
We may not be wearing perfect shoes
We may not know sophisticated moves We may not begin from a graceful stance But in the end we’re going to start to dance We may be standing in a public place Careful clothing, proper public faces When the social situation says we can’t Right about then, we’re going to start to dance And the ghost of something gone Is going to try our bodies on And break a smile a mile wide When we dance to save our lives When we dance to save our lives Every limb long atrophied away Will be brought back from the dead that day Every ego, cool and in control, will suddenly be Doing the Tango, doing the Do-Si-Do After every remedy of an intellectual sort We will dance a desperate dance, a dance of last resort And it won’t matter what kind of degrees we hold We’ll be relying on what we do not know And the ghost of something gone Is going to try our bodies on And holler “hey, it’s about time” When we dance to save our lives And the ghost of something gone Is going to try our bodies on Exclaiming “hallelujah child!” When we dance to save our lives When we dance to save our lives |
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| 9. | Camping by the Sun | Play | Camping by the Sun
I like it here and so do you
On the one that’s green and blue With everything that life requires A big hydrogen camp-fire We could be here quite a few days The next place is four light-years away When you’re camping by the sun Yippee-yay-yeh, yippee-yay-yo Outer space is mighty cold Unless by chance, you have found A nice, warm star to fly around Unless you’re camping by the sun Like the earth roped the moon The sun’s got us in it’s own lasso We’re doing dishes and we’re taking showers At sixty-five thousand miles and hour It makes you want to play the guitar And sing songs with Jupiter and Mars When you’re camping by the sun Yippee-yay-yeh, yippee-yay-yah Outer space is very dark Unless with luck, you have found A nice, bright star to fly around Unless you’re camping by the sun Yippee-yay-yeh, yippee-yay-yo Outer space is dark and cold Unless by chance, you have found A bright, warm star to fly around Unless you’re camping by the sun And just before you close your eyes When the sun’s on the other side You can wonder at the countless thousands The other fires and who’s around them And if the sticks for their hot dogs Are ninety-eight million miles long When you’re camping by the sun |
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| 10. | On the Water | Play | On the Water
Put me like a lily on the water
Floating on my back to face the sun Opening my mouth a little wider Gobbling up photons one by one Then when I have swallowed many colors Who could tell the light apart from me? If I were like a lily on the water On the water On the water I would like to be Put me in a kayak on the water Hunting like a hungry eskimo Steady with a spear, waiting for plunder Lurking in the murky depths below Maybe I will catch something for dinner Maybe something will be catching me If I were in a kayak on the water On the water On the water I would like to be Put me on my belly on the water And it will kiss me like a water bug Half of me above, half of me under Where the air and water are in love And the two would fly away together If they were released from gravity If I were on my belly on the water On the water On the water I would like to be |
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| 11. | Canoe Song | Play | Canoe Song
I like to make ‘em out of birch bark skins
I studied how with the Indians A little pine tar, nice and thin Makes a boat float just right I like to brag about the perfect stroke I own a paddle made of aged oak Every maneuver I can do by rote But there’s one thing I don’t like CHORUS: Don’t like to put the paddle in the water That would be a crazy thing to do I don’t want to be no fishes’ fodder I don’t want to tip in that canoe I’d rather be a dreamer on the shoreline Than a hero at the bottom of the lake I never put the paddle in the water That would be a dangerous mistake I sing “Allouette” in Francais Just like the French in Hudson Bay I smoke a pipe and drink Beaujolais And I tell a tall tale or two I know every river and portage And in an emergency, I know triage I smell a storm like a weather cock But there’s one thing I won’t do CHORUS: I know the tensile strength of each one Fiberglass or aluminum I make plans and study maps Draw lines across the world and back I like to train on weight machines Carbo-load and high protein I’m a fanatic, it would seem But baby, I’m no fool CHORUS: |
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| 12. | The String | Play | The String
I have found a hole in the center of the heart
Through which a thread goes, enters and departs It’s fastened in the middle to inside of me From where it then continues through the heart of everything So when I get a feeling like a pulling on the chest I have to ask if that was me or one of the rest Sometimes it’s painful, sometimes just a tap Sometimes it happens violently and knocks me on my back When pain is not just mine alone, that’s when I know Somebody’s tugging on the string And when I start shaking, like a tremor in the ground Or and organ pipe in rank when it’s resonating sound Such a fine emotion of such intensity Takes a hold, and I know that it can’t be only me Then I guess that someone, maybe far away Has grown a little tired of the instrument they play And somehow has discovered that universal thread And reached out a courageous hand and plucked that chord instead When life seems like it’s only music, then I know Somebody’s playing the string And sometimes when I stand beneath the sky at night I take up the slack till the string is tight And staring at the stars, I take a step or two And I see them move I think I see them move Everything’s connected like peas are in a pod Or beads upon a necklace, decorating God Going around the rosy, we’re all in the ring Hand in hand, like a strand through the heart of everything |
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| 13. | Bountiful | Play | Bountiful
You don’t just say grace
Before you dig in You stand and dance and sway Around the kitchen And feast your eyes, astounded by What you’ve been given Before you even Sit down In Bountiful And when you allemande With the pans and the cupboards You lapse into a trance And dance like a lover Till dinner time has slipped your mind And you can’t recover Like a drunkard Stumbling around In Bountiful And when you fold your hands You laugh Because the words escape you So when you pray You shut your mouth In Bountiful The harvest moon is high In late September And life’s in great supply Of the sweet and the tender But it’s the whole ordeal before the meal You will remember If you ever Make it down To Bountiful |
Bountiful was my favorite album of 1998.
-John Kalb: WSCL/WSDL Maryland
-John Kalb: WSCL/WSDL Maryland
