healing waters ‘09

you spread your wings in the morning
I sing my songs in the night
we meet by the stream
  stepping out of a dream
in the garden of earthly delight

you feel new hope in the morning
I put my faith in the night
we live on the edge
  of a little knowledge
in the garden of earthly delight

everyone’s going so crazy
something’s missing here, something ain’t right
something we need, love
  ‘t don’t grow on trees
in the garden of earthly delight

will you be there in the morning
when the geese take their glorious flight
I’ve seen all I can see
  of these old crab apple trees
in the garden of earthly delight

(refrain)
Good morning!
Good morning!
welcome to the new world!
welcome to the new world!
the new world

The sun came up this morning
Living la vie en rose
The fox and the hen went at it again
Then everything came to a close

And that is the way of the world, my friend
Everyone knows how it goes
The French, you say, have a saying
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose

However, I heard from a faint little bird
There is more to the story today
The hens were defending the henhouse ??
And the morning was well underway ??

But there was a fox in the foxhole
Who just could not keep to his bed ??
And when his turn came to live up to his name
He turned on his family instead

(refrain)
Good morning!
Good morning!
welcome to the new world!
welcome to the new world!
the new world

So now is it time, dear lady
To march arm in arm with outrage
Made strong by the bitters of justice
That only get better with age

For you alone are as old as the world
Are you afraid now, my friend?
You’ve been through it all – the wall and the fall
Is this the beginning of the end?

And if it’s just more of the same, Madame
Just how much more shall we take?
Those little white lies betraying your eyes
Will fight to the death for our sake

There is no light to be made of this matter
There is no light to shed
Brother and sister, father and mother
have led, and have bled

(refrain)
Good morning!
Good morning!
welcome to the new world!
welcome to the new world!
the new world

So what’s the good news from the front lines?
What’s the good news from prison?
What did we learn before we adjourn
Indeed but the sun is risen

They say we have God in our warheads
Now east and west are one
We have this old saying in Christendom
There’s nothing new under the sun

The torches are lit, the hawk is up late
And all is well
This was the day that the Lord had made
Before night fell

Down in the foxhole, those who remain
Are closing their eyes without warning
Trying to settle themselves whether
The sun came up this morning.

welcome to the new world
welcome to the new world

O, Lord, you sure is mighty, mighty as they say
You always let me know who’s boss
I’ve waded in time and time again, never made it across
guess you’re taking me the long way
The road was leading me, leading me to roam
You always find me at a loss
Take me down, take me down to the hangout of the Spanish moss
I’ll find a shady place to call home

(refrain)
because there was a most peculiar tree
who treated me like family
now I just know that’s where I’ve gotta be

I still got some growing, growing old to do
going down where the moonshine’s gone
My granddaddy pointed at the grounds where they love the pecans
said that’s where I’m a-going to
I ran like you told me, told me I would
You never ran away from me
Let me tell, let me tell between the delta and the deep blue sea
where I left my lazy childhood

(refrain)
because there was a most peculiar tree
who treated me like family
now I just know that’s where I’ve gotta be

Now there’s a haunt I can really, really sink into
when I get to feeling low
Thy will be done, I got plenty more sinking to go
‘fore they kick me out the bayou
Down there I’m gonna do as they do, as they say
I won’t forget about you, boss
and if I do, I’ll drink a bottle of the Louisana fire sauce
to send me running back your way

Old maple street has got the shakes, mercy mercy
The river bends and then it breaks, mercy mercy
Napoleon keeps breaking limbs
The saints all drinking straight gin
The gospel’s sinking in, mercy mercy

(refrain)
Let it rain, let it rain
mercy, mercy let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain
mercy, mercy let it rain

Now Jesus lives right down St. Roch, mercy mercy
I seen him hanging round my block, mercy mercy
And he say, Love thy neighborhood
Tear out all the bad wood
The police understood, mercy mercy

We’ve had it coming all these years, mercy mercy
The barman’s had it up to here, mercy mercy
And mother Mary’s on the lake
praying for a jailbreak
Whatever it takes, mercy mercy

(refrain)
Let it rain, let it rain
mercy, mercy let it rain
Let it rain, let it rain
mercy, mercy let it rain

Come back, my friend, and lift me up, mercy mercy
Don’t tell me when I’ve had enough, mercy mercy
You won’t believe what I just saw
The saints all back behind bars
And God’s above the law, mercy mercy

Children of the maize
go reap what you have sown
Remember in the winter
what has come and gone

The joy and pain of growing
are writing on your face
Will you live forever
in the golden maize

(refrain 1)
don’t you see yourself going places
it’s old expressions on new faces
you don’t just leave without leaving traces
no, you change

every body knows the language
we’re breathing new life in olden phrases
what are we saving our saving graces for
this time

The rug-weaver’s a-dancing
upon his father’s loom
He can fly to heaven
and never leave his room

The river’s nearly frozen
and he can hear the sound
She’s calling for the children
and no one is around

(refrain 2)
don’t we see ourselves going places
it’s old expressions on new faces
you don’t just leave without leaving traces
no, we change

every body knows the language
we’re breathing new life in olden phrases
what are we saving our saving graces for
this time

Silver’s in the valley
Salt is in the lake
Many seeking glory
have settled by mistake

Beyond the silver country
the clouds are lined with gold
Who’s hiding in the badlands
the sun is getting old

(refrain 3)
I can see myself going places
it’s empty pockets and flowing pages
you don’t just leave without leaving traces
no, you change

night and day we are changing places
fresh arrangements in ancient vases
what are we saving our saving graces for
this time

(refrain 1)

I was born, I was born to sing the blues
I was born, yes, I was born to sing the blues
I’m going to go find my old man
and give him a real good talking to

don’t make me repeat myself, you heard just what I said
I said don’t make me repeat myself, you heard just what I said
standing in my way, woman
be the second-worst mistake you ever made

(bridge)
Well, you might say I got no right to sing the blues
but I got a certificate of natural birth that says I do
I was born, mama
I was born to sing the blues

well a woman was lying and I was crying
look me in the eye and ain’t no denying I was born
to sing the blues

(instrumental)

well you know about my daddy he is the greatest in the world
yes, everybody loves him, he is the best there ever was
and I’ve been told that I’m my father’s son
but I’ll be the judge

Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury
  Glory, glory
I know y’all are in a hurry
But don’t worry, worry
I never stick to my story
Now, ladies, be ladylike
Gentlemen, be gentle
Above all

Be judgemental. You don’t need credentials
Just keep it real, and keep it simple
I think you’ll find me extremely sinful
If love is a crime

Coz I did a lot of loving in my time
I loved a lot of women, loved a lot of men
I was committed to the pen. I did it all
Just for the record; I would do it all again

And then some. This time I’ll pay my ransom
Did anyone ever mention I was handsome?
And you didn’t know that I could transform?
Damn, look at my decline.

Now I’m a bass man. I read the bottom line.
Everybody but me out of sight, out of mind. Place an
order in the court for a bottle of wine. I got a
case man. I represent myself all the time.

And I’ll tell you right now I’m guilty
Of a thousand words that kind of sound absurd
You’d never guess I’d ever been a king
I don’t look anything like the artist’s rendering

My last chapter has been a head-scratcher
I’ve lost control of my mass manufacture
Now I’m the world’s most ineligible bachelor
People don’t understand me, right back at you

Yes, many have testified
That I am what they would call a real man.
Not so fast, now, that’s not so factual
I try to keep it real, but I’m supernatural

The Alpha dog is back in the race
And I do not plan to slacken the pace
I’m about to launch an attack on my base
Take that as a slap in the face

Now look how I’m packing the place
Sorry I have to put y’all back in your place
I’ve been accused of a lack of taste
You might want to reconsider cracking my case

It’s more blessed to serve, I’m a serve myself
and then serve you. Call me what you want
A goat herder, a deserter
I got a way with words & you got away with murder

(chorus)
glory, glory
don’t worry, worry

Y’all know my record. It don’t need defending
Heads are nodding, knees are bending
Will I repeat my repeat offenses
Hands in the air, let’s see concensus

Yes, I’m in a unique position
I treat people without precondition
The sound of my voice is a decongestant
Even when I speak Greek, people listen

Talk is cheap? Here’s a cheap prescription
Get up and move, y’all’s team is blitzing
Everybody play in a key position
The kings are dead, now reposition

Get off the bench and seek attention
It’s not a game y’all need physicians
Try to keep it real – you keep on slipping
You’re weak, even in peak condition

You’ve got a weight that needs uplifting
This is the path of increased resistance
Would a change of pace pique your interest
Like me for instance

You’ve been advised to keep your distance
Call up the bureau chief to witness
Never let your kid near the street musician
I beat my beat into complete submission

I can’t afford to blow my top secret mission
Which is not to treat your symptoms
So let me repeat my concrete conviction
And blow this whole speaker system

You can judge yourself
reach your own key decisions
In whatever manner you find least efficient
What would I do? Repeat the question

What would I do? I would teach forgiveness
Just like my father taught me forgiveness
I would make friends with freaks and misfits
Acquit the guilty and release my hitlist

Perform miracles in pizza kitchens
Dress the kids and feed the chickens
I would beatify Lisa Simpson
For being so real; give grief a brief remission

I would breach tradition
Throw away key provisions
To get y’all released from prison, deceased or living
I would heal myself, for at least an instant

Then tour the world, free admission
Free triage, and free prevention
Free love, and free escort
Courtesy of your local police comission

We all have dreams and visions
We are all endowed with supreme ambition
No amount of cream can keep my feet from itching
Every day I seek enrichment

Every movement leads to friction
Do we retreat or complete the mission
We go so far in each direction
The trumpeter ceases to grease the pistons

We have this history of distance
Which we repeat, complete with misprints
And obsolete divisions
Between Christians over Christmas and Easter visits

Retirees are fishing
Each pavillion is receiving shipments
For the main event underneath the big tent
Which is beginning to reek of incense

And the protest of teething infants
I can’t wait to see the difference
I’m from another world but I still believe in this one
Our love keeps eclipsing

Our glory, and bleeding crimson
All you need is a brief description
I’m nothing but a masterpiece of fiction
Who proves everyone else needs revision

This is the end of cheap forensics
Reinvention tends to be expensive
Cut off what can be dispensed with
That by any means you deem offensive

(chorus)
glory, glory

(refrain)
gone and forgotten
old times and problems
they don’t seem so bad now
how shall we celebrate when
troubles are gone and forgotten again

Long, long ago
in the deep blue sea
There was a pretty
little island city

Down at the foot
of a great deity
O she was lovely
when she was angry

Will this sacrifice
set us free
Such a pretty
little island city

(refrain)

Gone are the days
of simplicity
Now we know better
how the world is really

Deep underground
there’s a bright red sea
We all go down
to the crematory

The sacrifice
of great cities
is still a pity
but no great mystery

Deep in this heart
there’s a dark side of me
Don’t get me started
it’s a whole nother story

That story’s over now
No turning back
Lights burned out
and things turned ugly

What the devil
got into me
He’ll be forgiven
but he’ll never be wholly

(refrain)
gone and forgotten
old times and problems
they don’t seem so bad now
how shall we sacrifice when
troubles are gone and forgotten again

When fortune and fame had forgotten me
and I needed a friendly reminder
Who ended my life of monotony
but the splendid old organ grinder

The butcher, the baker, the bad news breaker
the priest and the pickpocket, too
the monkey gone mad, and the mulberry shaker
give the old devil his due

Yes, even that small boy, still sucking his plum
I’m afraid he is tainted forever
and someday, my lady, you, too, shall succumb
to the charms of the old organ grinder

(refrain)
Once you hear that unforgettable sound
you shall live forever spellbound
Therefore, my dear, keep an ear to the ground
for the spellbinding old organ grinder

It all started out so innocently
The little ones got all the glory
The lamb and the lion lay in harmony
That was almost the end of the story

Then someone said, “I am the Lord your God,
and, as is apparent, I am great.”
When the Lord said Bow, the dogs said Wow
and proceeded to lie prostrate

“Now I’m not certain yet which of you is my pet
but one of you must be inspired
Who will stand for me by the mulberry tree
I am so unbelievably tired”

And the lamb said, “I lack stability
But I’ll stand for you whilst I am able.”
And the Lord said, “For your great humility,
your life shall be nothing but stable.”

And the lion regarded his thriving state.
God is great, he said, “but I am greater.”
And the lamb bowed her head, for the the lion was dread
and the Lord said, “I’ll deal with you later.”

For a rabbit was fervently forming the habit
of thumping when when something was not right
“I am,” yawned God, “afraid I could disregard
a little bump in the night.

“So go forth and multiply, in behalf
of the alpha and of the omega
You shall henceforth have an endless supply
of alfalfa and rutabega”

And as it retreated from thence, all eyes
were fixed on the Lord’s new steward
who, before getting terribly far
was seized by the fox and skewered

All around the mulberry tree
things were turning decidedly sinister
For the world was inclined to escape from the grind
that no one had a mind to administer

Yet, the weasel who crept in the cover of darkness
Met with terrors unknown
which defended the trunk of the mulberry tree
as if it were their very own

And the Lord said, “Now that’s what I’m looking for
Monkey see, monkey do no evil.”
But alas, monkey did, and the glory of yore
is gone beyond retrieval.

The legend, no doubt, is apocryphal
the sources are certainly shady
But the curse of the very first gentleman
it is said, was the very first lady

He was just as a gentleman ought to be
He declined and declined and declined her
Until he awoke in the mulberry tree
in a world full of lovely reminders

They say that the Truth is a lady uncouth
Ay, many a man has maligned her
But she will not lie for a taste of vermouth
like the pliable old organ grinder

Now the beasts of the field, with their bellies filled
and their muzzles mulberry stained
made quite apparent they never would yield
what precious little innocents remained

So the stalwart ram lay awake by his lamb
and the lion kept watch over his cub
Whilst the gentleman drove out the terrors of night
with the glee of the gentleman’s club


Now God was a very deep sleeper
who would join us, no doubt, in good time
and a very vocal majority rallied in favor
of letting their sleeping God lie

But the Lord fit right in with the gentlemen
when their din, as it were, woke the dead
No, one could not deny the resemblance
which naturally went to their heads


God really got into the spirit of things
as they toasted the best of friends
That was just the beginning; the world started spinning
and all were in thrall to no end

They were neither the first nor the last of God’s children
to show love worth requiting
but – and for this one must hand it to them –
the gentlemen got it in writing

And the lion surrended his gold crown
And the jungle was anyone’s game
And all that it took to go down in the book
was to stake an original claim

Someone played an organ, and others began
sacrificing their finest apparel
until the most savage of beasts couldn’t take
one more round from the bottomless barrel


The bright morning after this brief night of rapture
No news is good news, said the gospel
which does perhaps smack of a clerical error
With God, you know, anything’s possible

The world’s greatest debtor misplaced all his letters
His physician scribbled him a scripture
and the late, great God, so fatally flawed
was effectively out of the picture


And the sea lion clapped and teetered and twirled
who once was the king of the sea
Likewise, man discovered the top of the world
Isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be

For the tale of mankind is of slaves to the grind
who sing of nothing but upheaval
and lo, after they overthrow, they proclaim
revolution the root of all evil

The beggar, the banker, the carousel cranker
The whore and the holy-book binder
Now what line of work is as thankless as that
of the rancorous, the cantankerous old organ grinder

(refrain)

Goodbye is a crime, and isn’t it time ??
who says the show must go on ??
and the last shall be first and losers are weepers ??
and so on, and so on, and so on ??

I shall soon be gone, terribly sorry to’ve kept you
so long. Can’t you turn back time?
Truly, time is the cruellest of keepers
Even death has been defied

The flaming sword eater, the troubled mind reader ??
the trapper and trainer, to boot ??
Time is our tireless ringleader always ??
tormenting an old recruit ??

Everywhere you turn there’s a daredevil’s act
soliciting you for assent
I daresay these monkeys will get off our backs
when they know we are thoroughly spent

O, when the trunk of our treasure is sunken
who is the keeper and finder
Noble and savage are falling-down drunk
on the whine of the old organ grinder

we
won
war with the sun
day is done
everything’s under control
hush
innocent soul
heart of coal
mystery smolder within
this
world without end
breathe again
nothing will hinder the rise
and
fall of the morning and even tides
O
who
should
try to disturb them surely dies
so

close
those
curious eyes
paradise
gathers her roses before
one
wise men adore
evermore
cut from the border that crowned
this
God-given ground
heart still pound
now we’re surrounded
by lovely
sounds of the night and the open road
dear
no
rush
only the rest of our lives to
leave
here

Good
night
glorious sight
salt and light
we are united once more
God
let there be war
nevermore
give us an order to live
by
if we must die
sparks will fly
just keep the cinder alive
yes
we’re only resting our eyes
this time
come
day
we will be ready to rise
and
shine