I'm Off

[Soron]

JIMI THING
(David J Matthews)

Lately I've been feeling low
A remedy is what I'm seeking
Take a taste of what's mellow
Come away to something better
What I want is what I've not got
But what I need is all around me
Reach and search and never stop
And I'll say...

If you could keep me floating just for a while
'Til I get to the end of this tunnel called... Jimi
If you could keep me floating just for a while
I'll get back to you

Sometimes a Jimi Thing
slides my way keep me swingin'
I'd like to show you what's inside
I shouldn't care if you don't like it
Brother chaos rules all about
Sometimes I walk there
Yes, God knows, Sometimes, I take a bus there
I shouldn't care I shouldn't care bereaved as
I'm feeling

Day is gone I'm on my back
Staring up at the ceiling
I take a drink sit back relax
Smoke my mind makes me feel
Better for a small time
What I want is what I've not got
And What I need is all around me
Reach and search and never stop
And I'll say

If you could keep me floating just for a while
Til I get to the end of this tunnel called... Jimi
If you could keep me floating just for a while
I'll get back to you

 

[Arden]

HE Touches Me
By Eliza Dunn

He touches me in mysterious ways
Only my heart can understand.
The feelings he evokes when his eyes meet mine
Are almost more than I can stand.
He gently breathes, I close my eyes
And feel his love flow softly over me
Like a babbling brook, winding its way
Through the forest; An endless stream to the sea.

The stars in the sky spell out his name,
As the clouds come racing in
To hold him closer; As if even they,
Can not be without him.
He only has to speak my name
And my fragile heart skips a beat
And as his tender words are uttered,
All my doubts and troubled fears
Are put to sleep.
He touches me and I'm filled
With the most warm and wondrous light
It's as if before him, I was just as dark
As the dead of the longest night.
Just to gaze into his eyes
And feel his heart beat with mine,
It's all I'll ever, ever ask until the end of time!

 

[Soron]

Ulalume
by Edgar Allan Poe

The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere-
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir-
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul-
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
There were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll-
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole-
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.

Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere-
Our memories were treacherous and sere-
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year-
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber-
(Though once we had journeyed down here),
Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

And now, as the night was senescent,
And star-dials pointed to morn-
As the star-dials hinted of morn-
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn-
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.

And I said- "She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighs-
She revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion,
To point us the path to the skies-
To the Lethean peace of the skies-
Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes-
Come up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes."

But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said- "Sadly this star I mistrust-
Her pallor I strangely mistrust:-
Oh, hasten!- oh, let us not linger!
Oh, fly!- let us fly!- for we must."
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings until they trailed in the dust-
In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust-
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.

I replied- "This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybilic splendor is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty to-night:-
See!- it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright-
We safely may trust to a gleaming
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night."

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom-
And conquered her scruples and gloom;
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But were stopped by the door of a tomb-
By the door of a legended tomb;
And I said- "What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied- "Ulalume- Ulalume-
'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"

Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crisped and sere-
As the leaves that were withering and sere-
And I cried- "It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed- I journeyed down here-
That I brought a dread burden down here-
On this night of all nights in the year,
Ah, what demon has tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber-
This misty mid region of Weir-
Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,
This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."

 

[Arden]

COVER ME
Springsteen

The times are tough now, just getting tougher
This old world is rough, it's just getting rougher
Cover me, come on baby, cover me
Well I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me
Promise me baby you won't let them find us
Hold me in your arms, let's let our love blind us
Cover me, shut the door and cover me
Well I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me

Outside's the rain, the driving snow
I can hear the wild wind blowing
Turn out the light, bolt the door
I ain't going out there no more

This whole world is out there just trying to score
I've seen enough I don't want to see any more,
Cover me, come on and cover me
I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me
Looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me

 

[Soron]

Promise me baby you won't let them find us
Hold me in your arms, let's let our love blind us
Cover me, shut the door and cover me
Well I'm looking for a lover who will come on in and cover me



I love you.

 

[Soron]

For a friend, Happy Birthday...

THE DANGLING CONVERSATION
(Paul Simon)

It's a still life water color,
Of a now late afternoon,
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room.
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference,
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
The borders of our lives.

And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we've lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
And the dangled conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.

Yes, we speak of things that matter,
With words that must be said,
"Can analysis be worthwhile?"
"Is the theater really dead?"
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow,
I cannot feel your hand,
You're a stranger now unto me
Lost in the dangling conversation.
And the superficial sighs,
In the borders of our lives.

 

[Soron]

KATHY'S SONG
(Paul Simon)

I hear the drizzle of the rain
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls.

And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies.

My mind's distracted and diffused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you're asleep
And kiss you when you start your day.

And as a song I was writing is left undone
I don't know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can't believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme.

And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.

And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I.

 

[Arden]

Thinking of how many fathers and sons go through this...

Father and Son
Cat Stevens

Father:
It's not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.

I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy,
To be calm when you've found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you've got.
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.

Son:
How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again.
It's always been the same, same old story.
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.

Father:
It's not time to make a change,
Just sit down, take it slowly.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to go through.
Find a girl, settle down,
if you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.
(Son-- Away Away Away, I know I have to
Make this decision alone - no)

Son:
All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it.
If they were right, I'd agree, but it's them you know not me.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.
(Father-- Stay Stay Stay, Why must you go and
make this decision alone?)

 

[Arden]

Colleen,

We all hope that you had a wonderful birthday, and wish you nothing but the best - wherever life may take you...

 

[Soron]

The Woman and the Angel
by Robert W. Service

An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street;
His halo was tilted sideways, and his harp lay mute at his feet;
So the Master stooped in His pity, and gave him a pass to go,
For the space of a moon, to the earth-world, to mix with the men below.

He doffed his celestial garments, scarce waiting to lay them straight;
He bade good by to Peter, who stood by the golden gate;
The sexless singers of heaven chanted a fond farewell,
And the imps looked up as they pattered on the red-hot flags of hell.

Never was seen such an angel -- eyes of heavenly blue,
Features that shamed Apollo, hair of a golden hue;
The women simply adored him; his lips were like Cupid's bow;
But he never ventured to use them -- and so they voted him slow.

Till at last there came One Woman, a marvel of loveliness,
And she whispered to him: "Do you love me?" And he answered that woman, "Yes."
And she said: "Put your arms around me, and kiss me, and hold me -- so --"
But fiercely he drew back, saying: "This thing is wrong, and I know."

Then sweetly she mocked his scruples, and softly she him beguiled:
"You, who are verily man among men, speak with the tongue of a child.
We have outlived the old standards; we have burst, like an over-tight thong,
The ancient, outworn, Puritanic traditions of Right and Wrong."

Then the Master feared for His angel, and called him again to His side,
For oh, the woman was wondrous, and oh, the angel was tried!
And deep in his hell sang the Devil, and this was the strain of his song:
"The ancient, outworn, Puritanic traditions of Right and Wrong."

 

[Soron]

Creation of Woman from the rib of Man:

She was not made from his head to top him;
Nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him;
But out of his side to be equal with him,
Under his arm to be protected,
And near his heart to be loved.

 

[Soron]

A White Rose
by John Boyle O'Reilly

THE red rose whispers of passion,
And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
And the white rose is a dove.

But I send you a cream-white rosebud
With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips

 

[Soron]

Seems like every time I hear this song, I have to post it. I've heard Joan Baez do it...Springsteen. But, the best is, Arlo Guthrie and Emmy Lou Harris.
A song taken from a newspaper story...

PLANE WRECK AT LOS GATOS (Deportee)
(Woody Guthrie)

The crops are all in, the peaches are rotting
The oranges are piled in their creosote dumps
They're flying you back to the Mexico border
To pay all your money to wade back again

My father's own father, he waded that river
They took all the money he made in his life
My brothers and sisters they work in the fruit trees
They rode the truck till they took down and died

Good-bye to my Juan, Good-bye Rosalita

Adios mes amigos, Jesus e Maria
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
And all they will call you will be deportee

Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted
Our work contract's out and we have to move on
Six hundred miles to the Mexican border
They chase us like rustlers, like outlaws, like thieves.

We died in your hills. We died on your deserts.
We've died in your mountains, and died on your plains.
We've died 'neath your trees, and we've died in your bushes.

Both sides of the river, we've died just the same.

Good-bye to my Juan, Good-bye Rosalita
Adios mes amigos, Jesus e Maria
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
And all they will call you will be deportee

The skyplane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon
A fireball of lightning that shook all our hills
Who were all these dear friends all scattered like dry leaves
The radio says they were just deportees.

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards

And is this the best way we can grow our good fruit
To fall like dry leaves and rot on the top soil,
And be known by no name except deportee .

Good-bye to my Juan, Good-bye Rosalita
Adios mes amigos, Jesus e Maria
You won't have a name when you ride the big airplane
And all they will call you will be deportee

 

[Soron]

The Great Historical Bum
(also: Just the Facts, Ma'am)
(Woody Guthrie)

I was born about ten thousand years ago
There ain't nothing in this world that I don't know
I saw Peter, Paul and Moses playing Ring Around the Roses
And I'll whup the guy who says it isn't so

I'm just a lonesome traveler, the great historical bum
Highly educated, from history I come
I built the Rock of Ages, twas in the year of one
And that was the biggest thing that man has ever done

I saw Satan when he looked the Garden o'er
I saw Eve and Adam driven from the door
From behind the bushes peeping, saw the apple they was eating
I swear that I'm the guy what ate the core
Garden of Eden?
Well, I built the Garden of Eden, it was in the year of two
Joined the Apple Pickers Union and I always paid my dues
I'm the man who signed the contract to raise the rising sun
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done

I taught Samson how to use his mighty hands
Showed Columbus to this mighty land
And for Phaoroh's little kiddies built all the pyramiddies
And to the Sahara carried all the sand

Pyramids? why...
I was straw boss on the pyramids, the Tower of Babel too
I opened up the ocean, let the migrant children through
Well, I fought a million battles and I never lost a one
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done
I taught Solomon his little A B Cs
I was the first one ate Limburger cheese
And while sailing down the bay with Methuselah one day
I saved his flowing whiskers from the breeze

Well I was in the Revolution when we set this country free
It was me and a couple of Indians who dumped the Boston tea
Well I won the battle of Valley Forge and the Battle of
Bully Run
And that's about the biggest thing that man has ever done

Queen Elizabeth fell dead in love with me
We were married in Milwaukee secretly
But I snuck around and shook her, to go with General Hooker
To fight mosquiters down in Tennessee

 

[Soron]

For the biggest Phil Ochs fan I know...

FREEDOM RIDERS
(Phil Ochs)

Jackson, Mississippi, is a mighty white town,
the white folks they like to keep the black folks down
they think they'll be allright, but there's gonna be a fight
and they'll have to share that freedom crown,
yes, they'll have to share that freedom crown.
Freedom Riders roll along
Freedom Riders won't be long
won't be long.

They boarded a bus in Washington D.C.
to enter a state half slave and half free
the wheels hummed a song and they sang along
the song of liberty, the song of liberty.
Freedom Riders roll along
Freedom Riders won't be long
won't be long.

Jimmy Farmer was a hard fightin' man
decided one day that he had to make a stand
he led them down to slavery town
and they threw Jim Farmer in the can
and they threw Jim Farmer in the can.
Freedom Riders roll along
Freedom Riders won't be long
won't be long.

One of these days and it won't be long
the solid South is gonna sing another song
They'll understand that a man's not a man
'til he has all the freedoms of the land.
Freedom Riders roll along
Freedom Riders won't be long
won't be long.

 

[Soron]

On the Dunes
by Sarah Teasdale

If there is any life when death is over,
These tawny beaches will know much of me,
I shall come back, as constant and as changeful
As the unchanging, many-colored sea.

If life was small, if it has made me scornful,
Forgive me; I shall straighten like a flame
In the great calm of death, and if you want me
Stand on the sea-ward dunes and call my name.

 

[Soron]

STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA
(Bruce Springsteen)

I was bruised and battered and I couldn't tell
what I felt
I was unrecognizable to myself
Saw my reflection in a window I didn't know
my own face
Oh brother are you gonna leave me
wasting away
On the streets of Philadelphia

I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Just as black and whispering as the rain
On the streets of Philadelphia

Ain't no angel gonna greet me
It's just you and I my friend
And my clothes don't fit me no more
I walked a thousand miles
just to slip this skin

The night has fallen, I'm lyin' awake
I can feel myself fading away
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss
or will we leave each other alone like this
On the streets of Philadelphia

 

[Arden]

Before you kissed me only winds of heaven
Had kissed me, and the tenderness of rain—
Now you have come, how can I care for kisses
Like theirs again?

- Sara Teasdale (1884–1933)

 

[Soron]

This Day, O Soul
by Walt Whitman

THIS day, O Soul, I give you a wondrous mirror;
Long in the dark, in tarnish and cloud it lay--But the cloud has
pass'd, and the tarnish gone;
... Behold, O Soul! it is now a clean and bright mirror,
Faithfully showing you all the things of the world.

 

[Soron]

YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY LOOKING AT THE COVER ~ The Yardbirds
(Willie Dixon)

You can't judge an apple by looking at the tree,
You can't judge honey by looking at the bee,
You can't judge a daughter by looking at the mother,
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

Oh can't you see,
Oh, well, you misjudge me.
I look like a farmer,
But I'm a lover,
Can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

Yeah, that's right,
That's so good.

You can't judge a fish by lookin' in the pond,
You can't judge right by looking at the wrong,
You can't judge one by looking at the other,
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

Oh can't you see,
Oh, well, you misjudge me.
I look like a farmer,
But I'm a Lover,
Can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

You can't judge sugar by looking at the cane,
You can't judge a woman by looking at her man,
You can't judge a sister by looking at her brother,
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

Oh can't you see,
Oh, well, you misjudge me.
I look like a farmer,
But I'm a lover,
Can't judge a book by looking at the cover.

 

[Soron]

BLUE CANADIAN ROCKIES ~ The Byrds
(C. Walker)

In the blue Canadian Rockies
Spring is silent through the trees
And the golden poppies are blooming
'Round the banks of Lake Louise

Now, oh, how my lonely heart is aching tonight
For that girl I left behind
And, oh, what I'd give if I could be there tonight
With the sweetheart who's waitin' for me

In the blue Canadian Rockies
Spring is silent through the trees
And the golden poppies are blooming
'Round the banks of Lake Louise

Across the sea they call me
And on and on a love so true
For the blue Canadian rockies
And the one I love to see
And the one I love to see

 

[Arden]

Hick's Farewell
Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton

Just before the Civil War, there was a missionary Baptist preacher named Reverend Hicks, who lived in central South Carolina. He decided to go into East Tennessee to do some missionary work, and while he was there he became very sick of a fever, and thinking he would die, he wrote this song, the words and the music, and sent them back to his wife so they might be published... 1*

The time is swiftly rolling on
When I must faint and die,
My body to the dust return
And there forgotten lie.
Let persecutions rage around,
Let Antichrist appear;
Beneath the cold and silent ground
There's no disturbance there.

Through heats and cold I've toiled and went
And wandered in despair;
To call poor sinners to repent
And seek the Savior dear.

My brother preachers, boldly speak
And stand on Zion's wall.
Confirm the strong, revive the weak,
And after sinners call.

My little children, near my heart,
And nature seems to bind,
It grieves me sorely to depart
And leave you here behind.

Oh Lord, a father to them be
And keep them from all harm
That they may love and worship Thee
And dwell upon Thy charm.

My loving wife, my bosom friend,
The object of my love,
The time's been sweet I spent with thee,
My sweet, my harmless dove.

Though I must now depart from thee
Let this not grieve your heart,
For you will shortly come to me
Where we shall never part.

1* According to George Pullen Jackson (p. 205), Hicks died at Little Buck Creek, Spartanburg County, SC, on Jun 11, 1839.

Interesting, the Civil War didn't start until the 1860's...

 

[SecretScribe]

Soron ... Arden ...

I have no poem to bring you ... no lyrics that I haven't already posted here ...

But I did want to wish you both all my love ...

Scribbler

 

[Soron]

Soron ... Arden ...

I have no poem to bring you ... no lyrics that I haven't already posted here ...

But I did want to wish you both all my love ...

Scribbler

Right back at you, my friend.

 

[Soron]

GROWIN' UP
(Bruce Springsteen)

I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said "Sit down" I stood up.
Ooh-ooh growin' up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for a first mate, she couldn't sail but she sure could sing,
I pushed B-52 and bombed `em with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said "Come down" I threw up
Ooh-ooh growin' up

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and you know it's really hard to hold your breath.
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth but I got me a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd but when they said "Pull down" I pulled up
Ooh-ooh growin' up. Ooh-ooh growin' up