SONG FOR A GREEN NEW DEAL

Take a look at the sky
Take a look at the sea
Take a look in the faces
And you might start to see
That the old ways of working
Just don’t work anymore
That the time’s come for changes
More than ever before

(chorus)
We gotta have a GREEN! NEW! DEAL!
We gotta make it real
Or else the thieves will steal
Everything they can
We need a GREEN! NEW! DEAL!
We need some hope to feel
We’ve got a world to heal
While we still can
Gotta rise up and stand
For a Green New Deal plan

So much work to be done
And the people are willing
But we’ve got to stop
All the hatred and killing
Gotta change our priorities
Let green values lead
Put the future of our planet
Above shortsighted greed

(chorus)

Uncle Sam (Checked into Rehab)

Uncle Sam
Checked into rehab
Finally realized that there was something wrong
Uncle Sam
It took an intervention
For him to realize that there was something wrong

Now he sits in a circle with a cup of coffee
Tries to listen to what other people say
So used to being the center of attention
Now he just has to learn to live life day by day

Uncle Sam
Started to question
Certain assumptions about how he’d lived his life
Uncle Sam
Sought a Higher Power
Lessons in humility cut sharper than a knife

Now he sits in a circle, tries to tell his story
The other addicts listen with attention and respect
Acknowledging the damage, grateful for the blessings
Striving for honesty and life without regret

Uncle Sam
Took an inventory
Made a little list of everyone he’d harmed
Uncle Sam
It took a lot of courage
To lay down his attitude and lower his arms

Now he sits in a circle, older but wiser
Tries to live these principles in all his affairs
Starting to realize that though he’s far from perfect
God will love him anyway and help him through his cares

Uncle Sam
Checked into rehab
Finally realized that there was something wrong
Uncle Sam
It took an intervention
For him to realize that there was something wrong…

Sympathy for the Devil: New Verses

While listening to a local musician play “Sympathy for the Devil” recently, it occured to me that the time had come to add some new verses… so here you go:

The golden calf is all grown up
I’m the bull that rules your souls
I make you rampage over Creation
For the silliest of goals
I’ve set up frauds
In the name of God
And you follow them – now don’t you find that odd?
Pleased to meet you…

I set up shop in Washington
Got one in Tel Aviv
I relish Gaza’s sufferings
Made a hell that they can’t leave
Made a deal with a chump
By the name of Trump
On God’s own Church we’ll take a dump
Pleased to meet you…

Assignments

Here is my life
As I have to live it
Here is my gift
As I have to give it
Here is my work
As I have to do it
Here is my time
As I have to go through it

Here is the world
As I have to see it
Here is my self
As I have to be it
Here is my house
And I have to clean it
Here is my promise
And I have to mean it

Here is my heart
As I have to show it
Here is my truth
As I have to know it
Here are my feelings
As I have to feel them
Here are my wounds
As I have to heal them

Here is my darkness
That I must bring to light
Here is my struggle
That I have to fight
Here are the things
I don’t yet understand
You are my friends
With whom I can stand

Here is my soul
That I have to show
Here is my God
That I must get to know
These are the tasks
That I have been given
This is my life
I had better start living
This is my life
I had better start living

Lullaby for Jasmine, 2

So now we’ve come to face the facts
That this sweet love could never last
Not for lack of soul or heart
No one’s fault that we’ve come apart

You’re not hurting me, I’m not hurting you
It’s a pain we’ll share, between us two
And after time the wounds will start to heal
With gratitude that this once was real

So close the book, put it on the shelves
Keep its secrets locked within ourselves
What might have been must stay a dream
Let it float away on down time’s stream….

Long Distance Relationship

I’m gonna take all my dreams
Pack them in some boxes
Ship them across the ocean
To you

And then you can take them out
And keep them in your pockets
Till I come back to share them
With you

I’m gonna upload my heart
Put it in the cloud
Gigabytes of love
For you

And I’ll give you the key
So access is allowed
For nobody else
But you

(bridge)
Kilometers won’t kill our love
As long as I can see your smiles
I don’t care about the miles (2x)

I’m gonna livestream my tears
Of joy so you can kiss them
Until I am next
To you

And the lonely times
I know we’ll never miss them
Once we are together
We two
When once again I am one
With you

DEMOLITION CREWS

DEMOLITION CREWS
An Observation by Blind Peanut Nicholson

Mrs. Morgan passed away
I think it was just last Saturday
Today they came to take away her stuff
All her bric-a-brac, and her knick-a-knacks
Her collection of ceramic cats
She used to say she could never have enough

But the demolition crews
They don’t pick and choose
They just tear it out and haul it all away
All the things you used to use
That you were so scared to lose
They never more will see the light of day

A bunch of magazines from the 70s
That she’d kept around “for the recipes”
But I don’t believe she ever really cooked
Some candle stands and some praying hands
A talking fish, some jars of sand
I don’t know what else, I never really looked

Demolition crews
They’ve got no time to lose
They’ve got their job to do and do it fast
All those memories and souvenirs
Leftovers from your younger years
Just like you, you know they’ll never last

Yes, they cleaned it to the walls
And put it all in a pile in the hall
That’s where it was when I came walking by
And I made a solemn vow
Which I suggest you take right now
And clean up all your crap before you die

‘Cause the demolition crews
They won’t take no excuse
From someone who is not there anymore
Take a look at all your stuff
And figure out just what’s enough
And let the rest just walk on out the door

Let It Be A Quiet Christmas

In the North the snow is falling
Soon will come Christmas Day
But the news is so appalling
Only one thing I pray

Let it be a quiet Christmas
Let all the guns be still
Let it be a quiet Christmas
Lord, if it be Thy will
Please let it be Thy will

From the frozen streets of cities
To the deserts’ burning sands
Let all hearts be filled with pity
For those who suffer in every land

Let it be a quiet Christmas
Bid the bombers stand down
Let it be a quiet Christmas
In every village and town
In every village and town

In the camps and in the prisons
At the borders held fast
Bring an end to our divisions
Let the wars end at last

Let it be a quiet Christmas
Let the cries of pain cease
Let it be a quiet Christmas
Let the world know some peace
Lord, let us know some peace

Mystery Girl (Song for “Linda”)

So I log onto Facebook and what do I see
There‘s a “friend request” waiting there just for me
And I don’t know the face, she knows none of my friends
And I have strong suspicions of how this story ends
But for now she’s a Mystery Girl
For now just a Mystery Girl

She might be in Ghana, or maybe Tangiers
And I don’t really know her dreams or her fears
But she’s eager to chat, and her pictures seem nice
Still by now I have learned to always look twice
Especially at Mystery Girls
And so far she’s a Mystery Girl

Might not even be real, she might just be a bot
Just some poor guy’s attempt to get at what I got
But that’s what’s ironic, ‘cause I have nothing at all
So I can’t figure out why she gave me a call
This mysterious Mystery Girl
This faraway Mystery Girl

Or she just might be someone who is as real as me
Someone who feels lonely, who feels just like me
Someone reaching out to the rest of the world
For someone who will see that she’s not just some girl
That she’s not just some Mystery Girl
That she’s more than a Mystery Girl

 

America (Updated)

(It occurred to me at one point that the Simon & Garfunkel classic “America” could use some kind of revision – an updating, if you will. You may have wondered what happened to that pair of idealistic Midwestern lovers, who took a Greyhound bus from Pittsburgh to New York City… and the existential crisis that was just starting to form in the young man’s mind.

That whole story would be a good basis for a novel… but I had something more specific in mind. So, with all due respect and apologies to Mr. Simon…)

So we became lovers, we married our fortunes together
We took that Greyhound to NYC
Bought a house in Connecticut
Raised some kids, baked some pies
And that was our life in America…

“Kathy,” I said – we were at some convention in Pittsburgh –
“Our life has been such a dream so far…
“But inside I’m still just a poor kid from Saginaw
“There must be more to America…”

So we got back on the bus, went all sorts of places
Big cities, small towns, everywhere in between
Slowly we started to notice that something was missing…

“Hey man, got a cigarette, I’m six months laid off from the factory”
“I smoked my last one two decades ago”
But he thanked me anyway – I read Time Magazine
How the Dow rose over some increased yields

“Kathy,” I said – but she said, “Paul, just shut up and listen –
“You know what’s wrong here and so do I
“Count all the limos on the New Jersey Turnpike
“The rich ones are taking America
“Stealing the hopes of America
“Trying to kill the dream of America…”