Mother Rose

Mother rose Every little morn'
To tend to me There she stood
Waiting by the door Selflessly

Took my hand Took it with a smile tenderly
Mother rose Every little morn'
To tend to me Now's the time
To turn the view Now that I have you

And I'll rise Every little morn'
To tend to thee When you rise
Open up your eyes You will see
There I'll be Waiting by the door
Come to me Take my hand
Look into your heart There I'll be

Now's the time To turn the view
Now that I have you

Now's the time To turn the view
Now that I have you

Roses growing by my door Climbing up the vine
All the thorns and pain obscured Roses shall divine
Where we feel no pain And the love inside
Where roses climb Roses shall divine
Roses shall divine Holy mother
Mother of gold Mother with stories
Told and retold She felt our tears
Heard our sighs And turned to gold
Before our eyes She rose into the light
She rose into the light She rose into the light

Stride Of The Mind

I took a walk out to the sun
But I just, just couldn't take it
I followed a dream
It was circular
But I just, just could not fake it

Step to the left the left the left
Step to the right the right the right
Pick up the sign the sign the sign
For a stride of the mind the mind

Simon of the desert blew into town
On the scalding tail of a bright cold wind
Slipped through the sand
Footprints emerged
Where no one was walking
Simon had been

Dropped from heaven
To a ready made world
Said I'm no Sufi
But I'll give it a whirl
We booked passage
On the Book of the Dead
Time to travel Simon said

Step to the left the left the left
Step to the right the right the right
Pick up the sign the sign the sign
On the stride of the mind the mind the mind

Come on move where dreams increase
Where every man is a masterpiece
If you want to be counted
As another kind
And you're true, pursue
Stride of the mind the mind the mind...

He bowed three times
Removed his fez
Pointed to heaven
And Simon says
The mind the mind the mind
Pick up the sign the mind the mind
It's a vertical climb the climb the climb
Stride of the mind the mind the mind
Pick up the sign the sign the sign
It's a vertical climb the climb
Take it in stride

Cartwheels

Come my one, look at the world Bird beast butterfly
Girls sing notes of heaven Birds lift them up to the sky

Spring is departing Spring is departing

Her thoughts are darting like a rabbit Like a rabbit 'cross the moon
Shines of light over your hair As boys croon

Pretty in pink It makes me wonder
What could ever bring you down I see tears falling
From those eyes of brown

Hearing a voice, you turn your head You vanish into the mist
Of your thoughts And I
Want to grasp What brings you down
Open up those eyes of brown

The world is changing Your heart is growing

Hearing a voice you turn your head Girls turn by ones, by twos
Notes pour bad and tender Eradicate your blues

The good world The good world
Come my one, look around you Bird, beast, butterfly
Girls sing notes from heaven Birds lift them up to the sky

I see brown eyes That see girls turning
Girls turning Cartwheels

The good world The good whirl
The good world The good whirl

Come my one, look at your world Don't let it bring you down
Come on open for me Those eyes of brown

I see girls turning Cartwheels
Cartwheels Cartwheels...

Gandhi

I had a dream Mr. King If you'll beg my pardon
I was trespassing A sacred garden
And the blossoms fell And they dropped like candy
And nature cried Gandhi Gandhi
And nature cried Gandhi Gandhi

When he was a boy He was afraid of the dark
His mother would fast And pray at his feet
And the lamp burned as he slept Slept as he dreamed
He was dreaming of his sisters Dressed in white muslin
Dressed in white muslin Dancing in a ring
He was afraid of the dark And the lamp burned
And his mother fasted And prayed as he slept
Dreaming of blossoms They were burning his throat
He had eaten flowers Fell burning
Flowers fell burning From the young girls' hair
He was whispering Into his god's ear
Let the children be so Let the children be so
And the lamplight flickered flickered And his mother withered like Job
And he lay there dreaming And the blossoms fell
And Tilak's trumpet Proceeded to call
And the blossoms fell And they dropped like candy
And the people cried Gandhi Gandhi...

I had a dream Mr. King If you'll beg my pardon
I was trespassing The sacred garden
And the blossoms fell Well, they dropped like candy
And nature cried Gandhi Gandhi

Hey little man Awake from your slumber
Get 'em with the numbers Get 'em with the numbers

He was frail and shy And the cast of his mind
Was mercurial Was mercurial
As the sacred verbs Scrawled
In the dust On the floor
On the floor Long live revolution
And the spinning wheel And a handful of salt
And a handful of salt The untouchables
Dropped like candy They called to him
Gandhi Gandhi The children of god
With hands full of candy They called to him
Gandhi Gandhi Feel our woes
Man of the giving Rejoin the living
Rejoin the living Awake from the net
Where you've been sleeping And their climbing climbing
The flowing hair And the golden flowers
Of the young girls Well they dropped all around
They dropped like candy And people cried
Gandhi Gandhi Awake little man
Awake from your slumber And get 'em with the numbers
Get 'em with the numbers

One Two Three Four hundred
Thousand million people
People People...

Awake from your slumber Awake from your slumber
Awake from your slumber And get 'em with the numbers
Get 'em with the numbers Long live revolution
And the spinning wheel Awake awake
Is the mighty appeal Oh, people awake
Awake from your slumber And get 'em with the numbers
Get 'em with the numbers

I had a dream Mr. King
If you'll beg my pardon I was trespassing
The sacred garden And the blossoms fell
Dropped like candy And nature called
Gandhi Gandhi Gandhi Gandhi

Awake from your slumber Awake from your slumber
And get 'em with the numbers Get 'em with the numbers

Trespassers

Life is designed
With unfinished lines
That another sings
Each story unfolds
Like it was gold
Upon a ragged wing

The bold and the fair
Suffer their share
He whispered to his kin
All of my debts
Left with regrets
I'm sorry for everything

Trespasses stretch like broken fences
Winding as they may
Trespasses stretch like broken fences
Hope to mend them one day

And she pinned back her hair
Shouldered with care
The burdens that were his
Mending the coat
That hung on the post
In heart remembering

Trespasses stretch like broken fences
Winding as they may
Trespasses stretch like broken fences
Hope to mend them one day

And her time was to come
Called to her son
This your song to sing
All of our debts
Wove with regrets
Upon a golden string
And he found the old coat
Hung on a post
Like a ragged wing
And took as his own
The sewn and unsown
Joyfully whistling

My Blakean Year

In my Blakean year
I was so disposed
Toward a mission yet unclear
Advancing pole by pole

Fortune breathed into my ear
Mouthed a simple ode
One road is paved in gold
One road is just a road

In my Blakean year
Such a woeful schism
The pain of our existence
Was not as I envisioned

Boots that trudged from track to track
Worn down to the sole
One road is paved in gold
One road is just a road

Boots that tramped from track to track
Worn down to the sole
One road was paved in gold
One road was just a road

In my Blakean year
Temptation but a hiss
Just a shallow spear
Robed in cowardice

Brace yourself for bitter flack
For a life sublime
A labyrinth of riches
Never shall unwind
The threads that bind the pilgrim's sack
Are stitched into the Blakean back

So throw off your stupid cloak
Embrace all that you fear
For joy shall conquer all despair
In my Blakean year

So throw off your stupid cloak
Embrace all that you fear
For joy shall conquer all despair
In my Blakean year

Cash

Here we go around again
Curve of life spiraling
Everything we've ever known
As the seed of life gets blown
And the miracle of time
When will that time just end
Remember, you decide
Take that vow
Grab that ring It's not a whim
Not a whim
When you be cashing in

Try to turn your life around
And all the things you do resound
And then you can't loose control
Say your time has come and then
Hard to pinpoint find the seam
Where that one time ends
Where that time begins
Remember, you decide
Take that vow
Take a stand
Grab that ring
It's not a whim
It's not a whim
It's only time
That you're cashing in

In the white noise of desire
We can't hear a single thing
Floating round the fragile bough
Afflictions of the human soul
Its beauty immaterial

You decide
Stand along
The fallen ones
Take revenge
Defeated sons
Rend that coat
From seam to seam
It's only time
It's only time
That you spend
You spend
It's only time
You spend
Its only time
You spend
It's only life
That you're cashing in

Peaceable Kingdom

Yesterday I saw you standing there
With your hand against the pane
Looking out the window
At the rain

And I wanted to tell you
That your tears were not in vain
But I guess we both knew
We'd never be the same
Never be the same

Why must we hide all these feelings inside?
Lions and lambs shall abide

Maybe one day we'll be strong enough
To build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Back again
Build it back again

Why must we hide all these feelings inside?
Lions and lambs shall abide

Maybe one day we'll be strong enough
To build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Back again
Maybe one day we'll be strong enough
To build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Build it back again

Build the peaceable kingdom
Build it back again

Radio Baghdad

Suffer not Your neighbor's affliction
Suffer not Your neighbor's paralysis
But extend your hand Extend your hand
Lest you vanish in the city And be but a trace
Just a vanished ghost And your legacy
All the things you knew Science, mathematics, thought
Severely weakened Like irrigation systems
In the tired veins forming From the Tigris and Euphrates
In the realm of peace All the world revolved
All the world revolved Around a perfect circle
City of Baghdad City of scholars
Empirical humble Center of the world
City in ashes City of Baghdad
City of Baghdad Abrasive aloof

Oh, in Mesopotamia Aloofness ran deep
Deep in the veins of the great rivers
That form the base Of Eden
And the tree The tree of knowledge
Held up its arms To the sky
All the branches of knowledge All the branches of knowledge
Cradling Cradling
Civilization In the realm of peace
All the world revolved Around a perfect circle
Oh Baghdad Center of the world
City of ashes With its great mosques
Erupting from the mouth of god Rising from the ashes like
a speckled bird Splayed against the mosaic sky
Oh, clouds around We created the zero
But we mean nothing to you You would believe
That we are just some mystical tale We are just a swollen belly
That gave birth to Sinbad, Scheherazade We gave birth
Oh, oh, to the zero The perfect number
We invented the zero And we mean nothing to you
Our children run through the streets
And you sent your flames Your shooting stars
Shock and awe Shock and awe
Like some, some Imagined warrior production
Twenty-first century No chivalry involved
No Bushido

Oh, the code of the West Long gone
Never been Where does it lie?
You came, you came Through the west
Annihilated a people And you come to us
But we are older than you You come you wanna
You wanna come and rob the cradle
Of civilization And you read yet you read
You read Genesis You read of the tree
You read of the tree Beget by god
That raised its branches into the sky Every branch of knowledge
Of the cradle of civilization

Of the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates
Oh, in Mesopotamia Aloofness ran deep
The face of Eve turning What sky did she see
What garden beneath her feet The one you drill
You drill Pulling the blood of the earth
Little droplets of oil for bracelets Little jewels
Sapphires You make bracelets
Round your own world We are weeping tears
Rubies We offer them to you
We are just Your Arabian nightmare
We invented the zero But we mean nothing to you
Your Arabian nightmare

City of stars City of scholarship
Science City of ideas
City of light City
City of ashes That the great Caliph
Walked through His naked feet formed a circle
And they built a city A perfect city of Baghdad
In the realm of peace And all the world revolved
And they invented And they mean nothing to you
Nothing to you Nothing

Go to sleep Go to sleep my child
Go to sleep And I'll sing you a lullaby
A lullaby for our city A lullaby of Baghdad
Go to sleep Sleep my child
Sleep Sleep...
Run Run...

You sent your lights Your bombs
You sent them down on our city Shock and awe
Like some crazy t.v. show

They're robbing the cradle of civilization
They're robbing the cradle of civilization
They're robbing the cradle of civilization

Suffer not The paralysis of your neighbor
Suffer not But extend your hand

Trampin'

I'm trampin', trampin'
Try'n-a make heaven my home
I'm trampin trampin
Try'n-a make heaven my home...

I've never been to heaven
But I've been told
Try'n-a make heaven my home
That the streets up there
Are paved with gold
Try'n-a make heaven my home

I'm trampin trampin
Try'n-a make heaven my home
I'm trampin trampin
Try'n-a make heaven my home