1. |
The Rivers Of Eden
04:32
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THE RIVERS OF EDEN
When did we last meet? Was it in Glastonbury?
Did we sit out upon the Tor wrapped in our rugs |n the cold of January?
Was there a prophet not known in her own country?
Did no one know the color of her eyes?
When you took shelter was I just any old port in a storm
or were you led my way by a hidden hand
and a pilgrim since that medieval morn?
Have you heard the voice that I hear walking
in the garden in the cool of day?
Have you come back to see in the Golden Age?
When did we last meet?
The rivers of Eden are flowing down
through bloodlines feeding flesh and bone
We dance on the shore in our summer shoes
safe in the lap of God because we know
it’s music that takes us home
As the geese fly way up high
As the geese fly to the moon
I see an oak tree in an acorn
a rosebud in a walnut shell
And even as we speak somewhere there’s holy water
rising in a virgin well
waiting to be uncovered and poured as liquid light
turning tears to sunshine and burning in through
all our broken nights
The rivers of Eden......
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2. |
The Old Road
03:27
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THE OLD ROAD
Racing through the mountains on a smooth black road
I see fragments down below me of an old road
My eyes try to follow with only fleeting glimpses
To follow is where my heart longs to go
As it meanders and winds through slower times in the silence
And I upon the new road look down upon the old road and l wonder
The bridges are washed out the grass grows long
Trees creep in closer the old road is almost gone
Up upon the new road we zoom from A to B
Speeding noisily always too fast to see
The damage that we do yes that’s me and you upon the new road
And I upon......
No more drinking from the streams as another tree
screams and falls into the sawmill
Development against my will
New road through barren hills
Each day a new illness and swallowing more pills
For a pain that’s never killed
And I upon.....
If there’s a middle road somewhere
we’ll find |t when we dare enough
bare enough share enough and
care enough upon this new road
And I upon......
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3. |
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THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES
Once there was a man who planted trees
an ordinary man not a man known for parting seas
He fed the earth and brought back to the mountain
a forest thick and green
By his hand the wind stopped howling
By his hand the rushing rivers ran
This story comes down to us from a wanderer
who was frightened
when he came upon the shepherd who was
somewhat more enlightened
than the people who had raped the mountain
and stripped her of her velvet clothes
reduced to cheating and lying they fled the villages
and left the wind crying
The shepherd planted 100 acorns every day
He bent his back took a seed from his sack
And for forty years that shepherd did pray
Now this shepherd had no child nor wife
They’d long been taken from this world
He was left an empty life
So he sold the farm and he moved
high up the mountain
With a trusted dog to watch his sheep by night
every evening by candle light
he was sorting and counting
The shepherd.....
And now children’ s laughter rings round the mountain
as they play in the shade of the Linden tree
that grows beside the fountain
In the village square there’s an air of good intention
because of just one man many found redemption
The shepherd...
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4. |
Send Me Rachmaninoff
03:47
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SEND ME RACHMANINOFF
Send me Rachmaninoff, l’m going crazy
on a mountain of moss dressed in white daisies
In a meadow where a bridge of sighs
lifts over the kingdom of love
Rachmaninoff’s plowed through this loam
turned over the soil
wasted no seed on stone
His potency calls me through the infinite moan of love
A kiss on my shoulder
whispers through my hair
l turn around but nobody's there
The fire in my belly tells me the satyr has been
and left me this yearning to begin the lessons of love
l'm the fattened calf
the apple falling to the ground
It’s the end of summer, a harvest feast is coming ‘round
l'll swim in the goat’s milk
but drown in the quicksands of love
l recite psalms on my erotic rosary
I pray for release daily
In paradise afraid of cruel consequence
Rachmaninoff, bring me into the present tense of love
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5. |
The Church Door
06:15
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THE CHURCH DOOR
In the days before the church door was locked
In the days before the alter was stripped bare
You could go in at any time and assume the
Presence was there
Like in that ancient church in Rome at Easter
all alight with candles
Stained glass flickering in the hush of
murmured prayer
I was cleaned up, l was lifted up when
l was beyond repair
In the days before the church door was locked
But now there’s a sign on the rectory door
"No hand-outs here, there’s no help here anymore
Go down to social services, maybe they can help you
We couldn’t put up with all the razzamatazz
and the hullabaloo”
Oh Lord Thundering Jesus
Where do you run?
l guess l`ll just have to meet you in the woods
or in bed
It`s all down to dead reckoning now
The machine has failed us
and it's all been said
Think of all those empty pews
all those forgotten stairwells
leading up to silent, solemn bells
Ancestors lie forgotten in stone cold crypts
they could tell us a thing or two without
moving their lips
Like in the days before the church door was locked
The thunder in this valley is louder
than any place on earth
l can’t wait for the rain to wash away this bitter thirst
Maybe l’m like a Katherine Wheel running out of spark
Tell me it’ll all be fine in the morning
that God can see in the dark
Say something wise
Oh Lord Thundering Jesus
l went out without my veil and was accused of adultery
My petticoats dragging for all the world to see
With a fear of penetration l reached the point of entry
into the real world of cold hard fact
And that was the day the church door was locked
l've been taken in the corn fields, the sun shining high
Walked into waterfalls wet up to my thighs
Pulled clown In the sands on mazy moon nights
Drawn between sheets, introduced to the rites
the wrong way
And just when I need it, l find the church door locked
Throw some water on me shake me awake
l think l'm in shock
Fling wide the doors God, fling wide the doors
Get the Bishop to make room for the
sacred prostitute and the whores
Unlock the doors, let's file in
and feel at home since home is where the heart ls
where charity begins
Like in the days before the church door was locked
Oh Lord Thundering Jesus, where do you run?
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6. |
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KEYHOLE AND THE ETERNAL KISS
Cleopatra rises from her barge no more
Dried roses and orange peel scatter
the splintered floor
The apricot moon licks a long forgotten door
pining for Keyhole and the Eternal Kiss
Though you paw the air like a lion
desperate moves won’t win her back
She's flung upon disorder
in no shape for a counter-attack
In the garden of the Great Betrayal
she's been forced to eat humble pie
Even the dance of the furies can’t cover up
the mournful cry
coming from Keyhole and the Eternal Kiss
Oh l’d like to keep things simple
that you might understand
Like a country-western song of love
between a strong woman and a
Street-fighting man
But lavender cowboys and Sambo’s tiger
are all that’ll come to hand
Getting in the way of Keyhole and the Eternal Kiss
So l’m feeling like a butterfly
tucked under a pin
Told the poison must be exposed
before any healing is gonna begin
l wait for the jester amongst the ranks
to bang his drum of tin
To let me know if there’s still a chance
deep within Keyhole and the Eternal Kiss
So if you must slay me down
lay me down on Chapel Hill
Then at least l'll hear the chimes and know
the Holy Estate is yearned for still
That there are others in the Old Soldiers’ Wood
with good taste but bad timing
Thrown from the musical ride
with a glint of madness shining
straight into Keyhole and the Eternal Kiss
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7. |
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NEVER THOUGHT I'D SING THE BLUES
Lover, lover hold me, hold me
l've got this lonely aching pain
It's a hard, slow road l’ve traveled
searching vainly for my name
Lordy, Lordy hold me, hold me
l never thought l'd see the day
when all the signs are pointing
but in the wrong way
Brother, brother hold me, hold me
l think l`m going down
this old rattling roller-coaster ride
ain`t no merry-go-round
Father, father hold me, hold me
carry me up the apples and pears
tuck me in as tight as you can
kiss my brow and away these cares
Mama, mama, hold me hold me
sing me one of your sweet lullabies
something about golden slumbers and smiles
awaiting me if l rise
Sister, sister hold me, hold me
and answer truly
If l die now could it be said that
no one really knew me?
Lordy, Lordy it ain`t funny
how I fell to danger, l missed the clues
and now l'm too tired for fighting
never thought l'd be singing the blues
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8. |
Indigo Blue
04:48
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INDIGO BLUE
l was headed on a slow, gentle decline
The Angel of Blake by my side
doing little more than crying
when the low sad whistle curling ‘round
my soul got up and left a sweetpea corsage
tucked into my buttonhole
I’m moving into the blue, indigo, violet
on astral wings across the great water I ride it
My diamond, my pearl, little boy, little girl
l’m coming to you through blue, indigo, violet
l've been trying to launch too many rockets
People say the trip ain‘t worth the ticket
l’ll be left with empty pockets
Drawing blood from a singing stone
in the search for Merlin ‘s music
Flying a tattered kite with rotten string
I’d be bound too lose it
I’m moving.....
Heart mender, funny bones
let’s get past the swagger and bite
Thank God l`m not alone
With the news the TV brings me
though it ain’t no news at all
But why when we're at the Gates of the Garden
are others still reliving the fall?
I’m moving....
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9. |
Chicago Joe
05:09
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CHICAGO JOE
You were born on the day of St. Valentine
1901, horse and buggy times
a romantic spirit the tear-away kind
They called you Chicago Joe
dapper and dashing wherever you`d go
You soon found yourself in the throes of love
and her name was Nell
She was heading out to her brother`s farm
A homesteading woman with pioneer charm
And while she was in the kitchen
kneading the dough
you were on the streets of roaring twenties
Chicago
Finally you were married on a bright sunny clay
You headed out to Jasper on the National Railway
to have a honeymoon holiday
That’s where l am now but it’s 60 years away
You’re a wrinkled old leaf in a hospital bed
People creep around you
like you’re already dead
but l think you`ve caught most of what’s been said
‘cause you’re squeezing my hand
I see a tenuous thread to a fragile frame
Do you know what day it ls?
Do you know your name?
You`re dancing so close to the great divide
Can you hear the music on the other side?
Nell’s half blind, standing over you
saying "who'lI read to me, what will l do?"
She’s either too brave or too afraid too cry
and ‘though she’s an atheist she’s praying
“God don’t let him die"
You were an old country boy
the Wild west kind
Just think of all those cigars and card games
you left behind
when you lost it all on Black Tuesday
Did you ever learn to shrug them blues away?
Well you say the elephant never forgets
but you`re saying "poor elephant"
with a little too much regret
Come on, worse things could happen at sea
What about The Cremation of Sam McGee?
Even the willow breaks and the old oak falls
lt’s just a shock when we find we`re mortal after all
There’s just got to be a reason to live and die
from that first gasp right on down to the last
sacred sigh
I poke up the fire in this mountain home
It`s colder than Hades and l`m all alone
l feel you moving into wind and smoke
and away from flesh and bone
Oh damn too bad Joe. Hey, Chicago Joe
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10. |
Quiet Heart
04:34
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QUIET HEART
Take this fear, sour swelling fear
that I may never see the summer country
Smooth out this furrowed brow
or do l ask too much of thee?
Black ice cuts sharper than a serpent’s tooth
spindrift blows blind and angry
I‘m naked in these new cold winds of freedom
Quiet heart, breath easy
I've felt the weight of other peoples burdens
knowing somehow their hurts were mine
But I drop that baggage now, l let it go
Atlas was walking too thin a line
Now a lonely sentinel, up the highest tree l climb
to mourn the floods of River Time
It`s the master of the hunt l seek
beyond a mud city sky
watching me from deep within his cave
On the winter road I meet the wolf
he looks at me
Strangely I feel almost brave
Caught between the Earth and Sun
like some enchanted doe
l am sacredly wild, but fragile as the snow
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Anne Beverly Brown Calgary, Alberta
There are few excursions more enchanting than those taken in the imagination of an inspired songwriter. This experience is
offered by Anne Beverly Brown in
'Keyhole and the Eternal Kiss' and 'The Landlord's Daughter'. Both are original song collections of color and romance, immediacy and intimacy, grace and pulse. "Better than music, better than poetry..."
... more
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