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Straw House Down
$15.00
| 1. | Straw House Down | Play | Straw House Down
I wish I were another pig
Living in better digs Instead of bracing for the sound Of this straw house down I wish I weren’t thinking how I could have built it right the first time around But I’m a not so lucky sow In this straw house CHORUS: Something hairy’s in the air Mister Wolf, I know you’re there So huff and puff and do your deed It could be just the thing I need To buy my second chance And find a better plan To build this house again It was so cheap and quick Not like that tediously time-intensive brick But you can see it leans a bit When you look at my straw house now Maybe when the dust has cleared Me and wolf will have a beer And he will curl his lips And offer me some helpful tips But for now, I know He’s gonna blow this straw house down CHORUS: I wish I were another pig Living in better digs Instead of waiting for the sound Of this straw house down |
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| 2. | Things I Need | Play | Things I Need
The things I need come from a shelf
They all just seem to make themselves I plant no seed and I tend no vine And I have no feast at harvest time CHORUS: I cut no wood I bake no bread I spin no wool To warm my head I put no paint On a canvas white To take a picture takes Less of my time I heat my home with electric wire But I still feel cold because I feed no fire And my car, it goes when my care has gas So I don’t walk slow and I don’t walk fast CHORUS: So fast Where are we going? So fast? Where are we going? Where are we going? Where are we? I’d trade my wage for a fertile field For a plow and a spade and a pauper’s yield I’d swap these streets for a single chance To drop that seed from my own bare hands Because the things I need aren’t from a shelf And the things I need don’t make themselves But I plant no seed and I tend no vine And I have no feast at harvest time No, I have no feast at harvest time |
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| 3. | Rosa Parks | Play | Rosa Parks
Great Goliath drove a bus in an Alabama town He kept his passengers in place He kept them down He kept them down One day, a woman paid her fare She had weary feet And when Goliath said, “you’re standing there” She kept her seat She kept her seat CHORUS: Rosa Parks sat sown Sending great Goliath to the ground From a will of stone that struck his crown The giant came down It’s been many years since Rosa bruised his evil head But dear Rosa, what are we to do? He’s still not dead He’s still not dead She says find a stick, find a stone Find the justice in your bones Make a sling of stubborn will and move in for the final kill For the final kill CHORUS: |
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| 4. | Running with the Buffalo | Play | Running with the Buffalo
His kin came from across the sea
He’s as tame as he can be Born of the western mind A child of the left-brained kind A metal car on a concrete road Is how he gets everywhere he goes An automated and a mechanized mode Is all he’s ever known In his sober land He does the dance of a modern man But sometimes, when he’s sleeping, his soul Is running with the buffalo His mind calculates another fact But his memory is searching back To something he can’t quite recall Or doesn’t remember at all Something like a spiritual trance Round and round in a circle dance Round the light of a midnight fire Freeing him as it grows higher In his sober land He does the dance of a modern man But sometimes, when he’s sleeping, his soul Is running with the buffalo Great Spirit of this broken land Have mercy on the modern man Teach him how, body and soul To go running with buffalo Buffalo Prairie below your feet The hunter’s bow Keeping your senses keen The milky way Over your traveling And the plain Is like an endless sea |
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| 5. | Peppermint Wind | Play | Peppermint Wind
I have a house on pistachio hill
With chocolate rows where the garden’s tilled And candy flowers in the window sill Blowing in the peppermint wind Coconut snow in the wintertime Lemon-lime stream meandering by Cotton candy clouds in an ice blue sky Blowing in the peppermint wind And when my life is good I gather up the reasons why And step into the wood Where the mysterious hides And with a thank you in my prayer I offer my blessings to the air And let ‘em all go in the peppermint wind In the day, like a smiling torch The sun, with the rain brings the sweet corn forth And ticky tacky chimes ringing on the porch Are blowing in the peppermint wind And late at night, when the sun retires A night-owl sings on a licorice wire And whipped cream smoke from a crackling fire Blows in the peppermint wind And when my life is hard I gather up my cares and then I step into the yard And summon my gusty friend Wait for that scent to fill my nose Open my hands and let them go I let my troubles go in the peppermint wind And when my life is good.... I have a house on pistachio hill Chocolate rows where the garden’s tilled Candy flowers in the windowsill Blowing in the peppermint wind |
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| 6. | Angel in the Snow | Play | Angel in the Snow
You cannot make one in the sky
Where the careless creatures fly The careless creatures fly You cannot make one in your home Where your heart is safe and dry The heart is safe and dry CHORUS: Only down on the ground in the cold Can you make, make an angel in the snow You cannot on a summer day It will only melt away Only melt away You cannot when you’re standing tall But only lowly as you lay Lowly as you lay CHORUS: You cannot make one in paradise That’s the place where the angels die Where winter seems like a distant dream And the cold has been forgotten So get your coat and venture out Find a place upon the ground A place upon the ground And when you think that you were better off inside Is when you should be falling down Falling down CHORUS: |
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| 7. | River Run | Play | River Run
For countless years, or so it seems
I have been frozen in some dream An icy cage to close me in These many days that I’ve been sleeping Sleeping But now a warmer wind does blow And I begin to bend and flow I fall and something carries me Along and suddenly, I’m leaving Leaving CHORUS: All I know is I’m in motion Tossed and thrown, dropped and spun This is not slow, this is no ocean I’m on a river run If I decide and time it right I can leap high and catch some light Or launch out off a rocky wall Where, all at once, I’m free and falling Falling I hope no future, mourn no past When now is moving by so fast I am this motion I am in With every end, I am beginning Beginning CHORUS: I’ve many seasons to my life A drop of water such as I But when the sea or sky, I’ve earned I dream of rivers, and returning Returning |
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| 8. | Blessed Disease | Play | Blessed Disease
Chronic amnesia, a dreadful disease
Sadly struck poor old Harry last night And now, a bit later, old Harry the hater’s Forgotten who he didn’t like CHORUS: Blessed disease that makes us forget Who is our foe, not our friend Blessed disease, if we’re lucky, you’ll spread And strike every head So we can start over again A victim names Sawyer had lunch with her lawyer And just had begun to explain “I’ll sue them!” she said, then got hit in the head And forgot who exactly to blame CHORUS: Who is just different Who is the same Who is the problem Wipe it away, wipe it away Sergeant Divine, stationed on the front line Took a bullet while drawing his gun And clutching his chest, asked the man to his left “Can you tell me which country I’m from?” CHORUS: |
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| 9. | Beat Your Drum Slowly | Play | Beat Your Drum Slowly
If you’re in need of some good wood
You can find some in the forest From a tree that’s been standing It’s a strong one, you will know it Make it hollow Fill it with your soul If you’re in need of some good skin You can get some from an animal With a voice like a lion And the toughness of an old bull Stretch it tight Over that hole and Beat your drum slowly Beat your drum slowly Beat your drum slowly If you’re in need of a mallet Use your left hand, use your right hand You won’t need any teacher Just desire, nothing more than that Flesh and bone are All you need to know to Beat your drum slowly Beat your drum slowly Beat your drum slowly There is a forest There is a beast And there’s a voice for those who Think they cannot speak If you’re in need of a rhythm Just be quiet, you will hear it Like a dream you remember in your sleep You are always so very near it Listen, down deep, and Let your fingers roll Beat your drum slowly... Beat your drum slowly Beat your drum slowly |
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| 10. | Story of My Life | Play | Story of My Life
I’ve heard of the lovely maiden
And the shiny pot of gold The hero that killed the dragon And the fall of mighty Rome I’ve read the Shakespeare tragedies And of the first Atlantic flight Now would anybody, please Tell me the story of my life? I’ve heard of enchanting places But not the beauty of my home Alluring hands and faces But not the power in my own Tell a tale of mystery And the adventure that is mine Please, would anybody please Tell me the story of my life? CHORUS: Like a child still awake Even though the hour’s late I’ve spent a lifetime open-eared But not heard what I long to hear (Bedtime stories in my ears But still one more I long to hear) Storyteller, can you spin The very story I am in? What is the world afloat in? Who was it, caused my heart to form? Was there a promise spoken On the day that I was born? What is the spell what makes me free? Who is the villain I must fight? Please, can anybody, please Tell me the story of my life? CHORUS |
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| 11. | Molly O'Malley's | Play | Molly O'Malley's
Molly O’Malley’s is not too far from here
Where not a soul, the story goes, ever pays for beer At Molly O’Malley’s the patrons understand That the player’s fee is a pint or three So everyone’s in the band Everybody’s in the band Some join in with voices, some with pipes or reeds Some in the band clap their hands or laugh and slap their knees Some are still and listen with attentive eyes and ears And it’s always strange how the music changes When they disappear When they disappear CHORUS: Over the doorway, painted bold A question begs your pardon “Is this a place of many souls Or just one very large one?” Over the bar, another reads “Are there many songs Or just one that goes on and on?” At Molley O’Malley’s they go chair to chair And each one croons a little tune they would like to share Some are sad, some happy, and singing has its rules That you can’t be shy and you cannot lie But you sing a song that’s true Sing a song that’s true CHORUS: When the night is over, before the last farewell They find the jar on the bar and kindly tip themselves At Molley O’Malley’s, the patrons understand That the player’s fee is a pint or three So everyone’s in the band Everybody’s in the band |
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| 12. | Straw House Down (reprise) | Play |
One original, down-to-earth, humorous and richly talented acoustic singer/songwriter.
-The Spectrum
-The Spectrum
