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More People Have Songs

by Various Artists

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    Double gatefold wallet with 8 page lyric booklet

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1.
So stand up proud you singers all You have the right to stand as tall As those who grow and those who tend As those who make and those who mend So stand up tall you singers all Of all the life at your command You have the right to make or mend To break or blight's within your might But what will you tell yourself at night And all the songs within your soul Are all the stories ever told Each time you sing creates them anew You carry them, and they carry you With empty pockets, empty hands Within your voice your wealth abounds The common currency of song We learn, we keep, we pass along
2.
Oh come all ye who carry songs And have the voice to share them They’re only songs, they right no wrongs But tyrants do beware them A song can carry all our grief Our story and our laughter So come and join your voice to ours And we’ll be friends hereafter So if you hear this call to song Come up and join our number Or else your voice and all your songs Are lost in idle slumber Come one and all who heed the call And bring your voices’ power Undying friends when singing ends We’ll live no finer hour
3.
You called and I ran: wild as the wind that rolls across the moor All we need is each other. With the eagles we will soar You are the call, I am the answer You are the wish and I am the way You the music, I the dancer You are the night and I am the day You and I are like two rivers. Run and fall down to the sea When we meet we’re lost forever. Lost forever, you and me Lay your head upon my pillow. Let your heart beat close to mine With no past and no tomorrow. Two hearts lost in space and time
4.
5.
Through bushes and through briars I’ve lately made my way All for to hear the small birds sing and the lambs to skip and to play I overheard a female, her voice it rang so clear “Long time have I been waiting for the coming of my dear Sometimes I am uneasy and troubled in my mind Sometimes I think I’ll go to my love and tell to him my mind But if I should go to my love, my love he would say nay If I show to him my boldness, he’d ne’er love me again”
6.
Sid Vicious played a four-string fender bass guitar and couldn’t sing And everybody hated him except the ones who loved him A ukulele has four strings, but Sid did not play ukulele He did smack and probably killed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen If only Sid had had a ukulele, maybe he would have been happy Maybe he would not have suffered such a sad end He maybe would have not done all that heroin Instead he maybe would’ve sat around Just singing nice songs to his girlfriend So play your favorite cover song, especially if the words are wrong ‘Cause even if your grades are bad, it doesn’t mean you’re failing Do your homework with a fork and eat your fruit loops in the dark And bring your etch-a-sketch to work and play your ukulele Ukulele small and fierceful Ukulele brave and peaceful You can play the ukulele too it is painfully simple Play your ukulele badly, play your ukulele loudly Ukulele banish evil Ukulele save the people Ukulele gleaming golden from the top of every steeple Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks Then gave her father forty-one, and left a tragic puzzle If only they had given her an instrument, those Puritans Had lost the plot completely See what happens when you muzzle A person’s creativity and do not let them sing and scream And nowadays it’s worse ‘cause kids have automatic handguns It takes about an hour to teach someone to play the ukulele About same to teach someone to build a standard pipe bomb You do the math! So play your favorite cover song, especially if the words are wrong ‘Cause even if your grades are bad, it doesn’t mean you’re failing Do your homework with a fork and eat your fruit loops in the dark And bring your flask of jack to work and play your ukulele Ukulele, thing of wonder Ukulele, wand of thunder You can play the ukulele too In London and down under Play Joan Jett, and play Jacques Brel And Eminem and Neutral Milk Ho- Tell the children crush the hatred Play your ukulele naked And if anybody tries to steal your ukulele, let them take it Imagine there’s no music, imagine there are no songs Imagine that John Lennon wasn’t shot in front of his apartment Now imagine if John Lennon had composed “imagine” for the ukulele Maybe people would have truly got the message You may think my approach is simple-minded and naïve Like if you want to change the world Then why not quit and feed the hungry? But people for millennia have needed music to survive And that is why I’ve promised John that I will not feel guilty So play your favourite Beatles song And make the subway fall in love They’re only $19.95, that isn’t lots of money Play until the sun comes up And play until your fingers suffer Play LCD Soundsystem songs on your ukulele Quit the bitching on your blog And stop pretending art is hard Just limit yourself to three chords And do not practice daily You’ll minimize some stranger’s sadness With a piece of wood and plastic Holy fuck it’s so fantastic, playing ukulele Eat your homework with a fork and do your fruit loops in the dark and bring your etch-a-sketch to work, your flask of jack, your vibrator, your fear of heights, your Nikon lens, your mom and dad, your disco stick, your soundtrack to “Karate Kid”, your Ginsu knives, your rosary, your new Rebecca Black CD, your favorite room, your Bowie knife, your stuffed giraffe, your new glass eye, your sousaphone, your breakfast tea, your Nick Drake tapes, your Giving Tree, your ice cream truck, your missing wife, your will to live, your urge to cry Remember we’re all gonna die So play your ukulele!
7.
Come wander quietly and listen to the wind Come near and listen to the sky Come walking high above the rolling of the sea And watch the swallow as he flies There is no sorrow like the murmur of his wings There is no choir like his song There is no power like the freedom of his flight And the swallow he roams alone Do you hear the calling of twenty thousand souls? Do you feel the trembling in the storm? Do you see the suffering so worthy of his name? Will you hear the swallow when he’s flown? And will your yearning take you to the swallow’s home? And will your loving ease your pain? And will his music drive confusion from your soul? Will you hear a love song in his name?
8.
9.
Now if you’re a woman let me tell you what to do As I’m sure many others in the past have tried to do Don’t walk alone going home at night Or some big bad man is gonna give you a fright But don’t catch a taxi cause the drivers, they’re all rapists Maybe stay at home and watch some escapist television: The Bachelor.... Better Homes and Gardens I’ve been watching the TV and listening to the news And I’ve gathered some tips that I think we all can use Now firstly, for the ladies, this lesson is for us Always carry nail scissors when you catch the bus And if a rapist grabs your clothes you can always cut them off You’re better safe than sorry so think before you scoff at my advice Now men, you listen up, the chorus is for you Well, actually it’s optional, I’ll leave it up to you Remember, don’t rape people If you see someone in trouble and their car has broken down Remember not to rape them as you tow them into town Remember, don’t rape people If you see somebody walking on the street alone Or on the train at night talking on the phone Remember, don’t rape people Now girls, if you’ve got long hair, you should really cut it short ‘Cause a woman with a ponytail is asking to get caught And if you’re stuck in your car sitting at the traffic lights Always lock your doors and shut your windows tight. And men Remember, don’t rape people If you see somebody dancing, prancing on the stairs Or riding on a bike with the wind blowing in her hair If you’re going on a date and you buy someone a drink Remember not to drug it, even if you think she doesn’t like you Don’t rape people Remember, don’t rape people Even if it’s your girlfriend Don’t rape people Even if it’s your wife and you’ve been married for 20 years Don’t rape people Even if you’re a priest and you’ve taken a vow of celibacy Don’t rape people Even if you’re the boarding master Of an exclusive private boys’ school Don’t rape people If you can’t trust yourself not to rape people Maybe stay at home, get a video instead Catch a taxi home. Don’t follow people in the street
10.
So you’ve captured a glimpse of his soul as it limps Toward the light at the end of the day And you look for the season, there’s no rhyme and no reason No spring in his step or his sway You’ve heard him roar out like thunder From the depths of despair As his spirit is breaking and his heart starts to tear It’s just life my love, never mind It’s your soul my love, never mined There’s no tailings, no failings No wind in your sailings It’s life my love, never mind When you see the dark clouds that come over like shrouds Casting shadows of Autumn decay Deep in Winter’s dark gloom hear him cry for a womb Where his soul can be rocked and be swayed You’ve seen his confusion His torment and pain As his body and mind buckle under the weight and the strain But it’s just life my love, never mind It’s your soul my love, being mined There’s no tailings, no failings No wind in your sailings It’s life my love, never mind Still between his dark peaks a shaft of light leaks He prays this night will pass quickly away If he pushes on through, if his heart remains true He’ll emerge in the light of the day So look upon kindly your labours of love As they rise to the heavens on the wings of a dove Because it’s just life my love, never mind It’s your soul my love, it’s been mined Now there’s tailings, some failings But some wind in your sailings It’s just life my love, never mind
11.
12.
Who am I talking to today? His gentle soul is far away He sits alone in a crowded mind The fear runs deep, what choice will he find? As he is wandering, and I am wondering Who I am talking to today? Who am I talking to today? His searching soul still cannot say To hear a voice that will not bind But show the way among the crowd in his mind As he is wandering, and I am wondering Who I am talking to today? Who am I talking to today? His restless soul is on its way To places where he hopes to find The stillness of day in a quieted mind As he is wandering, and I am wondering Who I am talking to today? Who am I talking to today? His gentle soul has found a way Of feeling peace in all that sound And reaching out through the love he has found In his wandering, there’s no more wondering Who I am talking to today?
13.
In my darkest night, you held a light You helped me see the dawn The words you wrote - comfort and hope Gave me strength to go on Words to fight the shadows Lines of love through the pain Told me that with my friends beside me I’d walk in the sunshine again The gift of your compassion Flowed over my grieving Awoke the courage within me Affirmed the worth of my being We came so late to this friendship Bewildered, I gave it no name Its true depth only revealed In the midst of unspeakable pain I miss the years we never had I’m lonely for you in my past Our history lean, but a present so rich My friend, you always stand fast I wish I knew how to thank you I wish I could light your way As you cast stardust and sunshine Over my nights and days And in my darkest night, you held a light You helped me see the dawn And I can’t say the words I want to say I can only give you this song
14.
I have to close one eye to read the label on the drink I’m having trouble walking and I’m spewing in the sink I can’t go to bed yet cause I’m on the ran-tan There’s a scotch at the bar and a beer in my hand So here’s to the drink me boys, here’s to that nip of pure Here’s to the barmaid, and here’s to the brewer And here’s to the girls we’ve had and lost along the way Here’s to tonight and here’s to the next day Well the girls they are all dancing and the locals all complain About the new folk at the pub or about the lack of rain Well there’s a pretty thing at the bar but she’ll have none of me So I’ll go and have a smoke and wish this beer was free And good health to the publican, may he never close his doors For while the amber’s flowing we will always drink more But when the bottle’s dry and the taps are pouring foam I’ll get another for the road and then I’ll head on home Well the sunlight, she trickles in: the morn, she comes so fast I’ve woken up in a daze, a hand still on the glass Around me lie the casualties of this drunken night The women and the men who joined me on this boozy plight
15.
We fly when we sing On our breath our songs take wing They fight for justice, futures fair From our hearts soar through the air Our song’s uplifting gift will spring Yes, we fly when we sing We shine when we sing Of all the love that we can bring To light the dark and hold hope near Sing of all that we hold dear Glowing bright our songs and stories ring Words, notes, chords and tune Rhythm and beat, no heart’s immune Raise your voice, ring that bell From the source, the deepest well Through song with others we commune With love we can win Without fear let strangers in March as one, use your feet Take your voice out on the street Let the victory chants begin Sing of who we strive to be Songs that ask us who are we Songs that special meanings hold And songs that tell of lives untold Those songs can set our spirits free!

about

It has been twenty years since The People Have Songs first appeared. The motive behind that double-volume of more than forty singers from Sydney and beyond, was to enshrine the voices of friends who, as the century turned, sang beside me in the folk song tradition with all its beauty and power, its laughter, love, glory and grief.

As the years pass, new friends join the circle and take part in the ever-changing harmonies of its choruses. They bring more songs with them, some of them ancient, some, original additions to a living tradition. The richness is overwhelming and uncontainable, but I hope that some of it at least is captured in this third volume.

credits

released August 10, 2020

Miguel Heatwole
Chris Clarke
Kerrie Maguire
Sophie Moore
Al King
Sally-Anne Brown
Vel McKeachie
Matthew Lykos
Patrick Harte
Mithra Cox
Kathy Clarke
Bilbo Rodgers
Cathy Rytmeister
Henry Sisley
Dallas De Brabander

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about

Miguel Heatwole Sydney, Australia

Miguel’s a versatile singer, choral director & composer. His interests include folk & world music, political satire, the environment, trade unionism & the responsible enjoyment of alcohol. His songwriting embraces themes like peace & justice, the family cat, & visceral passionate attraction. His enthusiasm for recording community singing has let many people share the power of their songs. ... more

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