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You Singers All
02:47
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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
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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
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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
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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”
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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!
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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?
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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!
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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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