danaclarkmusic.com - Lyrics for CD "I'd Rather Play in the Band"

Lyrics for songs on the CD "I'd Rather Play in the Band"

When This Pandemic Ends

VIDEO: https://danaclarkmusic.com/video-when-this-pandemic-ends

SONG REVIEW: https://danaclarkmusic.com/song-review-when-this-pandemic-ends

VERSE Since this pandemic started I've forgotten how to smile

I feel like I'm abandoned on some lonely desert isle

Locking down in quarantine is really not my style

So when it ends I'm planning to go absolutely wild!

I'll build a great big bonfire and I'll throw in all my masks

Then I'll go out to dine and dance with anyone who asks

I will party all night long with everyone I know

And when I feel like traveling I'll pack my bags and go

CHORUS Do what you can to stay alive

We'll celebrate when we survive

We'll reconnect with friends

When this pandemic ends

VERSE: I'll get up close to say hello to strangers on the street

I'll shake their hands and then I'll try to kiss them on both cheeks

I won't wash my groceries, I won't sanitize my shoes

Won't overdose on tragic stories from the nightly news

I'll burn those pajamas I've been wearing day and night

Start work on my appearance so I don't look such a fright

Soon I'll be in my fancy clothes onstage where I belong

'Cause I will have some gigs again, where I will sing this song

CHORUS: Yes, I'll reclaim my self-respect

By making up for my neglect

A brand new day will dawn

When this pandemic's gone

VERSE: I'll go back to hanging out in all the local clubs

I'll get on a dating site to search for my new love

He can hold me close and I will whisper in his ear

We'll cuddle and we'll snuggle and I'll kiss away his tears

I'll open up my house, inviting everyone inside

And then we'll pile into a car. Together we will ride

I'll go back to doing all the things that used to thrill me

And I'll be full of confidence that none of them will kill me

CHORUS: We will go from place to place

We'll meet each other face to face

We're gonna have some fun

When this pandemic's done

I'd Rather Play in the Band

You say you think it's time for me to settle down

Quit those all night gigs I'm playing all over town

But when the bass is thumpin

And the joint starts jumpin

Then I know where I'm supposed to be

Since I never could dance

And I'm through with romance

It's up on the stage with me

You say you'll give me money and expensive things

Like a great big diamond and a wedding ring

CHORUS: I'd rather play in the band

I'd rather play in the band

Please try to understand

I'd rather play in the band

Some people want money, some people want fame

I just wanta keep my hand in the game

Got no retirement plan

Don't need a baby grand

I just wanta get my hands on the keys

Let me in on the jam

I can't help what I am

I won't be what you want me to be

I don't wanta be a princess or a movie star

If I have to hand over my favorite guitar

CHORUS

Give me a room packed full of my favorite fans

With a good piano and a mic in my hand

Gonna turn it up loud

Gonna get the right crowd

Gonna give it all we got to give

When we're locked in the groove

And they're starting to move

Then I know I got a reason to live

It won't do you no good to try to make me to choose

Between a million dollars and playing the blues

CHORUS

Apparent Paradox

Copyright Dana Clark 2021

There's no day without night, no wrong without right

Yang requires yin. Virtue needs sin

We're early, we're late, We love and we hate

We're last and we're first, the best and the worst

VERSE: The warmth of home delights us most when there's a storm outside

A smile shines out more brilliantly with every tear that's cried

The dissonance in music makes a harmony sound sweet

And our victories seem much greater after we have known defeat

VERSE: When losing what we love the most leaves what we love the least

We cling tighter to the very thing we struggle to release

And when we've lost it all we find there's so much more to give

Once we know what we'd die for we discover how to live

CHORUS: Yes, we're a walking contradiction, an apparent paradox

A mix of the ideal and what was in Pandora's box

We're as crazy as we're sane

We're ordinary and strange

We think we understand ourselves

Then…we change

BRIDGE: There's faith and there's doubt. We're in or we're out

We're hot and we're cold. We're young and we're old

There's loss and there's gain. There's pleasure and pain

Strangers and friends have beginnings and ends

VERSE: We never know how brave we are until we've been afraid

We don't know who we cannot trust until we've been betrayed

The brightest sunrise dawns once we have faced the darkest night

We say we strive for peace and yet we escalate the fight

VERSE: We cannot have the joy of being found ‘til we’ve been lost

We pay the price, and still refuse to calculate the cost

And when we face the famine and our last brave hope has ceased

Still we set the table and prepare to serve the feast

CHORUS

This Land Belongs to the Ones Who Belong to This Land
Copyright 2013 Dana Clark

VIDEO: https://danaclarkmusic.com/video-this-land-belongs-to-the-ones-who-belong-to-this-land

The bones of their fathers lie deep in this desert
The dust of their mothers, it blows with the sand
The blood of their children will flow in this river
This land belongs to the ones who belong to this land

For thousands of years, they have walked these arroyos
They've clung to these canyons with hearts and with hands
Now the wall has gone up and the village is dying
This land belongs to the ones who belong to this land

Guilty of nothing but labeled illegal
These families do what survival demands
Risking their lives for the sake of their children
This land belongs to the ones who belong to this land

My family came when this country proclaimed,
“Give us your tired, your poor.”
What right do we have to close that door?
How can we say, “Not anymore?”

A guard whose own grandparents once swam this river
Takes orders that come down a chain of command
From those who are hungry to feed on our fear
This land belongs to the ones who belong to this land

When centuries pass and this age is forgotten
The moon will still rise, the sierras still stand
This river, still winding, will no more divide us

This land belongs to the ones who belong to this land

Trash and Treasure

Jesse did his living on the side of a hill

Where you could almost hear the sunshine when the wind was still

He never worked a job he never wasted a day

He made his living saving things that people threw away

Broken down old bicycles he'd rescue and repair

He could patch a tattered hat, he could mend a rocking chair

The shack that sheltered him held old stray cats and worn out shoes

And he could tell you why he didn't live like other people do

One man's trash is another man's treasure

One man's pain is another man's pleasure

Peace of mind just can't be measured

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Growing up in that small town I never once belonged

All the truth my heart could find the whole town said was wrong

Jesse found me in his wagon one day when he returned

I watched him working with his tools and that was how I learned

CHORUS: That one man's....

His weathered hands were busy 'til the very night he died

I reached down and gave his wrinkled face one last kiss goodbye

I took his wagon into town to carry on his dream

'Cause I knew just one of the many things that Jesse saved was me

CHORUS: One man's trash...

I knew just one of the many things that Jesse saved was me

Living in a Picture on a Christmas Card

VIDEO: https://danaclarkmusic.com/video-living-in-a-picture-on-a-christmas-card

CHORUS: I am living in a picture on a Christmas card

I've got ice on the roof. I've got snow in the yard

The cactus in my xeriscape is frozen hard

Cause I'm living in a picture on a Christmas card

VERSE: Kids are asking what's that white stuff out there in the street

They're begging to go play like this is some kinda treat

Right away they're complaining 'cause they've got frozen feet

Then they're racing through the door yelling, “Turn up the heat!”

CHORUS

VERSE: The snow in the yard is so pretty and white

But the ink in my pen has gotten too cold to write

My faucets were dripping 'til they froze up tight

You think it's cold today? It will be colder tonight!

CHORUS

VERSE: I've piled all the cats and all my quilts on my bed

I took the peanut butter with me and a big loaf of bread

I'm gonna have an easy summer 'cause my plants are all dead

Wanta swap my dune buggy for some kinda dog sled

Ashes to Ashes

VIDEO: https://danaclarkmusic.com/video-ashes-to-ashes

CHORUS: Ashes to ashes and dust to dust

We feed the soil and the soil feeds us

It's an ancient dance, it's a sacred trust

It's ashes to ashes and dust to dust

VERSE: Our planet is a living thing, the soil its beating heart

Its complex systems hold essential, interlocking parts

There are cycles within cycles we depend on for our lives

We can live upon the earth as long as every link survives

CHORUS

VERSE: To restore the living soil will make our web of life complete

Then we will live in balance with what lies beneath our feet

This reciprocal relationship deserves the utmost care

For we're children of the Earth. It's life and death we'll share

CHORUS

VIDEO: https://danaclarkmusic.com/video-more-and-more-of-less-and-less

VERSE: Do we own our stuff or does the stuff we own, own us?
How can we get ahead if we can never get enough?
They say less is more and that the simple life is best
That's more or less why I want more and more of less and less

CHORUS: Give me more and more of less and less
More and more of less and less
More time to play less bills to pay
Give me more and more of less and less

VERSE: We spend a dollar driving store to store to save a dime
We waste time getting things we think we need to save us time
It's lots of work to search out labor-saving tools to buy
To pay for more vacation we must work more overtime

CHORUS: Give me more and more of less and less
More and more of less and less
Less anxiety and stress
Give me more and more of less and less

BRIDGE: Once we simplify our lives, we'll find it's not a chore
We'll keep wanting less and less and we'll want it more and more!
We'll increase what we love best when we're decreasing all the rest
So impressed, we'll request, "Give me more of less!"

CHORUS: Give me more and more of less and less
More and more of less and less
Come on, put it to the test
Give me more and more of less and less

More time to play, less bills to pay
Give me more and more of less and less

Less anxiety and stress
Give me more and more of less and less

END: More and more
More success
Of less and less
Lose the mess

More and more
More happiness
Of less and less
Less distress

More and more
More time to play
Of less and less
Less bills to pay

More and more
More or less
Of less and less
Oh, yes
Oh, yes

VIDEO: https://danaclarkmusic.com/video-this-is-the-harvest

CHORUS: This is the harvest
Gladly I am reaping what I've sown
Here in the garden
I glory in the gifts my life has grown
Season of plenty
Sprung from seeds I scattered on the wind
Astounding bounty
Fullness of the feast I've gathered in

VERSE: Hungry I once planted when my tears watered the seeds
When the labor almost broke me and there was no guarantee
Still I never once imagined in the stony fields I tilled
This Eden that surrounds me now, its promises fulfilled

CHORUS

VERSE: I sink my fingers in the soil to touch the dust of stars
From this mud has come the sum of everything we are
The earth our flesh, the rocks our bones, our blood the endless sea
Turning and returning in eternal mystery

CHORUS
Our every hunger richly nourished by the frugal earth
That welcomes death in season and transforms us in rebirth
This never-ending cycle claims each living thing that falls
Our final rest will feed the soil that freely feeds us all

CHORUS

No Freedom For Me

Copyright 2021 Dana Clark

VERSE: No one can agree on when a human life begins
So we're locked in endless arguments, impossible to win
When we believe so differently why must we live the same
Why not trust each other's choices?  Give up the power game.

CHORUS: There are those who say that I have no right to choose
What's happened to this land of liberty?
This is my life, my body. I must live my truth
Or there is no freedom
I have no freedom
There can be no freedom for me

VERSE: You can't decide for me.  I can't decide for you
We never could imagine walking in each other's shoes
A miracle for you might be a tragedy for me
It all depends on who we are—who we're meant to be

CHORUS

My life is in danger.  There is no time to wait
But since the laws have changed the help I need may come too late
I still can't understand, though I've asked time after time
How can anyone believe saving my life is a crime

CHORUS

Cornbread

CHORUS: Mama said “eat your cornbread”

Mama said “eat your cornbread”

“Eat your cornbread” Mama said

Gimme gimme that cornbread

VERSE: It don't matter anymore

If you're rich or if you're poor

We all need cornbread, that's for sure

Cornbread's what I'm begging for!

VERSE: Sometimes you just gotta have it

Go ahead, reach out and grab it

You don't have to be polite

You can eat that cornbread day and nithg

CHORUS:

VERSE: If you're young or if you're old

If it's hot or if it's cold

Cornbread's good for you and me

We're one big cornbread family

VERSE: If you wanta please your ninos

Add some cheese and jalapenos

Take your time when you prepare it

Make enough so you can share it

CHORUS

Verse: Serve it with some black-eyed peas

And with a pot of collard greens

Add some sweet potato pie

My oh my oh my oh my!

CHORUS

End: I like cornbread (echo)

You like cornbread (echo

We like cornbread (echo)

Gimme gimme that cornbread

Dana Clark Music

Lyrics for songs on the CD "I'd Rather Play in the Band"

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