1. |
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Every beginning contains its own end
Some years we lose family, some years we lose friends
Its all a dance that started way back who knows why
So when I say hello I’m also saying goodbye
I walk the streets, and say, this wasn’t here before
It used to be a bakery, before that, a hardware store
I’m a living breathing fossil, of that I won’t deny
So when I say hello, I’m also saying goodbye
I’m not gone yet, neither are you, but our time is not forever
There’s a lesson in here somewhere, but I’m not that clever
Every end is a beginning, it doesn’t feel that way sometimes
Sometimes you get to coast, sometimes you have to climb
Sooner or later our spirits they have to fly
So when I say hello, I’m also saying goodbye
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2. |
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Most Every Jewish holiday’s a story that can’t be beat
‘they tried to kill us, they failed, let’s eat
Whether it was the Egyptians or maybe the Persians
There’s usually a couple of different versions
The story must be retold for the holiday to be complete,
They tried to kill us, they failed, now let’s eat
That’s not to say we haven’t had some tragedy
At least six million reasons, you can plainly see
My in laws were survivors their stories should be told
Surviving thru forests hunger and cold
But most other jewish holidays ,they end with a feast
They tried to kill us, they failed, now let’s eat
Passover has matzo, also charoset
Get latkes for Chanukah you’ll be all set
Purim has hamantaschen that three cornered cookie
Rosh hashana has brisket apples and honey
Yom kipper we fast, don’t sue us
Wait for those cheese blintzas on Shavous
Most Every Jewish holiday’s a story that can’t be beat
‘they tried to kill us, they failed, let’s eat
Whether it was the Egyptians or maybe the Persians
There’s usually a couple of different versions
The story must be retold for the holiday to be complete,
They tried to kill us, they failed, now let’s eat
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3. |
12 Angry Men
03:40
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From 1957, in black and white. Twelve jurors start to deliberate
What’s to argue about, they say? Its an open and shut case
And that kid is totally guilty, right?
Not so fast, says Juror 8. We have to talk this out, there’s a man’s life at stake.
“Whattya talkin’? He had bought the same switchblade knife as the murder weapon, right?
Oh yeah, says Juror 8? I walked over to that neighborhood and found the same knife at the first place I looked- and here is what I bought?
So what, ok, throw out the knife, what about the person who heard him say ‘I’ll kill you’?
That doesn’t prove anything, says Juror 8. One of the other jurors starts to argue with him- hey, I’m gonna miss the ballgame on account of commies like you! ‘Juror 8 replies’- don’t you think its worth taking the time here’? other juror says ‘you keep talking like that , I’ll kill YOU’
Exactly, says juror 8. Two people swayed, still 10 to 2
More facts- how loud is the train? Could someone have gotten to the door fast enough to see what they claimed to have seen? More jurors swayed, now 11 not guilty, 1 guilty.
What about the eyewitness? From the other side of the train tracks, she saw at midnight thru the windows of the passing train? Ah, says an old man on the jury, but there are marks on her nose! Marks? From what? From wearing glasses? So what , she wears glasses? To bed, tho? Aha! Remaining juror starts to reminiscence about his kid, the one that doesn’t talk to him anymore. He takes out the kid’s picture, ..damn kid, rotten, starts to tear up the picture, stops, and realized its his issues with his kid that he’s feeling, not the defendant . not guilty, he sobs, and the picture is over. They don’t make em any better, not now, not ever.
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4. |
Susan's independence day
02:15
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1
Strange Independence day, strangest in my life
Bond between a mother and son, cut by a cancer knife
For so many years I had my mom, longer then most folks get
she’s lingering now at twilight, tho it has not happened yet
2
And here I am at the bedside, saying words of love
Words about the here and now, not some mythical up above
I never believed in an afterlife, we’ve got one shot, that’s enough
Life’s a beautiful mystery, but watching the end is tough
Bridge
Time’s a cosmic thief, the thought you won’t be here, is beyond belief
3
Susan’s independence day, you’ll be free from all of this
I’m not sure it’s a journey, but here’s a farewell kiss
You know how I feel, all the laughter, all the tears
As all our words, like faraway birds, ascend and disappear
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5. |
Small town values
02:08
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You say you got small town values
you claim that that’s your point of view
you’re preaching hatred of other people
people who don’t look like you
I suggest you look at your bookshelf
Take down that book you like to quote
See what’s written about loving the stranger
You might be singing a different note
Big towns and small towns got people
And people are people everywhere
Some bad some good, some misunderstood
Its easier to destroy then to repair
So take a long walk down your country road
What kind of country do you desire
We can love, we can hate, we can fish or cut bait
Right now it’s love that’s required
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6. |
Tougher
02:47
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Theres a crisis Of democracy
Theres a tyranny Of the minority
Its happening there Its happening here
Hope is fading there’s rising fears
Authoritarian right wing populists
Keep on raising their fists
But hey hey…. When the times get tough,
we gotta get tougher
Theres a crisis Of the climate
Look anywhere, and you’ll find it
Seems kind of bleak, and depressing
When its mother nature
With which we’re messing
Storms are storming, thermometer rising
Its our own future we’re jeapordizing
There’s a crisis, of taking action
All we can muster, is sad reaction
I don’t know what the future holds
I have a feeling, we got to be bold
We made it out of caves and muck
It’d be so silly to pick now as when we’re stuck
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7. |
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So you want to be president
You have to think about your real intent
You have to absorb a little knowledge, about the electoral college
And as a third party candidate, no one has won even one state
a fruitless endeavor since 1860,
even tho your friends might think its nifty
don’t do it, don’t vote for it, don’t fall for it, and here’s the reason
all you’re gonna do is throw the election to,
an ex president who’s committed treason
its simple math-I’m not being mean,
take all the Jill Stein votes from 2016
just some of those votes would’ve given Hillary that bump
we would have dodged that disaster Donald trump
Ralph Nader gave us safer cars, its true
But he threw the election to George W
The supreme court, the Iraq war, remember those greatest hits
We can’t afford to take any more of that shit
So sure run for city council or local school board
We can use progressive voices, but what we can’t afford
Is a vanity run that will help a dictator
I’d rather have any Democrat then that orange darth vader
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8. |
Memories of my mom
02:21
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I still talk to you in my head
I recall so many things you said
Though you left us in the spring
I recall everything
In years to come my memory will fade
Sooner or later it all decays
Sooner or later here comes the fog
But till then here’s this dialogue
Like something’s missing but nothing’s gained
Slowly the universe is rearranged
The new normal feels so strange
I think of calling you on the phone
But if I dialed, I’d be all alone
So I’ll just hear a whisper in the wind
When I’m at places I know you’ve been
And now that your apartment is sold
That trail slowly starts to get cold
Nothing’s forever, I hang on to
Those memories that I have of you
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9. |
Better to turn the page
03:00
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Every news cycle starts with a bad piece of news
Designed to get you aggravated, not something you can use
So many good things happen all over the globe
But I’m a news junkie sitting in my bathrobe
Every news cycle’s getting me more outraged
Sometimes its better to just turn the page
Im not saying you should not be well informed
You need to know what is inside and outside the norm
Yeah you need to vote, and even better organize
But don’t be making catalogs of everybody’s lies
There’s been deception and greed in every single age
Sometimes its better to just turn the page
The oceans are rising, and so is my blood pressure
But I know about global warming, I don’t need a refresher
Keep the carbon footprint low, vote for the right folks
Don’t hang around with those who say ‘climate hoax’
You can do more with love then you can with rage
Sometimes its better to just turn the page
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10. |
Heat and humidity
02:12
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Here comes the heat and humidity
How do we defeat this stupidity
It’s a meet and greet with morbidity
Here comes the heat and humidity
The hottest month ever on this planet of blue
Was this very one that we just lived thru
Boiling oceans, advancing fires
We’re dancing at our very own funeral pyre
Here comes humidity here comes heat
Every place on earth, its a front row seat
Glaciers and ice caps will be obsolete
Here comes humidity here comes the heat
The hottest month ever on this planet of blue
Was this very one that we just lived thru
Boiling oceans, advancing fires
We’re dancing at our very own funeral pyre
Here comes the heat and humidity
So many of us we just fail to see
We’ve caused climate change with great rapidity
Here comes the heat and humidity
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11. |
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The sports and the Kardashians
The width of your blue jeans
Its all there to distract you
The pop culture machine
The sooner you realize it
Sooner you’ll get clean
They don’t tell you it’s a nightmare
They sell it as a dream
Rearranging deck chairs,
while the iceberg gleams
better take it slow
but the captain says full steam
one more episode
one more crazy scheme
they don’t tell you it’s a nightmare
they sell it as a dream
The forces are all at work
Counting out the beans
You think you got it made
You don’t got the ways and means
We’re played against each other
On imaginary teams
They don’t tell you it’s a nightmare
They sell it as a dream
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12. |
Joint of juke
01:13
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Flat the five
Show ‘em you’re alive
Count it like the count
Do it like the Duke
Take a long long drag upon the joint of juke
Cut the cards
bird blows changes in the yard
Dizzy plays it cool and hot
To jitterbugging astronauts
Who wear berets and touques, on the joint of juke
Dot your eighths
Take a taxi don’t be late
Flim flam makes you fly
Go transmogrify
What you hear it ain’t no fluke, in the joint of juke
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13. |
Song for Jeff
03:44
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We met in Jr High, 1972
Best friends for a while, me and you
Your smile was infectious, it even cast a glow
Remember that time we listened all night to the grateful dead on the radio?
Went to Different universities after graduation
Something happened to you there, was my speculation
After one term at Brandeis, you came home
I said ‘lets hang’ you said ‘I’m OK alone’
Me and the rest of the posse Kinda moved on with our lives
Now and then We’d invite you out Most of the time you’d never arrive
These days at least some folks know the warning signs of depression
But back then I’m not sure anyone even asked the right questions
When we got back in touch/ Ten years had passed
You seemed a bit subdued/ Sails at half mast
We were in touch here and there But on different wavelengths
You gained a lot of weight/Seemed to keep the world at arms length
I had a big birthday party When I turned the big Five-Oh
You showed up four hours late But it was good to say hello
And since that time, We had some quick facebook chats
I guess we kept it light Talked about the weather this and that
We remained a bit in touch Vague plans to meet again
We never could work out The where and the when
Last week your friend texted That you died on your kitchen floor
always thought we’d hang again/ I thought there’d be more
I don’t know the lesson learned / or the moral of the story
Except maybe to realize Everything is transitory
So go contact the people That are part of your life’s journey
Before they end up On some hospital gurney
We met in Jr High, 1972
Best friends for a while, me and you
Your smile was infectious, it even cast a glow
Remember that time we listened all night to the grateful dead on the radio?
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14. |
Shrug
02:25
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Whats wrong with those who don’t see whats plainly seen
You cry ‘both sides do it’, its that false equivalency machine
One side’s not perfect but the other side are thugs
You won’t vote for either, you just sit there and shrug
Did you see Hitler and FDR and say ‘they’re like twins’
Hitler killed six million, but FDR drank gin
Fascists kill democracy like a windshield kills a bug
You just look at both sides, say ‘I don’t care’ and sit there and shrug
The lesser of two evils is less evil by definition
But you don’t give a shit about insurrection or sedition
Addicted to bullshit facts like a junkie to his drugs
You’re almost as evil, when you see evil and just shrug
Bridge
In this case less evil is less evil by 99 percent
We don’t defeat the far right lunatics, god knows where democracy went
you stubbornly insist that some third party has a chance
you’re living in a fiction, living in a trance
we need everyone to vote and not just pull the plug
don’t just sit there with your bullshit and shrug
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15. |
Born to die
02:01
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You’re still gone, how do I feel
The whole thing continues to be surreal
You’re not here, that feels weird
Why are we all born to die?
When news breaks, I would call
Small talk, big talk, we’d talk it all
Now you’re gone, I call you won’t respond
Why are we all born to die?
born to die.... why
You’re in a better place some say
I don’t believe it, it’s hearsay
No evidence for what’s over that fence
Why are we all born to die?
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