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1.
Banana Moon (4:12)
Come with me, it’s a summer night so lovely
How can you be talking of sleeping and dreaming
We should be laughing and scheming
Come along, maybe I will sing you a moon song
It’s not just any moon, it’s a rare moon—
It’s the Banana Moon.
It’s so right we can pick blackberries at midnight
I can see you teeth when you smile at me
And you are smiling at me
It’s not a perfect full moon
But we are perfect fools out under the perfectly
Waxing, wacky, walloping Banana Moon
You’ve got your Ten Colds Moon, Mad Moon
Got you Long Night Moon, Hunger Moon
Got your Snow Moon, Crow Moon, Green Grass Moon
(Planting Moon)
Got your Rose Moon, Honey Moon, Thunder Moon
Moon when the Cherries Turn Black
But tonight we’ve got Banana Moon
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2.
We Don't Know (3:52)
Young girl passes over at the age of 25
Had a might lot to teach about how to be alive
Not hardly a one of us who can look death in the face
And still hold on to a dream and make it real in this human place
We don’t know, we don’t know,
We don’t know what to do with what we’ve got
Television be telling us that we never have enough
Day and night screams we’ll never be happy
Till we’re drowning in a sea of stuff
You’ve got to lose that box and find a vision of the way that life can be
Full of laughter you just can’t buy, full of love that’s entirely free
We don’t know, we don’t know,
We don’t know what to do with what we’ve got
What we are is a speck of life for a moment in a sea of time
Any fortune we may amass won’t amount to a lowly dime
What is life but the chance to be the servant of your heart
What is love but the power to see each breath as a precious gift
We don’t know, we don’t know,
We don’t know what to do with what we’ve got
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3.
Mowin' At Owen's (3:48)
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4.
Another Kind (3:34)
I will not ask you for what you cannot return
If longing leaves you, I too will cease to burn
We meet while traveling on the canyon’s lip
We dance in close, so careful not to slip
So quick to welcome the unexpected smile
Surprise has carried us beyond our own denial
Eager to name another face of love
Where time is brief, no space is great enough
All love is real that flies forth from one’s own soul
And when returned in kind it brings the circle whole
Some circles grow, some will remain in place
Each safe within, and each one full of grace
“Good-bye” seems strange while sweet “Hellos” still fill the air
So lately found and now released to who know where
I’ll take the tears and trust that love will last
Beyond this tender place through which we pass
I will not ask you for what I cannot return
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5.
Postcard From Andrea (3:09)
All in my senses in the speed of grief
I keep my wits about me
In the whirl of pain, like a hurricane
I’m just no good without me
All smell and sound and taste and sight
I gather in around me
I cannot drift too far away
While earthly wonders ground me
I may be silent as the rock
Or terrible like to storm
I ask you please to trust these things
For they will lead me home
Everything I need to live
Waits in this shattered heart
To mend, and so to dance again
I’ll take this time apart
Reaching through the tenderness of pain,
The great swelling of sadness, to the pearly scars—
Moving gingerly past the pain of tenderness
Toward the joy lurking in another shadow
The comfort that turns it to light,
Heat of the wound become light of the heart
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6.
Miss Eulalia Thomas (3:01)
Miss Eulalia Thomas, your face upon this wall
Smiling outward upon us, you beckon and enthrall
How did you miss becoming a Mrs. Eulalia?
You make me smile, you have a style all your own
All your literary sisters cast away their names
Only known as ‘Mrs. Mr.’…Walter, Frank and James
You stand alone, intact and unedited,..Eulalia
You spark in me the part that’s free and alone…all alone
Were you wealthy, haughty, stealthy?
Beautiful, without a doubt
All the other smile straight on
You come at me carefully, dreams in your eyes
Never quite caught…your chin so strong
Literary ladies all, you lead them for a time
Were there lover, children, critics, husbands in your prime?
How did you fit, outfitted in mystery…Eulalia
You let me know I’m free to grow as I will…and I will
Miss Eulalia Thomas, your face upon this wall
Miss Eulalia Thomas, you’re smiling for us all!
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7.
Waltzing At the 45th Parallel (2:48)
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8.
Winter Love (3:09)
You’ll see ‘em shudder, the ones who complain
That this colorless season just drives them insane
“it’s brittle, it’s brutal, and it goes on too long…!”
But you never will dance if you can’t hear the song
And I’m working on a winter love, working on a winter love
And the least flash of color sets my heart on fire
My winter love sings me desire
It’s a strange way to feel in the dark time of year
My step light and easy and my head is so clear
And the cat-o-nine tail wind never strings in the turn
Toward the voice calling out for the heart’s need to learn
All the pleasures of winter love, pleasures of a winter love
When it all gets too subtle and I’m lost in the gray—
My winter love shows me the way
Into the cave gently I go
I will be brave, sun lying low
Deep in the nigh, tangled in light,
Shining, the heart’s tender glow…
Old winter’s heart’s Lazarus, given over for dead
Till a fine precious love comes and bounces on the bed
I waken to longing with the cold on my face
Let the season swell around me, I will dwell in the place
While I’m working on my winter love, working on my winter love
So quiet, and waiting with all that it knows
My winter love gathers and grows
My winter love knows what it knows
I’ll go where my winter love goes
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9.
These Stars (3:54)
The big old Dipper stands up on its’ end
And spills the sky all around me
I’m all astir with this power again
I just can’t say how it found me
But oh, when it comes, I feel I could run for miles and days
My soul gets so big that it scares me to death
So I chase the power away
Orion’s belt a horizon stands
I know his sword hands below
I have my own weapons, as survival demands
As do we all, I know
And oh, how they shine whenever the mind says “use them”
May I, like Orion, just let them shine
And find the strength not to loose them
Oh, these stars, so many and they seem so near
Oh, these stars, they just seem to laugh at my fear
Taurus points like an arrow tonight
And dumb with trust, I go
I go straight to the owl, who speaks of sight
And casting aside all I know
And as it falls away, I try so to stay but I’ve left it behind
Now I’m running home, both dead and alive
Through a night, both dangerous and kind
Oh, these stars, so many and they seem so near
Oh, these stars, they just laugh and laugh at my fear
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10.
Quiet Hills (3:22)
There is darkness in these hills, I am not afraid
There is darkness in these hills, I am not afraid
There is darkness in these hills
Though some may tremble, I am still
Hope lives in these quiet hills
There is darkness in the land, I seek the taste of hope
There is darkness in the land, I seek the taste of hope
There is darkness in the land
With sorrows more than we can stand
Hope lives in these quiet hills
There is darkness in my heart, the taste of hope is sweet
There is darkness in my heart, the taste of hope is sweet
There is darkness in my heart
Yet I can feel the healing start
Hope lives in these quiet hills
There is darkness in these hills, I am not afraid
There is darkness in these hills, I am not afraid
There is darkness in these hills
Though some may tremble, I am still
Hope lives in these quiet hills
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11.
You Can't Stop (3:14)
I’ve been working all my life just to get it right
I’m not about to give it up, not even if I have to fight
You might think I don’t deserve a song that’s all my own
But it’s the very thing that kept me breathing
When trouble cut me to the bone
You can’t stop my song, you can’t stop my song
You can stop my paycheck, take my life
But you can’t stop my song
Sometimes my song is sweet and clear, sometimes it’s a brutal cry
Sometimes it’s hardly there at all, like a whisper or a sigh
Sometimes I sing the song, sometimes the song sings me
But nothing else takes me home so true
Or reminds me to risk it all to stay free
You can’t stop my song, you can’t stop my song
You can stop my paycheck, take my life
But you can’t stop my song
I know my song’s got a ways to go and I’m ready to see it through
You know, the very thing that keeps me strong are the songs I hear from you
I believe the world is full of music when the guns and wallet grow still
I strain every day to hear them
And I swear I always will
You can’t stop my song, you can’t stop my song
You can stop my paycheck, take my life
But you can’t stop my song
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12.
Rising (4:25)
He’s failed again, he cannot win here
He is a pawn in someone else’s game
They laugh him off as just a loser
They cannot see he’ll never be the same
He stays up late, he studies harder
He learns these laws they use to break his heart
He has a wife, she too is learning
Together they will break these chains apart
Deep in the night their lamp is burning
They cannot rest, so urgent is the need
Not one more child, nor man, nor woman,
Should know the cruel end that hatred breeds
A sea of anger floods our nation
And some are lost in it’s dark undertow
Where is the strength to tread these waters
And stem despair about to overflow
It’s in the hearts and minds of people
Who see this world as common ground for all
It’s in the earth and sky forever
And everything alive to freedom’s call
There is a willingness to triumph
Over a force that tries to crush your soul
And in the towns and in the country
More lamps will burn as wounded hearts grow whole
There is no simple end to hatred
It’s in the fabric of this textured time
But when the threads of love are strongest
We’ll weave a garment rich and fair and fine
The lamp is dark, the lovers sleep now
They gather strength in dreams which they will share
And with the sun, they rise replenished
And they are rising, rising everywhere
Oh yes, yes oh yes yes oh yes yes oh yes yes oh yes yes oh yes oh yes!
