Sunshine Music	The Pendulum Swing	Dusk to Dawn Revolution
Irie, Irie	One Revolution	A Prayer from Anywhere
Morning in Amerikkka	The Pendulum Swing	Karoshi
Sunshine Music	Difference	All One People
No More Love Songs	Angry Gun	A Love Supreme
This is Babylon	Ghost	One Time
Bitter Little Lies	No Island	Trapped in the Fire
Into the Sun	Educated Fool	Burn
Seams	Conflict of Interest	Cotton
Must Be Crazy	Stand Firm	Life is Beauty
P.I.C.	This is Ours	Blood from a Stone
Change Something	Con la musica, la dolce vita	Most Wise
Sundown	Judgment (Prelude)	Who Feels It
Home	Strangest Thing	Instruments of Hope
Non-album tracks
Sandbox

 

 

Sunshine Music                                                                  

Irie, Irie

We have mastered destruction, killing, and dissonance
And it seems we’ve lost the art of listening
The worst images
Play over, and over, and over

I can always spot a devil by the work he’s done
I can always tell a coward by his gun
And here there are none
This one time, let there be none

All blessed sinners and cursed saints
Whose ideology becomes your trade
Set adrift the hate
And this violence, this violence, this violence

I have no use for arguing; reasoning means more
No use for bloodshed, no need for this war
Time has never been on my side
Is it on yours?

And tomorrow we may find trouble
Because trouble will always find us
But tonight we’re

Irie, irie, irie, irie
Irie, irie, irie, irie
Irie, irie, irie, irie
Irie, irie, irie, irie

I take pride in my people but not my name
Neither skin color nor wealth nor fame
Some will refute this
But hatred has no excuses

Rooted in reality, in Rasta philosophy
Overstanding universal unity
Jah guide and protect these words
And this music, this music, this music

Irie, irie, irie, irie
Irie, irie, irie, irie
Irie, irie, irie, irie
Irie, irie, irie, irie

-Back to Top-

Morning in Amerikkka

The new model of hatred
They’ve traded in their sheets for blazers
Flipped the script again and now they are the victim players
Still that old behavior is to line up brainless
And party like it’s 1939 in stasis
On the scanner, blue line up against the banner
Equality feels like oppression to oppressors
If it wasn’t for the omnipresent cell phone cameras
They’d party like it’s 1959 in ‘Bama

When they have the chance they still grip the noose
And I won’t wait for them to shake it loose

Well, if you’re just waking up, good morning
We’re amid the sins you said we’d given up
Those long, pale faces, they’re coming with torches
Screaming, “Welcome to America”

Founded in genocide and built on slavery
Birthright to equate violence with bravery
No license required for a vile lifestyle
Every feeble reason for a private stockpile
If those toys are more important to them than lives
Then I want to hear them say it
If there’s a price to be placed on bloodlust
Then I want to see them pay it

I am just so haunted, just so depressed
And I refuse to get used to this

Well, if you’re just waking up, good morning
We’re amid the sins you said we’d given up
Those long, pale faces, they’re coming with torches
Screaming, “Welcome to America”

You won’t shoot up our homes
You won’t shoot up our churches
You won’t shoot up our schools
You won’t shoot up our fun
I am not alone
We are not the judges
We are not your fools
We’ll never trust in your gun

Well, if you’re just waking up, good morning
We’re here amid the sins you said we’d given up
Those long, pale faces, they’re coming with torches
Screaming, “Welcome to America”

-Back to Top-

Sunshine Music

What price for peace?
Who do we gotta rock to get the killing to cease?
Shut down the machines and their symphonies
One day without those sounds would be divine relief

Somebody found violence and they made it a culture
And sold all its objects to the hawks and vultures
They’ll put one in the hand of anybody they see
Then warn me of the day when it’s pointed at me

Now that gun says I’m foolish
But fighting fire with fire never made any sense

I hear nothing good about this noise
But I can see an end to it
Never troubled no one who didn’t trouble me first
Just want to live the life I live
So quiet all the weapons
It’s long past time 
For the one day when love and kindness just falls on us like sunshine
Like sunshine music

It’s a day without sirens, a day without a car crash
A day without a gunshot, a day without a bomb blast
No crying, no screaming, no buzzing in the skies
No lightning, no thunder, no lies, no bribes

Now that money says I’m foolish
But putting people second doesn’t make any sense 
This malicious music
Assured destruction for mutual defense

I hear nothing good about this noise
But I can see an end to it
Never troubled no one who didn’t trouble me first
Just want to live the life I live
Quiet all the weapons
It’s long past time
For the one day when love and kindness just falls on us like sunshine
Sunshine music
Sunshine music
Sunshine music
Sunshine music

No more violence music
No more bomb blast music
No more gunshot music

I hear nothing good about this noise
But I can see an end to it
Never troubled no one who didn’t trouble me first
Just want to live the life I live
Just quiet all the weapons
It’s a thousand years past time
For the one day when love and kindness just falls on us like sunshine
Like sunshine music
Sunshine music
Sunshine music
Sunshine music

-Back to Top-

No More Love Songs

This crush
I can’t blame it on the young
Love in absence
I am on from this

Witnessing your weapons, your words and your deceptions
All my love and loyalty ignored
My heart, it was so open but now I feel it broken
And I can’t write a love song no more

Can you feel me?
I don’t want you anywhere near me
It’s no joy to leave
But I need you to be a memory
Just another memory locked inside of me

Witnessing your weapons, your words and your deceptions
All my love and loyalty ignored
My heart, it was so open but now I feel it broken
And I can’t write a love song no more

Deeply, insanely
Past all rationality
I need this
Without passion my life is worthless
And I’m already hopeless and senseless

Witnessing your weapons, your words and your deceptions
All my love and loyalty ignored
My heart, it was so open but now I feel it broken
And I can’t write a love song no more

-Back to Top-

This is Babylon

Exit fantasyland; this is Babylon
Nothing in the barrel but the will to hang on
No one here with the privilege of safety
Off with the radio, off with TV

It’s a long way from the sidewalk to the boardroom
A short ride from the cradle to the tomb
Above-ground Wonderland of drugs and violence
Perpetual threats of the dealers and police
Class warfare battle, the weak versus the powers
Not in every neighborhood but always in ours
The poor held down by what they don’t know
The middle devastated by how much they owe
We get choices but no voices when they want us to join
Two parties on a double-headed, rusty coin
Two choices but no voices against the system
Two choices: be a killer or become a victim

I don’t think we really need to start over, but what will be will be
I’m losing my sympathy for the authors of our suffering
Social inequality, income disparity
The gap between the buried and me, so it would not bother me to see
Babylon burning

Burn your myths and bury your idols
Textbook chapters with the glorious titles
Talking heads on the upper channels
Executive and legislative panels

Oh hell; down the rabbit hole we go again
The madness of it all suggests this must be fiction
Mad Hatter, what does it matter to the here and now?
There’ll be no shelter; I write better angry anyhow
From the words that slip the lips of every profiting liar
To the suffering in every corner of the mire
Imperials make rebels where the earth has value
It’s easy if you think it all revolves around you
Dollar signs behind all the chessboard moves
Every coup from BP to united fruit
Greed-based violence, the number one export
Steady selling weapons, donating war

I don’t think we really need to start over, but what will be will be
I’m losing my sympathy for the authors of our suffering
Social inequality, income disparity
The gap between the buried and me, so it does not bother me to see
Babylon burning

When you lift your voice despite the dangers, Babylon burns a little
When you demand justice for strangers, Babylon burns a little
Get off the sidelines when it’s time to fight, and Babylon burns a little
Stand up for everyone’s rights and Babylon burns a little

I don’t think we really need to start over, but what will be will be
I’m losing my sympathy for the authors of our suffering
Social inequality, income disparity
The gap between the buried and me, so it doesn’t bother me to see 
Babylon burning

-Back to Top-

Bitter Little Lies

Can you recall a time when the future was just so cloudy
Commerce meets the anti-science coterie
The money says the haze over this city isn’t real
Money makes another breathing forest disappear
A little more will make us all disappear…

This place has never been this hot but I’ve never felt so cold, cold
This is no time to ride the middle of the road, no
The pistons and the pipes, we will shut them down, down
These bitter little lies, I won’t choke them down, down

None of the monsters and the ghosts of my youth prepared me for this
Are we gonna need Mars – Mars! – over there just to save our skins?
The delicate tick of the pendulum swing doesn’t even matter here
It’s the clock and it’s the shock of the bell ringing madly here
Every smoke stack sets us back, jeopardizing life and limb
Better get a boat or learn to float in this involuntary swim
All the proof and all the truth in stone standing out amongst the lies
The evidence and the science are the things no honest man denies
It’s never been so late
This is no natural change

This place has never been this hot but I’ve never felt so cold, cold
This is no time to ride the middle of the road, no
The pistons and the pipes, we will shut them down, down
These bitter little lies, I won’t choke them down, down

Wearing shorts in Kansas on a February day
Jacket in August and I don’t live on Frisco bay
The buses and cars will change the breeze around here
The movie stars will chain themselves to trees around here
Fading all the ice into the tides, can we still sleep soundly in our beds
Ain’t enough sugar on the planet to take the medicine we’re fed
I hear there’s no need for us to stop burning the earth into the skies
Is this the sense we’ve never had or have we just left it behind?

This place has never been this hot but I’ve never felt so cold, cold
This is no time to ride the middle of the road, no
The pistols and the pipes, we will shut them down, down
These bitter little lies, I won’t choke them down, down

-Back to Top-

Into the Sun

This ism system don’t work for we, human fallibility
Humiliate and dominate, you know I cannot relate
What I need today is not this
I will not feel like less

When I’m standing out in the rain
They all say Dready is crazy
Then I step out into the sun
They’re never gonna see me
When I’m staring into the rain
It’s only the sad I see
When I’m standing out in the sun
Everything is irie

The little things, I refuse to see, still I feel you next to me
Could it be, I’ve lost all my energy?
What I need is the faith you restore
You make me want to be more

When I’m standing out in the rain
They all say Dready is crazy
Then I step out into the sun
You’re never gonna see me
When I’m staring into the rain
It’s only the sad I see
When I’m standing out in the sun
Everything is irie

We sell today to pay for yesterday’s crumbs
We say, “Hey man, your problems are not my problems”
Making enemies and war is good for nothing
I can’t believe we’re doing anything but making love
It feels so foolish
The things that seem to move us
What I need today is you, see
Simply because you smile at me

When I’m standing out in the rain
They all say Dready is crazy
Then I step out into the sun
You can’t see me
When I’m staring into the rain
It’s only the sad I see
When I’m standing out in the sun
Everything is irie

-Back to Top-

Seams

Was I wrong to say, “We’re all in this” when some are clearly my enemy?
Am I foolish to feel the worst of them still deserve my empathy?
They shoot us in the back; we slip through the cracks of the slanted machine
Divide and rule with fear, they catch us in the gears of the rusty machine 

Now it seems like the seams are all coming apart in this city
Some will try to stitch it back together while others just say, “Ain’t it a pity?”

They don’t like anything they don’t understand; they understand very little
They weren’t handed what they think they deserve so they’re feeling quite bitter 
I got my piece of the American Dream and then I set it on fire
I got my piece of the American Dream and then I set it on fire

Some say nothing matters, like they don’t matter
Like I don’t matter, like you don’t matter
Is it true nothing matters, like they don’t matter
Like I don’t matter, like you don’t matter?

To hell with your politics, this is human rights music
To hell with all the partisanship, this is human rights music 
They say music is to entertain, but I make no excuses 
I make no apologies for the fire or the sunshine music

It seems like the seams are all coming apart in this city
Some will try to stitch it back together while others just say, “Ain’t it a pity?”
It seems like the seams are all coming apart in this city
Fraying all the fabric between the glamorous and the gritty

-Back to Top-

Must Be Crazy

So many things I can’t come to terms with
Like how greed is a motive or how war still exists
Servitude promise of milk and honey
Like violence accompanies power and money

No one gets a pass
Talented or funny so you’re okay, my ass
None of this will last
I don’t think the pendulum has ever rocked so fast

I think the whole world must be crazy
It cannot be them, it must be me (it must be me)
If one love is crazy, I’m proud to be
At least I can sleep (at least I can sleep)

So your dad’s not racist or sexist
He just votes for racists and he votes for rapists
For their words of primrose and clover
While they knock us over and they roll us over

I think I must be crazy
It cannot be them, it must be me (it must be me)
If one love is crazy, I’m proud to be
At least I can sleep (at least I can sleep)

I think I must be crazy
It cannot be them, it must be me (it must be me)
If one love is crazy, I’m proud to be
At least I can sleep (at least I can sleep)

So many suffer for another’s net worth
And watch as avarice corrupts the earth
Pain and frustration, this blood red hot
Sure, I am what I am but I’m not what I’m not
Jah, have patience with I
Have patience with I, have patience with I
I need to love but I want to fight
Have patience with I, have patience with I

-Back to Top-

P.I.C.

No blind justice when the fix is in
A corporate pen equals a longer bid
Few alternatives to becoming a stat
Gavel strikes guilty in a court of kickbacks

They’ll fill the jails with lives, lies, ghosts, and screams
Stuff the complex with the corpse of the American Dream
They’ll fill the jails with lives, lies, ghosts, and screams
Stuff the complex with the corpse of the American Dream

Is this Babylon just one big prison system?
Two million and many a victim
Don’t try to see the problems behind the motives
Don’t try to help, no mercy, no love
Just lock up

Who brings these guns and drugs to my community?
The manufacturers and bankers with immunity
What’s in it for me? Just the clang of cold steel
A concrete box and the despair I feel

They build no schools, just prisons; razor wire and walls
But they ain’t built one yet that’s big enough to hold us all
They build no schools, just prisons; razor wire and walls
But they ain’t built one yet that’s big enough to hold us all

Is this country just one big prison system?
Two million and many a victim
Don’t try to see the problems behind the motives
Don’t try to help, no mercy, no love
Just lock up

Is America just one big prison system?
Two million and many a victim
Don’t try to see the problems behind the motives
Don’t try to help, no mercy, no love
Just lock up

Mandatory minimum, secure the labor
Keep the beds full or bill the taxpayer
I see no cells for polluters and Wall Street
Just cells for the poor in the P.I.C.

-Back to Top-

Change Something

You don’t have to wonder how I’m feeling, oh no, I’m angry
I got a right to be, I see it as my responsibility
If you spread bigotry I am not sensitive to your sensibilities
The passion and the fury, I see no incongruity

Yes, it’s still true life is love
Yes, it’s still true love is life

If you know something, say something, do something, change something
Takes a lot of love to be this angry
I am not afraid to use this energy though I refuse to do it violently
If you know something, say something, do something, change something
Yes, I am still angry after all these years
But by now nothing’s going to change me, and no, I ain’t sorry

You don’t have to worry how I’m feeling, oh no, I’m irie
This positivity is my eternal reality
Neither beneath you nor above, I’m no hawk but I ain’t exactly a dove
Everyone greeted with a hug because if you got love, I got love

Some say be quiet, they say be polite
They say we can speak just not on their time

If you know something, say something, do something, change something
Takes a lot of love to be this angry
I am not afraid to use this energy and I will not do it silently
If you know something, say something, do something, change something
Yes, I am still angry after all these years
But by now nothing’s going to change me, and no, I ain’t sorry

Neither beneath you nor above, I’m no hawk but I ain’t exactly a dove
Everyone greeted with a hug because if you got love, I got love
If you spread bigotry I am not sensitive to your sensibilities
The passion and the fury, I see no incongruity

Yes, it’s still true life is love
Forever true, love is life

If you know something, say something, do something, change something
Takes a lot of love to be this angry
I am not afraid to use this energy and I will not do it silently
If you know something, say something, do something, change something
Yes, I am still angry after all these years
But by now nothing’s going to change me, and no, I ain’t sorry

-Back to Top-

Sundown

No one owes me anything and I owe no one nothing
It’s the sundown and I’m still shining

People can change a lot but ain’t no damn leopard gonna change his spots
Mistake a politician for a friend, like begging for a bullet in the back of your head

Is this the sundown of the truth?
The burden of proof?
Frauds are presented as news
Sundown of our youth?
We are bulletproof
We know rain doesn’t fall on one roof

No one owes me anything and I owe no one nothing
Another and I’m not watching

People can change a lot but ain’t no damn cheetah gonna change her spots 
I mistook a friend for a fact; it ended with a knife sticking out of my back 

Is this the sundown of the truth?
The burden of proof?
Frauds are presented as news
Sundown of our youth?
We are bulletproof
We know rain doesn’t fall on one roof

Still, still everywhere is war
In the capitols, the streets, and the courts
Antiquated buildings with the marble floors
Real estate on the golden shores
A war on addicts, a war at the ports
On people of color and a war on the poor
Now there’s a war on music and a war on sports
And everything is just war, war, war

People can change a lot but ain’t no damn hyena gonna change its spots 
People can change a lot but ain’t no damn hyena gonna change its spots
People can change a lot but ain’t no damn cheetah gonna change her spots 
People can change a lot but ain’t no damn leopard gonna change his spots

No one owes me anything and I owe no one nothing
It’s the sundown and I’m still shining
It’s the sundown and I’m still shining 
It’s the sundown and I’m still shining

-Back to Top-

Home

Is fear and hatred all there is?
Tell me, can we not do better than this?
Shaken by the way you treat your sisters and brothers
That I don’t want to think about it means nothing

Same rotten fruit of your family tree
The integration and suffrage enemies
But progress is always on the side of history
So you can say what you want about me

I don’t care; I’ll fight if I gotta fight
You be you, and I’ll be I

I will be love and I’m not ashamed to say it
You can be hate but I don’t have to take it
Sometimes I’m lonely but I’m never alone
Sitting right in the conflict, I’m home

I can’t change your mind so I won’t even try
And I’m not down to argue just to waste my time
Your freedom of choice to be a selfish fool
It’s not the education or the safety in the schools

So what’s right? I’ll fight if I gotta fight
You be you, and I’ll be I

I will be love and I’m not ashamed to say it
You can be hate but I don’t have to take it
The process neither starts nor ends with a vote
Standing right in the battle, I’m home

Money and power don’t impress around here
Gun intimidation’s not a thing we fear
I can’t abide our deepest flaws
Becoming our latest hateful laws

I care; I’ll fight if I gotta fight
You be you, and I’ll be I

I will be love and I’m not ashamed to say it
You can be hate but I don’t have to take it
Sometimes I’m lonely but I’m never alone
Sitting right in the conflict, I’m home

I will be love and I’m not ashamed to say it
You can be hate but I don’t have to take it
Same passion I’ve always shown
Burning right with the fire, I’m home

-Back to Top-

 

The Pendulum Swing                                                                 

One Revolution

I heard one sound rising up through smoke and fog
From our one world, we thought had burned to ashes
It was one voice, but it was one billion strong
One heartbeat through thunder crashes

They're dropping bombs on us from video game planes in the sky
So never do they have to see the cost in real lives
Mothers, fathers cradling the body of a child
If you cry, ask why, or just know this isn't right
Then fight
Then fight

And our love
Where is our love?
What they do to any one of our brothers
They do to us
We struggle as one
No hate, no grudge
We can say one love, one love, one love
In this one revolution

I know only one thing: blood only runs one color
So how could one man think he's so different from another
One woman thrives while another writhes in hunger
In one action, true character uncovered

Greed unleashing chemicals, unleashing radiation
Stepping through, stepping over, stepping on our friends
We beat their swords into plows but they beat them back again
You wonder who can bring all of this madness to an end?
We can
We can

And the love
Where is the love?
We will never beg for wealth
Distribution
Just want a place at the table
A place in the sun
And we say one love, one love, one love
In this one revolution

And the love
Where is the love?
The struggle continues
That began on day one
No place at the table
No place in the usn
Still we say one love, one love, one love
In this one revolution

-Back to Top-

The Pendulum Swing

-Back to Top-

Difference

These bones, they dance
Each set just like the others
Away, this flesh
Looks like we could be brothers

-Back to Top-

Angry Gun

-Back to Top-

No Island

 

Dusk to Dawn Revolution

A Prayer from Anywhere

“We cannot live like this,” he screamed
Into the night, with no one to hear but God
“If my family can’t eat, I can’t sleep
And they’ll feel our pain, from the bottle of my Molotov”

If their soldiers and police surround us
I promise that the sky won’t fall to ground
If we have our brothers and our sisters around us
We’ll take this Babylon system down
We’ll burn this ism system right down

“We will not die like this,” she cried
Into the night, with no one to hear but God
“If they think they can force their rape and genocide
Then they’ll feel our pain, from the barrel of my Kalashnikov”

And if their soldiers and police surround us
I promise that the sky won’t fall to ground
And if we have our brothers and our sisters around us
We’ll take this evil system down
We’ll burn this vicious system right down

-Back to Top-

Karoshi

“Karoshi,” they say
They found him face down on his desk today
All he left us was a watch and one week’s pay
His thirty-year pension somehow melted away
Is it true? it seems we’re working day and night
All us out here living double and triple lives
What we do is what we do; we do it just to live
Somebody’s on the take, but they never will give
And they say, “Go ‘til you’re, go ‘til you’re dead
Until we don’t need you no more
Go ‘til you’re, go ‘til you’re, go ‘til you’re dead
Until we don’t need you”
That’s why we’ve got to break it down in a rub-a-dub style
Because this is what can happen when you don’t funk for a while
Just groove yourself in the music
And lose yourself in the music

I’m gonna need to get mine today
Because you ain’t gonna carry me when I’m old and gray
You could cut me loose, any time, any day
So how am I supposed to keep my family safe?
I’ll watch your gold parachute float away
But my hands and knees ain’t gonna never be the same
When it comes, that rainy day I’ll dream away
Come night, come day, I say we’re gonna be okay

“Karoshi,” they know
They found him on the floor with one day to go
Went from home to job to home
Only sign of life was his TV shows
Can this be our world, why do we eat our own?
And grind a man down until he’s worked to bone
What we do, we do just to live
Somebody’s on the take, but they never will give
So “Go ‘til you’re dead
Until we don’t need you no more
Go ‘til you’re, go ‘til you’re, go ‘til you’re dead
Until we don’t need you”
And everything we do is just a labor of love
Because we’ve got to find out where this passion will lead us
Let’s groove ourselves in the music
And lose ourselves in the music

I’m gonna need to get mine today
Because you ain’t gonna carry me when I’m old and gray
You could cut me loose, any time, any day
So how am I supposed to keep my family safe?
I’ll watch your gold parachute float away
But my hands and knees ain’t gonna never be the same
When it comes, that rainy day I’ll dream away
Come night, come day, I say we’re gonna be okay
I’m gonna need to get mine today
Because you ain’t gonna carry me when I’m old and gray
You could cut me loose, any time, any day
So how am I supposed to keep my family safe?
I’ll watch your gold parachute float away
But my hands and knees ain’t gonna never be the same
When it comes, that rainy day I’ll dream away
Come night, come day, I say we’re gonna be okay

-Back to Top-

All One People

Some, they only see the people that they say are beautiful
Some, they only see the people they resemble
Some, what they see allows divide and rule
But the wise see all kinds of people who are one people

They act tough, they act silly, New York down to Philly
Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Hong Kong, Kansas City
I watch you, talk with you, in Lawrence, on Lamma
My brother, my sister, my papa, my mamma
We’re all in this, we’re all in this, we’re all in this

I feel so lonely
But I’m not here looking for someone to hold me
I just want to know if we can burn these vibes away
So if I laugh or if I weep
Still I have a little something that might help me sleep
And I can see the sun on a rainy day

If we don’t learn to live together, someday we will not live at all
When we build walls from color lines, we divide and fall
But the healing of the nations can be reached with just one draw
So the wise see all shades of people who are one people
They know we’re all in this, we’re all in this, we’re all in this

I watch you, talk with you, learn to understand you
The love that flows through you, one love is for me too
Same needs and emotions, the comedy, the drama
My brother, my sister, my papa, my mamma
We’re all in this, we’re all in this, we’re all in this
We’re all in this, we’re all in this, we’re all in this
We’re all in this, we’re all in this, we’re all in this

I feel so lonely
But I’m not here looking for someone to hold me
I just want to know if we can burn these vibes away
So if I laugh or if I weep
Still I have a little something that might help me sleep
And I can see the sun on a rainy day
I can see the sun on a rainy day
I can see the sun on a rainy day 

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A Love Supreme

Love is life and life is love, remember always
Savor every minute, don’t just pass the days
Never forget that you’re a living man and you’ve got work to do
Let nothing stop you, or weigh you, or hold you

Can I say it’s such a blessing to feel you, to see you, to hear you?
I’m so proud of your spirit I just want to stay near you
Some as they watch you, they may come to fear you
But don’t you ever let another man scare you

Be careful what you say and who you say it to
The wrong kind of ears may be listening to you
They’ll want to lock you up just for trying to tell the truth
Light up the minds and behinds of the youth

But you mustn’t be timid, my son, you must go
For you must tell all the people what you know
Even if you must stand in the rain and the snow
There are those who live to hit you with the stones they throw
And if someday you find yourself in the sun
Reaping all the beauty that you hoped would come
Don’t ever lose sight of who you are or where you’re from
Your roots will make the man I know you’ll become

Remember always: life is a blessing and never a curse
Keep a level head through the best and the worst
Never forget that if you reach high enough you can touch the sky
Use your mind and you’ll never need to steal or cheat or lie

Can I say it’s such a blessing to feel you, to see you, to hear you?
I’m so proud of your spirit I just want to stay near you
Some as they watch you, they may come to fear you
But don’t ever let anyone scare you

Be careful what you say and who you say it to
The wrong kind of ears may be listening to you
They’ll want to shut you up just for trying to tell the truth
Light up the minds and behinds of the youth

You mustn’t be timid, my daughter, no
For you must tell all the people what you know
And if you must stand in the rain and the snow
Have a little patience and your strength will grow
No need to feel afraid, my girl, you should know
A Love Supreme will never leave you in the cold
Whether a sprout or a hundred years old
Takes a lot of light for a tree to grow

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One Time

How can this be?
So bitter yet so sweet
This sweet life music
Makes me never want to miss a beat

The first impression game
Yes, I only have myself to blame
Feel it in the music
If you want to love me, I feel the same

So many things to say to you, when I just want to say goodnight
So many things to say, but I’ll never get them right

Oh, If I could just one time
Release this pressure that’s been building in my mind
If I could adjust one time
These feelings are a part of every life

Come on, now
Tell me something I don’t know about you
Tell me some things I wouldn’t like about you
So I can stop dreaming about you

I think I lost my sensitive side somewhere along the road
My mind’s in Zimbabwe, in Philly, the Congo
But my heart beats always with you
So find the pulse in the heat of the music

So many things to say to you, when I just want to say good morning
That’s all I’ll ever need from you; a smile in the morning

If I could adjust one time
To all the distractions that come into my life
If I could just one time
Relieve this pressure that’s been building in my mind

This sweet love music
Give me visions never seen before
Misty mountains, shady valley floor
Steamy nights, cool and breezy mornings

So many things to say to you, when I just want to say goodnight
So many things to say, but I’ll never get them right

Oh, If I could just one time
Release this pressure that’s been building in my mind
If I could adjust one time
These feelings are a part of every life

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Trapped in the Fire

Got to keep on burning Rome
This Babylon is not my home

Rose red on a concrete floor
There’s one poor fool who won’t be trouble no more
I warned him not to trouble this man, this man
I warned him not to trouble this man
So we can stop the killing

One note, one voice, one drop
One love, one heart, one soul, one destiny
And one by one they learn that if they fight, we fight back
One by one they learn that if they bite, we bite back
They say it’s angry music when we deal reality
They only want to hear the songs that won’t make them think
But all across the world is human life so cheap
Low bodies feed the flames; high pockets profit deep
And sometimes I can’t help but feel like we’re all trapped in the fire

But I’m a free man, despite what they tell me
Can’t change me with the evils they try to sell me
Like I’m blind to what’s done, deaf to what’s spoken
As if my heart could never be broken by mankind

Watch your backs, murderers, downpressors, thieves, and rats
We’ve got numbers, guns, machetes, and baseball bats
I warn you not to push us too far, too far
I warn you not to push us too far
So you won’t catch a beating

What I tell you is true: one blood; we are all one blood
One love, one heart, one soul, one destiny
A lot of people don’t like it when we speak the truth
A lot of people don’t like the way we guide the youth
Tell them to disbelieve the things they hear on the news
Why they should keep an eye on cops and preachers, too
How every politician is a criminal animal
So-called hallowed halls filled with vampires and cannibals
All across the world they make death from life
And set aflame the paper of the people’s rights
The whole wide world is Babylon, the whole wide world is burning down
The whole wide world is burning down, the whole wide world is burning
And sometimes I can’t help but feel like we’re trapped in the fire

You’re a free man, despite what they may do
Can’t change you with the evils they try to sell you
Like you’re blind to what’s done, deaf to what’s spoken
As if your heart could never be broken by mankind

Got to keep on burning Rome
This Babylon is not my home

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Burn

One too many midnight conversations
One too many dusk to dawn revolutions
It’s no lie to say that I’d rather love you
I think of all the moments I’m going to miss you
Yes, I think you are wise beyond your years
You just have that spark that separates you from your peers
The sun must rise every day just to see you
Somehow this sunflower in a desert bloomed

What is meant to be shall be
Sometimes we have to choose the hard when we want the easy
I bet you’ve never met another monkey like me
But don’t you come set fire to my tree

I’m just happy that I got to meet you
I don’t think that there’s anything that I could teach you
That you would really want to learn
Maybe you’re just in it for the burn
Wish I could just wrap my arms around you
Float through all of my days with you
But I couldn’t take the pain
I can’t live my life in vain

I could’ve never been anyone but I
Feels like a hundred thousand miles, every step of my life
I look around, sadly shake my head
Surrounded by the walking and the playing dead
It gets harder to ignore all the chatter
When you find out the songs you sing just don’t matter
I can only beg for you to wake up and live
So many times before I have no more to give
Or crawl back into the darkness where I’d never be alone
Be the same to dig my pit and engrave my tombstone
Well, I ain’t dead yet, my brother
One day they’ll turn me to a corpse, they’ll never turn me to a sucker

And if this inspires me to be a better man
Then it was worth the price I paid to shake that devil’s hand
If you inspire me to do everything I can
I can’t worry if nobody else will ever understand

I’m just happy that I got to meet you
I don’t think that there’s anything that I could teach you
That you would really want to learn
Maybe you’re just in it for the burn
Wish I could just wrap my arms around you
Float through all of my days with you
But I couldn’t take the pain
I can’t live my life in vain

Life could be nothing but sweet, but it ain’t me
How I should always long to stay within your reach
Everything I am would be for you completely
Long mornings in bed, long nights on the beach
Could you just say something?

I’m just happy that I got to meet you
I don’t think that there’s anything that I could teach you
That you would really want to learn
Maybe I’m just in it for the burn
Wish I could just wrap my arms around you
Float through all of my days with you
But I couldn’t take the pain
I can’t live my life in vain

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Cotton

These revelations provoke a fitful sleep of despair
I drifted to and through a new Orwellian nightmare
India to Indiana, near side to the far side
Tales of herbicide and suicide

The farmer tells me, “It’s a time of strife
If they control food, then they control life
A visit from a lawyer brought me a downpour
Now when I answer the door, I do it with a .44”

I just can’t seem to comprehend what must go on in that head
Made a lot of people sick, hurt, hungry, thirsty, poor, and dead
Spoiled milk, the corn gone rotten
Whoever knew we could make weapons of bean and cotton?

Another poison pill for peace or war
Another “c’est la vie” to the minor and the poor
Agency head sucks dirty money like a whore
To the rubber stamp through the revolving door

I just can’t seem to comprehend what must go on in that head
Made a lot of people sick, hurt, hungry, thirsty, poor, and dead
Spoiled milk, the corn gone rotten
Whoever knew we could make weapons of bean and cotton?

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Life is Beauty

A crystal sky over Kowloon Bay
Blue waves shining in the warmth of the gold rays
Won’t it be a shame when they reclaim it?
Turn it to a hotel row for the gweilo
Could everything that seems so hard be so simple?
I’d rather sit on Shan Tei Tong than walk Temple
Because when the sun sets over the beach, it looks so easy
And if I can sing my own song, I’ll be cool

Oh, this life is beauty, let’s be free and groove along
No hate, let’s be love; no weak, come, let’s be strong
Oh, this life is easy when we don’t make it so hard
Since I’m 22, I’ve been singing the same song

I need to know right now; do we share the same reverence?
And love for the mountain, the river, the forest
Won’t it be a shame when they just burn it?
Turn it to a row of stores for the glitter whores
For me all that neon might as well be Kryptonite
I’d rather be touched by only starlight
So on a moonless night on the beach, it would seem so easy
And if we have our music, we’ll be alright

Oh, this life is beauty, let’s be free and groove along
No hate, let’s be love; no weak, come, let’s be strong
Oh, this life is easy when we don’t make it so hard
Because I’m 35 and I’m singing the same song

I need to know right now; do we share the same wave?
Life is so much more than navigating a dark maze
There’s no shame to share a moment of love
A moment to get higher, a moment for me to be inspired
No one should ever give up their fight
But I’d rather be on the sand with you all night
When the sun rises over the beach, it feels so easy
And even if I’m all alone on my wave, I’ll be all right

Oh, this life is beauty, let’s be free and groove along
No hate, let’s be love; no weak, come, let’s be strong
Oh, this life is easy when we don’t make it so hard
When I’m 63, I’ll be singing the same song

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Blood from a Stone

It was just another businessman
Willing to trade blood for stones
But of course, not his own
Filled his army with the children that he took from their homes

These aren’t toy soldiers; it’s not okay to play with them, no
Fathers, look your sons in the eyes and ask the world how we can let this go
I wouldn’t want to be a rich man if it means I’d have to lose my soul
All but the most foolish know there are things more important than gold

Tell me I don’t see what I see; I don’t want to believe
If I know it’s true I will never be the same
This time we have really turned our backs on love; this, the deepest hole we’ve dug
How can children play when they could never understand the game?

Aptly named, this infantry
A boy lugging a rifle that seems bigger than he
Young backs bear the weight of old ambitions
Young blood is the cost of these conditions

So many miniature soldiers, they shouldn’t grow up so fast
Fathers, look your sons in the eyes and ask the world how we can let this pass
I wouldn’t want to be a rich man if it means I’d have to lose my soul
All but the most foolish know there are things more important than gold

Tell me I don’t see what I see; I don’t want to believe
If I know it’s true I will never be the same
This time we have really turned our backs on love; this, the deepest hole we’ve dug
How can children play when they could never understand the game?

World keeps spinning; the world keeps spinning for you, Mr. Warlord
World keeps spinning; the world keeps spinning for you, Mr. Bling Bling
World keeps spinning; the world keeps spinning for you, Mr. Exile President
World keeps spinning; the world keeps spinning for you, Miss Diamond Ring

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Most Wise

How many times must we ask the same questions
Before they stop telling the same lies?
These leaders were not our selection, after election
They plug their ears and close their eyes

What the hell are we going to do with these fools?
What the hell are we going to do with these fools?
What the hell are we going to do with these fools?

Policemen kill more innocent today
And dead men know nothing of justice
When is our government going to wake up and say
“No wonder they don’t trust us”?

What the hell are we going to do with these fools?
What the hell are we going to do with these fools?
What the fuck are we going to do with these fools?

I sing these lines because I cannot block the madness out
This is the shit Orwell warned us about
Power makes them cocky, greed it makes them bold
And they’d all sell their souls before they’d sell their gold

The biggest problem that I can see
Though I only know what the media shows me
Is the blatant abuse of authority
And total disregard for public safety

How could the indigenous have known that genocide would begin with a Thanksgiving feast?
How could we ever, ever think that we could live in the belly of this beast?
How could we ever, ever mistake our ignorance for wisdom?
How could we ever, ever think that the head cornerstone could be the foundation?

Pay attention leaders, I have a message for you
Listen to me now, for these words I speak are true
If your people knew all the shady things that you do
They slit your throats from ear to ear and piss on your graves, too

You talk so many lies, but your deceptions never fool the Most High
Since your words betray your eyes, you can never fool the most wise
You talk so many lies, but your deceptions never fool the Most High
Since your words betray your eyes, you can never fool the most wise

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Who Feels It

If the cat and dog can get along, what’s wrong with us, my friends?
Got no vision but division, politics and religion
Dollar signs and bloodlines and the insides of a prison
Fools die for want of wisdom and a lifetime in the sun

I tell them all the fire comes
And when it comes, they start to run

Oh, who feels it knows it
Who knows it feels it
Why can’t this be done?

All the lies, wrapped in a flag, are still lies
And no comfort as another mother cries
Maybe if the kingpins had to look her in her eyes
They wouldn’t gamble with lives like they’re just rolling dice

Oh, who feels it knows it
Who knows it feels it
Why can’t this be done?

Some say they want peace, but a piece of what, I don’t know
They pray a savior in a suit will come to lead us all home
They say they’re not prepared to cut on down to the bone
But still they know you can’t reason with heads of stone

Fools die for want of wisdom and a lifetime in the sun
Got no vision but division, politics and religion

I tell them all the fire comes
And when it comes, they start to run

Oh, who feels it knows it
Who knows it feels it
Why can’t this be done?
Oh, who feels it knows it
Who knows it feels it
Why can’t this be done?

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Instruments of Hope

Could we work without these borders?
Could we sleep without these fears?
Could we eat without these poisons?
Could we laugh without these tears?

I see us; all our inhumanity
All of the hatred, greed, and fear we’re made of
I see it; all of our vanity
Tell me why can’t we just live in love?
Why can’t we all just live in love?

Could we thrive without this poverty?
Could we drink without pollution?
Could we disagree without guns and bombs?
Could we live with peaceful solutions?

I see us; all our inhumanity
All of the hatred, greed, and fear we’re made of
I see it; all of our vanity
Tell me why can’t we just live in love?
Why can’t we all just live in love?

Could I be an instrument of greed?
An instrument of pain?
Could I be an instrument of hope?
An instrument of change?

I see us; all of our humanity
All the beauty that this world is made of
I see it; an end to this insanity
When we can all just live in love
At last, we all will live in love

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Non-album tracks

Sandbox

Farmer working in the fields
For the precious gift of life
With a flash and puff of smoke it blows away
Now who will feed his kids and wife?

Children, pick up your toys
Grown folks acting like so many little girls and boys
No help to clean up; even an apology's too hard
Maybe we'll dig them up ourselves, go plant them in your yard

Laughter playing in the fields
The hopes and dreams of all
With a blinding flash of light it fades away
I think I saw and eagle on that rusty metal ball

Children, pick up your toys
Grown folks acting like so many little girls and boys
No help to clean up; even an apology's too hard
Maybe we'll dig them up ourselves, go plant them in your yard

All the world is not your sandbox
All the world is not your sandbox
All the world is not your sandbox
All the world is not your sandbox

Children, pick up your toys
Grown folks acting like so many little girls and boys
No help to clean up; even an apology's too hard
Maybe we'll dig them up ourselves, go plant them in your yard

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Songs from Sunshine Music © 2018 Jason Canter
Songs from The Pendulum Swing © 2015 Jason Canter
Songs from Dusk to Dawn Revolution and "Sandbox" © 2012 Jason Canter