While You’re Alive Lyrics
All music and lyrics by Barbara McAfee unless otherwise noted.
© Big Bug Music
© Big Bug Music
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Who You Gonna Be While You Do What You Do?
Who you gonna be while you do what you do? How you gonna show up while you’re passing through? I’m living in this question, you can too. Who you gonna be while you do what you do? You can do all of the right things and still be a jerk And a really bad temper can wreck a lot of fine work There’s no sense of direction when you’re going berserk... You could sit up in a corner and criticize And try to cut people down to manageable size When an idea hits the table, you could roll your eyes.... We could argue all night about the ends and the means But if you don’t like who you are, don’t mean a hill of beans When at the end of the day, you and your conscience convene Could be an ugly scene... They may not remember what you do or say But people will remember how they felt along the way You could leave a trail of blessing starting today... People could be glad to see you coming through the door When you’re running out on patience, you could find a little more You could be the hero you’ve been waiting for.... Who you gonna be while you do what you do? How you gonna show up while you’re passing through? I’m living in this question, you can too. Who you gonna be while you do what you do? While You're Alive Based on a poem by Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky Go for a walk if it is not too dark Say something kind to a stranger passing by Play a game with the children, help out a friend Let your true heart be your guide You might as well do something real While you're alive. Take your beloved in your loving arms Gaze at them with your softest eyes Sing some songs to your pets and plants Let them get all drunk and wild You might as well do something real While you're alive. Let's toast every rung we've climbed on evolution's ladder Whisper “I love you, I love you” to the whole mad world. Let's stop reading about God We will never understand God..... Jump to your feet, wave your hands in the air Tell the Universe, you do declare That your heart is not willing to live with less than real love You might as well have real love While you're alive. Go for a walk if it is not too dark Say something kind to a stranger passing by Play a game with the children, help out a friend Let your true heart be your guide You might as well do something real While you're alive. Brain Rats Chorus: Brain rats, I’ve got brain rats A pestilential blight upon my mind! Brain rats are those wicked thoughts that prove my every flaw And every hopeful notion gives them something new to gnaw I hear them chewing in the night and on and off all day They’ve really got my number -- oh, the awful stuff they say! Chorus My mother says she loves me, but no doubt she’s telling lies And my friends are all just enemies in ingenious disguise There’s no one to be trusted – and that’s including me The best approach to human beings is fierce misanthropy Chorus I need a lot more money than I’ll ever live to earn And late at night I count my debts as I fret and toss and turn I’m one step from the poorhouse. I can’t make it on my own. I’ll be just like that match girl dying cold and all alone. Chorus They torture with such cunning like little Marquises de Sade And wreak unstinting havoc beneath my cool facade They tell me I’m worse than everyone My problems can’t be solved And I’m the piece of crap around which this whole world revolves....Chorus Bite the Lightning I want to bite the lightning, I want to taste the thunder Roll it around in my mouth like dark red wine I want the rain to bathe me, baptize, cleanse & save me I want the winds to blow away all that’s dead or dying The sky is crying... I want the storm to last all night Want to feast on the flickering silver-blue light Ripping ‘cross the sky Don’t want to close my eyes (not for a second) I want fill up on falling water And be reborn as Neptune’s daughter Then ride the wild waves on and on Past the land of dawn.... I call the miracle of hailstones-falling ice from a summer sky I call the cold blue fire that leaves its imprint behind my eye I call the grumbling of grey clouds And the thunder’s voice that shouts out loud I call the blessing of the rain -- love the rain, love the rain Heart of a Warrior Fear holds no sway in the heart of a warrior She dances empty-handed into the fray Rivers of laughter to temper the shadows From life’s invitation she’ll not turn, not turn, not turn away… Love is the fire in the heart of this warrior There in her eyes its flames leap and sway Those who are warmed there do count themselves blessed To bask in the warmth of her sunfire, sunfire, sunfire array… Deep wisdom runs in the heart of this warrior A curious mind and the words to say Mysteries fresh from the lips of the angels The voice of the earth as under our feet she commences to pray… Grant many gifts to the heart of this warrior A balance of rest in her rigorous days Courage to stand forth into her true power Conviction to know the love all around her is going to stay… Repeat first verse Taste of Midnight I eat my chocolate 85% cacao And if it’s not espresso, that ain’t coffee no how I like the taste of night In the middle of the day Takes the edge off the sunlight Keeps cheerfulness at bay.... I’m not some little kid, so I take my licorice black And my toast looks like a cinder off a railroad track I like the taste of shadow When it’s bright high noon When the stars are all in hiding I still taste the moon..... If I can see the light shine through my wine Then it’s not red enough And devil’s food’s more heavenly than that angel food fluff My bread is pumpernickel My pepper’s fresh-ground black And if my chicken ain’t downright burnt I gonna send it back..... I like blackened catfish straight from Mississippi mud And my heart is pumping Guinness stout instead of blood I like the taste of midnight On my tongue You’ll get a mouthful of your own By the time my song is sung..... I only eat my chocolate 85 percent cacao And if it ain’t espresso, that ain’t coffee nohow I like the taste of midnight when it’s bright high noon When the stars are all in hiding, I still taste the moon. |
Body
I like my body I like my body just fine Knees kind of knobby Eyes that sparkle and shine I like my body I like my body just fine Long drink of water Tall as a towering pine He's just a baby She's a hundred and nine They got their bodies You know everybody's body's Just fine. I like your body I like you body just fine Anywhere you go You know your body's not far behind! Anywhere you go You know your body's not far behind! What a Wonderful World By George David Weiss and Bob Thiele I see trees of green, red roses too I see them blooming for me and for you And I think to myself, “What a wonderful world.” I see skies of blue and clouds of white The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night And I think to myself, “What a wonderful world.” The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky Are also on the faces of people going by I see friends shaking hands, saying “how do you do” They’re really saying, “I love you.” I hear babies cry, I watch them grow They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know And I think to myself, “What a wonderful world” Yes, I think to myself, “What a wonderful world.” Good Morning Based on the poem “Why I Wake Early” by Mary Oliver Hello, sun in my face You who make the morning Dear star, good morning! You who make the morning and spread it over fields and flowers And into the windows even of the miserable and the crotchety.... Hello, sun in my face You who make the morning Dear star, good morning! Best preacher that ever was, you who are so near us To keep us from ever darkness To ease us with warm touching And hold us in great hands of light.... Hello, sun in my face You who make the morning Dear star, good morning! You who make the morning And spread it over fields and flowers Watch how I start the day now In happiness, in kindness.... Good morning! Navajo Chant Words by Kabir, music by Jody Healy When you were born, you cried And the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die The world cries and you rejoice. Rat Race Up at six, breakfast fixed, sweep the floor, out the door Should do more . . . Gotta test my luck, make a buck, what was it that I do this for? On the bus, look at us -- looking, then looking away What would we say anyway? Keeping so busy helps make me feel all alone I'll just keep on running till every last fuse in blown If I'm leading a full life, why then this empty heart? Where did this mad spin start? I'm tired of hearing myself say how tired I am I'm gonna lie down one of these days for a year I'm running on sheer adrenalin and a lot of caffeine I'm living my life in high gear..... Back I go, undertow, could I be running scared? I'd gladly give this all up yesterday if I dared I'm watching my loved ones all running around just like me Let's all make a pact and go free! Where Do All the Tears Go? For Dad Where do all the tears go that I swallow? Are they in the hollow place inside my heart? What do they take with them wherever they go? What joy swims in that salty sea? It doesn’t cost me much Just my human touch Just my peaceful sleep Since I’ve forgotten how to weep There is something stirring, warm wind blowing Something melting here inside my heart I think it’s going to hurt some before it gets better Like frozen skin burns as it comes back alive It won’t cost me much Just my favorite crutch Just my Berlin Wall I can’t believe it’s gonna fall I am Rip Van Winkle, slowly waking To a world that is totally changed All that was familiar is now illusion Pardon my confusion, but there’s such sweetness in the pain Oh, it cost me dear The loss of all those years But it gets easier to take With every moment I’m awake What has cracked me open is quite beyond me And I thank my stars that it happened in time With every breath remaining, I will keep on praying To live this life being fully alive I’m alive...... Healing All Generations Chorus: Healing all generations Coming down through the women’s line We offer our veneration To the ones who walked before The ones who walk beside The ones who come behind... We carry your stories Though we may not know your names Your features in our faces Here among us you remain....Chorus We live here together In shared space and time Through bloodline and heartline I claim you as mine....Chorus You dwell here among us Our kin yet to be We sing you our welcome New buds on the tree...Chorus |