1. |
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I don’t know where I want to go
I don’t know where I want to be
There’s been a lot of talk of freedom
But I don’t know what freedom means
I don’t know what freedom means
I don’t know what freedom means
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2. |
I Trimmed My Beard Today
04:35
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The length of my beard is all you need to know
If it’s trim I’m feeling happy, if it’s long I’m letting go
And there’s nothing you can tell me, and there’s nothing you can say
But honey let’s go out tonight
‘Cause I trimmed my beard today
I was worried for awhile there, I was aching and concerned
I’ve been down so many times now, you’d think I would have learned
That light comes after darkness and night will never stay
Now I’m standing in the sunshine
And I trimmed my beard today
There’s so much that I want now that I can never have
The ghosts I know for certain are burning through my past
There’s a woman that I love, there were women I’ve just known
One was simple, one was sacred, one was stupid as a stone
I was sleeping in the twilight when the light came shining through
There is magic in these mountains, there is work I have to do
There are demons in this desert, there are reasons I’m with you
I still never see it coming, it still makes me come alive
I’m a tease upon a tightrope, I can fool you half the time
If you catch me when I’m falling I’ll be tangled up and weird
And if you wonder how I’m doing take a gander at my beard
So the armored men are many and the change is slow to come
There is one thing I’m afraid of, there is death that has been done
In the end we’ll have to face it and I promise we will pay
But let it wait until tomorrow ‘cause I trimmed my beard today
Yeah, let it was until tomorrow ‘cause I trimmed my beard today
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3. |
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In a different life, in a different time
She might be mine, she might be mine
In a different life, in a different time
She might be
She was standing alone by the stairs when I first saw her there
Eyes all crumpled and looking to the ground so I was careful
She was funny in a funny way
Kinda tired and kinda scared of what she might say
I still don’t know why I liked it that way
But I liked it that way
In a different life, in a different time
She might be mine, she might be mine
In a different life, in a different time
She might be
She stayed later than everyone else and I thought that was a good sign
Still we didn’t know how to cross that line
Why is it so hard for two people who want to to get alone with each other
With the door shut and the door locked
And the phones off
And no time at all until the morning light comes shining in
And wakes them up to the world they’re in and the lives they live
In a different life, in a different time
She might be mine, she might be mine
In a different life, in a different time
She might be
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4. |
You Gotta Keep a Secret
03:34
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I just saw you looking here from way over there
You saw that I saw
You got nervous
There’s so much that you want
And so much you don’t know
I could show it to you
You would like it
Oh, we’ve been so good
We deserve to be a little bad
I won’t hurt you at all
Oh oh oh oh oh
You gotta keep a secret
Oh, night turns to daytime
And day just turns back to night
When it’s light I hide out
When it’s dark I’m alright
Oh oh oh oh oh
You gotta keep a secret
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5. |
Thinking About the Bad
02:47
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I don’t know how to say this
I’m thinkin’ ‘bout the bad
I am thinking ‘bout the bad
Like teeth and wolves and whistles
Like fortunate arrest
I am thinking about the bad
And I wanna be an astronaut
I wanna be your friend
But I don’t know how to do this
And I don’t know how to end
I am thinkin’ ‘bout the bad
I tried to keep it simple
I tried to make it last
I am thinking ‘bout the bad
It’s so hard to move it forward
It’s so hard to get ahead
I am thinking ‘bout the bad
And I wanna be an astronaut
I wanna go where no one has gone before
But I’m standing with the dead now
I am standing in the past
I am thinkin’ ‘bout the bad
Ba ba do do do do
I am stuck in what I was now
I am stuck in what I had
I am thinkin’ ‘bout the bad
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6. |
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You’re cynical and skeptical and poisoned by the news
You sold your heart, you broke your soul
There’s holes in both your shoes
You lost your sad direction and it wasn’t even funny
You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody
Republicans and Democrats and Independents too
Who’s playing them, who’s laying them
And who is paying who?
They’re lying if they’re talking, their dirty hands are bloody
You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody
The Christians and Muslims and the Buddhists and the Jews
They’re said so much for so long now, it’s hard to pick and choose
The truth becomes corroded, the meaning just gets muddy
You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody
You can’t escape the thunder, you wonder what is next
You hope to get the better of whatever happens next
Whatever happens next, you bet, you keep your fingers crossed
You cry because it hurts to lose and now you know you’ve lost
The sour turns to sweet my friend, sugar sweet like honey
You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody
Nothing last forever man, it’s stormy then it’s sunny
You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody
We can conquer mediocrity if we’re unimpressed by money
You better believe somebody, you better believe somebody
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7. |
Wedding Day
08:05
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You
You who were with me when the battle began
You watched it consume me ‘cause you know who I am
You slept there beside me when I couldn’t go on
When I was built like a bishop, but I moved like a pawn
Still
Still you were patient
Still
Still you were proud
I couldn’t say nothing and you
You spoke too loud
Then everyone noticed
Or ignored it and joked
It was not what you needed, but it was just what you hoped
Now I’ve seen all your secrets and I’ve read all your lists
And I was an idiot the first night we kissed
When there was no history
When there were no words
When we were atoms colliding in a blind universe
There was nobody else then
There was nothing to do
There was no one who mattered until there was you
I still never go back there
And I never think first
And I never surrender
And I never rehearse
I saw what I’m feelin’ if I know it won’t hurt
That’s why silence is honest in a thin summer skirt
It’s a thick winter curtain that hangs in the air
We know what it means, but we’re scared when it’s there
And I wanna tear my brain right out of my skull
I wanna rip it up and make sense of all
I wanna hear my heart right out of my chest
And squeeze it ‘till it splatters all over your dress
I wanna kill all the preachers who murdered my soul
I wanna punish the poets who filled it with holes
I wanna scream at the strangers who laugh as they pass
Who know all the questions, but don’t dare ask
I wanna jump from this building and drown in the sea
To be baptized again, to be able to breathe
I wanna talk to my demons and gather my ghosts
And tell them I’m grateful they’re always so close
‘Cause it’s them that I live with and it’s them I believe
When daylight is creeping and I start to bleed
It’s them that I cherish, it’s them that I need
It’s them that remind me to be careful with greed
I can only continue
So I will never be free
I don’t know when it started
What happened to me
I’m a priest on the dance floor
I’m a dog in the night
I’m atrocious and shameless when I’m beckoned to fight
Yes, it’s all in my making
Yes, it’s all in my mind
I can’t say that I’m lonely ‘cause it’s there all the time
It’s there all the time
It’s there all the time
It’s candle and elbows
It’s cotton and clay
It hangs all around on a wedding day
It hangs all around on a wedding day
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8. |
I'm Beautiful
08:03
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9. |
The Information Age
05:01
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That was disappointing
Started well, ended light
This is nothing new, of that I'm certain
Strong men rule and small men write
All for naught, all for naught
It's the information age
It's information
Struggle
Sweat and struggle
Since the the dawn of man
And woman, sweet women
Make it all worthwhile
Meanwhile we wait for men of hate
It's the information age
It's information
I know
You are concerned
But
I know
You don't know anything that matters
It's the information age
It's information
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10. |
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It gets bad, but it gets better
Call it craziness, call it weather
We can make it through if we laugh at it together
It gets bad, but it gets better
You got lost when your mom got sick
Prescription pills and therapists
Mom got worse, she didn’t make it
After years and years and hours and hours
You got to her grave with her favorite flowers
And you talk to her and she listens
Or you’ve had the worst of God and men
You’ve sworn you’ll never love again
You don’t have kids, your friends all do
You wonder what is wrong with you
While they’re stuck at home, you’re free to go
Save some cash and hit the road
Quit your job, you never know
Buy ticket someplace far
‘Cause it gets bad, but it gets better
Call it craziness, call it weather
We can make it through if we laugh at it together
It gets bad, but it gets better
Another politician making noise
Another bad guy hanging out with the bad boys
Lives destroyed and damage done
Bombs deployed and more to come
Poison in the earth and air
Men in charge who just don’t care
Men in charge with thinning hair
Soon they’ll all be dead
When the market crashed you had a big, bad loan
You lost your job, you lost your home
You washed up here alone and broken
Then you found a new place and a good gig too
With a better boss and more time for you
Last week in line you met someone new
There’s a lot eleven years can do
‘Cause it gets bad, but it gets better
Call it craziness, call it weather
We can make it through if we laugh at it together
It gets bad, but it gets better
Then it gets bad again, I know
The darkness comes and darkness grows
Sometimes the darkness never does and goodness loses
But somewhere else it’s dawn again
And on and on, it never ends
Until the sun blows up in a big red ball and swallows us all
But even then it just might be we’re living in a different galaxy
We might get to watch it on our phones
All together and all alone
Rome rose up, Rome fell down
The Mayans lost to the Spanish crown
The Incans were the best around
The Spanish beat them too
Then Spain declined, then France declined
Then we all had a world war
Sixteen million lost and more
We swore we’d never do it again
Yes, world peace was the world goal
‘Till the Nazis came and they took control
Then the Nazis lost to the USA and the Russians
(Who saved the day)
But then Stalin really went to town
And the states were great unless your face was brown
There were super powers, atom bombs
The summer of love and Beatles songs
9/11, terrorists, no mention of Africa in any of this
A baby born, a baby missed, a funeral, a wedding kiss
‘Cause it gets bad, but it gets better
Call it craziness, call it weather
We can make it through if we laugh at it together
It gets bad, but it gets better
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11. |
The New Place
05:41
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Come on up to the new place
It’s still got that new place smell
We’re still doin’ just as well
But it feels better
Come on up to the new place
It’s on the right side of town
We only get the right folks around
And it feels better
The last few years at the old place
I got stuck
I got stuck in my ways
But now that we’re here in the new place
I’m in a whole new phase
Hope held me hostage
And hijacked my heart
Sometimes it gets so dark
Staring at a screen
As if it counts for company
As if it could comfort me
A man needs a woman
So come on up to the new place
I’m not a grown up yet
I still take what I can get
But I do it better
Come on up to the new place
I’m ready to try again
A lover, a new best friend
And I’ll do it better
A man needs a woman
To have him and hold him
To touch him and scold him
To soften him up
A man needs a woman
Because the world of men
Is awful and angry
Is certain and sure
A man needs a woman
And he must believe her
And he has to hear her
He has to hear
A man needs a woman
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12. |
Time To Be Here Now
05:59
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I don’t like the girls in San Francisco
The girls in San Francisco don’t like me
Wherever I have talked about and travelled
Wherever I am going, I will be
I have been ferocious and forgetful
I have been so broken and so bored
Wherever I have been I’ll be again, love
I am wherever I am moving toward
I can give up, I can give up, I can give up on my dreams
Whatever I got, it was worth it
Whatever I thought it would be
Time to get over it, time to let it leave
Time to be here now, love
Time to be here now
Time to be here now
I wanna promise purpose and precision
I wanna promise poetry and prose
I wanna promise love will last forever
But it never has and everybody knows
After love what we have to capture
Lying in a stillness, soft and white
Patience in the chaos of creation
Silence in the seance of the night
I can give up, I can give up, I can give up on my dreams
Whatever I got, it was worth it
Whatever I thought it would be
Time to get over it, time to let it leave
Time to be here now, love
Time to be here now
Time to be here now
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13. |
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The last black lives matter sign in the neighborhood
In the lower level corner apartment
Is not lookin' too good
They used to be everywhere around
Then everybody took 'em down
I guess that black lives don't matter
I guess that black lives don't matter
I guess that black lives don't matter after all
In this house we believe that science is real
In this house we believe that love is love
And kindness is everything
But kindness is not everything
Kindness is kindness
And everything is everything
And black lives don't matter, apparently
Black lives don't matter, it seems to me
Black lives don't matter after all
Rosa Parks showed courage one day
She rode the bus
She was told to move to a different seat
She did not
She did what she believed was right
The last black lives matter sign in the neighborhood
Is no longer there
They took it down
Sometime last night
Under the cover to dark
Why'd you take it down
Why'd you put it up
I guess that black lives don't matter
Black lives don't matter
Black lives don't matter after all
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John Elliott San Francisco, California
“John Elliott is the Andy Kaufman of folk music.”
“Post Seinfeld, Post 9/11 Eyebrow
Rock.”
“Well crafted and artful songs by a potentially disturbed individual.”
Singer/songcyclist.
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