Pianists From The United States

"Somebody said...We got to find the words Got to, got to be an answer there Somebody said that...You never get heard 'Cause nobody really cares."

"But there still must be a way to have our children say... "There are so many colors in the rainbow So many colors in the morning sun So many colors in the flower and I see every one." (Live version)"

"But the little boy said... "There are so many colors in the rainbow So many colors in the morning sun So many colors in the flowers and I see every one.""

"And she said... "Flowers are red young man Green leaves are green There's no need to see flowers any other way Than they way they always have been seen.""

"The little boy went first day of school He got some crayons and started to draw He put colors all over the paper For colors was what he saw And the teacher said.. "What you doin' young man?" "I'm paintin' flowers" he said She said... "It's not the time for art young man And anyway flowers are green and red There's a time for everything young man And a way it should be done You've got to show concern for everyone else For you're not the only one.""

"Why were the little girls all frightened To be just what they are The boys were told to ask themselves How high how far The girls were told to reach the shelves While the boys were reaching stars That's why little girls were frightened To be just what they are."

"Why did the little girls grow crippled While the little boys grow strong The boys allowed to come of age The girls just came along The girls were told sing harmonies The boys could all sing songs That's why little girls grew crippled While little boys grew strong."

"And I know you're frightened By my laughter But you're not afraid To hold my pain You see I'm never sure Just what you're after, Babe But it seems you only love me When it rains. How come you only love me when it rains?"

"Oh, if a man tried To take his time on earth And prove before he died What one man's life could be worth, I wonder what would happen to this world."

"If we say that no one's out there And we say we're goin' nowhere And we avoid the question Is this all that it means?"

"And if our future Lies on the final line Are we brave enough To see the signals and the signs?"

"And if a woman She used a life line As something more than Some man's servant mother wife time Well I wonder what would happen to this world."

"Now if a man tried To take his time on Earth And prove before he died What one man's life could be worth, Well I wonder what would happen to this world."

"There are lessons to life That the lovers got to learn There are corners out there You know they're waitin' somewhere And you've got to be prepared to turn There are callouses that come That the lovers got to earn In the years of your youth You can't be fire proof You know you've got to get burned."

"If you try to look But you don't touch Then you won't touch But you'll never feel And if you don't feel You'll never cry And if you don't cry Then you'll never heal."

"Oh God they got you gun shy You know your skin's as cold as ice Your eyes are double filtered babe You're so afraid to be nice There's no way you're ready To let your defenses down Though I won't come on heavy There is a lesson that I've found."

"Good dreams don't come cheap You've got to pay for them."

"And while blood's the only language that your deaf old ears can hear And still you will not answer with that message coming clear Does it mean there's no more ripples in your tired old glory stream And the buzzards own the carcass of your dream?"

"Step right up young lady Your two hundred birthdays make you old if not senile And we see the symptoms there in your rigor mortis smile With your old folks eating dog food and your children eating paint While the pirates own the flag and sell us sermons on restraint."

"Hello my Country I once came to tell everyone your story Your passion was my poetry And your past my most potent glory Your promise was my prayer Your hypocrisy my nightmare And your problems fill my present Are we both going somewhere?"

"When I started this song I was still thirty-three The age that Mozart died and sweet Jesus was set free Keats and Shelley too soon finished, Charley Parker would be And I fantasized some tragedy'd be soon curtailing me Well just today I had my birthday I made it thirty-four Mere mortal, not immortal, not star-crossed anymore I've got this problem with my aging I no longer can ignore A tame and toothless tabby can't produce a lion's roar."

"Strum your guitar sing it kid Just write about your feelings not the things you never did Inexperience, it once had cursed me But your youth is no handicap it's what makes you thirsty"

"You see, dream-lover of a lady, what shakes me to the core Is the thought as you caress me, you've done this all before I think about the future with me out and others in Will I, too, have disappeared like I've never ever been?"

"You see, I have no real complaints of how you've left your past behind I guess what gets me worried is you've erased him from your mind."

"I'm in the Dance Band on the Titanic Singing "Nearer my God to thee" and the icebergs on the starboard bow Won't you dance with me?"

"Corey's coming, no more sad stories coming My midnight-moonlight-morning-glory's coming aren't you girl? And like I told you, when she holds you She enfolds you in her world."

"They put the cold dirt over him and left me on my own And when at last I looked up I saw I was not alone So I said— If you're a relative, he had a peaceful end. She said— My name is Corey— you can say I'm just a friend."

"I was quite surprised to find out all the places that he knew And so I asked the townfolk if his stories were true They said— Old John was born here, he's lived here all his life He's never had a woman, let alone a wife. And very soon you'll find out as you check around That no one named Corey's ever lived in this town So I chided the old man 'bout the truth that I had heard He smiled and said— Reality is only just a word."

"The Mayor of Candor lied When he offered me his only daughter The Mayor of Candor tried To take her off across the water What a thing to do to a young man in love What a thing to do to your daughter."

"But high up on the mountain When the wind is hitting it If you're watching very closely The rock slips a little bit..."

"He went up on the mountain beside the giant stone They knew he was insane so they left him alone He'd given up enlisting help for there was no one else He spent his days devising ways to stop the rock himself One night while he was working building braces on the ledge The ground began to rumble the rock trembled on the edge."

"We've more important studies than your fantasies and fears You know that rock's been perched up there for a hundred thousand years."

"The rock is gonna fall on us," he stood and told the class The professor put his chalk down and peered out through his glasses But he went on and said; "I've seen it, high up on the hill If it doesn't fall this year then very soon it will!"

"And we would play together, like fine musicians should, And it would sound like music, and the music would sound good. But in real life I'm stuck with that same old formula, me and my monophonic symphony, six string orchestra."

"And so I'd dream a bass will join me, and fill the bottom in. And maybe now some lead guitar so it would not sound so thin. I need some drums to set the beat and help me keep in time. And way back in the distance, some strings would sound so fine."

"I'd play at all the talent nights, I'd finish, they'd applaud. Some called it muffled laughter, I just figured they were odd. So I went up for an encore, but they screamed they'd had enough. Or maybe I just need a group to help me do my stuff."

"The very day I purchased it, I christened my guitar as my monophonic symphony, six string orchestra."

"There's a vacancy, won't you come to me And fill my empty spaces I'm a motel man in a promised land That's filled with empty faces So won't you bring your sorrows bring your dreams, It's a place for you to be There's no more tomorrow or that's how it seems Won't you come to me? I've got a vacancy"

"I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous. I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school. Of the America that made America famous...and Of the people who just might understand That how together yes we can Create a country better than The one we have made of this land, We have a choice to make each man who dares to dream, reaching out his hand A prophet or just a crazy God damn Dreamer of a fool."

"We were the kids that made America famous. The kind of kids that long since drove our parents to dispair. We were lazy long hairs dropping out, lost confused, and copping out. Convinced our futures were in doubt and trying not to care."

"Something's burning somewhere. Does anybody care?"

"It was the town that made America famous. The churches full and the kids all gone to hell. Six traffic lights and seven cops and all the streets kept clean. The supermarket and the drug store and the bars all doing well."

"She sings the songs without words Songs that sailors, and blind men, and beggars have heard She knows more of love than the poets can say And her eyes are for something that won't go away."

"You know the man who told me about it on the bus, as it went up the hill out of Scranton, Pennsylvania, he shrugged his shoulders, he shook his head, and he said (and this is exactly what he said) "Boy that sure must've been something. Just imagine thirty thousand pounds of bananas. Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of mashed bananas. Of bananas. Just bananas. Thirty thousand pounds. of Bananas—not no driver now. Just bananas!""

"And he said "God, make it a dream!" as he rode his last ride down. And he sideswiped nineteen neat parked cars, clipped off thirteen telephone poles, hit two houses, bruised eight trees, and Blue-Crossed seven people. it was then he lost his head, not to mention an arm or two before he stopped."

"He was picking speed as the city spread its twinkling lights below him. But he paid no heed as the shivering thoughts of the nights delights went through him. His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down. But the pedal floored easy without a sound. He said "Christ!" It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now. He was trapped inside a dead-end hellslide, riding on his fear-hunched back was every one of those yellow green I'm telling you thirty thousand pounds of bananas. Yes, there were thirty thousand pounds of bananas."

"He was a young driver, just out on his second job. And he was carrying the next day's pasty fruits for everyone in that coal-scarred city where children play without despair in backyard slag-piles and folks manage to eat each day about thirty thousand pounds of bananas..."

"He was dancing to some music No one else had ever heard He'd speak in unknown languages She would translate every word And then when the world was laughing At his castles in the sky She'd hold him in her body Till he once again could fly."

"She said, "I wanna learn a love song full of happy things." She said, "I wanna learn a love song; won't you let me hear you sing?" She said, "I wanna learn a love song, I wanna hear you play." She said, "I wanna learn a love song before you go away.""

"She was married for seven years to a concrete castle king. She said she wanted to learn to play the guitar and to hear her children sing. So I'd show up about once a week in my faded tight-legged jeans with a backlog full of hobo stories and dilapidated dreams."