Folk Singers

"It's outrageous to line your pockets off the misery of the poor. Outrageous, the crimes some human beings must endure. It's a blessing to wash your face in the summer solstice rain. It's outrageous a man like me stand here and complain. But I'm tired."

"Take me. I'm an ordinary player in the key of C. And my will was broken by my pride and my vanity. Who's gonna love you when you're looks are gone? God will. Like he waters the flowers on your window sill."

"Prayers offered in times of peace are silent conversations, Appeals for love, or love's release, in private invocationsBut all that is changed now. Gone like a memory from the day before the fires. People hungry for the voice of God Hear lunatics and liars.Wartime prayers. Wartime prayers In every language spoken. For every family scattered and broken."

"Because you cannot walk with the holy, If you're just a halfway decent man. But I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind With a genius marketing plan.I'm trying to tap into some wisdom, Even a little drop would do. I want to rid my heart of envy And cleanse my soul of rage Before I'm through."

"Snowman sittin' in the sun doesn't have time to waste."

"Little kid dancin' in the grass, legs like rubber band. It's summertime, summertime. There's a line at the candy stand. Keep an eye on them children, eye on them children in the pool. You'd better keep an eye on them children, eye on them children in the pool."

""The universe loves a drama," you know. And ladies and gentlemen this is the show."

"Maybe the heart is part of the mist. And that's all that there is or could ever exist. Maybe and maybe and maybe some more. Maybe's the exit that I'm looking for."

"Once upon a time there was an ocean. But now it's a mountain range. Something unstoppable put into motion. Nothing is different, but everything's changed."

"The light through the stained glass was cobalt and red. And the frayed cuffs and collars were mended by halos of golden thread. The choir sang, "Once Upon a Time There Was An Ocean." And all the old hymns and family names came fluttering down as leaves of emotion. As nothing is different, but everything's changed."

"I am walking up the face of the mountain. Counting every step I climb. Remembering the names of the constellations. Forgotten is a long, long time."

"I'm gonna watch you shine, gonna watch you grow. Gonna paint a sign so you'll always know. As long as one and one is two. There could never be a father who loved His daughter more than I love you."

"Trust your intuition. It's just like goin' fishin'. You cast your line and hope you get a bite. But you don't need to waste your time worrying about the marketplace, Try to help the human race. Struggling to survive its harshest hour."

"It's easy to be generous when you're on a roll It's hard to be grateful when you're out of control"

"The bedroom breathes in clicks and clacks Uneasy heartbeat, can't relax But then your hand takes mine Thank God I found you in time"

"They say all roads lead to a river Then one day the river comes up to your door How will the builder of bridges deliver us all To the faraway shore?"

"We are who we are Or we're not But at least We'll eventually all fall asleep Eventually all fall asleep"

"So, what in the world are we whispering for? Everyone's naked, there's nothing to hide"

"My boy and me We're refugees of sorts From my hometown They don't like different there They would've mowed us down"

"He doesn't talk much anymore Just to the voices in his head The boy just gazed down at the floor And nodded once or twice At what she said"

"When you're weary Feeling small When tears are in your eyes I will dry them all I'm on your side When times get rough And friends just can't be found Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down."

"The monkeys stand for honesty, Giraffes are insincere, And the elephants are kindly but They're dumb. Orangutans are skeptical Of changes in their cages, And the zookeeper is very fond of rum."

"Someone told me It's all happening at the zoo. I do believe it, I do believe it's true."

"Seasons change with the scenery; Weaving time in a tapestry. Won't you stop and remember me At any convenient time?"

"Hang on to your hopes, my friend. That's an easy thing to say, But if your hopes should pass away Simply pretend that you can build them again."

"Time, time, time, see what's become of me, While I looked around for my possibilities, I was so hard to please, But look around, the leaves are brown, And the sky is a hazy shade of winter."

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns it's lonely eyes to you Ooo ooo ooo. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? "Joltin' Joe has left and gone away." Hey hey hey, hey hey hey."

"And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa, whoa, whoa God bless you, please, Mrs. Robinson, Heaven holds a place for those who pray. Hey hey hey, hey hey hey."

"Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you."

"Laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces, She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy, I said, 'Be careful, his bowtie is really a camera.'"

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together. I've got some real estate here in my bag. So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies, And we walked off to look for America"

"Slow down, you move too fast. You got to make the morning last. Just kicking down the cobblestones. Looking for fun and Feelin' Groovy."

"Tonight I'll sing my songs again, I'll play the game and pretend. But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity Like emptiness in harmony I need someone to comfort me."

"Home where my thought's escaping, Home where my music's playing, Home where my love lies waiting Silently for me."

"I'm sitting in the railway station. Got a ticket to my destination. On a tour of one-night stands my suitcase and guitar in hand. And ev'ry stop is neatly planned for a poet and a one-man band."

"I am shielded in my armor Hiding in my room safe within my womb I touch no one and no one touches me. I am a rock. I am an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries."

"I’ve built walls, A fortress deep and mighty, That none may penetrate. I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain. It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain."

"A winter's day In a deep and dark December; I am alone, Gazing from my window to the streets below On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow. I am a rock, I am an island."

"And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the sign said "The words of the prophets Are written on the subway walls And tenement halls And whispered in the sound of silence""

""Fools," said I, "you do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you" But my words like silent raindrops fell And echoed in the wells of silence."

"And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never shared No one dared Disturb the sound of silence."

"Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence."

"God only knows God makes his plan The information's unavailable To the mortal man. We work our jobs Collect our pay Believe we're gliding down the highway When in fact we're slip slidin' away."

"Slip slidin' away Slip slidin' away. You know the nearer your destination The more you're slip slidin' away."

"This is near enough true bliss."

"[Rock 'n' roll] really is not given to thinking — and resents thinking. Which I believe is the big error of rock 'n' roll. It's always aspired to be the music of the working class. And it's never been looked upon as a vocabulary for art and artistic thinking... We have to be able to expand the vocabulary to express more complex thoughts."

"I write from instinct, from inexplicable sparkle. I don't know why I'm writing what I'm writing. Usually, I sit and I let my hands wander on my guitar. And I sing anything. I play anything. And I wait till I come across a pleasing accident. Then I start to develop it. Once you take a piece of musical information, there are certain implications that it automatically contains — the implication of that phrase elongated, contracted, or inverted or in another time signature. So you start with an impulse and go to what your ear likes."

"I have gone through different phases in my music writing. There was a time when I used a little exercise — incorporating all of the twelve notes in the chromatic scale — to get me going. I used this technique for a while, but I don't any longer because I am going back to simpler melodies. Originally I moved away from the simple songs because I thought they were too simple."

"I am editing myself as we go along"

"Well its great to do a neighborhood concert. I hope everyone can hear us. I hope that the sound is good. I hope we are blasting Central Park West and Fifth avenue pretty much away. I just want to thank the police department and the fire department and the parks commissioner, and Ed Koch [Audience boos] — and particularly, you know, people that never get recognized for doing good things for the city, a group of people that have donated half of the proceeds that they're making tonight — the guys who are selling loose joints are giving the city half of their income tonight."