Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Words of Wonder / Get Up Stand Up - Playing for Change



Won’t you listen to me, sister
I keep it on so low
As I keep it nice and quiet so I
So I can hear you scream

Those words, of wonder
These are the words, babe I gotta hear
Those words, those words of wonder
Are the words I gotta hear

I'm sticking with you, baby, ‘till I arrive
I'm half dead, a quarter alive
A little bit is missing
I wonder where it's gone

Words, are the words of wonder
These are the words I got to hear
These words, are the words of wonder
These are the words I got to hear

Did you hear me coming baby
I (not sure what he sings here…)
Take no notice of me, baby
It’s just another song
I keep it nice and quiet
So I can hear you scream

Those words of wonder
They are the words I wanna hear
Those words, these words of wonder
They’re the ones I wanna hear

Get up, stand up, stand up for your right (2 times)
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight

Preacher man don't tell me heaven is under the earth
I know you don't know what life is really worth
Is not all that glitters is gold and
Half the story has never been told
So now you see the light,
Stand up for your right. Come on ya’ll

Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights (repeat 2 times)
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight

Most people think that great God will come from the sky
Take away everything, and make everybody feel high
But if you know what life is worth
You would look for yours on earth
So now you see the light
I’m begging you to stand up for your right, yeah!

Get up, stand up, stand up for your right (repeat 2 times)
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight

We're sick and tired of your ism and skism game
Die and go to heaven in Jesus' name, Lord
We know when we understand
Almighty God is a living man
You can fool some people sometimes
But you can't fool all the people all the time
So now we see the light
Stand up for your right

Get up, stand up, stand up for your right
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight
Get up, stand up, stand up for your right
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight

Never give up the fight (repeat)

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Words of Wonder - Keith Richards


Get Up Stand Up - Bob Marley




Everybody Hurts - Haiti




Official Video




Here is a video about the making of the video and song. The artists who participated talk about why they got involved.



Monday, April 28, 2014

Artists Against Apartheid - Sun City



Sun City, na na na na na, Sun City
Na na na na na...

We're rockers and rappers
United and strong
We're here to talk about South Africa
We don't like what's going on

It's time for some justice
It's time for the truth
We've realized there's
Only one thing we can do

You got to say I, I, I
Ain't gonna play Sun City
I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City
Everybody say I, I, I
Ain't gonna play Sun City
I, I, I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City

Relocation to phony homelands
Separation of families
I can't understand

23 million can't vote
Because they're black
We're stabbing our brothers
And sisters in the back

I wanna say I, I, I
Ain't gonna play Sun City
I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City

Our government tells us
We're doing all we can
Constructive engagement is
Ronald Reagan's plan
Meanwhile people are dying
And giving up hope
This quiet diplomacy
Ain't nothing but a joke

I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City
I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City
Na na na na na...

It's time to accept our responsibility
Freedom is a privilege
Nobody rides for free
Look around the world, baby
It cannot be denied
Somebody tell me why
We're always on the wrong side

I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City
I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City

Boputhuswana is far away
But we know it's in South Africa
No matter what they say
You can't buy me
I don't care what you pay
Don't ask me Sun City
Because I ain't gonna play

I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City
Lemme hear you say
I, I, I, I, I, I
Ain't gonna play Sun City
I don't wanna play Sun City

Relocation to phony homelands
Separation of families
I can't understand

23 million can't vote
'Cause they're black
We're stabbing our brothers
And sisters in the back

I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City
I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City...

Saturday, April 26, 2014

We Are the World - USA for Africa (and Haiti)

The Original - We are the World (USA for Africa)



Here are the artists who performed on the original version:

Dan Akroyd
Harry Belafonte
Lindsey Buckingham
Kim Carnes
Ray Charles
Bob Dylan
Sheila E.
Bob Geldof
Daryl Hall & John Oates
James Ingram
Jackie Jackson
LaToya Jackson
Marlon Jackson
Michael Jackson
Randy Jackson
Tito Jackson
Al Jarreau
Waylon Jennings
Billy Joel
Cyndi Lauper
Huey Lewis & The News
Kenny Loggins
Bette Midler
Willie Nelson
Jeffrey Osborne
Steve Perry
The Pointer Sisters
Lionel Richie
Smokey Robinson
Kenny Rogers
Diana Ross
Paul Simon
Bruce Springsteen
Tina Turner
Dionne Warwick
Stevie Wonder


The remake - We are the World 25 for Haiti




SNL (Saturday Night Live) did a parody of the remake of We Are the World, called We Are the World 3 - to raise awareness of the disaster of We are the World 2. What do you think?

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Tracy Chapman

Heaven's Here on Earth


You can look to the stars in search of the answers
Look for God and life on distant planets
Have your faith in the ever after
While each of us holds inside the map to the labyrinth
And heaven's here on earth

We are the spirit the collective conscience
We create the pain and the suffering and the beauty in this world
Heaven's here on earth

In our faith in humankind
In our respect for what is earthly
In our unfaltering belief in peace and love and understanding

I've seen and met angels wearing the disguise
Of ordinary people leading ordinary lives
Filled with love, compassion, forgiveness and sacrifice
Heaven's in our hearts

In our faith in humankind
In our respect for what is earthly
In our unfaltering belief in peace and love and understanding

Look around
Believe in what you see
The kingdom is at hand
The promised land is at your feet
We can and will become what we aspire to be
If Heaven's here on earth

If we have faith in humankind
And respect for what is earthly
And an unfaltering belief that truth is divinity
And heaven's here on earth

I've seen spirits
I've met angels
I've touched creations beautiful and wondrous
I've been places where I question all I think I know
But I believe, I believe, I believe this could be heaven

We are born inside the gates with the power to create life
And to take it away
The world is our temple
The world is our church
Heaven's here on earth

If we have faith in humankind
And respect for what is earthly
And an unfaltering belief
In peace and love and understanding
This could be heaven here on earth

Heaven's in our heart




New Beginning

The whole world's broke and it ain't worth fixing
It's time to start all over, make a new beginning
There's too much pain, too much suffering
Let's resolve to start all over make a new beginning

Now don't get me wrong I love life and living
But when you wake up and look around at everything that's going down
All wrong
You see we need to change it now, this world with too few happy endings
We can resolve to start all over make a new beginning

Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

The world is broken into fragments and pieces
That once were joined together in a unified whole
But now too many stand alone There's too much separation
We can resolve to come together in the new beginning

Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

We can break the cycle - We can break the chain
We can start all over - In the new beginning
We can learn, we can teach
We can share the myths the dream the prayer
The notion that we can do better
Change our lives and paths
Create a new world

And Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

The whole world's broke and it ain't worth fixing
It's time to start all over, make a new beginning
There's too much fighting, too little understanding
It's time to stop and start all over
Make a new beginning

Start all over
Start all over
Start all over
Start all over

We need to make new symbols
Make new signs
Make a new language
With these we'll define the world

And start all over




Rape of the World

Mother of us all
Place of our birth
How can we stand aside
And watch the rape of the wold

This the beginning of the end
This the most heinous of crimes
This the deadliest of sins
The greatest violation of all time

Mother of us all
Place of our birth
We all are witness
To the rape of the world

You've seen her stripped mined
You've heard of bombs exploded underground
You know the sun shines
Hotter than ever before

Mother of us all
Place of our birth
We all are witness
To the rape of the world

Some claim to have crowned her
A queen
With cities of concrete and steel
But there is no glory no honor
In what results
From the rape of the world

Mother of us all
Place of our birth
We all are witness
To the rape of the world

She has been clear-cut
She has been dumped on
She has been poisoned and beaten up
And we have been witness
To the rape of the world

Mother of us all
Place of our birth
How can we stand aside
And watch the rape of the world

If you look you'll see it with your own eyes
If you listen you will hear her cries
If you care you will stand and testify
And stop the rape of the world

Stop the rape of the world
Mother of us all
Mother of us all
Mother of us all
Mother of us all



Monday, April 21, 2014

Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell (original version)



"Big Yellow Taxi"

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer, farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But LEAVE me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Come and took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

I said
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
‘Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

(to read more about the song (and see a picture of the pink hotel) click here.
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Funky Radio Re-Mix



A Funny Little Cartoon



Counting Crows



Sarah Maclaughlin, Shawn Colvin, Jewel, the Indigo Girls and other rockin' women at Lilith Fair live



Keb'Mo'



Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Marvin Gaye



Woo ah, mercy mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east
Woo mercy, mercy me, mercy father
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas, fish full of mercury
Ah oh mercy, mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no
Radiation under ground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying
Oh mercy, mercy me
Ah things ain't what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land
How much more abuse from man can she stand?
Oh, na na...
My sweet Lord... No
My Lord... My sweet Lord

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Here is the full album, "What's Goin' On?"



Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Rumyanka's Request: Frank Sinatra - My Way



And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and ev'ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way,
"Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way"

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

[instrumental]

Yes, it was my way

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Here is a punk version with Sid Vicious



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A soul version with Aretha Franklin



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Salsa anyone? Here is the Remix Orchestra



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And of course Elvis

Cristina's Request - Scavenger Type - No FX



Gigin alone at the bottom of the hill
Our protagonist named Bill
Sets his sights on an anchor steam pint
All he, needs is thirteen quarters
Congregated in his hat

A crow, a scavenger type
California redemption, provides him with his rent
Room and board inside of, a fifth, of comfort
As the wind penetrates his bones
His mind keep focused
Tidal waves of sound catapulted
From his horn, wail like lovers

The coins don't drop consistent as does the mercury
His meter slows realizing a zenith
He's reached perfection
No one did see him die

Here is another punk rock band from the 1980's called Head Cheese. They were my friends when I went to art school in Philadelphia. Can you find me in the video?