Come from the Shadows Lyrics
Prison TrilogyBilly Rose was a low rider;
Billy Rose was a night figher
Billy Rose knew trouble like the sound of his own name
Busted on a drunken charge
Drivin' someone else's car
The local midnight sheriff's claim to fame
In an Arizona jail there are some who tell the tale how
Billy fought the sergeant for some milk that he demanded.
Knowing they'd remain the boss
Knowing he would pay the cost
They saw he was severely reprimanded
nIn the blackest cell on "A" Block he hanged himself at dawn
With a note stuck to the bunk head
Don't mess with me, just take me home.
Come and lay, help us lay young Billy down.
Luna was a Mexican the law called an alien
For comin' 'cross the border with a baby and a wife
Though the clothes upon his back were wet
Still he thought that he could get
Some money and things that make a life.
It hadn't been too very long
When it seemed like everything went wrong
They didn't even have the time to find themselves a home
This foreigner, a brown-skin male
Thrown into a Texas jail
It left the wife and baby quite alone.
He eased the pain inside him with a needle in his arm
But the dope just crucified him
He died to no one's great alarm
Come and lay, help us lay young Luna down
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons to the ground.
Kilowatt was an aging con of 65
Who stood a chance to stay alive
And leave the joint and walk the streets again
As the time he was to leave drew near
He suffered all the joy and fear
Of leaving 35 years in the pen
And on the day of his release
He was approached by the police
Who took him to the warden, walking slowly at his side
The warden said "You won't remain here
But ist seems a state retainer
Claims another 10 years of your life."
He stepped out in the Texas sunlight
The cops all stood around
Old Kilowatt ran 50 yards then threw himself down on the ground
They might as well just have laid the old man down
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons to the ground
Help us raze, raze the prisons tho the ground
Rainbow RoadI was born a poor poor man
All my life I had hard workin' hands
But I sang a song as I carried my load
Cuz I had a dream about rainbow, rainbow road
Then one day my chance came along
A man heard me singin' and playing these old songs
He bought me fine clothes, paid the money I owed
Started me on my way down rainbow, rainbow road
Then one night a man wiht a knife
Pushed me till I had to take his life
Fast as fallin' all my friends were gone
That old judge traded me a sentence for a song
Just livin' with that ball 'n chain
Had to wear a number 'for they'd ever call my name
Like a dream I'm growing old
But we still sing about rainbow, rainbow read
Love Song To A StrangerHow long since I've spent a whole
night in a twin bed with a stranger
His warm arms all around me
How long since I've gazed into
dark eyes that melted my soul down
to a place where it longed to be?
All of your history has little to do
with your face;
You're mainly a mystery with
violins filling in space.
You stood in the nude by the mirror
and picked out a rose
from the bouquet in our hotel
And laid down beside me again,
and I watched the rose
on the pillow as it fell.
I sank and I slept in a twilight
with only one care -
To know that when day broke and I woke
that you'd still be there.
The hours, for once,
they passed slowly, unendingly by
Like a sweet breeze on a field;
Your gentleness came down upon me
And I guess I thanked you
When you caused me to yield
We spoke not a sentence
And took not a footstep beyond
our two days together
which seemingly soon would be gone.
Don't tell me of love everlasting -
and other sad dreams -
I don't want to hear.
Just tell me of passionate strangers
who rescue each other
from a lifetime of cares.
And if love means forever,
expecting nothing returned,
Then I hope I'll be given
another whole lifetime to learn.
'cause I took from you
oh so many things
It makes me wonder how they could
belong to me,
And I gave you only my dark eyes which
melted your soul down to a place
where it longed to be -
MythsA myth has just been shattered
Upon the four winds scattered
Back to some storybook from whence it came
Vicarious hearts may ache
And try to mend the break
And seek for a righteous place to put the blame
Neither of us knew what the future would bring.
We only know that now there's some room to talk and sing
The baby laughs a lot and that's the most important thing
And as soon as we can handle the hurt and pain
There may be more than just happy memories to gain
So to hell with all the troubles
And counting up the couples
Who travelled this same route on their way down
Cause if we keep on growing
There is no way of knowing
When we'll meet as two new people we just found
We just found.
In The Quiet MorningIn the quiet morning
There was much despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair
That poor girl
Tossed by the tides of misfortune
Barely here to tell her tale
Rolled in on a sea of disaster
Rolled out on a mainline rail
She once walked tight at my side
I'm sure she walked by you
Her striding steps could not deny
Torment from a child who knew
That in the quiet morning
There would be despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair
That poor girl
She cried out her song so loud
It was heard the whole world round
A symphony of violence
The great southwest unbound
La La La La La La La
La La La La La La La
La La La La La La La La La
La La La La
La La La
Weary Mothers (People's Union #1)All the weary mothers of the earth will finally rest;
We will take their babies in our arms, and do our best.
When the sun is low upon the field,
To love and music they will yield,
And the weary mothers of the earth will rest.
And the farmer on his tractor, and beside his plow,
Will stand there in confusion as we wet his brow
With the tears of all the businessmen
Who see what they have done to him,
And the weary farmers of the earth shall rest.
And the aching workers of the world again shall sing
These words in mighty choruses to all will bring -
"We shall no longer be the poor,
For no one owns us any more,"
And the workers of the world again shall sing.
And when the soldiers burn their uniforms in every land,
And the foxholes at the borders will be left unmanned -
General, when you come for the review
The troops will have forgotten you,
And the men and women of the earth shall rest.
To BobbyI'll put flowers at your feet,
And I will sing to you so sweet,
And hope my words will carry home to your heart.
You left us marching on the road,
And said how heavy was the load -
The years were young, the struggle barely at its start.
Do you hear the voices in the night, Bobby
They're crying for you
See the children in the mrning light, Bobby
They're dying
No one could say it like you said it;
We'd only try and just forget it.
You sood alone upon the mountain 'til it was sinking,
And in a frenczy we tried to reach you
With looks and letters we would beseech you -
Never knowing what, where or how you were thinking.
Do you hear the voices in the night, Bobby
They're crying for you
See the children in the morning light, Bobby
They're dying
Perhaps the pictures in the Times
Could no longer be put in rhymes,
When all the eyes of starving children are wide open.
You cast aside the cursed crown,
And put your magic into a sound
That made me think your heart was aching, or even broken
But if God hears my complaint He will forgive you,
And so will I, in all respect, I'll just relive you
And likewise you must understand the things we give you:
Like these flowers at yur door,
And scribbled notes about the war.
We're only saying that time is short and there is work to do.
And we're stilll marching on the streets
With little victories and big defeats,
But there is joy, and there is hope, and there's a place for you.
Do you hear the voices in the night, Bobby
They're crying for you
See the children in the morning light, Bobby
They're dying
Song Of BangladeshThe story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By blind men who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nations stand
Which say to sacrifice a people for a land
Chorus:
Bangladesh, Bangladesh, Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh
Once again we stand aside
And watch the families crucified
See a teenage mothers vacant eyes
As she watches her feeble baby try
To fight the monsoon rains
And the cholera flies.
And the students at the university
Asleep at night quite peacefully
The soldiers came and shot them in their beds
And terror took the dorm, awakening shrieks of dread
And the silent frozen forms and pillows drenched in red.
Chorus
Did you read about the army officer's plea
For donors' blood - it was given willingly
By boys who took the needle in their veins
And from their bodies every drop of blood was drained
No time to comprehend and there was little pain.
And so the story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By all who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nations stand
Which say to sacrifice a people for a land.
Chorus
A Stranger In My PlaceI see the town
Where we were born,
I see the place
We were raised,
I see all the things you wanted
That I never gave.
I see sadness,
I see sorrow,
I see pain in your face,
But I just can't see
A stranger in my place.
I can see now where we quarrelled,
I can see now I was wrong,
I can see where you might weaken
When I wasn't strong.
I see mem'ries of a love gone bad
That time cannot erase,
But I just can't see a stranger in my place.
No one seems to know you quite like I do,
No one knows the thigs that make you cry.
Looking back it seems
I never showed you,
And now I lay alone and wonder why.
I can see now
Where you might grow tired of dreams
That don't come true,
I can see where I have fallen short
Of the things I promised you.
I can see mow throug my tear filled eyes no love on your face,
I must get used to seein' strangers in my place.
Tumbleweed (3:32)I feel like a lonesome tumbleweed
rolling across an open plain,
I feel like something nobody needs
I feel my life drifting away,
drifting away -
I feel like a broken wagon wheel
when I can't hop a slow-moving train
Think I know how a coyote feels
when he's howling just to
ease the pain, since he's been away.
Lord, I feel like rolling,
rolling along, so keep your big
wind blowing till all my natural
days are gone -
till my days are all gone.
I'm just a lonesome tumbleweed
turning end over end.
Once I pulled all my roots free
I became a slave to the wind,
a slave to the wind.
The Partisan (La Complainte du Partisan)They poured across the borders
We were cautioned to surrender
This I could not do
Into the hills I vanished
No one ever asks me
Who I am or where I'm going
But those of you who know
You cover up my footprints
I have changed my name so often
I have lost my wife and children
But I have many friends
And some of them are with me
An old woman gave us shelter
Kept us hidden in a garrett
And then the soldiers came
She died without a whisper
There were three of us this morning
And I'm the only one this ev'ning
Still I must go on
Frontiers are my prison
Oh the winds, the winds are blowing
Thru the graves the winds are blowing
Freedom soon will come!
Then we'll come from the shadow.
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ImagineImagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living in peace
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed nor hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
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