1. |
This Magnificent Fling
04:42
|
|||
|
That summers finally gone I am pleased to know
The orange glow of the forests linger still
Hold on tightly hold on my friends it just begun
Hold on tight while their song is being sung
They say it has been a grand affair
They say now our glory days are coming to an end
We’ve roamed freely we have dined with kings
We’ve had a most magnificent fling
I’ve seen glaciers melting before my eyes
And mountain springs are but a trickle now
Now some say that its time to pay
That figure in the black cape is traveling our way
But I’ve also seen love restore sight to the blind
I’ve seen peoples thrive for 60,000 years
I can see a pathway back to the light again
And a final farewell to this magnificent fling
We can find our way again (Rpt x3)
© Simon Kerr 7 Feb 2020
|
||||
2. |
What Ya Gonna Do
02:44
|
|||
|
Hey now little one - hey now what ya gonna do
Hey now little one - hey now little one what ya gonna do
What ya gonna do when the rains come down
What was gonna do when the water’s all round
Hey little one what ya gonna do
What ya gonna do when the rains come down
What ya gonna do when the waters they rise
What was gonna do as the tide flows by
Hey little one what ya gonna do
What ya gonna do when the waters they rise
Hey now little one - hey now what ya gonna do
Hey now little one - hey now little one what ya gonna do
What ya gonna do when the house is gone
What was gonna do as the waters come on
Hey little one what ya gonna do
What ya gonna do when the house is gone
Instrumental
What ya gonna do when when the sun does shine
What ya gonna do when the heat does rise
Hey little one what ya gonna to
How ya gonna turn off the scorching sun
How ya gonna turn off the scorching sun
© Simon Kerr 24 May 2019
Inspired by Rhiannon Giddens
|
||||
3. |
Mighty Oceans
05:05
|
|||
|
The mighty oceans they are rising
The mighty oceans they are coming
The mighty oceans they are rising
The mighty oceans they are coming
To a town near you on a coastal shore
An estuary and a city walk
The homes we built near an ocean beach
To the lives we live seaside retreat
The mighty oceans they are rising
The mighty oceans they are coming
The mighty oceans they are rising
The mighty oceans they are coming
They will not stop they will not sleep
Keep coming on from the deep
They won't hold back as they rise
They cannot hear our warning cry
They're not our friend They're won't be still
We cannot halt them with our will
We will try to stem the tide
We’ve not much time on our side
(c) Simon Kerr June 2020
|
||||
4. |
Every Story Will Change
05:32
|
|||
|
We were hominids ranging the Savannah
Started telling stories to one another
Became the planet’s storytellers chasing our dreams
This language in our genes and collective memes, yeah
Some think all we need are scientific facts
To explain our world and tell us where were at
But stories always arbitrate where facts are concerned
Our stories are the supervisors of our worlds
Every story will change
I’m getting worried about the future of the planet
Not the chemistry but the life that is on it
Were up against the limits it seems there’s only minutes
To make the changes needed to these stories we’ve invented, yeah
Every culture has stories about the who the why the what
The problem we’ve got is that a lot of these will not
Slow our extinction, our execution
Seduced by stories that offer no redemption
Every story will change
It’s not easy, these are stories that I know
I am driven without knowing so it doesn’t even show ohhh
I, that word again, that’s me, irreducibly
Sacred, I am valuable, master of my destiny
Call it narcissistic, but you have clearly missed it
I will self-maximise and I will not resist it, yeah
It’s in the system, these habits keep insisting
I’ve earned the easy life, expectations keep persisting
I look into the mirror it charms then condemns
I see the future, but these stories hem me in
Every story will change
Every story will change
Every story will change will change Rpt
Ah …………… Ooh ………
Every story will change
Every story will change
Every story will change will change Rpt
Ah …………… Ooh ………
The first story that must change starts with me x2
Gonna let go, gonna let go, I’m gonna let
Gonna let go, gonna let go, I’m gonna let
Gonna let go, gonna let go, I’m gonna let
Gonna let go, gonna let go, I'm gonna let
Gonna let go, gonna let go, I'm gonna let
Gonna let go, gonna let go, I'm gonna let
Gonna let go, gonna let go, I'm gonna let
Ahh….
© Simon Kerr, September 2020
|
||||
5. |
Only One Way To Head
04:23
|
|||
|
I don’t want to live and I don’t want to die
Watching the sun as it heats up the sky
Scorching the earth where nothing can grow
Melting ice, see the water flow
Its harder to see the things that you love
If you fear what comes from above
In the quiet places I live
In the silence I try to forgive
Chorus
So I’ll fight I’ll not stand back and watch us end this world that I love
So I’ll work, never look back there’s only one way to head
Repeat Chorus …. (2nd time) ….there’s only one way to head [STOP]
One way to head
I don’t want to hear that things will turn out fine
It's not the kind of story we need at this time
When winter comes it comes for us all
Together we stand or together we fall
So we'll fight not stand back and watch us end this world that we love
So we'll work, never look back there’s only one way to head (Rept)
Only one way to head …
(Coda)
© Simon Kerr April 2019 (Boston)
|
||||
6. |
No Enemies
05:45
|
|||
|
I’ve got no enemies today
That’s the way its gonna stay
I got no enemies today
I’m going to work to make it stay that way
I’ve lived on earth for all my life
I’ve had my share of life and strife
My heart challenged in many ways
Let go of love on many days
There are people with no love for me
People who could be my enemies
I don’t want to play their game
They may hate but I’ll try not to do the same
Maybe they’re gonna shoot me down
Pull me under watch me drown
But they can never control my soul
How I respond that’s under my control
So I say
No enemies I do believe
No enemies is what I see
No enemies in my soul
No enemies will my soul know
No enemies I do believe
No enemies is what I see
No enemies in my soul
No enemies [STOP] will my soul know
I’ve got no enemies today
That’s the way its gonna stay
I got no enemies today
I’m going to work and work and work and work to make it stay that way
I’ve lived on earth for all my life
I’ve had my share of life and strife
My heart challenged in many ways
Let go of love ...
Let go of love ...
Let go of love ...
On many days
On many days
On many days
Far too many days
Well there are people with no love for me
People who could be my enemies
I don’t want to play their game
They may hate
But I’ll try not to do the same
Try not to do the same
Try not to do the same
Try not to do the same
Maybe they’re gonna shoot me down
Pull me under watch me drown
They can never control my soul
They'll never control my soul
Never control my soul
They'll never control my soul
never control ...
Unless I let them
Unless I let them
So I say no enemies I do believe
No enemies is what I see
No enemies in my soul
No enemies will my soul know
No enemies I do believe
No enemies is what I see
No enemies in my soul
No enemies [STOP] will my soul …
know … oh …
© Simon Kerr February 2008
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
Today we are eating the world
It may sound absurd maybe I’ve misheard
But I tell you this is no conspiracy
Its just the age of the global corporate deity
Monsanto or Exxon, Facebook’s monopoly
How do non-humans become objects
How does a web of complex entities
Vanish from our consciousness and identity
Like the million species we farewell this century?
Gotta be objective that is clear,
And stay silent about subjects of our actions here
If we incline our ear can we hear …. the pulsing of the biosphere?
Is it for us to create their fate? No doubt we do it, we do it every day
In many ways, could it be … just an evolutionary phase?
Sometimes I think we don’t see this clearly and I mean this sincerely
For clarity of perception can be dangerous
For it changes us if we respond to it
For it changes us if we respond to it
I will not forget you, I will keep you in my heart
I will keep you in my heart I will keep you in my heart (Rpt)
Instrumental (8 bars)
But there is a price we pay for blindness
Seeing only what we wish can debilitate kindness
And humans are powerful we are now
a geologic force to be reckoned with
But that don’t bode too well if we don’t
recognise the limitations of power or force
Blindly seeing the earth as just a resource
Forgetting it’s a relationship of course
It has taken us millions of years to emerge on this earth
We’re the product of time and chance
Entangled in processes deeper that we can observe
And insight is a learning curve … and wisdom …
Wisdom is the child of humility And only stupidity
Thinks that we can force the issue
Without kindness to guide us there Without kindness to guide us there
I will not forget you, I will keep you in my heart
I will keep you in my heart I will keep you in my heart (Rpt)
© Simon Kerr August 2019 (Boston/Anchorage)
|
||||
8. |
The Vegetable Song
02:49
|
|||
|
(Chorus)
Let everyone eat more vegetables
We need to eat fewer animals
And all of us will live to a ripe old age
Because of vegetables
And the earth will take you on a tour
And all the streams will be so pure
You can drink the water now it’s clean
And there’s a few cows in the fields
And some chickens roaming free
The countryside starts to look green
Chorus
It really simple to conclude
The land will give us much more food
If we eat more plants than animals
Then we can plant a lot more trees
Restore the land that’s the key
A better future from less CO2
You know its true, oh yes you do
So take your partner by the hand
Swing them out then back again
Do-si-dos all through this song
And don’t forget to sing along
Chorus x3
© Simon Kerr, 18th July 2010 (updated 6 Nov 2019)
|
||||
9. |
||||
|
The stranger he was tall and strong
Never doing wrong when he came to town
So the people gathered all around
He rode slowly on his horse
A Palomino called ‘Economorse’
And of the future, he wrote a book
But they weren’t sure just who he was
They were all at a loss
Till someone recognised him … Its Ross
(expressions of recognition and general delight)
Spoken: Garnaut that is … economist … clean energy
'My name is Ross your surely right
I traveled this land day and night
I search for the hidden paths to take
In this land so bleached and scorched
For a vision of the pathway forward'
‘Tell us, did you find it Ross’ they called
Ross sat still upon the hill
He cleared his throat, the crowd went still
'We can be Super Powerful'
'Come on Aussie we can be
Come be a SuperPower with me
An energy SuperPower with me'
And he sang as he watched everyone join him to sing
'We can be a SuperPower Australia
An energy SuperPower Australia'
Ross gazed upon the crowd
The crowd gazed back upon Ross
He gently pointed to the sun
'I saw wealth and prosperity
Its all above our heads you see
We just need to take our minds (mines?) out of the ground'
'The black stuff' he said pointing down
'Has made us rich', he made a frown
'Now its left us in lying in a ditch'
'But I’ve had a vision true
Where future skies are always blue
An Energy SuperPower is what we’ll be
We’ll use power down here in droves
And ship stuff north that’s where it goes
Jobs for all and clearer air too'
The people saw the answer to the loss
of the black stuff they loved most
The Answer is the sun of course
Spoken: Green power that is … Revolutionary … Clean energy
'Come on Aussie we can be
Come be a SuperPower with me
An energy SuperPower with me'
And he sang as he watched everyone join him to sing
'We can be a SuperPower Australia
An energy SuperPower Australia'
'Come on Aussie we can be
Come be a SuperPower with me
An energy SuperPower with me'
And he sang as he watched everyone join him to sing
'We can be a SuperPower Australia
An energy SuperPower Australia
We can be a SuperPower Australia
An energy SuperPower Australia'
(Outro: Spoken)
Giddy up there
Do you like my horse?
It’s solar powered … of course
© Simon Kerr 7 Aug 2020
|
||||
10. |
Imagine The World
04:10
|
|||
|
I walk through the parks and the streets where I live
They bustle with life and the joys they give
Air that is fresh where our lungs can sing
A sky that is clear in Melbourne and Beijing
Where we draw power from the sun and harvest the wind
And cities are quiet except for birds and the hum of bees’ wings
And people are working, cafe's buzzing and full
And travel is easy by bike or something electric and cool
Democracy’s working but not just for a few
And justice is real for the poorest and that’s the common view
Where Corporations value the needs of the earth
Responsive and innovative safe guarding resources for all they're worth
Chorus
And I imagine the world, what we could be
A chance to write our future history
Let’s imagine a world, one where it’s clear
That living can be better in the future, than it … than it is here
Guitar fill
Na na nana nana na na Na nana na na
Na na nana nana na na Na nana na na
And I imagine the world and what we could be
A chance to write our future history
Let’s imagine a world, one where it’s clear
That living can be better in the future, than it ...
Than it is here,
Than it is here,
Than it is here,
Than it is here
Guitar fill
Na na nana nana na na Na nana na na
Na na nana nana na na Na nana na na
© Simon Kerr Oct 2015
|
||||
Simon Kerr Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne based Kiwi songwriter guitarist Simon Kerr is producer of the multimedia show Music for a Warming World. See the website for more.
If you like Simon Kerr, you may also like:
Radiant bossa nova melodies overlap with nature sounds and muted electronic percussion on the Brazilian singer-songwriter's "solar album."
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 30, 2021
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Jul 8, 2014
go to album
Mind, Man, Medicine
by The Secret Sisters
The Alabama duo's fifth album exults in dusty Americana, showcasing rich vocal harmonies alongside blissful folk instrumentation.
go to album
The haunting new record from Canadian folk artist Avi C. Engel bridges old and new traditions with a minimalist approach.
go to album
The King Of Misery
by Daudi Matsiko
featured on Bandcamp Radio Nov 7, 2023
go to album
The instrumental ensemble Dt/IG straddles the line between folk and classical, stirring acoustics augmented by sumptuous arrangements.
go to album
