Living Through History

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LIVING THROUGH HISTORY

Sirens scream through the city
People under siege

Are we fighting an enemy

Too big to defeat?

Where is our indignation?

Has greed made us blind

To the fact that the men in suits just

Take us all for a ride?

We’re living through history

Feel the weight of the page

How will we survive?

Can we put out the flames?

Dark times getting darker

Thin end of the wedge

We wait for the deluge

To sweep us off the edge

Some folks stick together

While the others pick the bones

Still we ride on forever

On this rock to the unknown

We’re living through history

Never felt so afraid

Can we overcome?
Can we throw off the chains?

Rebel against nature

Building walls where there were none

Money over everything

Looking out for number one

Exploit other species

As we profit from their pain

Make it look so easy

Don’t you think it’s time we changed?

We’re living through history

Throw off the chains

GONNA BE A RECKONING

A fortunate son don’t know he’s born

A “self-made man” from the manor spawned

Acts like he’s got virtue, he ain’t got no spine

Says that he won’t hurt you, in a second’s time

He’ll sell you out

There’s gonna be a reckoning

For those who would use us as toys

Gonna be a reckoning

For those who would silence our voice

Gonna be a reckoning

If they take our rights away

There’s gonna be a reckoning

Yeah, there’s gonna be hell to pay

Don’t believe anything

You’ve gotta question everything

There’s gonna be a reckoning

You can tug at your forelock, you can doff your cap

They’ll take all you got and never give it back

Expect us to be grateful, working every day

They’re laughing, bellies full, and we got bills to pay

They sold us out

Workers’ rights are human rights

And it ain’t no stretch to believe

We’ve been slaving half our lives

Just feeding someone else’s dream

Never having no control

You know there’s another way

We gotta get together and organise

If we ever want to have our say

There’s gonna be a reckoning

There’s got to be a reckoning

Don’t believe anything

You’ve gotta question everything

There’s gonna be a reckoning

THIS WAS ME

Ever get that feeling we’ve been here before?

Old familiar melodies, old familiar chords

See that old newspaper, dried up in the sun?

Is that fate awaiting everyone?

So give me resolution

Something to prove that I exist

Something to make me feel

Like I still have something to give

Look at the president politicking for war

Like Bush and Nixon and all the others before

It’s all a cycle we’re doomed to repeat

An old addiction we just can’t beat

So give me revolution

Something to prove that I resist

Something to make me feel

Like I still have something to give

We still have friendship, we still have love

And no one’s stupid for thinking that’s enough

Oh, but I wanna leave a footprint, want a legacy

Something other than a headstone saying “this was me”

YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED

Out of the woodwork to fan the flames

With ideas that should be long dead

As our brothers and sisters fight for their rights

You claim “all lives matter” instead

Your time has run out

You should be ashamed

Somehow you’re emboldened

You should be ashamed

Of your culture war

You should be ashamed

This world doesn’t need you

Fuck you and all you stand for

Clinging on to glories from before you were born

You never learn from history’s mistakes

No place in the world for fascists no more

No place in the world for your hate

Your time has run out

Draping old statues in outdated flags

As the bigotry flies from your mouth

Freedom of speech? Well, that doesn’t mean

Someone can’t knock you right out

Your time’s been and gone

WALLS COME TUMBLING

Walls come tumbling, come tumbling down

Give me something, anything, to stop the sound

My god, it’s over now

I put my faith into a beautiful lie

Where once was heaven is just desolate sky

My hopes, my dreams, my aspirations have all but died

Now I know we’re not gonna make it, is it better or worse?

Can reason penetrate and lift the curse?

Now I know we’re not gonna make it

Can I be free of the desire?

The star I followed has all burned out

What once inspired me is pinning me down

My god, what’s left for me now?

Give me tincture for the burn

Ice to douse the flame

When will I learn

Only got myself to blame?

I’ll be alright I guess, I’ll just get by

I’ll wear a grin, hold in what’s locked inside

I got it, don’t worry about me, I’m doing fine

Now I know we’re not gonna make it

Let me be free of the desire

WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?

You’ve got that feeling deep inside

You’ve always known that something ain’t right

Don’t ignore it, don’t let it slide

Maybe together we can turn the tide

Oh, whose side are you on?

You know the bosses they ain’t your friend
Nor the landlord, the banker or the hedge fund man

People or profit? An easy choice

Comes down to that, all the rest is noise

You can’t say there’s not enough to go round
When you’ve got billionaires, you know something is wrong

You know their wealth will never trickle down

So tell me now, whose side are you on?

It’s not a weakness to change your mind

If we ain’t learning are we still alive?

It takes some guts to know you’re wrong

It takes resistance to get strong

Are you for rich? Are you for poor?

Just want those with less to have more

Are you a hawk? Are you a dove?
Just want folks with none to have enough

SO SUDDEN SOMEHOW

Flash flood in my synapses, flapping my hands

A shot to the mainline, a hit from the band

This creative compulsion, got me down on my knees

I’m begging for insight, I need a release

Always been there before, where are you now?

I need you, I need you

Used to come like a storm, so sudden somehow

I need you, I need you

The river’s all dried out, barefoot in the dirt

Pennies for pain now, is that all it’s worth?

I will not go gentle into that good night

No, I will not go gentle into normal life

THIS WORLD IS WORTH SAVING

It’s all gone to hell

Least that’s how it feels

The far right on the rise

Hope crushed beneath the wheel

I don’t know what I can do

It’s all too much to bear

Keep my head from sinking down

Keep me from slipping to despair

Something has to give

The fever has to break

We need a bolt of lightning

To jolt us all awake

This world is worth saving

Don’t let it be too late

This world is worth saving

Our future’s not our fate

The ice caps they melt

Yet they deny that we’re to blame

Billions of animals dying

And yet they think that it’s OK

The news just brings me down

Can’t watch it for too long

But I owe it to the suffering

To know what’s going on

If we carry on like this

How much more can we take?

With all this information

What’s real and what is fake?

This world is worth saving

Don’t let it be too late

This world is worth saving

Let’s make up for our mistakes

This world is worth saving

Don’t let it be too late

This world is worth saving

Our future’s not our fate

Sometimes I wish there was a god

To lead us from the dark

But the power lies in us

All we need’s a spark

A flash of inspiration

The light of bravery

A mobilising flame

To guide us from this reverie

MOST DAYS

Save your platitudes

Cos they won’t get me through

Can’t look on the bright side

Can barely look at you

Can’t pull up your bootstraps

When you ain’t got no boots

Can’t see the nuance

When you deal in absolutes

Most days I’ve got my head on straight

Most days I can let things slide

Most days I can navigate

Most days I feel alive

But this ain’t most days

I feel I’ve got a millstone

Hung around my neck

I feel this subway car

Is headed for a wreck

It’s nothing major

Just the relentlessness of life

Maybe tomorrow

This darkness will subside

Just lose the longing for that life you’ll never lead

Stop buying lotto tickets, stop daring to believe

Just stop living in the lie of better days

Cos just as soon as you’ve got something

Somebody takes it away

Most days nothing’s wrong

Most days I feel alright

Most days I keep on keeping on

Most days I feel alive

But this ain’t most days

GOODBYE, BERGEN ST

Coney Island in the summer

Sometimes Rippers at Rockaway Beach

Watching you skate in Central Park

Cody’s on New Year’s Eve

You bought your rings from Tiffany

You would’ve done Audrey proud

Crowded round the tables

At McSorely’s ale house

Goodbye Bergen Street

Till the next time that we meet on Bergen Street

Singing carols ’neath the arch

At Washington Square in the cold

We danced till four in Williamsburg

Then waited for a cab in the snow

Josh Ritter at the Beacon

On our anniversary

After Rob and Suzy got married

We watched the wrestling at MSG

So we’ve gotta leave before we’re ready to go

We made the most of it, made friends we’ll always know

Made good memories that we’ll always keep

We’ll leave a piece of our hearts here on Bergen Street

So raise a glass to Brooklyn

Here’s to Sam’s in Cobble Hill

Raise a glass to David and Peter

Raise a glass to Lindsey and Bill

Here’s to Madeline and Duncan

And the cabin at Caroga Lake

We came here with nothing

Now there’s so much we can’t take