1. |
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Sometimes the Best Laid Plans
© Dave McFarlane
I had a plan, I made it real good,
I worked on it hard to run like it should
I took it real slow, checked it all twice,
I took on some help, I got good advice
2/ I looked for the problems, and I put them all right
Wrote down instructions, worked late into the night
I took all my doubt and I pushed it aside,
To focus my will on that razor sharp line
3/ I got a picture framed on my wall,
It’s a image of life, it’s a message of hope
A painting of colours, like a sunset on fire
To remind me of faith to ignite and inspire
In the morning we might understand
By tomorrow it’ll all be in hand
Best intentions, the outlook is good
But sometimes the best laid plans
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2. |
Shed a Little Light
01:09
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Shed a Little Light
© James Taylor
Oh let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women living on the Earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
We are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children can grow free and strong
And we are bound together by the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound
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3. |
I Have a Dream
04:22
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I Have a Dream
© Martin Luther King jr
Now is the time, to make real the promises of democracy.
Now is the time, to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now is the time, to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time, to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.
We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.
Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.
Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells.
Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom
Left you battered by the storms of persecution, staggered by the winds of police brutality.
You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
'Cos I have a dream, my four little children will one day live in a nation
Where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists
With its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification"
One day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls
Will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls
As sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope... With this faith
We will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together. to go to jail together
To stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rookies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaeeous slopes of California.
But not only that.
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi
From every mountain side. Let freedom ring…
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4. |
Wild Cathedral
04:19
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Wild Cathedral
© Michael Kennedy
Through a gate of sweet bursaria
I cross a hearth of stones shiny side up
Soft rain throws coloured bows
Across an arc
Wind a fanfare
Thrills the cool air
Flying choirs
Fill the steeple
Ceiling clouds swirl
Isles of bloom curl
Around the wild cathedral
Under a bow for shelter
I watch a holy helter skelter
Take the day and shape away
Like a master sculptor
Wind a fanfare…
In the rock I see a face
In the tree a dance
There’s a breath upon the sun
Folding light holding life
In a trance
What a wild mysterious thing
To find yourself in almost everything
Lying on a temple crying gentle
Tears of awakening
Wind a fanfare…
And everywhere, the fill and fall of trill and call
Everywhere, the fill and fall of trill and call
And everywhere, the fill and fall of trill and call...
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5. |
Pizza Resistance
05:06
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Pizza Resistance
© Mal Webb 2018
This song is for a restaurant I've long visualised
An imaginary franchise for the disenfranchised
A fictional kitchen, which for globally famed
Fearless leaders of love it is nobly named
In these slices of life, find kindness entwined
Like "Like Water for Chocolate", through the stomach to the mind
[Chorus...]
Come eat at the Pizza Resistance
Comida la peaceful persistence
Non violent people's revolution, spins round your platter
Revering the kinder heros who really matter
First up, a la carte, we have the Dalai Lama - One with everything, the supreme karma farmer
Then the Nelson Mandela our top seller, it'll govern your taste buds but takes a long time in the oven
Then the Martin Luther King, aka MLK, Mushroom, Lettuce and Kale, s'il vous plait, right away
Like the Josephine Baker cake when just desserts, unsegregated flavours a swirl of banana exerts
Unless French dressing disconcerts.
[Chorus...] ...who truly matter
Fine dining combining a reminder call with a comestible that's the best of all
Celebration! It's a festival! And salivation! It's delectable! Salutation of salvation through satiation
Up next on the specials is the Corazon Aquino, the Manila folded pizza or Calzone Philipino
Then the Ken Saro Wiwa's Nigerian effect, with no oil or shellfish, out of respect
Then the Julian Assange features leeks of course, a taste of Ecuador with a secret sauce
Then the Ghandi knocks your socks off, but not so hot that it's untouchable. It's fast food and yet it's not.
Pass the salt... make it one with the lot. Wot ya got!
But in each case, each great tasty topping
Needs a supportive base to stop it flopping
Hours of grind for fine flours wholegrained and seeded
Growing rolls are heeded when dough is kneaded
The heat entreats yeast increased in size
The trusted crust and the faithful rise
[Chorus...] ...who really truly matter
Fine dining combining a reminder call with a comestible that's the best of all
Celebration! It's a festival! And salivation! It's delectable! Salutation of salvation through satiation
And guaranteed the ingredients of every morsel in our range is organically and ethically sourced and, of course
It's a given that the menu is subject to change, as the women and men who inspired it desired it
So we wood fired it!
'Cos with a jukebox stocked with Bob Marley and John Lennon
And bookshelf stacked with Gene Sharp, Tolstoy and Thoreau
Extend the menu beyond the venue to fond defenders of our rights
That maybe you don't know you don't know
Like the Cesar Chavez if farm fresh is what you seek
Or for greens, the Bob Brown is mild, but never meek
Take a seat, try the Rosa Parks, the Alice Paul
And the Nobel Women's Initiative pizza. Try 'em all!
Then the Lauaki Namulau'ulu Mamoe's
A long way from the flavour of the Lech Wałęsa
Then the Vaclav Havel, the Gbowee, the Tohu
Kākahi, The Te Whiti o Rongomai, the Desmond Tutu
Phew! And maybe even you too!
[Chorus...] ...who really truly matter
Fine dining combining a reminder call with a comestible that's the best of all
Celebration! It's a festival! And salivation! It's delectable! Salutation of salvation through satiation
©Mal Webb 2017
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6. |
So Over You
04:43
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So Over You
© Mal Webb 2008
I was on the rebound when we met, my heart so freshly broken
And there you were, unspoken for, not quite all I was hoping for
But my mind conspired to fix you up, selective sense avoiding
Your faults had some embroid’ing done
’Til you’d become my number one
But time has made the colours fade
The shroud has frayed away
And now the real you is standing there as plain as day
Well, I’m afraid I have to say
That I’m so so so so so over you
It’s time that you finally knew
You’re no longer who had at first enchanted me
How dare you not be all that I imagined you to be
So I’m so ...
I thought that you ought be told
Now my love’s run cold, let me hold somebody new
’Cos I’m oh so over you
But, of course, you’ll hear no word of this
I’ll just say, “You’re a bastard!
You lied to me so dastardly
You cad, you’ve seen the last of me!”
My friends all try to dry my tears
And help me to be strong
But can’t resist the urge to say they knew it all along
You were always Mr Wrong
Now I’m so ...
You’re cast to the past, it’s true
My creative mind had me blind, but now I see
You’re not a patch upon the catch I’d built you up to be
So I’m so ...
Here it ends and we shan’t be friends
While my poor heart mends, let me tend to someone new
Now I’m oh so over you
Well, I’m queen of denial, delusion and dejection
Bumbling from flower to flower for fear of rejection
I’m riding on a vicious cycle, vexed by my own hexes
It’s why I never get along with any of my exes
But, of course, you’ll hear no word of this
I’ll just leave in a huff
And fly into the arms of my next blind romantic’s bluff
But it’s never quite enough
’Cos I’m so ...
Then again, given time, who knows?
When this heartache goes, I may see you as before
Recalling I adore you, God knows, maybe even more
But I’m so ...
Back away, form an orderly queue
’Til I’ve thought this though, let me hold somebody new
’Cos I’m oh so over you.
©Mal Webb 2008
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7. |
A Trick of the Tail
05:47
|
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A Trick of the Tail
© Tony Banks
Bored of the life on the city of gold
He'd left and let nobody know.
Gone were the towers he had known from a child,
Alone with the dream of a life
He traveled the wide open road,
The blinkered arcade,
In search of another to share in his life.
Nowhere.
Everyone looked so strange to him.
They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence.
Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried
And wept as they led him away to a cage
Beast that can talk, read the sign.
The creatures they pushed and they prodded his frame
And questioned his story again.
But soon they grew bored of their prey
Beast that can talk?
More like a freak or publicity stunt.
Oh
No.
They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence.
Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried
And broke down the door of the cage and marched on out.
He grabbed a creature by the scruff of his neck, pointing out:
There, beyond the bounds of you weak imagination
Lie the noble towers of my city, bright and gold.
Let me take you there, show you a living story
Let me show you others such as me
Why did I ever leave?
They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence
Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
That lies in the deep distance, he cried
And wept.
And so we set out with the best and his horns
And his crazy description of home.
After many days journey we came to a peak
Where the beast gazed abroad and cried out.
We followed his gaze and we thought that maybe we saw
A spire of gold - no, a trick of the eye that's all,
But the beast was gone and a voice was heard:
They've got no horns and they've got no tail
They don't even know of our existence
Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold
That lies in the deep distance
Hello friend, welcome home.
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8. |
Buttercup
05:35
|
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Buttercup
© Mal Webb
Grab yourself a partner, quickly now
We can dance the Buttercup and I'll show you how
It all came from a game we played for hours
Outstanding in the field of flowers
By the botanical name of Ranunculus
It inflames little funk unless the groove's improved
With a glutinous maximal Gambian move
A double entendre or two and you
Gently zoom that yellow bloom beneath your partner's chin
And there may show a golden glow upon that chinny skin
Thence your task is to ask the spread on which they're keen
Your voice should carry like Bootsy or Barry
Smooth as margarine, as you utter
"Do you like butter?"
Moove around with a dairy air
Churning arms and a bovine stare
Then flick that buttercup in the air
And walk away like you just don't care
So how'd you go? Did you do OK?
Did you bump into someone as you walked away?
Well, that's your new partner without a doubt
Updating's what the Buttercup's all about
Hug what you love, then let it wander
Yonder to ponder growing fonder
‘Til one day you're reuniting with 'em
Chewing the fat in ruminating rhythm (chewing that cud...)
Ooh, that's the Buttercup
If you don't know how it goes, just make it up
...No-one really knows when you mess it up
...Don't grow roots and vegetate
Good things come to those who gyrate
Well, how was that? Did it do the trick?
Did your timing suck? Did you splaff the flick?
Be free range, do it anywhere
My granny even does it in a wheelchair
There will, in turn, be those who spurn
The chance to enhance romance with a daggy dance
Let 'em stray on their gormless way
They may still cotton on someday to the Buttercup...
Well, that's about it, I hope you've found it fun
Now you're bound to spread it ‘round
To one and all, to stranger, friend and foe
Sow the seed and Buttercups tend to grow!...
© Mal Webb 2002
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9. |
Andrew's Clementine
05:08
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10. |
Dangerous Boys
03:23
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Dangerous Boys
© Mark Simos
Come all of you good men
Who are loving and kind
Who will be there tomorrow
Who know your own mind
Find yourself a good woman
Taste life’s many joys
But don’t fall for one who loves
Those dangerous boys
They’re the boys that can steal her heart
With one sparkling glance
Loyalty against mystery
Never had half a chance
On the thinnest of threads they tug
Like a child with his toys
So strong the chains of
Those dangerous boys
Did you court her too gently?
Could you just not wait?
Did you arrive at her doorstep
One heartbeat too late?
Did you try to call to her
In midnight’s dark voice?
A language known only to
Those dangerous boys
What fool god possessed you?
What made you so bold?
To reach for a hand
You could have but not hold
Was it ever your game to win
With your plans and your ploys?
No, you lost to the easy grin
Of those dangerous boys
Some days you’ll be filled with rage
Some days with despair
You’re the one truly dangerous
You’re the one who is there
You’re the one she would choose to love
If love were a choice
Instead of a tale told
By dangerous boys
So come all of you good men
Who are loving and kind
Who will be there tomorrow
Who know your own mind
Find yourself a good woman
Taste life’s many joys
But don’t fall for one who loves
Those dangerous boys
Yes, stay far from the ones who love
Only those dangerous boys
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11. |
Airborne Bastard
03:51
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Airborne Bastard
© Kris Demeanor, Kristofer Wenzel
Every year I think I'm in the clear
I think I've outgrown the weakness the seasonal meekness
The sad result of this genetic default
Making eyes red and raw and my nose a fucking faucet
Spring has sprung yes and I'm a believer
In the beauty of new growth and the hell of hay fever
Take the potential of enjoying new nature
And trade it away into a pocket full of wet balled up toilet paper
In between sneezing reality rings true
Confronted with the fact that Mother Nature hates you
How dare she?!? That's what I ask
How dare she let me suffer after all I've done for her
Action groups, preservation societies
Who wants to save what they can't enjoy?
Cause while you're pitching your camp stall I'll be itching my eyeballs
Enjoying your lawn? I'll be downstairs with the fan and the humidifier on
Get down airborne bastard
I've tried them all Hydrasense Clariton Allegra Benedril Chloro-Tripilon
I've tried homeopathy giving up dairy
Please! These aren't remedies
I'd rather choke on my own snot than live a live without cheese
I don't even know what it is
Is it the pollen or the grass or the dust or the popular fluff falling?
I'm only happy when the rest of you blests are complaining
Yah I'm a downright smug son of a bitch when it raining
I'm tired of the pity or being bemoaned
I'm tired of people asking if I'm sick or if I'm stoned
Get down airborne bastard
I know it's not that simple there's a deeper reason
For the depth in our suffering the growing season
The world is reborn the flower the birds
It's all a humiliating twist of the knife
With the under the nose chafing the itching the aching
It's like you're allergic to life!
So think of us that's all I'm saying
When you're in the outside world inhaling
Think of the thousands pale and exhausted
Huddled around empty Kleenex boxes
And trust we are plotting revenge without limit
On the air that you breathe and all the shit in it
Get down airborne bastard
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12. |
Too Close to the Sun
04:05
|
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Too Close to the Sun
©Dave McFarlane
Doesn’t everybody have a dream
Is there, something about you nobody else can see, Do you , find yourself drifting
Thinking of the person , you want to be
2/ Everybody’s got their destiny
Some kind of purpose or reason to be
A part of the picture, an actor in the play The lead role in the movie The hero of the day
3/ Isn’t everybody scared by life
Don’t we, all wake up sometimes worried in the night, Are you, always that confident, are you happy all the time Well that day can pass by quickly and turn back into night
4/ Everybody’s got a right to dream
The right to, travel roads that others may not see To raise your own sails and set them to the wind On a journey to a destination no one else has been
Flyin too close to the sun
Flying too high and it’s scaring everyone
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13. |
||||
On Come the Men
©Barnaby Ward
It's 3:30am, I’m watching television
And the cricket comes on, it comes on
The huge field is empty, except for several seagulls
The announcer’s talking nonsense
On come the men
Ugly sweaty men with huge moustaches
And excessive amounts of zinc creme
And they’re doing things that only cricket players do
On another channel, it’s time for the music
There a women in bikinis riding motorcycles
Back in the stadium, there’s a whole stack of Marshalls
Spotlights waving crazily
On come the men
Ugly hairy men, with ridiculous tattoos
All over their bodies, thrusting the floor
Now I’m awake, I’ve been sleeping at my friend’s house
It’s the hour of power, it’s the Christians
10,000 Americans all squashed up together
How do they stand it, I wonder
On come the men
Men with huge chins and no noses
They have the answers and they’re going to heal us
Men on the beach
Men tending barbeques
Men wearing lycra and high viz
Men turning off leaf blowers
Men doing darning
Men riding electric bicycles
Men making up bedtime stories
Men asking for directions
Men fixing a flat tyre on a wheelchair
Men building windfarms
Men dwelling on the concept of considering contemplation
Men calling out other men for being dodgy
Men being proud of their compost
Men owning their stuff ups
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14. |
Amy's OK
04:39
|
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Amy's OK
© Matt Radford
Amy's very bored
She's skint, and feeling so bad
Because she's unemployed
She wants to play bass in a real speed-metal band
Amy's got a new haircut
Didn't make her feel a whole lot better
When her boyfriend tried to break up
He couldn't say it to her face, so he put it in a letter
(Spoken: These days, that would be a text message)
Amy spends her day
Walking 'round St Kilda
Where she always says gudday
To all the people that she meets, that's why they think she's so peculiar
Chorus:
Yeah, yeah, but she's so strong
When she gets her head together
But it hurts to see the sadness in her eyes
She's so strong, but she changes like the weather
And it's hard to find the confidence inside
Amy needs her friends
So she meets them at the Espy
In the small café at ten
Amy reads their future in their peppermint tea
Amy tells her friends
About her major new disaster
Well, the guy's run off again
And her friends agree with her when she says all men are bastards
(Spoken: Aw, not all men...come on...take it easy...
Yeah, you guys just get back in your box!)
Chorus
Amy wants to change
So she writes five affirmations
And she chants them every day
But her attempts at meditation always end up in frustration
Amy's sick of tears
And she's tired of all the fighting
Well, she wants to cut her fears
And she hates playing the game, but it makes it more exciting
Chorus
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15. |
Come On Sun
05:35
|
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Come On Sun
© Carl Pannuzzo
Come on sun, shine like you love me
Come on sun, shine like you always do/did
Come on sun, shine like you’ll never let me go
Come on sun, shine like you love this day,
Come on sun, shine like you paint the way,
Come on sun, ‘cause I need your kisses on my face
I count my blessings the star you are to me
And all my wishes are far from only mine, my sun if you’ll only shine
All around the galaxy, there’s no star quite like you
All these happy people orbit around you
And all round the galaxy, we (still) hear your melody
And music is laughing all the way
When you’re down and darkness falls
Behind a cloud, the threat of storm,
Shy to rise, the lazy morn
All the day there’s something warm for all
Come on sun….
All around the galaxy, there’s a song sung by you
And we dance a rhythm in orbit around you
All around the galaxy, we all sing in harmony
The music is love throughout the day
But when you’re quiet, silence falls
We rest and wait the morning calls
We live the memories in our dreams
And stretch to the hope of sunny scenes
Come on sun
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16. |
The Goddess of Harkaway
06:58
|
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The Goddess of Harkaway
© Penelope Swales 2015
I don’t really know her
But I love her coz she cares
She always cares
and she always takes the time
Somehow when she does it
It's not clichéd
Somehow when she does it
It's not hackneyed
Something in the way she does it
Makes it work because she's so sincere
She glows with love, she's got it coming out to here
Chorus:
She's beautiful
But that's not why she's beautiful
She's beautiful because she's powerful
Powerful because she's purposeful
Powerful but gentle
Strong and fine
Even in her hard time
Always so generous
even after her hard night
So even handed
Even if she can't tell left from right
My clumsy soul
Doesn't know what to do with her
I'd like to know her
But maybe she's too professional
Repeat Chorus
(Instrumental – or not)
The mongrel mix she makes
Of Buddhas and namastes
Tibetan Flags and Chinese characters
Music, maps and straps and bolsters
Works for me
Because it works for her
Because she so sincere and coz she really cares
Alternate chorus:
It's wonderful
But that's not why it's wonderful
It's wonderful because it's meaningful
Meaningful because it's purposeful
It's purposeful because it's her
Coz of the way she makes it work
Coz she's so sincere and she always takes the time
Bridge:
Supple strong and beautiful
Sparkling, shining wonderful
With healing words and healing hands
Bend and stretch and crouch and stand
Her likke band of followers
Middle-aged and stiff and sore
Gather on a Wednesday night
To set their tired bodies right
She smiles at all her attendees
Regardless of abilities
And I respond, because she really cares
Because she's so sincere and coz she really cares.
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17. |
Nyurruwiyi
03:19
|
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Nyurruwiyi
© Seraphina Presley, Mal Webb, Seini Taumoepeau
(Warlpiri language: See translation below)
Nyurruwiyi kalalu yapaju nyinaja
Kirlka-nyayirni
Warlalja nyanjaku manu kurdujuku
Purda-nyanjarla
Wantangka, Yulyurrpu-ngka
Wajirrkinyi-rla manu Warijarri-rla
Murru Murru rarralypa manu pirrjirti
Ngurrju mata wangu
Yapa-ju wapajalpalu
Kirri-kari-kirra wurramanji wirlinyi
Wantangka, Yulyurrpu-ngka
Wajirrkinyi-rla manu Warijarri-rla
Nyurruwiyi kalalu yapaju nyinaja FC
Kirlka-nyayirni
Translation by Cindy Presley:
Long time ago, this is how they lived. Healthy and strong
They would observe the world, do ceremony and listen
Summer, Winter (cold time), Spring (green time) and Autumn (westerly wind)
Through sickness and health, they were lively without tiredness
They used to walk, place to place, camping out and hunting
Summer, Winter (cold time), Spring (green time) and Autumn (westerly wind)
Long time ago, this is how they lived. Healthy and strong
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Totally Gourdgeous Melbourne, Australia
Four outrageously diverse singer-songwriter-musicians united under Gourd. Indeed, playing instruments made from those woody cucurbits brings their music together to make folk funk philosophy to feed your wildest pumpkin longings. Penelope Swales (guitar), Carl Pannuzzo (drums), Mal Webb (bass, mbira and bugle) and Andrew Clermont (violin, mandolin and guitar). Instigated in 1998. ... more
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