ROLLING STONES & GUNS 'N' ROSES - SALT OF THE EARTH

Lyrics to The Salt Of The Earth :
(M. Jagger, K. Richard)

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

When I search a faceless crowd
Swirling mass of grey and black and white
They don't look real to me,
In fact they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let's drink to the uncounted head
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who want leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio!

And when I search a faceless crowd
Swirling mass of grey and black and white
They don't look real to me,
In fact they look so strange

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the ragtaggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's think of the three thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth

U2 - I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS

Not a bad rendition of the Greg Lake classic.

I believe in Father Christmas
By Greg Lake (performed by U2)

They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the Virgin’s birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winters light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas Tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
‘Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked at the sky with excited eyes
‘Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas you get you deserve.

GRATEFUL DEAD - DON'T EASE ME IN (Festival Express 1970)

Song factoid: This is the acoustic version from Dick's Picks Vol 8 in 1970:

Chorus
Don't ease, don't ease
Don't ease me in
I've been all night long coming home
Don't ease me in

I was standing on the corner
With a dollar in my hand
I was looking for a woman, sweet moma
Didn't have no man

[chorus]

I was walking down Main (note 1)
Deep [Ellem] too
And all the women down there
They got the Texas blues

[chorus]

The girl I love
She's sweet and true
And the dress she wears, sweet moma
It's pink and blue

She brings me coffee
You know she brings me tea
She brings me 'bout every darn thing
Except the jailhouse key

[chorus]
[chorus]

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & MELISSA ETHERIDGE - THUNDER ROAD

Thunder Road
Bruce Springsteen

The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays
Roy Orbison's singing for the lonely
Hey, that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again, I just can't face myself alone again

Don't run back inside, darling, you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're alright
Oh, and that's alright with me

You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a savior to rise from these streets

Well now, I'm no hero, that's understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey, what else can we do now?

Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair
Well, the night's busted open, these two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real, to trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back, heaven's waiting down on the tracks

Oh, come take my hand
We're riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road
Oh, Thunder Road

Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey, I know it's late, we can make it if we run
Oh, Thunder Road, sit tight
Take hold, Thunder Road

Well, I got this guitar and I've learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walk
From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride ain't free
And I know you're lonely for words that I ain't spoken
Tonight we'll be free, all the promises will be broken

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets
They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet

And in the lonely cool before dawn, you hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone on the wind
So Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers, I'm pulling out of here to win

PHISH: ROGGAE

As usual, the lyrics of Phish are nonsensical (but pleasant)

Rogggae: Phish

The circus is the place for me with bears and clowns and noise
I love the shiny music that descends from overhead
Gordan knew the moment when the stars all turned around
But from that vantage point I frowned

If life were easy and not so fast
I wouldn't think about the past
I can't forget to turn the earth so both sides
Get their share of darkness and of light

So now I wander over grounds of light and heat and sounds and mist
Provoking dreams that don't exist
A circus of light where dreams can take flight
In the peacefulness dreaming dreams brings

If life were easy and not so fast
I wouldn't think about the past
The circus is the place for me [Incomprehensible] so fast
The circus is the place for me [Incomprehensible] so fast
The circus is the place for me [Incomprehensible] so fast
The circus is the place for me [Incomprehensible] so fast

NEIL YOUNG & THE GRATEFUL DEAD: FOREVER YOUNG

Two legends perform another legend's song.

Forever Young
Written by Bob Dylan

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

STEVE EARLE: THE REVOLUTION STARTS NOW!

Song Factoid:
I would say that this 2004 song was prescient:
"In your own home town, in your own backyard."

The Revolution Starts Now
Words and Music by Steve Earle

I was walkin' down the street
In the town where I was born
I was movin' to a beat
That I'd never felt before
So I opened up my eyes
And I took a look around
I saw it written 'cross the sky
The revolution starts now
Yeah, the revolution starts now

The revolution starts now
When you rise above your fear
And tear the walls around you down
The revolution starts here
Where you work and where you play
Where you lay your money down
What you do and what you say
The revolution starts now
Yeah the revolution starts now

Yeah the revolution starts now
In your own backyard
In your own hometown
So what you doin' standin' around?
Just follow your heart
The revolution starts now

Last night I had a dream
That the world had turned around
And all our hopes had come to be
And the people gathered 'round
They all brought what they could bring
And nobody went without
And I learned a song to sing
The revolution starts now

BILLY BRAGG: UPFIELD

I'm going upfield, way up on the hillside
I'm going higher than I've ever been before
That's where you'll find me, over the horizon
Wading in the river, reaching for that other shore

I dreamed I saw a tree full of angels, up on Primrose Hill
And I flew with them over the Great Wen till I had seen my fill
Of such poverty and misery sure to tear my soul apart
I've got a socialism of the heart, I've got a socialism of the heart

I'm going upfield, way up on the hillside
I'm going higher than I've ever been before
That's where you'll find me, over the horizon
Wading in the river, reaching for that other shore

The angels asked me how I felt about all I'd seen and heard
That they spoke to me, a pagan, gave me cause to doubt their word
But they laughed and said: "I doesn't matter if you'll help us in our art
You've got a socialism of the heart, you've got a socialism of the heart"

I'm going upfield, way up on the hillside
I'm going higher than I've ever been before
That's where you'll find me, over the horizon
Wading in the river, reaching for that other shore

Their faces shone and they were gone and I was left alone
I walked these ancient empire streets till I came tearful to my home
And when I woke next morning, I vowed to play my part
I've got a socialism of the heart, I've got a socialism of the heart

I'm going upfield, way up on the hillside
I'm going higher than I've ever been before
That's where you'll find me, over the horizon
Wading in the river, reaching for that other shore