Paul Simon Album

We heard the fireworks
Rushed out to watch the sky,
Happy go lucky, fourth of July

How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you build on the banks of a river
When the flood water pours from the mouth?

How can you be a Christian?
How can you be a Jew?
How can you be a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu?
How can you?

Weak as the winter sun, we enter life on earth.
Names and religion comes just after date of birth.
Then everybody gets a tongue to speak,
And everyone hears an inner voice,
A day at the end of the week to wonder and rejoice.

If the answer is infinite light
Why do we sleep in the dark?

How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you build on the banks of a river?
When the flood water pours from the mouth?

How can you tattoo your body?
Why do you cover your head?
How can you eat from a rice bowl
The holy man only breaks bread?

We watched the fireworks 'til they were fireflies.
Followed a path of stars over the endless skies.

How can you live in the Northeast?
How can you live in the South?
How can you build on the banks of a river
When the flood water pours from the mouth, from the mouth?

I've been given all I wanted,
Only three generations off the boat.
I've harvested and I've planted.
I'm wearing my father's old coat.

Locked in a struggle for the right combination of words in a melody line
I took a walk along the riverbank of my imagination
Golden clouds were shuffling the sunshine

But if I ever get back to the twentieth century
Guess I'll have to pay off some debts
Open the book of my vanishing memory
With its catalogue of regrets
Stand up for the deeds I did
And those I didn't do
Sit down, shut up, think abou God
And wait for the hour of my rescue

We don't mean to mess things up
But mess them up we do
And then it's "Oh, I'm sorry"
Here's a smiling photograph of love it was new
At a birthday party

Make a wish and close your eyes: surprise, surprise, surprise.

Early December, and brown as a sparrow
Frost creeping over the pond
I shoot a thought into the future
And it flies like an arrow
Through my lifetime, and beyond

If I ever come back as a tree, or a crow
Or even the wind-blown dust
Find me on the ancient road in the song when the wires are hushed
Hurry on and remember me, as I'll remember you
Far above the golden clouds, the darkness vibrates

The earth is blue

And everything about it is a love song
Everything about it
Everything about it is a love song
Everything about it
Everything about it is a love song

It's outrageous to line your pockets off the misery of the poor.
Outrageous the crime some human beings must endure.
It's a blessing to wash your face in the summer solstice rain.
It's outrageous a man like me stand here and complain.

But I'm tired, nine hundred sit-ups a day.
I'm painting my hair the colour of mud, mud, okay?
I'm tired, tired
Anybody care what I say? No!
I'm painting my hair the colour of mud.

Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Aw, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?

It's outrageous the food they try to serve in a public school.
Outrageous, the way they talk to you like you're some kind of clinical fool
It's a blessing to rest my head in the circle of your love.
It's outrageous I can't stop thinking about the things I'm thinking of.

And I'm tired, nine hundred sit-ups a day.
I'm painting my hair the colour of mud, mud, okay?
I'm tired, tired, anybody care what I say? No!
Painting my hair the colour of mud.

Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
Tell me, who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?

God will,
Like he waters the flowers on your window sill.
Take me, I'm an ordinary player in the key of C,
And my will was broken by my pride and my vanity

Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?
God will,
Like he waters the flowers on your window sill.
Who's gonna love you when your looks are gone?

I registered to vote today
Felt like a fool
Had to do it anyway
Down at the high school
Thing about the second line
You know, felt like a fool?
People say it all the time
Even when it's true
So, who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Cause it sure don't feel like love

A tear drop consists of electrolytes and salt
The chemistry of crying is not concerned with blame or fault
So, who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Who's that conscience sticking on the sole of my shoe?
Cause it sure don't feel like love
How does it feel?
Feels like a threat
A voice in your head that you'd rather forget
No joke, no joke
You get sick from that unspoken
Sure don't feel like love
No joke, no joke
Some chicken and a corn muffin well that feels more like love

Yay! Boo!
Yay! Boo!

Wrong again, wrong again
Maybe I'm wrong again
Wrong again
Maybe I'm wrong again
Wrong again
I could be wrong again
I remember once in August 1993
I was wrong, and I could be wrong again
I remember one of my best friends turned enemy
So, I was wrong, and I could be wrong again
I remember once in a load-out, down in Birmingham
Yeah, but that didn't feel like love
Sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like love
Sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like, sure don't feel like love
It sure. Don't feel
Like love

Prayers offered in times of peace are silent conversations,
Appeals for love or love's release
In private invocations
But all that is changed now,
Gone like a memory from the day before the fires.
People hungry for the voice of God
Hear lunatics and liars
Wartime prayers, wartime prayers
In every language spoken,
For every family scattered and broken.

Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genius marketing plan.
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop will do.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.

Times are hard, it's a hard time
But everybody knows all about hard times.
The thing is, what are you gonna do?
Well, you cry and try to muscle through
Try to rearrange your stuff
But when the wounds are deep enough,
It's all that we can bear,
We wrap ourselves in prayer.

Because you cannot walk with the holy,
If you're just a halfway decent man.
I don't pretend that I'm a mastermind
With a genius marketing plan.
I'm trying to tap into some wisdom,
Even a little drop willdo.
I want to rid my heart of envy
And cleanse my soul of rage
Before I'm through.
A mother murmurs in twilight sleep
And draws her babies closer.
With hush-a-byes for sleepy eyes,
And kisses on the shoulder.
To drive away despair
She says a wartime prayer.

Snowman sittin' in the sun doesn't have time to waste
He had a little bit too much fun
Now his head's erased
Back in the house, family of three
Two doin' the laundry and one in the nursery

We brought a brand new baby back from Bangladesh
Thought we'd name her Emily
She's beautiful. Beautiful

Yes, sir, head's erased, brain's a bowl of jelly
Hasn't hurt his sense of taste
Judging from his belly
But back in the house, family of four now
Two doin' the laundry and two on he kitchen floor

We brought a brand new baby back from mainland China
Sailed across the China Sea
She's beautiful. Beautiful

Go-kart sittin' in the shade
You don't need a ticket to ride
It's summertime, summertime
Slip down a water slide
Little kid dancin' in the grass
Legs like rubber band
It's summertime, summertime
There's a line at the candy stand
Keep an eye on them children
Eye on them children in the pool
You better keep an eye on them children
Eye on them children in the pool

We brought a brand new baby back from Kosovo
That was nearly seven years ago
He cried all night, could not sleep
His eyes were bright, dark and deep

Beautiful

Acts of kindness, like breadcrumbs in a fairytale forest
Lead us past dangers as light melts the darkness
But I don't believe, and I'm not consoled
I lean closer to the fire, but I'm cold

The earth was born in a storm
The waters receded, the mountains were formed
"The universe loves a drama," you know
And ladies and gentlemen this is the show

I got a call from my broker
The broker informed me I'm broke
I was dealing my last hand of poker
My cards were useless as smoke

Oh, guardian angel
Don't taunt me like this, on a clear summer evening as soft as a kiss
My children are laughing, not a whisper of care
My love is brushing her long chestnut hair
I don't believe a heart can be filled to the brim
Then vanish like mist as though life were a whim

Maybe the heart is part of the mist
And that's all that there is or could ever exist
Maybe and maybe and maybe some more
Maybe's the exit that I'm looking for

I got a call from my broker
The broker said he was mistaken
Maybe some virus or brokerage joke
And he hopes that my faith isn't shaken

Acts of kindness
Like rain in a draught
Release the spirit with a whoop and a shout
I don't believe we were born to be sheep in a flock
To pantomime prayers with the hands of a clock

On the morning of her wedding day
When no one was awake
She drove across the border
Leaving all the yellow roses on her wedding cake
Her mother's tears, her breakfast order

She's gone, gone, gone

There is a moment, a chip in time
When leaving home is the lesser crime
When your eyes are blind with tears
But your heart can see
Another life, another galaxy

That night her dreams are storm-tossed as a willow
She hears the clouds
She sees the eye of a hurricane
As it sweeps across her island pillow

But she's gone, gone, gone

There is a moment, a chip in time
When leaving home is the lesser crime
When your eyes are blind with tears
But your heart can see
Another life, another galaxy

Once upon a time there was an ocean
But now it's a mountain range
Something unstoppable set into motion
Nothing is different, but everything's changed

It's a dead end job, and you gets tired of sittin'
And it's like a nicotine habit you're always thinking about quittin'
I think about quittin' every day of the week
When I look out my window it's brown and it's bleak

Outta here
How am I gonna get outta here?
I'm thinking outta here
When am I gonna get outta here?
And when will I cash in my lottery ticket
And bury my past with my burdens and strife?
I want to shake every limb in the garden of Eden
And make every love the love of my life

I figure that once upon a time I was an ocean
But now I'm a mountain range
Something unstoppable set into motion
Nothing is different, but everything's changed

Found a room in the heart of the city, down by the bridge
Hot plate and TV and beer in the fridge
But I'm easy, I'm open, that's my gift
I can flow with the traffic, I can drift with the drift
Home again?
Naw, never going home again
Think about home again?
I never think about home

But then comes a letter from home
The handwriting's fragile and strange
Something unstoppable set into motion
Nothing is different, but everything's changed

The light through the stained glass was cobalt and red
And the frayed cuffs and collars were mended by haloes of golden thread
The choir sang, "Once Upon A Time There Was An Ocean"
And all the old hymns and family names came fluttering down as leaves of emotion

As nothing is different, but everything's changed

Well I'll just skip the boring parts chapters one, two, three
And get to the place where you can read my face and my biography

Here I am, I'm eleven months old, dangling from my daddy's knee
There I go, it's my graduation
I'm picking up a bogus degree
That's me
Early me. That's me

Well I never cared much for the money
And money never cared for me
I was more like a land-locked sailor
Searching for the emerald sea
Just searching for the emerald sea, boys, searching for the sea

Oh my God
First love opens like a flower
A black bear running through the forest light holds me in her sight and her
power
But tricky skies, your eyes are true
The future is beauty and sorrow
Still, I wish that we could run away and live the life we used to
If just for tonight and tomorrow

I am walking up the face of the mountain
Counting every step I climb
Remembering the names of the constellations
Forgotten is a long, long time
That's me
I'm in the valley of twilight
Now I'm on the continental shelf
That's me
I'm answering a question I am asking of myself

from The Wild Thornberrys Movie soundtrack

If you leap awake
In the mirror of a bad dream
And for a fraction of a second
You can't remember where you are
Just open your window
And follow your memory upstream
To the meadow in the mountain
Where we counted every falling star

I believe a light that shines on you
Will shine on you forever
And though I cant guarantee
There's nothing scary hiding under your bed
I'm gonna stand guard like a postcard
At the Golden Retriever
And never leave till I leave you
With a sweet dream in your bed

Chorus:
I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two wooo
There could never be a father who loved
His daughter more than I love you

Trust your intuition
It's just like goin fishin'
You cast your line and hope you get a bite
You don't need to waste your time
Worryin' about the market place
Trying to help the human race
Strugglin to survive its harshest hour

chorus
x2