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Disciples of PerFection The Bank
I'm Lucky When The Women Say No
So-So Security Low Flying Crows
DISCIPLES OF PERfECTION
The light in us shines through our cracks
It’s one of Life’s most simple facts
Part of our perfection is our flaws, ... it’s true
It’s the cracks in your perfection
That let your light shine through
When uncertainty appears
Certain people feel fears
Feelings huge and very imprecise
“So use your head, not heart” they say
“If you want to make things nice!”
These Disciples of Perfection
Prefer Life clean and neat
Where everything we say and do,
Is ever proper, through and through
Though we know real Life
Is always rearranging,
Disciples of Perfection don’t like changing
It’s mostly male brains who say
“There is no other way!
We must obey traditions, laws and rules
Without them, Life is chaos
We must fight for ideals!
It’s clear, it’s not important how one feels!”
And so, the wars that we have fought,
Religious rules that we’ve been taught
Came from these fearful thoughts thought by
Disciples of Perfection
Yet Life, in spite of all the rain
Is perfect, with its flaws, and pain
Stumbling paws and feet and flapping wings
Perfect with the off key notes
It sings when someone lies,
A thousand perfect tears in perfect eyes
In every scraped knee of a child
In Grandma’s ancient toothless smile
When we get hurt, if we strike back
Is that a flaw, or just a perfect crack?
Is Life broken when a beggar begs,
Or part of Life, ... like cracks in eggs?
Which is where Life’s perfect light shines through
That light connects us, me and you
The light in us shines through our cracks
It’s one of Life’s most simple facts
Part of our perfection is our flaws, ... it’s true
It’s the cracks in your perfection
That let your light shine through, ... me too!
Written by Peter Alsop, ©2010, Moose School Music, (BMI)
I'M LUCKY
I’m lucky and you’re not
I enjoy all the stuff I got
N’ that’s tough t’do, ’cause your pain keeps makin’ me blue
I got privileges, you don’t
I get things in ways you won’t
God just loves me a lot more than He loves you!
I’m lucky and you’re not
I worked hard t’get what I got
An I ain’t throwin’ it out for lofty ideals
Maybe you had a string of bad luck
Or y’stood up for something when you shoulda ducked
Y’got more guts than sense is how that feels
Call it fate, call it fortune
Call it whatever you like
I was born in America
I’m straight and male and white! So, …
I’m lucky and you’re not
I’m stayin’ outta that hot seat spot
I’m stayin’ outta the Big Guys’ line of view
Some big bully starts actin’ mean
Well I don’t wanna be heard or seen
I just keep on doin’ the things I’m supposed to do
Go ahead! Pray for salvation
Pray for equality
Maybe if y’wait for reincarnation
Hey! Well you can come back as me! ’Cause,
I’m lucky and you’re not
You don’t make waves when y’got a yacht
You keep your mouth shut and look the other way
If your “other foot” was a-wearin’ my shoe
You’d be walkin’ away from me too
The way things are, that’s the way I want ’em to stay!
Yeah, the way things are
That’s the way I want ’em to stay! Yee-haw!
Written by Peter Alsop, ©2010 Moose School Music (BMI)
THE GUITAR
Once I had a fine guitar, she taught me to play
Her rosewood fingerboard had little birds of pearl inlay
Her simple voice was clear, it had the ring of youth
She had heartwood deep inside, so she always sang the truth
And the days that I spent holding her were full of life for me
She saw people clearly, and she sang what she would see:
Insecurities of lovers, trying hard to hold their pose
The clash of children’s colors, when they pick out their own clothes
The heart beats lost forever, inside those afraid to touch
And the reasons people give explaining why they own too much
When she sang with honest beauty of the love we might achieve
Then the people flocked to hear her, they wanted to believe
But when she sang about our problems, they would say that she was wrong
They told her she was crazy, they said “Sing the pretty songs!”
“Sing the pretty songs!”
But she didn’t stop her songs, the people had to know
She only sang them louder, ’cause she loved the people so
“When the comforts of the wealthy are worth more than healthy kids
When our trusted leaders lie and give us broken promises
When the lives of all the creatures on the earth are on the line
Then it’s time for better answers! Now we’d better find some time!”
But the people wouldn’t listen, even though she screamed and cried
And the strain from all her trying cracked her heartwood deep inside
Her strings flew loose and wild, and so everyone assumed
She was just an instrument, too finely tuned, ... too finely tuned.
Too finely tuned, for an audience of backs
Too finely tuned, with her heartwood full of cracks
Too finely tuned, to close her mouth and shut her eyes
Too finely tuned, to sing them lies
Once I had a fine guitar, she taught me to play
Her rosewood fingerboard had little birds of pearl inlay
Her simple voice was clear, it had the ring of youth
She had heartwood deep inside, so she always sang the truth
And the days that I spend holding her are full of life for me
She sees people clearly, and we need that desperately,
She sees people clearly, and we need that desperately!
Written by Peter Alsop, ©Copyright 1987, Moose School Music(BMI)
SO-SO SECURITY
I put a little bit in, they take a little bit out
I put a little more in
They say “There’s never any doubt!
You’ll get yours when you retire!”
But there’s nothin’ left for me,
That’s So-So Security!
The cost of food goes up
And then my car breaks down
Then my rent goes up
And my bills have got me down
I’d go to see the doctor
But I can’t afford the fee
That’s So-So Security!
Then when it finally comes
And I need new clothes
There’s nothin’ there but crumbs
Well, that’s the way it goes
In Salvation Army style
I’m as sharp as I can be!
That’s So-So Security!
Chorus
Written by Peter Alsop, ©2010, Moose School Music, BMI
OUR DOG BIT OUR CAT
Our dog bit our cat last night
I think that our cat is all right
Some blood in his ear, his eye’s swollen half-shut
But he’s freaked out because of the bite
He’s almost twenty years old
He’s survived two coyote attacks
And our dog is uptight and she heard a door slam
She just never learned how to relax
So our dog jumped and snapped, as poor Leo our cat
Walked unconsciously by in the dark
Leo hissed and clawed back, but the damage was done
And the dog couldn’t take the bite back
Chorus: When some lines are crossed, it’s hard to forgive
There’s no rules about how to behave
But we got to forgive to get on with our lives
So we figure it out case by case
Leo’s sore and looks nervous today
Traumatically stressed, he looks whacked
But I know how he feels. It just takes time to heal
When your partner has broken the rules of your pact
I don’t know if a cat can forgive
Well they “live and let live” I’ve been told
After someone’s been burned, can the old trust return?
Or is the dog in the doghouse ’til she’s dead and cold?
Guess we’ll just have to see what unfolds.
Chorus
Yeah, we got to forgive to get on with our lives
So we figure it out case by case.
Written by Peter Alsop, ©2010, Moose School Music (BMI)
HANDFUL OF MOONLIGHT
You were sleeping, I was not
It was almost three o’clock
The moon outside lit up the leaves
And through the window, onto me
While you slept on the bed’s dark side
I held my palm up to the light
And gathered all the moonlight
It could hold.
I gently handed it to you
And half-asleep, you took my gift
And held it to your heart,
You held it to your heart
We won’t always be together
One of us will go away
But I will always treasure how
You received my gift
In the darkness where you lay
All the objects we have gathered
The trappings of our lives
Will remain when we are gone
Take up same space and size
With new owners, all
And yet, ephemeral and passing
Our moments, like a breeze
Invisible to everyone
My Love, but you and me
Have a grandeur and a passion
Hold a glimpse of who we are
Just a handful of moonlight
The glimmer of a star
Just a handful of moonlight
A kiss upon a scar
A handful of moonlight
A handful of moonlight
Written by Peter Alsop, ©2010, Moose School Music (BMI)
HARD LOVE
Sometimes love seems so easy
Then that passion knocks me flat down
And my heart sings the blues, for each love that I loose
Then I get up n’start lookin’ around
Hard love is not what I look for
Specially when it looks hard from the start
But I learned how to live, when I learned how t’give
Hard love helped me find my heart
Hard love helped me find my heart
Hit songs are all easy love songs
Lovers fight, they make up, they rejoice
But I never knew what hard love was
Til I had to make that hard choice
When my drunken Dad bust in through my door
When my buddy the soldier just stared at the floor
When my cousin got caught, and I bailed her out
That’s what hard love’s about
Hard love is not what I look for
’Cause I know it can tear me apart
But I learned how to live, when I learned how t’give
Hard love helped me find my heart
Hard love helped me find my heart
What ever happened to “turn the other cheek”?
Was that only popular last week?
Hard love’s all around, but where’s the awards?
For those young single Moms lugging babies through stores
For that Dad who keeps working a job that’s dead end
T’keep family together or t’pay back a friend?
Where’s that statue for Grandma, whose daughter’s in jail
As she helps her blind granddaughter learn t’read Braille
She gave up her own dreams to “hard love” that girl,
And that hard love opened their world!
Hard love is not what we look for
Specially when it looks hard from the start
But we learn how to live, when we learn how to give
Hard love helps us find our heart
Hard love helps us find our heart
Hard love helped me find my heart!
Written by Peter Alsop, ©2010 Moose School Music (BMI)
THE BANK
Chorus: The bank, the bank, they keep me so busy E-B7-E-B7
The bank, the bank, and I’m getting dizzy E-F-F#-B-E
Brdg: Stand-in-line to deposit, I put money in A-E
Write a check, send it off, start all over again! F-F#-B7-E
The bank, the bank , the bank! E-B7-E
Chorus
Downtown all around, I look in the air A-E
Banks are all over, there’s banks everywhere! B7-E-E7
Hun’dreds to choose from, it’s not very clear, A-E
So I save at the bank that says “Jesus Saves” here! F#-B-B7
Chorus
Now the Bank bailout’s billions of bucks
Or they’re going under and we’re sitting ducks
Is the whole US government going to bust?
Then I’m glad that our dollars say “In God We Trust”!
Chorus/Bridge
My IRA’s and Keogh’s do not make me much
My investments and savings are no interest ruts
It’s confusing! All these huge foreclosures and notes
I’ll just get me a micro-loan, buy me some goats!
Chorus
Each time I go in, there’s new faces around
Turnover’s so fast, can my money be found?
Friedman’s Chicago School’s economics have crashed
And Bernie Madoff has made off with my cash!!
Chorus/Bridge
The bank, the bank, the bank, the bank, the bank – (to fade out)
Written by Peter Alsop, ©Copyright 2010, Moose School Music (BMI)
On Disciples Of PerFection – www.peteralsop.com
WHEN THE WOMEN SAY NO
Way far away in the land of the Schwar
Down deep in the jungles of Ecuador
The men cut the trees and they hack the vines
And the women take care of the houses inside
And the men kill the animals and hunt for food
And the women they cook and the things taste good
But the men of the Schwar can go too far
Then the women say NO! (NO!) The men listen, you know!
When the women say NO! (NO!) Men need to listen
When the women say NO! (NO!) It’s a better vision
When the women say NO! (NO!) It’s about time
When the women say NO! (NO!) Gotta draw the line
Don’t do it no more! Don’t do it no more! Don’t you do it no more!
Don’t do it no more! Don’t do it no more! Don’t you do it no more!
When the men of the Schwar were invited to a city
Well they got to New York, wasn’t very pretty
All the metal and cement, their brains started swimmin’
So they asked the other men, “What happened to your women?”
Chorus
All around the world men do their job
They work and they push, tryin’ to get to the top
Bigger and richer, ’til they’re fighting in wars
And the women ask, “Who you doin’ this for?”
Men say “War is hell, but it won’t go away!
Humans did it back then, and we do it today!”
But the women say “This is not quite true
It’s mostly you men, so we’ll say it again”
When the women say NO! (NO!) Life is in danger
When the women say NO! (NO!) You’re not the Lone Ranger!
When the women say NO! (NO!) Stop the rape and abuse
When the women say NO! (NO!) No more excuses!
When the women say NO! (NO!) No more war!
Don’t do it no more! Don’t do it no more! Don’t you do it no more!
Don’t do it no more! Don’t do it no more! Don’t you do it no more!
But when the women say YES! (YES!) Life can grow riper!
When the women say YES! (YES!) Men can change a diaper!
When the women say YES! (YES!) She’s gonna run for mayor!
When the women say YES! (YES!) We want single payer!
When the women say YES! (YES!) To same sex marriage!
When the women say YES! (YES!) There’s a woman she can cherish
When the women say YES! (YES!) We are telling the men
We can do it again! We can do it again! Let’s do it again!
We can do it again! We can do it again! Let’s do it again!
But when the women say NO! (NO!) Men better listen!
Written by Peter Alsop, Copyright 2009, Moose School Music (BMI)
IF JESUS HAD A GUN
If Jesus had a gun, He would not abuse it
He would keep it handy, in case he had to use it
If some tough guys, pushed Him down, or maybe
They disrespected Mary, you know, Jesus was her Baby!
If Jesus had a gun, He wouldn’t need to fight
He’d just pull it out and show ’em, and say “You better be polite!”
What if thieves were robbing Joe, you know, Jesus’ other Dad?
He could use His gun t’save him, now that wouldn’t be so bad
But He’d never shoot someone, ’cause He knows it’s really bad to
No, Jesus wouldn’t hurt a flea, unless he REALLY had to.
Chorus
If some mean guy abused a little kid
Jesus would get mad! He wouldn’t like what that guy did
If Jesus couldn’t make him pray, or He couldn’t find a cop
He might take out his gun just to get the guy to stop
If people were starving, He could shoot a goat or lamb
I don’t think He’d shoot a pig, ’cause He didn’t like ham
In Jerusalem they’d holler “Hey Jesus! You’re the Boss!”
And if Jesus had a gun they’d never put Him on a cross!
Chorus
Jesus was God’s kid, and prob’ly fast with a gun!
He prob’ly knew the best way to get things done!
But if they didn’t put Him on the cross, then the story’s not the same
If Jesus had a gun, would he use it in God’s name?
Sayin’ “Turn your other cheek, and love your fellow man!
What part of ‘Thou shalt not kill!’, is hard to understand?!
It’s God’s law! All you people know it too!
You’re behavior’s temptin’ me, t’use my gun on you!”
I think Moses and Mohammed lived with Jesus back then
And they prob’ly didn’t have guns, they were probably friends!
If Jesus had a gun, I think He’d throw that gun away
He knows He might be tempted if He had a bad day
If Jesus had a gun, He’d throw that gun away
He would never use it! He would find another way.
If Jesus had a gun, He’d throw the gun away
He would never use it! He’d find another way!
If Jesus had a gun, ... I’m pretty sure that He would find another way!
Words and music by Peter Alsop, ©2010, Moose School Music (BMI)
LOW FLYING CROWS
Low flying crows
Sail in on a wind
As cold as a city
As cold as their grin
Skimming over our fields
Sowing seeds full of tears
For their hybrids won’t yield
Even one seed next year
Low flying crows
Want your eyes to stay closed
Make sure everyone knows
Watch for low flying crows
Watch for low flying crows
Watch for low flying crows
With their corporate seal
They darken our sky
For the profits to rise
Our old seeds must die
When our heirlooms are gone
Then the crows who we feed
Crow all night long
For we must buy their seed
Low flying crows
Want your eyes to stay closed
Make sure everyone knows
Watch for low flying crows
Watch for low flying crows
Watch for low flying crows
Now we stand as one
They’ve been blocking the sun
Back to shadows they go
When all of us know
Watch for low flying crows
Watch for low flying crows
Watch for low flying crows
Written by Peter Alsop, ©Copyright 2010, Moose School Music (BMI)
BREATH
Chorus: What makes one breath G-A
More precious than another? C-G-D-A
When every breath we take is new G-D9-A-E9
All life is sacred, on this Earth G-C-G-A-D-A
How you use your breath is up to you. G-D9-G-A-E9-A
Is your first breath more precious than your last? C-G-D9-G-D-A-E9-A
Or the laughter of your friend, or your lover’s gasp? C-G-D9-D-A-E9
Or your mother’s sigh, or your baby’s cry C-G-D9-G-D-A-E9-A
Another breath is another chance to try C-G-D9-D-A-E9
Chorus
When the eagle holds his breath, diving through the wind,
When the whale breaches, breathes, then sounds the deep again,
When the butcher’s cow or pig breathes, ready for the blow,
Is a human breath more precious? What makes us think we know?
Chorus
Instrumental Chorus
One breath at a time is all we really get
If we’re still breathing, then we’re not dead yet!
Though we worry ’bout our future, and our past may have regrets
We’re birds of a feather, we all breathe this air together
So, ...
Chorus
Written by Peter Alsop, ©2009 Moose School Music (BMI)
On Disciples of PerFection - www.peteralsop.com
PICK ONE!
It’s raining out today and I’m stuck inside
Got the TV channel changer, but I can’t decide
All the great programs on TV
Flipping through the channels, then Mom says to me!
Pick one! Pick one! You’re makin’ me crazy!
Pick one! Pick one! You’re eyes are gettin’ hazy!
Pick one channel, try it for awhile
You can always pick another, if it’s not your style
But Just! Pick! One!
I couldn’t stand the blabbing, so I went for a walk
Down to the library, no one there can talk
Books by the thousands, which one to read?
Then the Librarian whispered to me,
Pick one! Pick one! You make yourself crazy!
Pick one! Pick one! You’re eyes are gettin’ hazy!
Pick one book, try it for awhile
You can always pick another, if it’s not your style
But Just! Pick! One!
I looked down at my shoes, I couldn’t seem to choose
So I went home turned the radio on
There was talk about war and the nuclear bomb
Off-shore drilling, sex abuse and killing
Polluting the environment and ineffective government
Oil barons, cancer and lots of drugs
Health care, welfare and Wall Street thugs,
Financial collapse, crowded schools and population
Terrorism, vigilantes, immigration
I wanna save the world before it’s blown away
I was overwhelmed, then I heard myself say, ...
Pick one! Pick one! You make yourself crazy!
Pick one! Pick one! You’re eyes are gettin’ hazy!
Pick one ’cause, try it for awhile
You can always pick another, if it’s not your style
But Just! Pick! One!
Pick one! Pick one! Maybe not the best!
Pick one! Pick one or you’re gonna get depressed
Sittin’ in your stall doin’ nothin’ at all
So Pick one! Pick one! This is not a test!
Pick one! Pick one! Make it work for you
Pick one! Pick one! There’s lots that we can do
Try to think small ’cause y’can’t do it all!
To get a lot done, y’gotta start with one
So Just Pick One! Pick one!
Written by Peter Alsop, Copyright 2010, Moose School Music (BMI)
