| BEGINNING
AGAIN |
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| Release
Date May 1, 2018 |
 Beginning Again was recorded in Woodstock, NY with Pete Levin, keyboardist on historic recordings by Miles Davis, Paul Simon, Bryan Ferry and many others; Steve Holley on drums, formerly of Wings and Joe Cocker's touring bands; Kirsten Maxwell, winner of numerous singer-songwriting competitions in the past three years; and Mark Dann, bassist and producing partner, veteran of (at least) a couple hundred recording projects. Read the lyrics (below) to the 14 new songs. |
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By check: Rod MacDonald, Box 3844, Boynton Beach, FL 33424 or use mail order form for more cds and deals to browse Beginning Again and other recordings |
| all songs ©2018 rod
macdonald, blue flute music (ascap) 1-the magic city streaks of light snake thru the darkness on a landscape low and deep and then there on the horizon as if rising from its sleep the mosaic of tower windows awakens awakens in the winter air and i'm flying home to the city in just minutes i'll be there in New York the magic city of my heart we cross the river and in an instant there's traffic all around people walking hand in hand, horns blasting, sirens sound Chinatown is still awake, the Bowery throbs with the beat of a band waiting to be discovered and a crowd up on its feet how can i explain how it feels like home when i live somewhere else and my neighborhood's gone and the people i once knew have scattered to the wind still i never could forget how it always took me in New York the magic city of my heart it's freezing out and in the suburbs the cops are saying "just stay home" but there's a full house here tonight in the lights when i look around New Yorkers are tough and so what if it's cold you can stay in and watch television if you ever get old how could i ever forget the kind hearted people who took me in off the street and gave me someplace to sleep, til i had a place of my own, somewhere i could belong and the friendships we made when we lived for a song, in New York the magic city of my heart i stand here on Bleecker St watching the sun rise like a fire on the deserted morn there's no one around me as the past falls behind and i know in that moment the city is mine i've been to the desert i've been over the sea i've heard the great silence known love's mystery and i've stood on my front steps seen the dreams as they curled up like smoke from the people who've come from all over the world the skyscrapers fade off as the plane takes flight like the last drops of music and the final spotlights and the friends i will miss and the streets that i know i carry them with me wherever i go from New York the magic city of my heart 2-speak to me of justice don’t speak to me of God if you just mean white on black speak to me of justice and when you have done justice you can speak to me of God and don’t shout to me of freedom if all you mean is profit whisper your compassion and when you’ve shown compassion you can speak to me of freedom tell me then of science of knowledge, of wisdom some light’s bound to find the cracks if you’ve pre-paid for your opinions and pre-ordered your ignorance you should demand your money back don’t sing to me of love and then assault my body show some understanding and when you’ve shown your understanding you can sing to me of love you can’t sell peace and quiet if all you mean is status quo and there’s a necessary change in the wind if you won’t speak for justice you have to know that justice will speak for herself again don’t preach to me of faith yours, or any others speak to me of justice and when you have done justice you can speak to me with love 3-i'd love to be wrong i'd love to be wrong but here's what i see millions of people eyes glued to the tv they have no idea what's about to come down they think it's a game show with celebrity clowns it's gonna get ugly the stench will be strong but hey like i said i'd love to be wrong i'd love to be wrong but here's what i feel the workingman thinks he's gonna get a good deal when all they’re gonna do is enrich themselves carve out some new breaks and screw everyone else you better not get sick or your money's all gone but hey like i said i'd love to be wrong i'd love to be wrong but it looks very plain betraying one's country for one's private gain is a game the authorities should stop this very hour but they're doing nothing they just want more power so they can finally take it all away your health, your retirement, your bright sunny day your wilderness, your freedom to love who you please your public school system, your kids' chance to succeed your right to speak freely, your right to belong but hey like i said, i'd love to be wrong i'd love to be wrong i'd love to relax i'd love to invent my own set of facts but i think facts should be true so i can't agree that what you imagine is at all real to me i'd love to be wrong and have everyone free instead of having your freedom be punishing me i'm expecting more rain, and much bigger floods more corporate judges, more morons in trucks taking over the streets and waving their guns small countries invaded by much bigger ones the free world in crisis its leader denying he's already been paid off for those bullets flying and when it all falls apart, and they start to crack down on the weak and the helpless will you just go along well i hope you don't mind my little song cause hey like i said, i'd love to be wrong 4-the great python hunt there's so many pythons in the Everglades they're paying hunters a minimum wage to catch the pythons the state has put an extra bonus on every foot pythons are endangered in their Asian homes hunted for their skins til they're almost gone like Pilgrims and Protestants of history pythons have come to the land of the free they're heading for the USA heading for the USA pythons are eating every thing it's true the deer, the rabbits and the raccoons too there's a video of a python in the swamp trying to eat a gator with just one chomp but nothing eats pythons, that's a fact they're big and strong and move real fast pretty soon they may run out of food and start showing up in your neighborhood so they had a contest winner take all went into the swamp and they had a ball 1000 men looking but they all missed 10,000 snakes and caught 106 experts from India who already know how to catch the snakes were brought to Key Largo Irula tribesmen with special dogs yes, just more immigrants taking our jobs you want to get rid of pythons? here's the way feed them the American diet from the buffet lots of pesticides, sugar and fat they'll get sick and die off just like that 5-black friday put on my jacket, went out to the car turned on the radio, didn’t get far when the news of a man interrupted my shopping jag he was gunned down just for standing in some part of this land I couldn’t buy a thing I couldn’t understand black friday just ain’t my bag there’s a fever goin’ round could easily catch it get a new tv then you’d have to watch it black friday just ain’t my bag if you’re a late bloomer and you’re still not a consumer what is it you expect to prove by not doing your duty to make that merchandise move well, it’s Thanksgiving and i’ll shop if i want to shop if i want to shop if i want to but black friday just ain’t my bag |
6-one
more minute of moonlight
it’s the end of day i let it all waste away i have nothing to show or to say but give me one more minute of moonlight one more minute of moonlight and i’ll pay what i have to pay i’ve no need to run and i’m hurting no one the light shining here has only begun so give me one more minute of moonlight one more minute of moonlight and i’ll do what must be done i watch the time slip quietly past and though i know it cannot last i know that you’re near everything is so clear and the silence is everything i need to hear so give me one more minute of moonlight one more minute of moonlight and i will shed no tear well the wind from the west is finally at rest and the shadows are off on some starry quest so give me one more minute of moonlight one more minute of moonlight and i will know i’m blest give me a sign a moment that shines as bright as you are in this heart of mine give me one more minute of moonlight one more minute of moonlight and Ii’ll never more be blind it feels like midnight’s stopped on a dime and just can’t move along this time how can i be alone where has everyone gone she’s there in the window her hair hanging down so give me one more minute of moonlight one more minute of moonlight and i will carry on 7-in another teenage dream in another teenage dream, she was only seventeen he was the handsomest boy in town but he was a poor boy in blue jeans so he joined the US marines to have a future when he came back home and a new President was voted in promising with a forceful grin we won’t let the enemy push us around after training him to be a man they sent him to Afghanistan leaving his wife and newborn son behind two tours later, when he's home he's in a world of his own his eyes seem so far away she tries to remember when he was her lover and best friend before he saw the things he couldn't say until the day the word comes back he's returning from Iraq with a flag draped over his remains she'll go back to their hometown and raise their son on her own and try to start her life over again and the leaders of the USA sit down on a rainy day making plans they later will deny who will bear the sacrifice, the children, husbands and the wives and do they ever ask themselves why? in another foreign land where the wind breathes only sand a young man in a village must decide to live there and be occupied or join the other side and fight an enemy with weapons in the sky that can pinpoint his parents' home and blow up everyone in his town from a trailer near Las Vegas where they view the funeral by his village wall, and when he comes, they kill them all and they know there's nothing he can do and the leaders of the USA say we're making progress every day soon the enemy will give up the fight a single man, bomb on his chest, blows up a market in the west and do you ever ask yourself why? and the people of the USA get down on their knees and pray for victory and mercy from on high but forgiveness waits around the bend in a war that never ends and do you ever ask yourself why? 8-fake news & alternative facts everybody’s talking ‘bout fake news & alternative facts tell me which is true Mars is called the red planet ‘cause it’s Chinese, or scientists say climate is coming for you you gotta love fake news & alternative facts you tell me which is true too many people are voting, or fewer than half the people chose you fake news, fake news, Facebook is talking about hiring 3000 new workers just to keep the Russians out hey it’s fake news & alternative facts all the time you tell me which is true immigrants took the jobs when the factories closed, or millions will lose their health if it’s up to you yeah, it’s fake news & alternative facts for the dumb and blind you tell me which is true Jesus died so gays couldn’t marry, or prison investors are counting on you fake news, fake news, the Wall St Journal says listen to them the NY Times is digging in, so they won’t have to print fake news & alternative facts every morning you tell me which is cool that inaugeral was the greatest ever, or the truth says: you got to pity the fool 9-genius let's talk about genius what is it really is it just the ability to do something well like throw a baseball or smile for the camera or rip everybody off to enrich yourself they call some people genius because they can sing or program ones and zeros to do anything but i think real genius is to see what's ahead turn that into art and art into bread well i've been to the mountain, i've been to the sea and it's you and me baby in love's mystery you've stolen my heart, i've forgiven your crime and we'll figure it out one day at a time i once knew a genius he always looked cool he could get any girl and he always did in the eleventh grade he dropped out of school to marry that cheerleader having his kid you want to be a genius you want to have fame you want everyone to remember your name why don't you feed the hungry give the people their health or do you think genius is just about wealth if i were a genius i'd never let on i'd just sit and write music from moonlight til dawn maybe no one would hear it like that forest and tree but somewhere in the world, there would be peace i'll tell you what's genius it's just to keep going when the hot air surrounds you and the wind is blowing and the end of the road is out of sight, down the line all you've got is the journey, and that suits you fine 10-chinatown in a doorway in San Francisco for a month of winter days two hours every afternoon i stood there and earned my pay it was in the middle of Chinatown January in the air singing for people on their way somewhere trying to make them lend an ear it was my first school as a singer watching all the people react some would stop for a song or a minute some would wave as they walked past some would walk right into traffic so they wouldn't have to pass near some guy singing in a bank doorway that's the very last thing you’d want to hear well i guess i’ve come a long way at least far enough to say if i knew then what i know now i’d head right back to Chinatown and do it all again, my friend yes i’d do it all again there was one pretty girl in the afternoons came by every single day with a different guy, she’d go upstairs into the hotel across the way i never did meet her or know her name but she always gave me a smile i want to thank her for those $5 bills you know, they kept me alive awhile |
11-beginning
again he used to trust the government til he realized they lied he thought for awhile he could even join the other side but it wasn’t long at all before he realized they were all the same and when he got wise he went inside and killed the lights and pulled down all the shades while outside in the world outside in the world outside in the world promises were made billions were paid yes, paid to the idiot boxes perched somewhere on a shelf the faces and the other faces all talking to themselves between the million advertisements against the other guy all paid for by somebody who no one could identify he unplugged the box up on the shelf and sat down in the sun while outside in the world outside in the world outside in the world deals were done the race was run and he said wake me when it's over don't tell me who wins i'm beginning again beginning again til only one was standing, in a shaken, fearful land the sun rose up, the sun went down the days were close at hand the news was playing in the bar the night he walked right in somebody bombed the market place the drones were closing in the preacher wore an automatic the streets were bathed in sin beginning again beginning again beginning again he trusted no one had no friends 12-the wall let’s build a wall 30 feet tall only cost 4 billion to keep them all out you know who they are drug dealers criminals thugs and probably some very nice people too it’ll only cost 6 billion and here’s the best part someone else will pay for it yeah that’s it let someone else pay for it only cost 8 billion and while we’re at it let’s do something about those already here after all we have to defend our freedom to hate and discriminate and anyway it’ll only cost 10 billion to keep them all out you know who they are let’s build a wall concrete and steel we’ll bring it in by truck only cost 12 billion we’ll use the land along the river we’ll take it if we have to ‘cause that’s what freedom is to build a wall to keep them out you know who they are those ones who want to be here in the land of the free only cost 15 billion and if they invent a 31 foot ladder we’ll make it 40 feet tall only cost 20 billion to keep them all out you know who they are and you better love God you better love God as we love God or we're going to hurt you we’re going to make you do everything God tells us to make you do until you love God as we do but to begin with, let’s build a wall ‘cause that’s what freedom needs a wall to keep them all out only cost 50 billion you know who they are for 50 billion we could teach some kids to read probably feed a hungry family or two or cure some small disease but that won’t please the people no, they don’t even care they’re more afraid of what’s out there so let’s build a wall only cost 100 billion what will it cost your soul you know you’re never ever gonna have control and while we’re at it, let’s hire 100,000 men and give each one a rifle to shoot anyone on a 31-foot ladder 100,000 jobs and 100,000 guns the NRA’ll go for that only cost 200 billion so let’s build a wall to keep them all out you know who they are 13-everything is as it should be the devil came knockin' at my door i said "come on in tell me what's been on your mind my good old devil friend would you like a cup of coffee, how the hell you been?" he sank down in my easy chair and broke into a grin and he said "everything is as it should be i got two pretty girls chasin' after me now neither one can get her fill if one won't love me to death, the other one will." i looked that devil in the eye, i said "you've got some nerve you come around here like a friend, discontentment's all you serve with all your talents, devil, why do you have to be so blind? whatcha doing all the time, with the women on your mind?" and he said "everything is as it should be you're gettin' excited, i can see you like to think i'm wrong tonight but in the morning you will see that i am right." next day i met a pretty woman on a lonesome street in town i held her close i knew that she would never hold me down but she had to leave to get back on to the one she was lovin' up and i heard that devil laughing as i drained my whiskey cup, and he said "everything is as it should be you ain’t so bad off, you’re still free yesterday you were so proud now you don't walk so tall, you don't talk so loud." i said "old devil you proved your point, I guess i was wrong i thought that i was quite content to be here all alone but once in awhile i wish love was something else than a educational experience to put up on my shelf" and he said "everything is as it should be just listen to yourself talk to me now who's the one who's walking blind? you're walkin' around, your head hangin' down, you got the women on your mind." i didn't see the devil for quite awhile, til he showed up one night late sank down in my easy chair, said "i made a big mistake. i went and fell in love, i would've changed to treat her well but all she wanted was a one night stand in my private hell." And i said "everything is as it should be hey i can spare the sympathy think of all you taught to me ‘you can stay right down here in hell, or get up off your knees.’ “ 14-deep bullshit blues the woods are up in smoke the Gov’nor says nope you can’t mention that climate stuff he says he’s not a scientist but he clearly knows enough to know the scientists are wrong the scientists are wrong and you know you can believe him while we sing this little song so make me a pallet on your floor hand me down my walkin’ shoes throw my troubles out the door i got them deep bullshit blues the Gov’nor says those billions the polluters were to pay we won’t need that for the government we’ll take it another way just give it directly to my party ‘cause we got a party goin’ on and you notice he’s not kiddin’ when we sing this little song the Gov’nor must have been no fool he must have learned the ropes to profitize the public schools and as for the hopes of those who want to educate without jumping through a million hoops remember the prisons need inmates for his investment groups so make me a pallet on your floor hand me down my walkin’ shoes throw my troubles out the door i got them deep bullshit blues |