The Jasmine Lady
This lady lives in Burma where she lives her life with dignity
She is a gift from God with jasmine in her hair
But imprisoned in her own home under maximum security
She was a light in the darkness and gave us hope in despair
In a crumbling villa in the Southeast of Asia
She was incarcerated for her point of view
And her home was her prison but the walls couldn’t hold her
’Cause her words were for justice and her message was true
And that home stands for justice and it stands for integrity
With the values of freedom expressed with sincerity
It speaks out against repression and it honours human dignity
And it stands for compassion and hope for us all
Over more than two decades she accepted the restriction
And remained there as captive for more than fifteen years long
With absolute serenity and the courage of conviction
Her home is where the heart is and her heart beats strong
She is the charismatic leader of fifty thousand people
Whose demand for democracy still continues to fail
The animated symbol of a truly moral principle
To more than two thousand who are still locked in jail
And her home stands for justice and it stands for integrity
With the values of freedom expressed with sincerity
It speaks out against repression and it honours human dignity
And it stands for compassion and hope for us all
Nothing is All You Left
These mornings sure don’t get the best of me
Through the night I find it hard to sleep
There are memories that just won’t go away
And feelings far more difficult to keep
Why do I have to keep on fooling myself?
You’ve made it clear you’re longing to be free
So I look around and there’s nothing left to see
’Cause nothing is all you left for me
I waited ’round all morning you said you would phone
I’d wait all year if you’d come back again
You have made it clear that you must go out on your own
So I just have to accept my love’s in vain.
Why does this always have to happen to me?
Why am I so blind that I can’t see?
There’s no hope inside my hopeless heart again
When nothing is all you left for me
Now I’ll leave the past behind me and go start anew
Though loving you came easily to me
I should have known by now that you could never be true
But the chains of love won’t set my spirit free
Oh why did I lose my foolish heart to you?
I’m in prison and you’ve thrown away the key
There is nothing that I wouldn’t do for your love
But nothing is all you left for me
It Was Meant To Be
In the days of the ancients in a time near forgotten
when Paris and Helen reached Troy on their own
From what Homer told us they left both their families
when they were not content just to go it alone
Yes love can cause chaos and love can cause heartache
and the fallout is always severe
And each generation has known this frustration
when they find love’s attraction sincere
This is the way
this is the way
this is the way it was meant to be.
The bard said it plainly with Romeo and Juliet
when he wrote of the course of true love
The extremes of emotion and helpless devotion
just like Queen Cleopatra and the signs from above
Yes love was frustrated and efforts negated when rejected again and again
When wrongs go unrighted and love’s unrequited
It all ends in heartache and pain
This is the way
this is the way
this is the way it was meant to be.
This life’s no rehearsal - no time for revisions
So don’t ever let it be said
You have learned from the others – so make your decisions
And be ruled by your heart not your head
They say faith can move mountains and hope springs eternal
but when love comes you answer the call
And you have to respect it and you can’t neglect it
When you know that love conquers all
This is the way
this is the way
this is the way it was meant to be.
This is the way
this is the way
this is the way it was meant to be.
One Way Love
Well I tried so hard to keep you satisfied
The more you reject me the more and more I try
I wish I was able to cultivate the charm that I lack
I’m so in love with you, woman but you ain’t so in love with me back
Different kind of pressures tangled up my brain
But your kind of loving would drive a man insane
There are problems in my life, the solutions I just can’t see
Well, I live just for your loving but your loving don’t live for me.
Yeah I’m stuck in a tunnel and I just can’t see the light
I’m talking in my sleep and staying up all night
I’m an old locomotive with its wheels running right off the track
I’m so crazy ’bout you, baby but you ain’t so crazy ’bout me back
Well, you treat me nice then you treat me cruel
You break my heart, take me for a fool
I’ve tried and I’ve tried just to get you off of my mind
I’m a one-woman guy but you’re still the two-timin’ kind
You know I made sacrifices and I gave you everything
But you wanna treat me like a puppet on a string
I’m a joke to you, woman, you’re a riddle that I just can’t crack
I’m besotted by you, baby but you ain’t so besotted by me back
All I ever wanted was to make you mine
I did everything just to please you all the time
Now I’m walking down these lonely streets
Wearing out the soles of my shoes
Well I gave you everything but you just give me the blues
Mind, Heart and Soul
My troubled mind is playing tricks on me that I can’t stand
Right now I find I forget the foolish schemes that I had planned
I’m so confused and have to rearrange
Please help me to accept what I can’t change
My aching heart is heavy with the burden that I bear
The light of hope is fading in the darkness of despair
When the chimes that close the day begin to toll
The ship in which we travel is the soul
My restless soul yearns for you in the middle of the night
Whatever’s wrong it’s only you can make it right
You can take the parts and make them whole
You can fix my mind, my heart, my soul
What I Wouldn't Give
A new day has dawned, we’ve made a new start
The streets are deserted and so is my heart
It has taken some time but I now know it’s true
That I’m hopelessly lonely when I’m not with you
What I wouldn’t give, what I wouldn’t give,
What I wouldn’t give just to see you again
When I walk the streets in a cold place like this
Just sharing your thoughts is what I really miss
I long for your touch and I need your embrace
Just being without you is what I can’t face
What I wouldn’t give, what I wouldn’t give,
What I wouldn’t give just to be by your side
Like the arrow that’s spent and the word that was spoken
The chances I’ve missed that now burden my heart
The regret that I failed you with promises broken
And neglect of our love has torn us apart
What I wouldn’t give, what I wouldn’t give,
What I wouldn’t give just to see you again
What I wouldn’t give, what I wouldn’t give,
What I wouldn’t give just to be by your side
What I wouldn’t give, what I wouldn’t give,
What I wouldn’t give to be back in your arms
The Phoenix
It was in August two thousand and ten in the desert out in Atacama
When the copper-gold miners at San Jose became the focus of a Chilean drama
When the rocks at their mine caused the tunnel to fall and it entombed the thirty-three men
And for sixty-nine days the world watched and waited for them all to be born again
The eyes of the whole wide world looked on while the hopes of humanity
Saw the triumph of the teamwork of the engineers with the wonders of technology
And the science and the spirit and the prayers combined in the face of adversity
And the miracle happened when the men were born again like the phoenix from mythology
And the phoenix rose from under the ground
And their hope was never in vain
There was a powerful explosion of colour and sound
For the men who were born again
There were shouts of joy in the cold night air as the men came one by one
They hugged their sisters, they hugged their mothers, their daughters and their sons
They hugged their fathers, they hugged their brothers and the tears flowed like rivers of love
And with each man saved we knelt down and prayed and gave thanks to God above
So our thanks to NASA and the Chilean Navy and the state mine company
Now the Phoenix 2 capsule is a treasured icon of the 21st-century
But the population of the Chilean nation give thanks to the powers above
For the miracle that happened through a true combination of faith and hope and love
Green Light
You turn on your charm light and do the things you do
You just say the word to me and I come running to you
You gave me the green light to let me be with you
But you’re a mean heartbreaker,
Look what you’ve done to me
And you’re a real soul shaker,
Why won’t you set me free?
You gave me the green light
When will you let me be?
You’ve got me twisting and a’ turning
And headed right round the bend
And when that green light turns to red
It all comes to an end
Like a thief in the night time
You stole my heart and my mind
I lost my reason and my purpose
Seeking love I can’t find
You give me the green light
And then you leave me behind
There’s no doubt that I should have known better
Than to fall in forbidden arms
But life ain’t ever that easy
And I was weak for your lovin’ charms
I’ve been a fool for you, I’ve been lost too long
But now I found a new direction and I’m gonna get strong
You gave me the green light and I’m travellin’on
You gave me the green light and I’m travellin’on
You gave me the green light and I’m travellin’on
Natural Love
There are some people who give natural affection
Show those they love the right direction
And pick them up whenever they fall
They know that love will conquer all
She keeps me calm when my life gets tough
Never lets me down when the going gets rough
Like the northern star in the galaxy
When I need her love
She’s always there for me
Like a tower of strength, like a tall oak tree
Like a beacon light on life’s stormy sea
It’s like it comes from high above
She gives me a natural kind of love
Throughout my years from winter through to fall
She knows my fears and understands them all
Like the strongest shelter from the rain
When I get hurt she takes away the pain
And from now on and wherever I go
And where that is none of us can know
I’ll take the things life throws my way
And with her love can face each day
Like a tower of strength, like a tall oak tree
Like a beacon light on life’s stormy sea
It’s like it comes from high above
She gives me a natural kind of love
She gives me a natural kind of love
Homecoming
Homecoming, comin’ home, comin’ home to stay
See my family, see my friends, been so far away
And the sun’s come up on the dawn of a brand new day.
Homecoming, comin’ home, been away so long
Older now, lived my dreams, tried it on my own
And I’m going to the place where I belong
Towns can be lonely and roads can be tough
Time on the road takes its toll
Love to be needed and need to be loved
By people who care for your soul
Out of the darkness into the light now that I know the way
Finding the meaning, making it right, no more debt to pay
When the sun goes down, I’ll be home at the end of the day
Longing for wisdom I wandered away
Travelled the world on my own
The light of my life was a beacon each day
To bring me on back to my home
School for the Blues
Never got no gold star, never got no reward
To be congratulated would have seemed absurd
My early education didn’t help my self-esteem
But that kind of treatment formed the basis for a dream
Drowning in the whirlpool of individual confidence
Blues became the resource of my superego’s self defence
No words to encourage or give congratulation
No ideas or wonders to feed imagination
No worthwhile activity for serious recreation
Just a sense of real injustice to fuel my indignation
It wasn’t very common for me to listen to any common sense
Blues became the muse for my emotional intelligence
My intellectual life was gonna make me blow a fuse
Learning solutions to problems that I would never use
I bought a stratocaster and began to pay my dues
I left my home, hit the road, nothing left to lose
I’d lost the motivation just to hang around and sit on the fence
The Blues became the core of my curriculum for excellence
Then I learned to play the dobro and the blues harp too
The honky tonk piano and all that it can do
With the sound of the organ we were the tone wheel generation
I put it altogether and I found my inspiration
It wasn’t very long before my life began to make some sense
The blues became the soundtrack to my personal experience