Lyrics

Lyrics (songs alphabetically arranged by title) ©all songs copyright by Chaim Bezalel 2006-2009

By the Rivers of Babylon

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down.

By the rivers of Babylon, we sat down and wept

When we remembered Zion,

When we remembered Zion.

There upon the willows our harps were hung

There our captors demanded of us a song.

Sing us a song of Zion

Sing us a song of Zion

How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land

If I forget thee O Jerusalem, let my right hand

Forget its cunning, forget its skill

Let my tongue cleave to my palate and be forever still

repeat 1^st verse

Everything is Mixed

Everything is mixed

Don’t try to get it fixed

You’ll never get your kicks that way

Don’t try to be so pure

You never can be sure

And there’s always something more to say.

You are not perfect nor am I

Needless to expand

But the equation you and I

Equals something grand

Everything’s a blend

Don’t try to comprehend

It’s easier my friend that way

It’s one day at a time

That’s the reason and the rhyme

If you’re ok then I’m ok

We may not live forevermore

Love may not extend

Beyond however long we may endure

But I’m sure it’s till the end.

Everything is mixed …

Frozen in Time

Like a deer blinded in the headlights

Like a blizzard in the state of Maine

Like Frosty the Snowman, Nanook of the North

Or Rosebud from Citizen Kane

Like an insect trapped in the amber

Or a spaceman at the speed of light

Never gettin older

As long as he remains in flight

We are frozen in time, frozen in time

As long as we're movin together

We are frozen in time

Well it doesn't take an Einstein

To talk about relativity

We're all relatin to someone

Like the birds are relatin to the bees

Or maybe it's the birds relatin to the birds

And the bees relatin to the bees

Somehow I go a feelin

You could be relatin with me

We are frozen in time, frozen in time

As long as we're movin together

We are frozen in time

Like old Ponce de Leon

Searchin for the fountain of youth

He would've saved himself a lotta time

If he'd only known the truth

That we're all gettin older and some are gettin wise

To what is at the core

Two bodies movin in space and time

Are all the matter and energy's for

We are frozen in time, frozen in time

As long as we're movin together

We are frozen in time

We are frozen in time, frozen in time

As long as we're movin together

We are frozen in time ...

Grace and Mercy

We were walking on a narrow street

Some foreign city summer heat

Suddenly the gypsy boys came from behind

Picked my pocket robbed me blind

But grace and mercy

Following my way,

How many times

I can hardly say.

You shouted look out for those men

I ran and caught them

And got it back again.

We were driving on a winding road

In the mountains far away

Suddenly you lost control

Skidded in the rain

I thought my life was down the drain

But grace and mercy

Following my way,

How many times

I can hardly say.

I have been broken

Seen my silver turned to brass

But it's been spoken

This too shall pass

Grace and mercy

Following my way,

How many times

I can hardly say.

Grace and mercy

Following my way,

How many times

I can hardly say.

Haji Baba

Oh my darlink oh my bright and precious leetle jewel

I may have my weight in gold but still I am your fool

Only hear me when I beg you do not be so cruel

Let me take you to the Casbah there my heart to rule

Haji Baba Haji Baba Haji Ba-ba

Haji Baba Haji Baba Haji Ba-ba

You’re the wind and I’m the sail blow in my direction

Let me peek behind your veil see all your perfection

I may have some other wives but you’re my first selection

Let me be your daddy I will be your sole protection

Haji Baba Haji Baba Haji Ba-ba

Haji Baba Haji Baba Haji Ba-ba

Mr. Haji Baba Sir please do not be offended

We have been your faithful wives to you our wills are bended

But we feel that marriage should not be so open ended

Till we see that to our needs you’ve also fully tended

Haji Baba Haji Baba Haji Ba-ba

Haji Baba Haji Baba Haji Ba-ba

I Bought a Ukulele in Wailuku

I bought a ukulele in Wailuku

At a rummage sale, bought a radio too

From a roly poly lady and she sang a song

While her daughter danced the hula and my wife danced along.

The daughter was round and brown as the soil

And my wife has a figure like Olive Oyl

But she sang so pretty and they danced so sweet

Like tellin’ a story with their hands and their feet.

It rained every day in Houwelo

On the windward side where the trade winds blow

Livin’ off the grid as best we can

Fryin’ our bread in a frying pan

I used to be a broker like Paul Gaugin

Till he ran off to Tahiti to be a natural man

But I wanted to go native and I let myself go

On vacation to Hawaii where the coconuts grow

Now I’m just a middle aged howlee man

Kinda lyin' in the sun tryin' to get a tan

Tryin to learn the ukulele to impress my friends

When I get back to the mainland and the journey ends

No man is an island so the poet did say

That means we’re all connected in a deeper way

You can call me bro’ when you see me come

We’re all God’s creatures under the sun.

I Don’t Sing For Money

I don’t sing for money, that’s not my gig

Throw some coins in the jukebox if that’s what you dig

I ain’t no idol with perfect pitch

Ain’t got no pitchman to help me strike it rich.

I’m just a guy who sings for free

Still singing commercials from 1953

Oh no, here it comes again

They went out of business, I don’t know when

Brusha brusha brusha new Ipana toothpaste

Brusha brusha brusha, it’s dandy for your teeth.

Don’t reach for your wallet, I don’t need your dough

All I want is to go bo-bo-bodio-doh.

And if you need me, tell you where I’m gonna be

Tin Pan Alley General Delivery.

I don’t sing for money, that’s not my gig

Throw some coins in the jukebox if that’s what you dig.

If I Could Turn it Around

If I could turn it around and see the other side

I’m not so innocent it’s not so cut and dried

If I could go back and see it from above

I didn’t know how to behave, I didn’t know how to love

Now the children are grown and there’s no going back

I gave what I could give and I’m sorry for the lack

Please don’t ask if I’d do it again

I would change some things but that wouldn’t change the end

I thought I could change it all

But pride goes before the fall.

I was a spoiled child so full of guile

Give me me an inch and I’d take a mile

I was so full of rage in an angry age

I needed someone to help me wage my endless war.

I was cut down in my prime

But wounds do heal with time.

Josephina

When I met her she was almost pretty

But she was just over the hill

She was 33 and I was 20

And she was movin in for the kill

She had no milk of human kindness

But a wit that could cut like a knife

She only wanted to be called your highness

She only wanted to take over my life

Chorus:

Josephina, she was meaner

Than any man or woman I have ever known

Guarantee ya if ya see her

Like Medusa she’ll reduce ya to a block of stone.

I knew it was a fatal attraction

Just like Oedipus Rex

And she was using Sigmund Freud against me

Mixing everything with sex

That was back in 1972

Maggie Mae was on the radio

When I started to work on Maggie’s Farm

But I was catchin on too slow

Chorus

Four years later we found the Lord

And things went from bad to worse

Cause now I was married to a prophetess

With the power to bless and to curse

And man she could curse so that brimstone and fire

Would pour down onto my head

It was Isaiah, Hosea and Jeremiah

Unless I did as she said

Chorus

I was a lamb led to the slaughter

I was a sacrificial goat

I was a captive by the rivers of Babylon

Without a paddle, without a boat

For seven years I served her

Then I served her for seven more

I poured all my riches upon her

Just like that Babylonian war

Chorus

Then I finally crossed the border

To a place where she couldn’t go

It was the land of milk and honey

Even further than Mexico

But when I came back ten years later

She slapped me with the third degree

Hell hath no fury like a woman

When the woman can’t let me be.

Just the Sound of Rain Falling

Just the sound of rain falling

Just the sound of rain falling

Falling on the leaves

Falling on the eaves

Just the sound of rain falling

Just the sound of rain falling

Falling on the ground

Falling all around

Wouldn’t want to be up in a tree

I’d rather hide in my cabin inside

Just the sound of rain falling

Wouldn’t want to be sailing the sea

I’d rather stay at home today

Just the sound of rain falling.

Ke kani o ka ua E hele lei i-nei

Ke kani o ka ua E hele lei i-nei

Ke kani o ka ua E hele lei i-nei

Ke kani o ka ua E hele lei i-nei

E ole make make oww

I luna okay kumu lai oww

Ke kani o ka ua E hele lei i-nei

Life in the Slow Lane

Living incognito on our isle of bliss

Leaving all the world behind, can't it be like this

The tide goes out and the tide comes in

Apple tree blossoms and the summer begins

That's life in the slow lane with you babe

That's life in the slow lane

I'll live a lot longer with you babe

I wanna live a lot longer with you.

Do you want to read awhile till we close our eyes\

We can talk tomorrow about our whats and whys

The twilight goes on till almost midnight

But we can turn out the light are you sleepy now - quite.

Chorus

I've been around the world and I've been to London too

The sunset in Jerusalem is really quite a view

Some days I wake up and don't know where I'm at

Some say that home is wherever you hang your hat.

Chorus

I do not care about fortune or fame

I do not care if they ever know my name

I do not want to try any new toothpaste

Living with anyone else would be a waste.

Chorus

Maagal shel Galuyot

Maagal shel galuyot, maagal shel galuyot

K' even zarach l'toch mayim oseh taba'ot

K' even zarach l'toch mayim oseh taba'ot

Lindod ba'midbar, lindod ba'aravah

Eifo, eifo, eifo ahava -

Eifo, eifo, eifo ahava

Ne'evad v'neeylam, holech ca'an v'sham

Holech od pa'am saviv ha olam

Omrim ma'atza, ma'atza isha

Matza tov, matza sof gaagua

Matza tov, matza sof gaagua

Ve ha isha, he mechaka

B'emunah shlema, l'hgiyat he navad

Maagal shel galuyot, maagal shel galuyot

K' even zarach l'toch mayim oseh taba'ot

K' even zarach l'toch mayim oseh taba'ot

Cycle of exiles, cycle of exiles

Like a stone thrown into the water making rings

Wandering in the desert, wandering in the plain

Where is love?

Lost and disappeared, going to and fro

Going around the world once more.

They say, he who finds a wife finds a good thing,

finds an end to longing.

And the woman, she has waited in perfect faith

For the arrival of this wanderer.

Man Overboard

Man overboard, man overboard

Over the top and over the hill

A little overbearing but I love you still

Man overboard

Can I keep on swimming

Will I reach the shore

Tell me if you’re out there

I can’t wait much more

Man overboard, man overboard

Over the limit and over the line

Well shiver me timbers I’m soaking in brine

Man overboard

Water water everywhere

But not a drop to drink

Should I just go under

I know I’m on the brink

Man overboard, man overboard

Over the rainbow and over the moon

Over my head if they don’t get here soon

Man overboard

I guess that we’re all wondering

How this story ends

Will somebody save my soul

Before I get the bends

Man overboard, man overboard

It’s not over till it’s over and the fat lady sings

Then it’s over in the clover with a pitchfork or wings

Man overboard, man overboard, man overboard

Native American Woman

She's got a beaver in the freezer that she found by the side of the road

It's not the meat that she'll eat but the hide and fur that she stowed

I'm confused how it's used but I guess to be beaded or sewed

She's an old fashioned lady, she's abidin' by a whole different code

Chorus:

She's a Native American woman singin in a funky string band

Shootin down all my suggestions

She thinks that I'm soundin too bland.

She lives out in the woods with a guy looks like Rutherford B. Hayes

He's a man of few words but that's on his better days

Calls himself a mountain man and that's just the role he plays

We're all tryin to be authentic in a world of malls and freeways

Chorus

It won't be long till this song might be struck from the band's repertoire

And I'll be playin kazoo instead of this old guitar

Or be run out of town in a suit full of feathers and tar

Cause everybody's thinkin that perhaps I've been going too far.

Chorus - repeat twice

People are Sticky

People are sticky

They get attached so easily

If you’re only lookin' for a quickie

Don’t fool around with me

Cause I’m stuck on you

And that’s the way that it is.

People are mammals

Somewhere up the family tree

Just like monkeys and camels

Warm and fuzzy like me

Don’t have to say a word

To show the way that I feel

I have a medulla oblongata

Right at the bottom of my brain

It keeps my heart beatin' and it keeps me breathin'

Just like a choo choo train.

People are funny

Strange but not ha ha

They all make a different kind of honey

From wherever they’ve had their fal-de-a

And that’s why I’m here

And why I’m singing this song.

I know that there might be some exceptions

Some people really take the cake

There are a few who are not sticky but slimy

Not like a mammal but a snake, but in general

People are sticky

They get attached so easily

If you’re only lookin' for a quickie

Don’t fool around with me

Cause I’m stuck on you

And that’s the way that it is.

Prodigal

Got a call from Sam

He was in a jam

Could I lend a hand

Yes, I said, I can

Samuel is my youngest son

And after some estrangement

We have had a one on one

And come to an arrangement

He could use a meal

I could really feel

He was being real

So we made a deal

He’ll go back to school again

And finish his degree

What he wants to major in

Is child psychology

Hope he does better than me

Dealing with reality

I’d gladly pay the fee

If it would set him free

Fatherhood is rough

They say love should be tough

To produce the right stuff

But it’s not enough

The biggest part of anything

Is simply being there

And the other part of it

Is learning how to care.

I nearly had to laugh

I was much worse by half

Better kill the fatted calf

Instead of givin him the shaft.

How you doin' son

Must have learned a ton

Hope you're having fun

When will you be done

He says everything is fine

But I'm late on the rent

A little more would really help

And when will that be sent.

I'll send it right away

Yes without delay

You'll have it in a day

But I was being played

It had been at least a year

Since he'd attended classes

I was seeing everything

Through my rose colored glasses

I must have had a screw loose

I thought no news was good news

Am I a jerk well you choose

Falling for all his boo hoos.

Raised in the Suburbs

I was raised in the suburbs

Had all that I need

Of material comfort

It was all guaranteed

My father he worked in the material trade

He commuted to the city an hour each way

That was back in the mid 20th century days

When the cars all had fins and hula hoop was the craze

We played Davy, Davy Crockett king of the wild frontier

It was before the revolution

But in some ways we were freer.

This morning I heard of a typical kid

Made a goal for the wrong side, they still laugh about what he did

Well he signed up for the army as a young high school grad

Now they're shipping his body back home from Bagdad

Well I fled from the suburbs halfway round the world

And I've learned a few lessons as my life has unfurled

But I never regretted the way I did go

Now I'm singing this song from South Camano.

So remember the Alamo, remember the Maine

And don't declare victory till the end of the game

You may score one for the wrong side fore you learn how to shoot

And still land up a hero and a sung one to boot.

René

René, you were my queen for a day

I thought you’d want me to stay for a while

Rene, you said our love is passé

And now I’m cast away

from your smile

You say you are a woman of means

You think I’m strictly pork and beans

That I couldn’t fit in with your crowd anyhow

And now you’ve smashed my heart to smithereens

Without making any scenes

You’re too proud.

René, why did you treat me so blasé

I thought that we were on our way

To say I do.

René, if we were only in a play

This is the part where it would say

End act two.

If it were me, I’d stick around if just to see

If boy gets girl back in Act Three

And so should you

But no, you’re giving me the old heave ho

If it’s the end I’d rather know

And say adieu.

Seventeen Miles Away

I wanna ride, I wanna ride away

I wanna ride, I wanna ride away

I wanna get down down

Seventeen miles away.

Take me down, down where the water is wide

Take me down, down where the water is wide

I want to walk the sand

I want to sit and watch the tide

Sometimes it’s hard, hard just to be a man

Sometimes it’s hard, hard just to be a man

When you face the music

You can only do what you can

When I came back to this country I went before the judge

When I came back to this country I went before the judge

I got a hundred days in prison

On a misdemeanor he wouldn’t budge

I’ve been high, gained the world but lost my soul

Riding high, gained the world but lost my soul

And I’ve been down so low

Livin on the dole.

I’ve had some women in my life, God knows I’ve had a few

I’ve had some women in my life, God knows I’ve had a few

The good the bad and the ugly

Sometimes it’s hard to know who’s who

I wanna ride, I wanna ride away

I wanna ride, I wanna ride away

I wanna get down down

Seventeen miles away

The Sky is Not Falling

The sky is not falling

Though prophets of doom are calling

That maybe it will.

Apocalypse is stalling

Which some might find appalling

But we still have time to kill

Let’s settle in for the duration

You can change the station

I’ve had my fill.

The planet may warm

More than the norm

So why don’t we chill.

The Dow may keep dropping

If shoppers stop shopping

Like they did in the boom.

It may be a bear

But I really don’t care

To share in the gloom.

Don’t try to alarm me

The Salvation Army

has plenty of room

And if they insist

And I have to enlist

I can still push a broom.

If they tell you that we’re

Going straight to hell in a handbasket

Well, them’s the brakes.

Sometimes I can almost smell

The sulphur see the burning lake.

If you fall down a well

You can yell but still there’s

Only one way to take

That is higher, don’t expire or tire though it’s dire and you’re stuck in the mire and it’s down to the wire

There’s much too much at stake.

Song for Henri Rousseau

He was an ordinary man

A customs clerk somewhere in France

Till he retired at forty-nine

He lived a life inside his mind

He never left his native land

To paint what he had never seen

The sleeping gypsy in the sand

The world suspended in a dream.

He holds a staff still in his hand

A lion sniffs around his head

Is he asleep or just pretend

His lute is silent as the dead

The moon is watching from the sky

The stars are peering through the dawn

The lion gazes with his eye

The gypsy sleeps until the morn.

And there is even more to tell

The mountains rising from the plain

They play their part they cast their spell

A world where nothing is mundane.

The coat he wears like Joseph's own

Also a dreamer he was called

Of many colors it was sewn

Will it be torn will he be mauled

They say that always in the dream

Each thing you see is only you

Things are not always what they seem

Or what at first we may construe

A nude reclining on a chair

Where jungle vegetation grows

The creatures deep within all stare

Regarding Henri Rousseau.

He was an ordinary man

A customs clerk somewhere in France

Till he retired at forty-nine

He lived a life inside his mind

Train Song

I can’t explain

It’s like I’m on a train

I see the fields go by

I close my eyes

It’s like I’m hypnotized

I fall asleep for a while

Train is rocking

And my dreams unlocking

All my memories

Shifting places

And I’m seeing faces

From my history

Time just gets swifter

And I’m just a drifter

A comet approaching the sun

My orbit grows small

As I fall and I fall

And the years just rush by one by one.

Can’t stop your brain

And you can’t stop the train

And you can’t stop time

Life is sweet

But the days are fleet

It’s part of the design

Please be patient

Till we reach the station

As we surely shall

Enjoy the ride

Watch the countryside

That’s the rationale

And then it goes back

And it’s hard to keep track

Of where I was when I began

I am him inside

And I cannot divide

The child that is father to man.

Tyee Store

Tyee store tyee store

Everything costs just a little bit more

Shut them winders and close the door

I'm goin down to Tyee store.

My mama brought me up to be a real gourmet

No Wonder Bread or Twinkies in the house she's say

But here on the South End I've been led astray

Tyee Store has 'em by the tray.

Well I was readin' in the paper today

There's twenty different kinds of frozen waffles they say

If you want just one and are willin to pay

Tyee store's just a mile away

If you got the cabin fever or just the blues

Button yer jacket and tie yer shoes

Fer half a dozen eggs whatcha got to lose

Tyee store is the place to choose

If you got an extra million under the bed

And wondrin' what to do with all that bread

Just put the cash on the barrelhead

You can buy the whole store, they'll throw in the shed

Tyee store tyee store

Everything costs just a little bit more

Shut them winders and close the door

I'm goin down to Tyee store.

War in the Family

This ain’t Tennessee Williams,

This ain’t Eugene O’Neil

Multiply that by a million

Maybe then you’ll know how I feel.

War in the family

The plot is thickening

Smiles and deception

It’s almost sickening.

It’s like Shakespeare or maybe the Bible

Family feuds in a really big way

If you value your survival

Watch your back and mind what you say.

War in the family

The plot is thickening

All the world’s a stage

The pulse is quickening.

Startin' out with Cain and Abel

What makes us think we’re a different breed

Lay lay our cards right on the table

Court’s in session, how do you plead.

War in the family

A sword is beckoning

Choosin' up sides

For the day of reckoning.

Desdemona loved Othello

What made him think she done him wrong

Shouldn’t have smothered her with a pillow

Shoulda trusted her all along

War in the family

It’s so unsettling

Don’t get in the middle

You’d just be meddling.

Don't have to tell you about Medea

Her husband left her for a younger bride.

She loved her children she was quite sincere

But still she killed 'em cause he hurt her pride

War in the family

It's so unyielding

Better pay attention

To what your wielding

Absalom may have looked like a hippie

With his hair flowin' down his back

He was a prince but he was still pretty creepy

Takin' the palace in surprise attack

War in the family

It’s not just mythology

Any shrink’ll tell ya

It’s only psychology.

Watchin’ the Senora

Watching the senora digging out de’ dande’lions

I’m out on the veranda just about siesta time

The boat in the water looking like a toy

And I’m feeling like a cabana boy

Watching the senora digging out de’ dande’lions

On my island, island in the sea

Two turtle doves perchin’ in a tree

Leave some of those weeds behind

I don’t need an Eden but I’ll take what I can find

Watching the senora digging out de’ dande’lions

Watching the senora digging out de’ dande’lions

She don’t sweat a lot cause de’ weather she’s so fine

Just a little trickle down the small of her back

And her hair hangin down from the brim of her hat

Watching the senora digging out de’ dande’lions

On my island, island in the sea

Two turtle doves perchin’ in a tree

Leave some of those weeds behind

I don’t need an Eden but I’ll take what I can find

Watching the senora digging out de’ dande’lions

White Doeskin Shoes

Oh bury me in my white doeskin shoes

Bury me in my white doeskin shoes

You didn't like them when I was walkin

Now my shoes will do the talkin

Oh bury me in my white doeskin shoes

You didn't like to hear them slappin on the floor

You didn't like to hear them slappin on the floor

You said they sound like patent leather

but they feel light as a feather

Now you'll never hear that slappin sound again

I'd take you dancin in my white doeskin shoes

I'd take you dancin in my white doeskin shoes

We'd a boogied all around

Kinda floatin off the ground

Dancin in my white doeskin shoes