1. |
If You Want It To Be
07:56
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The grass can be blue and the sky can be green
If you want it to be
The fake can be real and the meal can be free
If you want it to be
The water is wine and the wine is divine
If you want it to be
The girls can be boys and the boys can be toys
If you know what I mean
And I can be you, and you can be me
If you want it to be
If you want it to be
Take your own liberties
Write your own history
If you want it to be
Well, I hear what you're saying and I hate to insist
But if I want it to be I'll just keep on wanting, wanting
And nothing will change for me, staying the same for me inevitably
The only bluegrass I know is the one they play on banjo
And the sky is turning colors by the hole in the ozone
And girls will be girls, and boys will be boys
quite naturally
And if you were me, well babe, you would see
It takes a lot more than a wish to make an actuality
Well, I want it to be
But thinking rationally
I cannot change history
Your teeth can be false and the false can be true
If you want it to be
The dance can be waltz and the waltz can be danced to a quadruple beat
The pigs they can fly, yes they're flying on by in your aviary
The poor can be rich and the rich can insist on giving more charity
And I can be you, and you can be me
If you want it to be
If you want it to be
Take your own liberties
Write your own history
If you want it to be
The grass can be blue and the sky can be green
[The only bluegrass I know is the one they play on banjo]
The fake can be real and the meal can be free
[You gotta work and work and work just to get a simple meal]
The water is wine and the wine is divine
[Think of all the grapes they had to squeeze to get that vino]
The girls can be boys and the boys can be toys
[Your alchemy is foolish, you're making gold out of alloys]
If you want it to be
Take your own liberties
Write your own history
If you want it to be
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2. |
Song For Beat Takeshi
04:15
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All those memories forgotten
All the stars on astral planes
All the foggy things unsifted
That are swimming 'round my brain
Oh, how sweet it is to be
One who's always remembering
All those memories forgotten
All those memories forgotten
All those memories forgotten
All the fishes in the sea
Could not match my imagination
Is there something wrong with me?
But how sweet it is to be
One who's always remembering
All those memories forgotten
All those memories forgotten
They come to me, again, remember... I've got it!
I've lost it, it's hazy, no way to recall it
It swirls around, I've got it, I've caught it
I've lost it, it's swirling, no way to withdraw it
All those memories forgotten
All those memories forgotten
All those memories forgotten
All those memories forgotten...
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3. |
Take Me To United States
03:26
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Take me to United States
In your big jet plane
bring me a cup of tea
the American way, if you please, I don't care if it's hot or not
I just want to go on leave now...
...for the United States
Real American dream
Lady of liberties
she's the girl for me, she is green, and I don't think that red goes with my eyes
it's no big surprise that...
All I really want is to go to United States
take me to a land that seems oh so far away
I want to taste the sweet milk, I want to taste the honey
take me away from this land of silk and dirty money
Fly me o'er the mountains and take me o'er the sea
let's take a funky picture by the statue liberty
carry to your homeland this treasure from the East
let me bring new flavors to your thanksgiving feast
In my youth
I would dream
Wrigley field
corn-picking machine, pumping gas, keeping clean, keeping bright
dropping beats down into USA, now...
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4. |
Fine By Me
04:39
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The Zen man came to me
A trifle in is hand
And quickly threw it at my head
I thought I might be dead
But still I said it’s fine by me
I struck him on the nose
He composed a little prose
Old man with a wealth of glee
And when I heard his word
Everything was fine by me
I wandered to town
The birds they did sing
There’s no up or down
No ten thousand things
But it’s different when it hurts,
When you cannot even see
And your scrounging for your meals
And your stomach growls “hungry”
And then it starts to bark
Cause you’re chewing on a tree
And your licking up the salt
Man, you’re doing fine by me
It's funny how you feel
When you see that it's not real
You're a fleeing renegade
You get the tree, but not the shade
It's only different when it burns
And then you're doing fine by me
Though you may look back, man
It's too late, you on the track
Your ticket's all been paid
Now you just have to watch the game
Progressing here and now it's fast
It's built to last and boy it's fine by me
I wandered to town
The bells they did ring
There's no wedding gown
There's no diamond ring
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5. |
Lai-Ya
04:59
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6. |
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I looked at the building 'cross from mine
Wondered how I'd feel to be inside
Tho I'm never happy where I be
Maybe this one time
If I can cross that street
Signals from the windows call to me
Grimy, gritty city paints their eves
Looking from within them I can see
Nothing's really changed
I'm still here with me
Why you wanna blow this way and that-a-way?
You're sitting all alone in each cafe, you know.
You stumble through the park and chase them all away
Moving out and in, moving outward inwardly
There's a lot for me here in this town
Pretty girls and music all year 'round
But how it's taking shape now
Everything I am
All I ever want to be, finally
Now I'm surrounded by the image of another
Here behind the ancient walls
Of the building that I saw
When I saw the need to settle down
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7. |
Tunnel of Names
05:42
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I saw an old mighty river in a tunnel in my dreams
Playing in the water were all the people I've been
And though they all were young and beautiful
There was something not the same
I saw my old grandfather, light as air
Sitting on the waves
Singin' oooh
Singin' oooh
And there he said "oh now, Benny boy, you didn't come out too bad"
And well I couldn't really say nothing at all
Because nothing was all I had
Just then he floated away
And I found the words to say...
Sitting on the waves
Sitting on the waves
His last refrain
Another night, another dream floated towards me
It granted me a new name
As if the one before wasn't working at all
Came out jumbled like something strange
That's how it came to play
I found my father's name
Sent it down the stream
Though it followed me
Sitting on the waves
Just like grandpa said
those last words to me
Sitting on the waves
His last refrain
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8. |
Bobby O
08:02
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9. |
I Gave Her All My Loving
04:25
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I met that girl a month ago
Took my time and I took it slow
But then i gave her all my loving
I gave her all my loving
I gave her all, I gave her all,
I gave her all, I gave her all
I gave her all my loving
Told that girl she don't mean squat to me
She's just a friend when I'm in need
But then i gave her all my loving
I gave her all my loving
I gave her all, I gave her all,
I gave her all, I gave her all
I gave her all my loving
She was just a fling
But I was flung too fast
And as the days went by
She loved me so hard that my spirit died
She loved me once, she loved me twice
She rolled me like a pair of dice
Oh, it was paradise
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10. |
Keep You From My Hell
05:41
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Anger ain't nothing
But it keeps getting blown around
I've got issues
With the shit that I've passed around
You'll have to wait until I'm back on my feet again
Time will tell
But for now
I'll just keep you from my hell
Stay in your prison cell and throw away the key
Don't dare beckon to the dog-guard to set you free
There's an inferno waiting if you should come to me
There's something wrong with this, I think
I'm on the brink of higher stakes
Through loving all the things you do to me
It's love misery for me
I'll protect you, I'm your friend 'til the bitter end
I won't sex you but I've mountains of love to send
Thank you for being here, I want to be the best I can
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11. |
Esmé, Ale, Tata
04:44
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In the space we share
Write with me realities I didn't know could be there
Could be there
Many precious things
Vulnerability can show
Oh Esme, sweet Ale, dear Tata
We have gathered here as the end is near
Hurtling forward fast
Deslizar sem parar pelo mar
Treasure what you are
People come and people leave an imprint
In scarlet, eternal
You're a burning star
Flashing bright beneath the spotlight
Esme, sweet Ale, dear Tata
Face the lingering ghost
Pain will pass away
Passing by your way without taking or leaving a trace
I try hard to ease my worried mind
Flowers, and springtime
Light that dances on the wall
I'd give it all, although it's hard
I'll give it on, and on, and on
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12. |
The Day She Began To Fly
04:13
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Watch her
Waiting
Rising
Soaring in the great blue yonder
She flies on high
As we watch
The great big sun
Drips down the skyline
Melting time
Twilight sweeps in
Slowly, twinkling
Midnight hours
Drifting downward
Sliding down the curtain of the sky
I saw her there, the day she began to fly
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13. |
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Wooden ships come and wooden ships go
To and fro they bring me home
Swift on the breeze, quick on their feet
I lay me down when that bright feathered sail
Comes oer the horizon
And comforts me so that I can't sleep
Without dreaming about those wooden ships coming
To take away you and me
I used to think you'd come out from the woodwork
And take me sailing across the sea
Then, it would be just us out on the ocean
There we'd be sailing
You and me
But wooden ships come and wooden ships go
To and fro they bring me home
Swift on the breeze, quick on their feet
I lay me down when that bright feathered sail
Comes oer the horizon
And comforts me so that I can't sleep
Without dreaming about those wooden ships coming
To take away you and me
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14. |
You're Gone
04:27
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Well now everybody is leaving me
Well now everybody is gone
And when the bell stops ringing silence falls
I listen for footsteps but you're gone
The wind carries whispers, my love
The moon's turning green up above
And when our hearts start racing mine will fall
And shatter to pieces 'cause you're gone
You're gone
You're gone
You're gone
I'm filling up the silence with my song
I'm waiting for the crickets to come
And when I hear their chorus I sing along
But it's no use trying 'cause you're gone
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Benny Oyama Brooklyn, New York
Benny Oyama is a multicultural Japanese and Jewish singer-songwriter born and raised in New York City. The poetry and harmony of Benny Oyama’s intimate music has been likened to Nick Drake, Caetano Veloso and Simon and Garfunkel. Benny sings with a surprising multitude of voices, carried by subtle and complex guitar work firmly rooted in Brazilian and American Folk traditions. ... more
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