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1. |
Come to the Land
05:18
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Come To The Land (capo up 5 in C)
G G/C C G G/C D
Storm in a bottle. Shine on his shoes.
Carlos meets the Governor. Paying all those dues.
Ink on the paper. Now the Law of the Land.
(But the) tongue of his fathers, this man will never understand.
Em C Am D
There’s no Statue of Liberty where the Armadillo play.
Can’t you hear the angels calling to Maria and Jose?
G D C D
Come to the land where freedom is so frail.
Come to the land where the angels sit in jail.
refrain
G G/C G G/C G G/C D
Come to the land. Come to the land. Come to the land.
Jack is Immigration. The Border looks so wide.
There’s no Ellis Island dignity, just a lot of room to hide.
There’s a legal way to do it, brown, white or black.
But he hates to see the faces of those he sends back.
There is no fence or rifle that is stronger than this lure.
Can’t you hear the angels trading dollars for a cure?
Come to the land where medicine is magic.
Come to the land where the angels can’t afford it.
refrain
Turban on his forehead. Sand in his blood.
Dr. Ahmed mops the fellowship hall. Patience against mud.
His English is still broken. His spirit is like steel.
He dreams of a little practice, another chance to heal.
But when people see his face, the TV headshots come.
Their enemy within, their hearts beat like a drum.
All they see is Palestinians cheering 9/11.
Men strapping on dynamite as their passport into heaven.
Come to the land where no man serves a king.
Come to the land where the angels are waitressing.
Refrain Words and music by David B. Hakan © 2005 All Rights Reserved 3-15-2005
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2. |
There's a Storm
05:19
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There’s a Storm (partial capo on 2nd fret, in E) D7 G2 D There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. /There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. G2, sus4 D It’s roaring in from the ocean. Won’t leave much in its way. Where the big storms have names like Charlie, Ar3,4 Ar3 D Ivan the Terrible arrived today. There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. /There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. There are profits from military spending. There are prophets of hate on every shore. There are poor willing to wear bombs or rifles. This twister is knocking on our door. There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. /There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. It’s way past the point of the spear, now. It’s way past the point of prayer. It’s way past the broken guardrail. We’re sailing out into air. There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. /There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. Our voting is controlled by governors. They lean left or they lean right. Their handpicked count votes in secret, the machinery kept out of sight. There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. /There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. Where are the saints when we need them? do they care about you and me? Do they care that Power and Corruption are washing over the Land of the Free? There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. /There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. I go down to see my doctor, for this hailstorm in my head. I wait in a long line at the drugstore, all of us wishing we were dead. There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. /There’s a storm, saints alive, running wild. My neighboors meet under the streetlight. There’s a break in the clouds above. We shake hands and look into faces and remember the power of love. Words and music by David B. Hakan 9-12-2004 © 2004 All Rights Reserved
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3. |
Makerman
03:43
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Makerman capo on 5th fret in C
G C
Long ago before there was writing
G C D
there lived a man who couldn’t hunt or run.
G C
But in his tribe he held his head up.
G C G
They called him Maker and their favorite son.
Em C
He made the braid so the rope was stronger.
G D
He made a knot that held it tight.
Now they had milk as well as cow flesh.
He built the fire that warmed the night.
C G Em C
Makerman, Makerman, play on your lyre.
Makerman, Makerman, weave the music so fine.
Makerman, Makerman, tell us a story.
C D G
Make our hearts dance & the words all rhyme.
One day a girl begged the Maker,
“I want to be a maker, too.”
“Well you must pray and ask the spirit
to find your heart and come to you.
For when I make a tool that sharpens,
the Great One sharpens me.
And when you finally cage the tiger
then the Spirit will set you free.”
refrain
There was drought and there was hardship.
There came a tribe across the River Fear.
Their first taste of theft and violence.
But he would not make more deadly spears.
They brought him wood to build a stockade
to keep them out and to shoot from.
He built a bridge across the water.
He went over and learned their tongue. (and they said,)
Refrain
Words and music by David B. Hakan 1-19-2005
© 2005 All Rights Reserved
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4. |
The Front Porch Song
03:22
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The Front Porch Song (capo on 5th fret, in C) G C G Crickets in the morning, cicadas at night. D C G Squirrels all scampering out of sight. the world on my front porch looks just fine with the trees all swaying to this song of mine. C G C G Am C D G On the front porch, on the front porch, the world looks better on my front porch. You’re never too old for that front porch swing. That gentle rocking is a sacred thing. (We’ve a) place inside needs a steady hand till we plant our feet down and take a stand. D C G (There’s) poor and hungry all over the Earth D C G and ethnic wars making all this worse. Em C I bring them to the porch and I want to cry D but I lift them up to the blue in the sky. Chorus Friends and all my neighbors know they’ll find me here, strumming my guitar when the weather’s clear. Singing to the sparrows swooping in the air. Everybody’s welcome to a front porch chair. Tell me how you’re doing. did your basement flood? Thanks for the ladder and the two-by-four stud. Thank our lucky stars we can share this block and count on each other when we need to talk. chorus Everybody’s front porch has a different style, hammocks or cupboards or toys in a pile, tablecloth dining or tools of the trade, but we’re one big family in our front porch shade. Gladiolas, Morning Glories, stars and stripes, Glowing jack-o-lanterns, Christmas lights. Sweep it out in spring to begin anew when the Daffodils riot and the Crocus bloom. chorus Words and music by David B. Hakan 9-26-2004 © 2004 All Rights Reserved
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5. |
Shawnee Farm
05:12
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Shawnee Farm
B A E
Our Shawnee Farm goes back to 1840
B A E
The tombstones tell that life was harder then.
B A E
John and I now sit out on the back porch
B A E
when the light is low and the day is at its end.
Years ago we stopped using the front porch.
You can see the city sprawl from that door.
The glow is like a stain upon the night sky.
Tell me, what do they need all those street lights for?
Eup7 Eup5
Every year John works a little harder.
Eup7 Eup5
All that shows is the muscle in his arm.
Eup7 Eup5
The city’s bound to win the final contest.
Eup7 Eup5 E
And who’s gonna miss a little Shawnee Farm?
The metro city suburbs have outflanked us.
Now, they claimed a road must connect the north and south.
All those folks need to hurry through our soybeans
that we barely saved from the cut worms and the drought.
The moonset in the west was such a comfort.
Now we look out on the pests and insect swarms.
High school kids are the only ones who drive here.
Tell me, what do we need all those streetlights for?
refrain
John is turning 80 and still my hero.
He didn’t take the assessment lying down.
They took a hundred thousand dollars for that roadway
and paid us twenty nine for that 3 mile strip of ground.
He went to court to fight the city lawyers.
And he came back with a lot, well a little, more.
Now, they claim we made a killing on the improvement.
Tell me, what do we need all those streetlights for?
refrain
Friday last John talked to our banker.
Then he drank his health until he was a little tight.
He sat out on the back porch with his rifle
and shot out three or four of those damn lights.
His family's owned this land thru feast and hardship
from the days of the great Civil War.
It’s not a place we get our mail it’s our homestead.
Tell me, what do we need all those street lights for?
Words And Music By David B. Hakan 9-14-93
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6. |
Winter in my Soul
03:17
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Winter in My Soul E B? come here quick or you’ll miss it, Honey. A? A The yeast is spreading across the bowl. Bring those eggs buy be slow and careful. Baking bread will keep out the cold. A B Knead it till it pushes back. It spends an hour rising on the rack. In a while we will turn the bowl. I bake bread when it’s winter in my soul. Set the logs with some air between them. Crumple paper underneath them now. yes, it’s cheating to use charcoal lighter. But the flames cure this chill somehow. Pop and hiss of seasoned oak. Let the warmth sink in and soak. Cats curl up near orange coals. I lay a fire when it’s winter in my soul. Bend way down to the water’s level. Skip the rock aiming straight and low. Roll your pants up and wade out farther till the fish nibble at your toes. Listen to the river’s song. Life is slippery you must float along. Past the rocks and the highs and lows. I find the river when it’s winter in my soul. Words and music by David B. Hakan 4-15-2004 © 2004 All Rights Reserved
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7. |
Last Letter Home
03:59
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Last Letter Home (Capo on second fret, in A)
G C
I met Kori on the way to C’Oeur de Lain.
G D
My silence set her talking of her life.
She drove a cab in buffalo. Now she’s started letting go of voices that had trapped her deep inside. I asked her if she’d lost somebody close. She said she was the one who slipped away. In her dreams her friends all cry, around her casket asking why they could not find the words to make her stay.
refrain
C G
Letting go, slipping away.
D G-Am-G
I just had to see you, one more time.
C G
Almost home, I’m on my way,
D C G
just to say hello one last time.
I must have listened to her talk for hours. Nothing else to do while on that train. She finally started winding down, a little mirror to my frown. She took my hand as if she guessed my pain.
refrain
Words and music by David B. Hakan 8-9-2004 © 2004 All Rights Reserved
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8. |
Firecreek Lullaby
03:31
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Fire Creek Lullaby
D G - Ar3sus4
When the winter falls,
D G - Ar3sus4
when the night sets in,
D G - Ar3sus4
blankets to our chins
D G - Ar3sus4
dancing candlelight upon our walls,
G Ar3sus4
I will be with you.
Thru wind and stone, thru light and shadow, like water that gathers sunlight tumbling over the falls, with you I’ll go.
Refrain
D A
With you
G A
when the scars open up again,
D A
with you
G A
when the ghosts in the mirror grin,
D A
with you.
G A
How I hate to hear you cry at night. So
G Asus4 - A
Look to your tomorrows. And
G Ar3sus4 - D
hold me tight.
When hopes fail again, when my nightmares start, though I hide my heart I will keep it safe/ in your hands./ I’ll try to let you know. When they come from all sides, panic as thick as a snowstorm, I count on you to lay me down/ and bundle the day in promise/ so our love stays warm.
refrain
Words and music by David B. Hakan 8-12-91
©1991 All Rights Reserved
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9. |
Therapy
03:53
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Therapy (capo up 5 in C)
G G/C rocking
A comfy chair, a cup of tea
G G/C D C
a book about a place I’ll never see.
G G/C
How’d that cat get curled up in my lap?
G C D G G/C
It’s therapy, therapy.
A gentle rain all day long.
I get my poncho and slosh along.
An hour later how’d I end up at my door?
It’s therapy, therapy.
Refrain
D C G D C G
Take a long slow breath. Wind on down.
Spare no expense. Lose that frown.
Em C D
Let the world just turn a little while without your push.
It’s therapy, therapy.
Friends are singing, by fire light.
Hearts are lifted up into the night.
How’d we stay up till the break of day?
It’s therapy, therapy.
Camping tent, coffee on the stove,
Alpine meadow where no car goes.
Now those Republicrats don’t bother me.
It’s therapy, therapy.
Refrain
The next time your heart is sick. Find whatever does the trick.
It’s not selfish. It’s what you need.
It’s therapy, therapy.
refrain
Words and music by David B. Hakan
© 2005 All Rights Reserved 3-15-2005
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10. |
Just a Breath Away
05:13
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Just a Breath Away (Partial capo up 5, capo up 1 in C)
F Gsus4 C
So now the time has come for fare thee well’s,
Just when we don’t want to leave each other’s side.
But what I’ve got to do you can’t be part of now.
I’m traveling light and I’m traveling wide.
Let me tell you about the bottom of the ocean.
Let me help you climb to the top of a tree.
Let me tell you about a heart that knows no distance.
That’s how it will be for you and me.
refrain
B☟2 F C
When your heart hears my song on the evening breeze,
When you feel a kiss from the ocean spray,
And when the dark folds gently around you,
B☟2 F G
That’s when we’ll be just a breath away.
I know it looks like Fate is against us.
What good could come from misery?
But there is more than footsteps we share in life.
A good bow sends an arrow straight and free.
Refrain
So now the time has come for fare thee well’s,
Just when we don’t want to leave each other’s side.
In the darkest storm, I’ll come back to you,
To find your light and arms open wide.
Words and music by David B. Hakan
© 2005 All Rights Reserved 6-8-2005
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11. |
Stairway of Time
03:50
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Stairway of Time (capo up 5 in C)
G C
He stepped off the bus in a stubborn-jaw town,
D C G
Boards on the windows, the wind blowing round.
His cell phone said nothing, so he packed it away.
His watch only told him he was ten years late.
He walked down a gravel road and stuck out his thunb.
A rusty El Camino picked him up on the run.
He pushed his Dad’s doorbell, heard a wedding bell chime
And fell to the bottom of the stairway of time.
Dr3 C G G Dr3 C Dr3 C D Dr3 C G
The cab at the airport was a new minivan.
In her one good pants suit she felt dressed like a man.
The hotel was bigger than her town stacked up high.
She carried her own bags, thank you, and they didn’t ask why.
In six lanes of traffic for an hour or more.
She found her Mom’s townhouse and knocked on the door.
It swung wide with perfume and silk satin shine
And she fell to the bottom of the stairway of time.
He looked at his sister, and she looked at him,
the gray in his hair. She once was so slim.
But this church held them both like the whisper of home
As they looked at Baby Sis now with a man of her own.
“Do you think Dad will come?” “Lord only knows.”
“Do you think Mom will come?” “She promised to show.”
But the music had started and the bride looked so fine
As they fell to the bottom of the stairway of time.
Parched to the bone, the old man stopped for a drink.
He’d traveled this far, but he still had to think.
She couldn’t believe the old soda fountain survived.
Adding Coco to chocolate, she wafted inside.
You’d have thought that lightning had struck that place,
When after ten years they finally stood face to face.
At their table they didn’t notice a car with tin cans behind
‘cause they fell to the bottom of the stairway of time.
Words and music by David B. Hakan © 2005 All Rights Reserved 3-15-2005
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12. |
Like a Prayer
03:35
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Like a Prayer
G C
Jenny starts to wonder if a woman's right to choose
D C G
will go the way of handwritten love letters.
Steve says maybe it's time to revive the ERA.
We all agree, but we know better.
REFRAIN
C D
Johnny picks up that old guitar
G Em
and our voices settle in there
C D G
(to that) old familiar song like a prayer.
Betty says her partner, Kris, told her news of the adoption.
It's illegal in this state, the lawyer said.
Frank offers to marry Betty, just to put the papers through,
then the child could have a loving home with 2 moms instead.
refrain
Peter says the oil companies have finally got Alaska.
His friend up there doesn't have the heart to stick around.
To see the end of the caribou and the last wild place on earth.
The bill's not even passed but they're clearing ground.
refrain
C D G Em
Young folks say we've failed in our hopes to change the world.
C Am D7
That compromise is our Achilles heel.
C D G Em
Yes, radical changed to rational, or maybe we just got tired.
C D G
But our love of truth still governs how we feel.
Refrain
¬Words And Music By David B. Hakan 11/15/2000
Copyright 2000 David B. Hakan All rights reserved.
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13. |
Save the Lady
05:30
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Save The Lady
D A11 G2,maj7 Here I stand with my back turned toward America,
D A11 G2,maj7
but it's her promise I hold up to the sea.
D A11 G2,maj7
Sons of immigrants raise their fists at aliens, funny.
D A11 G2,maj7
They still look tired and poor to me. Oh, to me.
C D
People worry that I'll fall into decay,
C D
That the cold salt air will crumble me away.
C D
But when they feel me crying, "Save the Lady"
E A
I'm thinking of my sister, the U.S.A.
I know it's hard to settle for your lot in life. Lord, you know I've had my times. I cried when I learned I'd never walk the land of the free, 'till I saw a poor statue made of unlit stone. Unlit stone.
refrain
I can hear the whispers of America. Sometimes they make me feel like I stand alone. Is there no one here who's grateful for their freedom enough to welcome strangers to their home? To their home.
refrain
Here I stand with my back turned toward America. And I promise I'll never turn away. You must all share the dream that you've now harvested, to keep the winds of prejudice at bay. Oh, at bay.
Oh, save the Lady. Oh, save the Lady. Oh, save the Lady.
Words and music by David B. Hakan 6-11-86 © 1986 All Rights Reserved
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14. |
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Earthmover by Forrest Whitlow
I saw a tiny soccer mom driving an earthmover today,
Polluting the landscape with intimidation and waste.
In-flight movies for her 2.2 kids.
Cell phone headset because you know conversations can’t wait.
Refrain
This is us. This is who we have become.
Plasma TVs and our million-dollar homes.
Bigger better stronger, always the best.
The world is a safer place
all because of the good old USA.
Hey hey hey.
Big-city buildings lavishly composed,
Brand new stadiums for our football rodeos,
Traders exchange capital for products they never see.
While some family farm goes on the market today.
Refrain
We throw our weight around all because we can.
Find some easy scapegoat and bomb the f* out of them.
Thank God in our churches that we have the biggest guns.
Security comes with a price of our daughters and our sons.
Refrain
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