Sing with me!

[joanneeeeee]

or not

 

Just Between The Ice Ages Anyway

I Want To Talk But I Haven't Got

Too Much To Say

I Don't Mean To Be So Nihilistic

Forgive Me If I Seem To Be Too Realistic

 

[joanneeeeee]

Nothing Blooms

In A Loveless Room

You've Got To Want It

You've Got To Want It

 

Who's The Fool

Where Apathy Rules

You've Got To Want It

You've Got To Want It

 

If You Don't Want It

It Remains The Same

It's A Heart Of Darkness

That Wants To Play That Game

If There's No Defiance

It Remains Insane

If It's All Compliance

It's A Runaway Train

 

Nothing So Cruel

Where Malevolence Rules

You've Got To Want It

You've Got To Want It

 

There Is No Defense

Against Pointed Arrogance

You've Got To Want It

You've Got To Want It

 

If You Don't Want It

It Remains The Same

It's A Heart Of Darkness

That Wants To Play That Game

It Can Be Surprising

When You Lose The Shame

And The Sun Starts Rising

Another Day To Tame

 

If You're Heart Is Aching

Just Remove The Shame

You've Got To Want It

 

Give Your Soul A Shaking

And Refuse The Blame

You've Got To Want It

[BestIKenster]

and the meek shall inherit the earth.

[BestIKenster]

How many times

Do we tire of all the little battles

Threaten to call it quits

Tempted to cut and run

How many times

Do we weather out the stormy evenings

Long to slam the front door

Drive away into the setting sun

 

Keep going on till dawn

How many times must another line be drawn

We could be down and gone

But we hold on

 

How many times

Do we chafe against the repetition

Straining against a fate

Measured out in coffee breaks

How many times

Do we swallow our ambition

Long to give up the same old way

Find another road to take

 

Keep holding on so long

'Cause there's a chance that we might not be so wrong

We could be down and gone

But we hold on

 

How many times

Do we wonder if it's even worth it

Theres got to be some other way

Way to get me through the day

 

Keep going on till dawn

How many times must another line be drawn

We could be down and gone

But we hold on

[BestIKenster]

[BestIKenster]

Now it's come to this

It's like we're back in the Dark Ages

From the Middle East to the Middle West

It's a world of superstition

 

Now it's come to this

Wide-eyed armies of the faithful

From the Middle East to the Middle West

Pray, and pass the ammunition

 

So many people think that way

You gotta watch what you say

To them and them, and others too

Who don't seem to see to things the way you do

 

We can only grow the way the wind blows

on a bare and weathered shore

We can only bow to the here and now

In our elemental war

 

We can only go the way the wind blows

We can only bow to the here and now

Or be broken down blow by blow

 

Now it's come to this

Hollow speeches of mass deception

From the Middle East to the Middle West

Like crusaders in a holy alliance

 

Now it's come to this

Like we're back in the dark ages

From the Middle East to the Middle West

It's a plague that resists our science

 

It seems to leave them partly blind

And they leave no child behind

While evil spirits haunt their sleep

While shepherds bless and count their sheep

 

Like the solitary pine

On a bare wind blasted shore

We can only grow the way the wind blows

 

[BestIKenster]

 

When they turn the pages of history

When these days have passed long ago

Will they read of us with sadness

For the seeds that we let grow

We turned our gaze

From the castles in the distance

Eyes cast down

On the path of least resistance

 

Cities full of hatred

Fear and lies

Withered hearts

And cruel, tormented eyes

Scheming demons

Dressed in kingly guise

Beating down the multitude

And scoffing at the wise

 

The hypocrites are slandering

The sacred halls of Truth

Ancient nobles showering

Their bitterness on youth

Can't we find

The minds that made us strong

Can't we learn

To feel what's right and wrong

 

Cities full of hatred

Fear and lies

Withered hearts

And cruel, tormented eyes

Scheming demons

Dressed in kingly guise

Beating down the multitude

And scoffing at the wise

Can't we raise our eyes

And make a start

Can't we find the minds

To lead us closer to the Heart

 

[BestIKenster]

 

The way out

Is the way in

The way out

Is the way in...

 

Out of touch

With the weather and the wind direction

With the sunrise

And the phases of the moon

Out of touch

With life in the land of the loving

With the living night

And the darkness at high noon

 

You can never break the chain

There is never love without pain

A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart

 

Out of sync

With the rhythm of my own reactions

With the things that last

And the things that come apart

Out of sync

With love in the land of the living

A gentle hand, a secret touch on the heart

 

A healing hand, a secret touch on the heart

 

There is never love without pain

Life is a power that remains

 

[BestIKenster]

He's a rebel and a runner

He's a signal turning green

He's a restless young romantic

Wants to run the big machine

 

He's got a problem with his poisons

But you know he'll find a cure

He's cleaning up his systems

To keep his nature pure

 

Learning to match the beat of the Old World man

Learning to catch the heat of the Third World man

 

He's got to make his own mistakes

And learn to mend the mess he makes

He's old enough to know what's right

But young enough not to choose it

He's noble enough to win the world

But weak enough to lose it -

 

He's a New World man...

 

He's a radio receiver

Tuned to factories and farms

He's a writer and arranger

And a young boy bearing arms

 

He's got a problem with his power

With weapons on patrol

He's got to walk a fine line

And keep his self-control

 

Trying to save the day for the Old World man

Trying to pave the way for the Third World man

 

He's not concerned with yesterday

He knows constant change is here today

He's noble enough to know what's right

But weak enough not to choose it

He's wise enough to win the world

But fool enough to lose it -

 

He's a New World man...

 

 

[BestIKenster]

 

Waiting for the winds of change

To sweep the clouds away

Waiting for the rainbow's end

To cast its gold your way

Countless ways

You pass the days

Waiting for someone to call

And turn your world around

Looking for an answer to

The question you have found

Looking for

An open door

You don't get something for nothing

You don't get freedom for free

You won't get wise

With the sleep still in your eyes

No matter what your dreams might be

 

What you own is your own kingdom

What you do is your own glory

What you love is your own power

What you live is your own story

In your head is the answer

Let it guide you along

Let your heart be the anchor

And the beat of your own song

[BestIKenster]

The office door closed early

The hidden bottle came out

The salesman turned to close the blinds

A little slow now, a little stout

 

But he's still heading down those tracks

Any day now for sure

Another day as drab as today

Is more than a man can endure

 

Dreams flow across the heartland

Feeding on the fires

Dreams transport desires

Drive you when you're down -

 

Dreams transport the ones

Who need to get out of town

 

The boy walks with his best friend

Through the fields of early May

They walk awhile in silence

One close - one far away

 

But he'd be climbing on that bus

Just him and his guitar

To blaze across the heavens

Like a brilliant shooting star

 

The middle-aged madonna

Calls her neighbour on the phone

Day by day the seasons pass

And leave her life alone

 

But she'll go walking out that door

On some bright afternoon

To go and paint big cities

From a lonely attic room

 

It's understood

By every single person

Who'd be elsewhere if they could

So far so good

And life's not unpleasant

In their little neighbourhood

 

They dream in Middletown...

[joanneeeeee]

Goddess in my garden

Sister in my soul

Angel in my armor

Actress in my role

 

Daughter of a demon-lover

Empress of the hidden face

Priestess of the pagan mother

Ancient queen of inner space

 

Spirit in my psyche

Double in my role

Alter in my image

Struggle for control

 

[joanneeeeee]

Where would you rather be?

Anywhere but here

When will the time be right?

Anytime but now

The doubt and the fear

I know would all disappear

Anywhere but here

 

On the edge of sleep,

I heard voices behind the door

The known and the nameless,

familiar and faceless

My angels and my demons at war

Which one will lose - depends on what I choose

Or maybe which voice I ignore...

 

Wilderness of mirrors

Streets of cold desire

My precious sense of honor

Just a shield of rusty wire

I hold against the chaos -

And the cross of holy fire

[Arleen2112]

First we'd climb a tree and maybe then we'd talk

Or sit silently and listen to our thoughts

With illusions of someday casting a golden light

No dress rehearsal, this is our life

That's when the hornet stung me and I had a feverish dream

With revenge and doubt tonight we smoke them out

 

You are ahead by a century

 

Stare in the morning shroud and then the day began

I tilted your cloud, you tilted my hand

Rain falls in real time and rain fell through the night

No dress rehearsal, this is our life

 

That's when the hornet stung me and I had a serious dream

With revenge and doubt tonight, we smoked them out

 

You are ahead by a century

But this is our life and disappointing you getting me down

 

[limlight81]

The city crouches, steaming

In the early morning half-light

The sun is still a rumor

And the night is still a threat

Slipping through the dark streets

And the echoes and the shadows

Something stirs behind me

And my palms begin to sweat

 

Sometimes I freeze - until the light comes

Sometimes I fly - into the night

Sometimes I fight - against the darkness

Sometimes I'm wrong - sometimes I'm right

 

Coiled for the spring

Or caught like a creature in the headlights

Into a desperate panic

Or a tempest of blind fury

Like a cornered beast

Or a conquering hero

 

The menace threatens, closing

And I'm frozen in the shadows

I'm not prepared to run away

And I'm not prepared to fight

 

I can't stand to reason

Or surrender to a reflex

I will trust my instincts

Or surrender to my fright

 

Sometimes we freeze - until the light comes

Sometimes we're wrong - and sometimes we're right

Sometimes we fight - against the darkness

Sometimes we fly - into the night

 

Blood running cold

Mind going down into a dark night

Of a desperate panic

Or a tempest of blind fury

Like a cornered beast

Or a conquering hero

 

Sometimes I freeze

Sometimes I fight

Sometimes I fly

Into the night

 

[limlight81]

It's not the heat

It's the inhumanity

Plugged into the sweat of a summer street

Machine gun images pass

Like malice through the looking glass

 

The slackjaw gaze

Of true profanity

Feels more like surrender than defeat

If culture is the curse of the thinking class

If culture is the curse of the thinking class

 

ceiling unlimited

world so wide

turn and turn again

 

feeling unlimited

still unsatisfied

changes never end

 

The vacant laugh

Of true insanity

Dressed up in the mask of Tragedy

Programmed for the guts and glands

Of idle minds and idle hands

 

I rest my case -

Or at least my vanity

Dressed up in the mask of Comedy

If laughter is a straw for a drowning man

If laughter is a straw for a drowning man

 

ceiling unlimited

windows open wide

look and look again

 

feeling unlimited

eyes on the prize

changes never end

 

winding like an ancient river

the time is now again

 

hope is like an endless river

the time is now again

 

 

[BestIKenster]

It is the fire that lights itself

But it burns with a restless flame

The arrow on a moving target

The archer must be sure of his aim

 

It is the engine that drives itself

But it chooses the uphill climb

A bearing on magnetic north

Growing farther away all the time

Can't stop - moving

Can't stop - moving

Can't stop

 

YOU MAY BE RIGHT

IT'S ALL A WASTE OF TIME

I GUESS THAT'S JUST A CHANCE

I'M PREPARED TO TAKE

A DANGER I'M PREPARED TO FACE

CUT TO THE CHASE

 

It is the rocket that ignites itself

And launches its way to the stars

A driver on a busy freeway

Racing the oblivious cars

 

It's the motor of the western world

Spinning off to every extreme

Pure as a lover's desire

Evil as a murderer's dream

 

Young enough not to care too much

About the way things used to be

I'm young enough to remember the future -

The past has no claim on me

 

I'm old enough not to care too much

About what you think of me

But I'm young enough to remember the future

And the way things ought to be

 

WHAT KIND OF DIFFERENCE

CAN ONE PERSON MAKE?

CUT TO THE CHASE

[BestIKenster]

Ten score years ago, defeat the kingly foe

A wondrous dream came into being

Tame the trackless waste, no virgin land left chaste

All shining eyes, but never seeing

 

Beneath the noble bird

Between the proudest words

Behind the beauty, cracks appear

Once, with heads held high

They sang out to the sky

Why do their shadows bow in fear?

 

Watch the cities rise

Another ship arrives

Earth's melting pot and ever growing

Fantastic dreams come true

Inventing something new

The greatest minds, and never knowing...

 

The guns replace the plow, facades are tarnished now

The principles have been betrayed

The dreams's gone stale, but still, let hope prevail

History's debt won't be repaid

[BestIKenster]

 

I. In the Valley

I am born

I am me

I am new

I am free

Look at me

I am young

Sight unseen

Life unsung

 

My eyes have just been opened

And they're open very wide

Images around me

Don't identify inside

Just one blur I recognize

The one that soothes and feeds

My way of life is easy

And as simple are my needs

 

Yet my eyes are drawn toward

The mountain in the east

Fascinates and captivates

Gives my heart no peace

The mountain holds the sunrise

In the prison of the night

Till bursting forth from rocky chains

The valley floods with light

 

Living one long sunrise

For to me all things are new

I've never watched the sky grow pale

Or strolled through fields of dew

I do not know of dust to dust

I live from breath to breath

I live to climb that mountain to

The Fountain of Lamneth

 

II. Didacts and Narpets

Stay! Go!

Work! No!

Learn! Live!

Earn! Give!

Stay or fight? What's right?

Listen!

 

 

III. No One At the Bridge

Crying back to consciousness

The coldness grips my skin

The sky is pitching violently

Drawn by shrieking winds

Seaspray blurs my vision

Waves roll by so fast

Save my ship of freedom

I'm lashed helpless to the mast

 

Call out for direction

And there's no one there to steer

Shout out for salvation

But there's no one there to hear

Cry out supplication

For the maelstrom is near

Scream out desperation

But no one cares to hear

 

Remembering when first I held

The wheel in my own hands

I took the helm so eagerly

And sailed for distant lands

But now the sea's too heavy

And I just don't understand

Why must my crew desert me

When I need a guiding hand

 

IV. Panacea

The whiteness of confusion

Is unfolding from my mind

I stare around in wonder

Have I left my life behind

 

I catch the scent of ambergris

And turn my head... surprised

My gaze is caught and held

And I am helpless, mesmerized

 

Panacea - liquid grace

Oh let me touch your fragile face

Enchantment falls around me

And I know I cannot leave

 

Here's a meaning for my life

A shelter from the storm

Pacify my troubles with

Her body, soft and warm

Naked in our unity

A smile for every tear

Gentle hands that promise me

Comfort through the years

Yet I know I must be gone

Before the light of dawn

 

Panacea - passion pure

I can't resist your gentle lure

My heart will lie beside you

And my wandering body grieves

 

V. Bacchus Plateau

Another endless day

Silhouettes of grey

Another glass of wine

Drink with eyes that shine

To days without that chill at morning

Long nights time out of mind

 

Draw another goblet

From the cask of '43

Crimson misty memory

Hazy glimpse of me

Give me back my wonder

- I've something more to give

I guess it doesn't matter

- There's not much more to live

 

Another foggy dawn

The mountain almost gone

Another doubtful fear

The road is not so clear

My soul grows ever weary

And the end is ever near

 

VI. The Fountain

Look... the mist is rising

And the sun is peaking through

See, the steps grow lighter

As I reach their final few

Hear, the dancing waters

I must be drawing near

Feel, my heart is pounding

With embattled hope and fear

 

Now, at last I fall before

The Fountain of Lamneth

I thought I would be singing

But I'm tired... out of breath

Many journeys end here

But, the secret's told the same

Life is just a candle

And a dream must give it flame

 

The key, the end, the answer

Stripped of their disguise

Still it's all confusion

And tears spring to my eyes

Though I've reached a signpost

It's really not the end

Like Old Sol behind the mountain

I'll be coming up again...

 

I'm in motion

I am still

I am crying

I am still

I'm together

I'm apart

I'm forever

At the start

 

Still... I am

 

[BestIKenster]

I turn my back to the wind

To catch my breath,

Before I start off again.

Driven on,

Without a moment to spend

To pass an evening

With a drink and a friend

 

I let my skin get too thin

I'd like to pause,

No matter what I pretend

Like some pilgrim-

Who learns to transcend-

Learns to live

As if each step was the end

 

Time stand still-

I'm not looking back

But I want to look around me now

See more of the people

And the places that surround me now

 

Freeze this moment a little bit longer

Make each sensation a little bit stronger

Experience slips away...

 

I turn my face to the sun

Close my eyes.

Let my defences down-

All those wounds

That I can't get unwound

 

I let my past go too fast

No time to pause-

If I could slow it all down

Like some captain,

Whose ship runs aground-

I can wait until the tide comes around

 

Make each impression a little bit stronger

Freeze this motion a little bit longer

The innocence slips away...

 

Summer's going fast,

Nights growing colder

Children growing up-

Old friends growing older

Experience slips away...

 

 

[BestIKenster]

Sweet memories Flashing very quickly by

Reminding me Giving me a reason why

I know that My goal is more than a thought

I'll be there When I teach what I've been taught

 

You know we've told you before

But you didn't hear us then

So you still question why

You didn't listen again

 

Sweet memories I never thought it would be like this

Reminding me Just how close I came to missing

I know that This is the way for me to go

You'll be there When you know what I know

[BestIKenster]

Lit up with anticipation

We arrive at the launching site

The sky is still dark, nearing dawn

On the Florida coastline

 

Circling choppers slash the night

With roving searchlight beams

This magic day when super-science

Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams

 

Floodlit in the hazy distance

The star of this unearthly show

Venting vapours, like the breath

Of a sleeping white dragon

 

Crackling speakers, voices tense

Resume the final count

All systems check, T minus nine

As the sun and the drama start to mount

 

The air is charged - a humid, motionless mass

The crowds and the cameras,

The cars full of spectators pass

Excitement so thick - you could cut it with a knife

Technology - high, on the leading edge of life

 

The earth beneath us starts to tremble

With the spreading of a low black cloud

A thunderous roar shakes the air

Like the whole world exploding

 

Scorching blast of golden fire

As it slowly leaves the ground

Tears away with a mighty force

The air is shattered by the awesome sound

 

Like a pillar of cloud, the smoke lingers

High in the air

In fascination - with the eyes of the world

We stare...

[BestIKenster]

When the dragons grow too mighty

To slay with pen or sword

I grow weary of the battle

And the storm I walk toward

When all around is madness

And there's no safe port in view

I long to turn my path homeward

To stop awhile with you

 

When life becomes so barren

And as cold as winter skies

There's a beacon in the darkness

In a distant pair of eyes

In vain to search for order

In vain to search for truth

But these things can still be given

Your love has shown me proof

[BestIKenster]

A boy alone, so far from home

Endless rooftops from my window

I felt the gloom of empty rooms

On rainy afternoons

 

Sometimes in confusion

I felt so lost and disillusioned

Innocence gave me confidence

To go up against reality

 

All the same, we take our chances

Laughed at by Time

Tricked by Circumstances

Plus ca change

Plus c'est la meme chose

The more that things change

The more they stay the same

 

Now I've gained some understanding

Of the only world that we see

Things that I once dreamed of

Have become reality

 

These walls that still surround me

Still contain the same old me

Just one more who's searching for

A world that ought to be

 

[BestIKenster]

A certain measure of innocence

Willing to appear naive

A certain degree of imagination

A measure of make-believe

 

A certain degree of surrender

To the forces of light and heat

A shot of satisfaction

In a willingness to risk defeat

 

Celebrate the moment

As it turns into one more

Another chance at victory

Another chance to score

 

The measure of the moment

Is a difference of degree

Just one little victory

A spirit breaking free

One little victory

The greatest act can be

One little victory

 

A certain measure of righteousness

A certain amount of force

A certain degree of determination

Daring on a different course

 

A certain amount of resistance

To the forces of the light and love

A certain measure of tolerance

A willingness to rise above