GOSPEL NOBLE TRUTHS

Born in this world        Sit you sit down
You got to suffer        Breathe when you breathe
Everything changes        Lie Down you lie down
You got no soul        Walk where you walk

Try to be gay        Talk when you talk
Ignorant happy        Cry when you cry
You get the blues        Lie down you lie down
You eat jellyroll        Die when you die

There is one Way        Look when you look
You take the high road        Hear what you hear
In your big Wheel        Taste what you taste here
8 steps you fly        Smell what you smell

Look at the View        Touch what you touch
Right to horizon        Think what you think
Talk to the sky        Let go let it go slow
Act like you talk        Earth Heaven & Hell

Work like the sun        Die when you die
Shine in your heaven        Die when you die
See what you done        Lie down you lie down
Come down & walk        Die when you die

New York Subway, October 17, 1975

  — Allen Ginsberg (1926 - 1997), American poet

Two songs, as relevant in 2008 as they were in 1992 (when the album came out), if not earlier, when I’d see 4 Non Blondes playing at the I-Beam in the Haight.

4 NON BLONDES - DEAR MR. PRESIDENT

I’m looking outside of my windows
The view that I see
Is a child and mama
And the child is begging for money

Tell me why, tell me why
The woman is blind is she so broke
The kid’s dealing crime

It’s such a beautiful city
But the world is burning it down

Yea yea yea yea yea yea
Yea yea yea yea yea yea
It’s such a beautiful city
But the world is it burning down

I go to my room to turn on the T.V
I sit myself down
And I start laughing hard
‘Cause this man he’s asking for money
He sats “if you send me lots of cash I’ll send you
Stuff to make you rich fast”

It’s such a wonderful country
But the man he’s burning it down

Yea yea yea yea yea yea
Yea yea yea yea yea yea
It’s such a wonderful country
But the man he’s burning it down

Yea yea yea yea yea yea
Yea yea yea yea yea yea
And it’s burning down
And it’s called the U.S of A.

One day I’m going to have lots of money
But I’ll have to give up
For this rich society
Oh please Mr. President will you lend me a future
‘Cause you’ll just get it back
From the little blind woman
With the kid on the corner
And the people all over, doin’ crack

Yea yea yea yea yea yea
Yea yea yea yea yea yea
It’s such a wonderful country
But the man he’s burning it down

Yea yea yea yea yea yea
Yea yea yea yea yea yea
And it’s burning down
And it’s called the U.S of A.

I’m walking outside on a sunny day
With no one around
And I wonder what’s wrong
The I hear this loud piercing siren
Oh my God, the bomb has just dropped
And everybody climbed right on top
Screaming, what a wonderful country
But the man he’s burning it down

Yea yea yea yea yea yea
Yea yea yea yea yea yea
It’s such a wonderful country
But the man he’s burning it down

Yea yea yea yea yea yea
Yea yea yea yea yea yea
And it’s burning down
And it’s called the U.S of A.

4 NON BLONDES - WHAT’S UP

Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get that great big hill of hope
For a destination
I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means

And so I cry sometimes
When I’m lying in bed
Just to get it all out
What’s in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What’s going on?

And I say hey, yeah, yeah, hey yeah, yeah
I said hey, what’s going on?
And I say hey, yeah, yeah, hey yeah, yeah
I said hey, what’s going on?

And I try, oh my God do I try
I try all the time, in this institution
And I pray, oh my God do I pray
I pray every single day
For a revolution

And so I cry sometimes
When I’m lying in bed
Just to get it all out
What’s in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What’s going on?

And I say hey, yeah, yeah, hey yeah, yeah
I said hey, what’s going on?
And I say hey, yeah, yeah, hey yeah, yeah
I said hey, what’s going on?

And I say hey, yeah, yeah, hey yeah, yeah yeah yeah!
I said hey, what’s going on?

Oh, oh, oh, oh

Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get that great big hill of hope
For a destination.

Roddy Frame - Oblivious

From the mountain tops down to the sunny street,
A different drum is playing a different kind of beat.
It’s like a mystery that never ends.
I see you crying and I want to kill your friends.

I hear your footsteps in the street,
It won’t be long before we meet,
It’s obvious.
Just count me in and count me out and
I’ll be waiting for the shout,
Oblivious…

Met Mo and she’s okay, said no-one really changed,
Got different badges but they wear them just the same.
But down by the ballroom I recognized that flaming fountain
in those kindred caring eyes.

I hear your footsteps in the street,
It won’t be long before we meet,
It’s obvious.
Just count me in and count me out and
I’ll be waiting for the shout,
Oblivious…

I hope it haunts me ’til I’m hopeless,
I hope it hits you when you go,
And sometimes on the edge of sleeping
It rises up to let me know it’s not so deep,
I’m not so low.

I hear your footsteps in the street,
It won’t be long before we meet,
It’s obvious.
Just count me in and count me out and
I’ll be waiting for the shout,
Oblivious…

They’re calling all the shots, they’ll call and say they phoned,
They’ll call us lonely when we’re really just alone.
And like a funny film, it’s kinda cute
They’ve bought the bullets and there’s no-one left to shoot.

I hear your footsteps in the street,
It won’t be long before we meet,
It’s obvious.
Just count me in and count me out and
I’ll be waiting for the shout,
Oblivious…