(CHORUS:)
When you've got a dream like mine
Nobody can take you down
When you've got a dream like mine
Nobody can push you around
Today I dream of how it used to be
Things were different before
The picture shifts to how it's going to be
Balance restored
When you know even for a moment
That it's your time
Then you can walk with the power
Of a thousand generations
(Chorus)
Beautiful rocks -- beautiful grass
Beautiful soil where they both combine
Beautiful river -- covering sky
Never thought of possession, but all this was mine
When you know even for a moment
That it's your time
Then you can walk with the power
Of a thousand generations
(Chorus)
(Dawson (Yukon Territories) -- August 17, 1990)
("A Dream Like Mine" grew from the book of that title by M.T. Kelly)
And the President said to Kit Carson: "Take my best four horsemen please And ride out to the four directions, Make my great lands barren for me" Kit Carson said to the President "You've made your offer sweet I'll accept this task you've set for me My fall's not yet complete" Kit Carson knew he had a job to do Like other jobs he had before He'd made the grade He learned to trade in famine, pestilence, and war Kit Carson was a hero to some With his poison and his flame But somewhere there's a restless ghost That used to bear his name (Vaudreuil (Quebec) -- July 1, 1990)
Used to have a town but the factory moved away Down to Mexico where they work for hardly any pay Used to have a country but they sold it down the river Like a repossessed farm auctioned off to the highest bidder (CHORUS:) Mighty trucks of midnight Moving on Moving on Wave a flag, wave the bible, wave your sex or your business degree Whatever you want -- but don't wave that thing at me The tide of love can leave your prizes scattered But when you get to the bottom it's the only thing that matters (Chorus) I believe it's a sin to try and make things last forever Everything that exists in time runs out of time some day Got to let go of the things that keep you tethered Take your place with grace and then be on your way (Los Angeles, June, 1991)
I'm going to ask the question
Please answer if you can
Is there anybody's children can tell me
What is the soul of a man?
(CHORUS:)
Won't somebody tell me
Answer if you can
Won't somebody tell me
Tell me what is the soul of a man?
I've travelled different countries
Travelled to the furthest lands
Couldn't find nobody could tell me
What is the soul of a man
(Chorus)
I saw a crowd stand talking
I just came up in time
Was teaching the lawyers and the doctors
That a man ain't nothing but his mind
(Chorus)
I read the Bible often
I try to read it right
As far as I can understand
It's nothing but a burning light
(Chorus)
When Christ taught in the temple
The people all stood amazed
Was teaching the lawyers and the doctors
How to raise a man from the grave
(Chorus)
("Soul of a Man" was learned from a 1930 recording by Blind Willie Johnson)
Evening sun slants across the road Painting everything with gold I'm headed for home, got a woman there I can barely wait to hold Got wind in my hair, got the heat inside Heart jumping up and down An empty head and a messed-up bed I'll be floating just above the ground (CHORUS:) Great big love Sweeping across the sky Seen a lot of things in the world outside Some bad but some good stuff too Felt the touch of love in the works of God And now and then in what people do Never had a lot of faith in human beings But sometimes we manage to shine Like a light on a hill beaming out to space From somewhere hard to find (Chorus) I ride and I shoot and I play guitar And I like my life just fine If you try to take one of these things from me Then you're no friend of mine Got a woman I love and she loves me And we live on a piece of land I never know quite how to measure these things But I guess I'm a happy man (Chorus) (Portage La Prairie (Manitoba) -- August 6, 1990)
Guess I'd get along without you If I had no choice It's taken me this long to find you Done a lot of getting ready for this Some things we learn so slow But look at you, you've got plenty behind you (CHORUS:) There's lots of ways to hit the ground Not many answers to be found We're faced with mysteries profound And this is one of the best ones There are eight million mysteries In the naked body Can't even sight on some distant horizon Like the nine billion names of God Don't bring you any closer To anyone you can simply set eyes on But in the same way it's as real Don't always recognize what I feel But of the dancing scenes that life reveals This is one of the best ones Say what you will There's no snake oil or pill Can make love less painful or fine There's no theatre Even of the absurd Can express what goes on in this meeting of hearts and minds Guess I'd get along without you If I had no choice But please never make it so I have to Paid a lot of dues to get here And after all this life I'm a loser if I don't live with you (Chorus) (Toronto, May 22, 1990)
Somebody touched me Making everything new Somebody touched me I didn't know what to do Burned through my life Like a bolt from the blue Somebody touched me I know it was you Somebody touched me Deep in my bones Turned a key in the hole There was somebody home Some would say that I'm dreaming But I swear that it's true Somebody touched me I know it was you Somebody touched me Like the rain on the wind Left me alone Feeling like I'd been skinned But I know you're with me Whatever I go through Somebody touched me I know it was you (Halton Hills (Ontario) -- November 17, 1990)
Mary grows a child without the help of a man Joseph get upset because he doesn't understand Angel comes to Joseph in a powerful dream Says "God did this and you're part of his scheme" Joseph comes to Mary with his hat in his hand Says "forgive me I thought you'd been with some other man" She says "what if I had been -- but I wasn't anyway and guess what I felt the baby kick today" (CHORUS:) Like a stone on the surface of a still river Driving the ripples on forever Redemption rips through the surface of time In the cry of a tiny babe The child is born in the fullness of time Three wise astrologers take note of the signs Come to pay their respects to the fragile little king Get pretty close to wrecking everything 'Cause the governing body of the whole land Is that of Herod, a paranoid man Who when he hears there's a baby born King of the Jews Sends death squads to kill all male children under two But that same bright angels warns the parents in a dream And they head out for the border and get away clean (Chorus) There are others who know about this miracle birth The humblest of people catch a glimpse of their worth For it isn't to the palace that the Christ child comes But to shepherds and street people, hookers and bums And the message is clear if you've got ears to hear That forgiveness is given for your guilt and your fear It's a Christmas gift you don't have to buy There's a future shining in a baby's eyes (Chorus) (Toronto, March 1, 1990)
(Instrumental)
("Actions Speak Louder" was composed as the theme for the documentary film "The Greenpeace Years.")
Out in the desert where the wind never stops A few simple people try to grow a few crops Trying to maintain a life and a home On land that was theirs before the Romans thought of Rome A few dozen survivors, ragged but proud With a few woolly sheep, under gathering cloud It's never been easy, or free from strife But the pulse of the land is the pulse of their life (CHORUS:) You thought it was over but it's just like before Will there never be an end to the Indian wars? It's not breech-loading rifles and wholesale slaughter It's kickbacks and thugs and diverted water Treaties get signed and the papers change hands But they might as well draft these agreements in sand Noble Savage on the cinema screen An Indian's good when he cannot be seen And the so-called white so-called race Digs for itself a pit of disgrace (Chorus) (Toronto, January 25, 1990)
(Instrumental) (Mississauga, April, 1990)
I love the pounding of hooves I love engines that roar I love the wild music of waves on the shore And the spiral perfection of a hawk when it soars Love my sweet woman down to the core There's roads and there's roads And they call, can't you hear it? Roads of the earth And roads of the spirit The best roads of all Are the ones that aren't certain One of those is where you'll find me Till they drop the big curtain (CHORUS:) Hear the wind moan In the bright diamond sky These mountains are waiting Brown-green and dry I'm too old for the term But I'll use it anyway I'll be a child of the wind Till the end of my days Little round planet In a big universe Sometimes it looks blessed Sometimes it looks cursed Depends on what you look at obviously But even more it depends on the way that you see (Chorus) (Tucson, December 24, 1989)