Peter Rowan
w/ Sharon Gilchrist, Bryn Davies & Tony Rice Midnight Moonlight
Live Oak, FL
3/26/05
if you ever feel lonesome
when you're down in San Antone
beg steal or borrow two nickels or a dime
to call me on the phone
I'll meet you at Alamo Mission
where we can say our prayers
the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mother
will heal us as we kneel there
in the moonlight in the midnight
in the moonlight midnight moonlight
if you ever feel sorrow
for the deeds you have done
with no hope for tomorrow
in the setting of the sun
and the ocean is howling
for the things that might have been
and that last good morning sunrise
will be the brightest you've ever seen
in the moonlight in the midnight
in the moonlight midnight moonlight
I am an old-timer, I travel the road
I sit in me wagon and lumber me load
Me hotel is the jungle, a camp me abode
And I'm well known to Blondie and Mary
Me liquor is diesel oil laced with strong tea
And the old highway code was me first ABC
And I cut me eye teeth on an old AEC
And I'm champion at keeping them rolling
I've sat in the cabin and broiled in the sun
Been snowed up on scaffs on the Manchester run
I've crawled through the fog with me twenty-two ton
Of fish that was stinking like blazes
From London to Glasgow to the Newcastle quay
From Liverpool, Preston and Bristol City
The polons on the road give the thumb sign to me
And I'm champion at keeping them rolling
You may sing of your soldiers and sailors so bold
But there's many and many a hero untold
Who sits at the wheel in the heat and the cold
Day after day without sleeping
So watch out for cops and slow down at the bend
Check all your gauges and watch your big end
And zing with your lights when you pass an old friend
You'll be champion at keeping them rolling
So watch out for cops and slow down at the bend
Check all your gauges and watch your big end
And zing with your lights when you pass an old friend
You'll be champion at keeping them rolling
Now then, Mr. Crab, said the zebra, here are the people I told you about; and they know more than you do, who live in a pool, and more than I do, who live in a forest. For they have been travelers all over the world,
and know every part of it. There's more of the world than Oz, declared the crab, in a stubborn voice. That is true, said Dorothy; but I used to live in Kansas,
in the United States, and I've been to California and to Australia--
and so has Uncle Henry. For my part, added the Shaggy Man, I've been to Mexico and Boston
and many other foreign countries. And I, said the Wizard, have been to Europe and Ireland. So you see, continued the zebra, addressing the crab, here are people
of real consequence, who know what they are talking about.
--L. Frank Baum The Emerald City of Oz
Van Morrison & The Chieftains: Star of the County Down
it's Christmastime in Washington
the Democrats rehearsed
getting into gear for four more years
of things not getting worse
the Republicans drank whiskey neat
and thanked their lucky stars
they said, he cannot seek another term
there will be no more FDRs
I sat home in Tennessee
staring at the screen
with an uneasy feeling in my chest
and I'm wondering what it means
so come back Woody Guthrie
come back to us now
tear your eyes from paradise
and rise again somehow
if you run into Jesus
maybe he can help you out
come back Woody Guthrie to us now
I followed in your footsteps once
back in my traveling days
somewhere I failed to find your trail
now I'm stumbling through the haze
but there's killers on the highway
and a man can't get around
so I sold my soul for wheels that roll
now I'm stuck here in this town
so come back Woody Guthrie
come back to us now
tear your eyes from paradise
and rise again somehow
if you run into Jesus
maybe he can help you out
come back Woody Guthrie to us now
there are foxes in the hen house
and cows out in the corn
the unions have been busted
their proud red banners torn
to listen to the radio
you'd think that all was well
but you and me and Cisco know
it's going straight to hell
so come back, Emma Goldman
rise up, old Joe Hill
the barricades are going up
they cannot break our will
come back to us, Malcolm X
and Martin Luther King
we're marching into Selma
as the bells of freedom ring
so come back Woody Guthrie
come back to us now
tear your eyes from paradise
and rise again somehow
if you run into Jesus
maybe he can help you out
come back Woody Guthrie to us now
Hell is the incapacity to be other than the creature
one finds oneself ordinarily behaving as.
--Aldous Huxley Eyeless in Gaza
Leonard Cohen: Story of Isaac 1985
Hamas is regularly described as Iranian-backed Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. One will be hard put to find something like democratically elected Hamas, which has long been calling for a two-state settlement in accord with the international consensus--blocked for over 30 years by the US and Israel.
All true, but not a useful contribution to the Party Line,
hence dispensable.
--Noam Chomsky Gaza in Crisis
Ship me somewheres east of Suez
where the best is like the worst.
Where there aren't no ten commandments,
and a man can raise a thirst.
--Rudyard Kipling
Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother's wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.
--Lemony Snicket
watching the long faces
riding this rundown track
and the lost places
from a dream that
never brings them back
and the sad truth is
nothing but a cold hard fact
i'm riding the blue train
over the miles yet to cover
a ghost in a hurry to fade
i'm taking it one way to nowhere
afraid you might be there
to find me inside this blue train
counting the burned bridges
trailing this rusted wreck
as our back pages
scatter in the dust we left
like a pearl necklace
falling from around my neck
i'm riding the blue train
over the miles yet to cover
a ghost in a hurry to fade
i'm taking it one way to nowhere
afraid you might be there
to find me inside this blue train
away down the low road
a ticket to an empty room
a rendezvous unknown
i'm riding the blue train
over the miles yet to cover
a ghost in a hurry to fade
i'm taking it one way to nowhere
afraid you might be there
to find me inside this blue train
T-Bone Walker: Call Me When You Need Me Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Hootin' Blues Memphis Slim: The Blues is Everywhere Otis Rush: I Can't Quit You Baby Lonnie Johnson: Another Night to Cry Sippie Wallace: Women Be Wise John Lee Hooker: Hobo Blues Eddie Boyd: Five Long Years Walter "Shakey" Horton: Shakey's Blues Junior Wells: Hoodoo Man Blues Big Joe Williams: Mean Stepfather Mississippi Fred McDowell: Going Down to the River Willie Dixon: Weak Brain and Narrow Mind Sonny Boy Williamson: Nine Below Zero Otis Spann: Spann's Blues Muddy Waters: Got My Mojo Working Muddy Waters/Sonny Boy Williamson/Memphis Slim/Willie Dixon: Bye Bye Blues Earl Hooker: Walking The Floor Over You/Off The Hook
Sonny Boy Williamson: Bye Bye Bird Sonny Boy Williamson: My Younger Days Sunnyland Slim: Come On Home Baby Willie Dixon: Nervous Lightnin' Hopkins: Mojo Hand Victoria Spivey: Black Snake Blues Memphis Slim: Everyday I Have the Blues T-Bone Walker: Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong Roosevelt Sykes: Tall Heavy Mama Willie Dixon: Sittin' and Cryin' the Blues Matt "Guitar" Murphy: Murphy's Boogie Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Stranger Blues Howlin' Wolf: Shake for Me Howlin' Wolf: I'll Be Back Someday Howlin' Wolf: Love Me Darlin' Big Mama Thornton: Down Home Shakedown
Big Mama Thornton: Hound Dog Roosevelt Sykes: Gulfport Boogie Buddy Guy: Out of Sight Dr. Isaiah Ross: Feel so Good Big Joe Turner: Flip, Flop and Fly Skip James: All Night Long Skip James: Crow Jane Bukka White: Got Sick and Tired Son House: Death Letter Blues Hound Dog Taylor/Little Walter: Wild About You Koko Taylor/Little Walter: Wang Dang Doodle Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Stranger Blues Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Burnt Child (Afraid of Fire) Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Gonna Move Across the River Helen Humes: The Blues Ain't Nothin' But a Woman
Muddy Waters: You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had Muddy Waters: Blow Wind Blow Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Didn't It Rain? Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Trouble In Mind Sonny Boy Williamson: Keep It to Yourself Muddy Waters; Got My Mojo Workin' Lonnie Johnson; Too Late to Cry Big Joe Williams: Baby, Please Don't Go Sonny Boy Williamson: Bye Bye Bird Sonny Boy Williamson: Getting Out of Town Lightnin' Hopkins: Come Go with Me Lightnin' Hopkins: Lightnin's Blues Sugar Pie Desanto: Baby What You Want Me to Do? Sugar Pie DeSanto: Rock Me Baby Howlin' Wolf: Smokestack Lightning Howlin' Wolf: Don't Laugh at Me Big Joe Turner: Oh Well, Oh Well Junior Wells: What'd I Say
Ohio really did go to President Obama last night. And he really did win.
And he really was born in Hawaii. And he really is legitimately President of the United States. Again.
And the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not make up a fake unemployment rate last month. And the Congressional Research Service really can find no evidence that cutting taxes on rich people grows the economy. And the polls were not skewed to oversample Democrats. And Nate Silver was not making up fake projections about the election to make conservatives feel bad. Nate Silver was doing math. And climate change is real. And rape really does cause pregnancy sometimes. And evolution is a thing! And Benghazi was an attack ON us, it was not a scandal BY us. And nobody is taking away anyone’s guns. And taxes have not gone up. And the deficit is dropping, actually. And Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. And the moon landing was real. And FEMA is not building concentration camps. And UN election observers are not taking over Texas. And moderate reforms of the regulations on the insurance industry and the financial services industry in this country are not the same thing as Communism.
Listen. Last night was a good night for liberals and for Democrats for very obvious reasons. But it was also, possibly, a good night for this country as a whole. Because in this country we have a two party system, in government. And the idea is supposed to be that the two sides both come up with ways to confront and fix the real problems facing our country. They both propose possible solutions to our real problems. And we debate between those possible solutions. And by the process of debate, we pick the best idea. That competition between good ideas, from both sides, about real problems in the real country should result in our country having better choices, better options, than if only one side is really working on the hard stuff. And if the Republican party, and the conservative movement, and the conservative media is stuck in a vacuum sealed, door locked, spin cycle of telling each other what makes them feel good, and denying the factual, lived truth of the world, then we are all deprived, as a nation, of the constructive debate between competing, feasible ideas about real problems.
Last night the Republicans got shellacked. And they had no idea it was coming. And we saw them, in real time, in real humiliating time, not believe it even as it was happening to them. And unless they’re going to secede, they’re going to have to pop the factual bubble they have been so happy living inside, if they do not want to get shellacked again. And that will be a painful process for them, I’m sure, but it will be good for the whole country - left, right, and center. You guys, we’re counting on you. Wake up.
There’s real problems in the world. There are real knowable facts in the world. Let’s accept those and talk about how we might approach our problems differently. Let’s move on from there. If the Republican party, and the conservative movement, and conservative media are forced to do that by the humiliation they were dealt last night, we will all be better off as a nation. And in that spirit, congratulations everybody. Big night.
a hard rain's a-gonna fall
blowing in the wind *
railroad boy *
deportees *
i pity the poor immigrant
shelter from the storm
maggie's farm
one too many mornings
mozambique
idiot wind
knocking on heaven's door
