Miss Celie's Blues (sister)--Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, and Lionel Ritchie

Sister, you've been on my mind
Sister, we're two of a kind
So sister, I'm keepin' my eyes on you

I betcha think I don't know nothin'
But singin' the blues
Oh sister, have I got news for you:
I´m somethin',
I hope you think that you´re somethin' too.

Oh, scufflin', I been up that lonesome road
And I seen a lot of suns goin' down
Oh, but trust me,
No low life's gonna run me around

So let me tell you somethin',
sister, remember your name
No twister gonna steal your stuff away
My sister, we sure ain't got a whole lot of time
So shake your shimmy, sister,
'cause honey the 'shug is feelin' fine

The piano has been drinking--Tom Waits

The piano has been drinking,
my necktie is asleep
and the combo went back to New York,
the jukebox has to take a leak.
And the carpet needs a haircut,
and the spotlight looks like a prison break,
and the telephone's out of cigarettes,
and the balcony is on the make.
And the piano has been drinking. . .

And the menus are all freezing,
and the light man's blind in one eye,
and he can't see out of the other,
and the piano-tuner's got a hearing aid,
and he showed up with his mother.

And the piano has been drinking,
the piano has been drinking . . .

As the bouncer is a sumo wrestler
cream-puff casper milktoast
and the owner is a mental []
with the IQ of a fence post
'cause the piano has been drinking,
the piano has been drinking . . .

And you can't find your waitress with a Geiger counter
And she hates you and your friends
and you just can't get served without her.
And the box office is drooling,
and the bar stools are on fire

And the newspapers were fooling,
and the ash-trays have retired
because the piano has been drinking,
the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking, not me.

Hope There's Someone - Antony and the Johnsons

hope there's someone
who'll take care of me
when i die, will i go.
hope there's someone
who'll set my heart free
nice to hold when i'm tired.
there's a ghost on the horizon
when i go to bed
how can i fall asleep at night
how will i rest my head.
oh i'm scared of the middle place
between light and nowhere
i don't want to be the one
left in there, left in there.
there's a man on the horizon
wish that i'd go to bed
if i fall to his feet tonight
will allow rest my head.
so here's hoping i will not drown
or paralyze in light
and godsend i don't want to go
to the seal's watershed.
hope there's someone
who'll take care of me
when I die, will i go
hope there's someone
who'll set my heart free
nice to hold when i'm tired..

christ i wudint know normal if i saw it when -- bill bisset

were yu normal today did yu screw society
were yu normal today did yu screw society
were yu normal today did yu screw society
were yu normal today did yu screw society
were yu normal today did yu screw society
were yu normal today did yu screw society
were yu normal today did yu screw society
were yu normal today did yu screw society
were yu screw society were yu normal today
were yu were yu are yu screw society normal
did yu blow cock eat c*nt make a good
business deal and still relate were yu are
yu happy were yu good just once did yu today
have an existential moment in no time were yu
normal today did yu screw society but found
sum innocent outlets like no one knew or evry
one knew did yu buy sum orange pop sticks green
ones did yu have a treat and were clean were yu
a dirty outlet for a while managin at th same
time to find pleasure in anature and read a thot
conditioning book by a provocative author did
yu get lovers nuts and act on it do it all day
without cumming did yu cum together or sd yu
did lie to each othr but sum on yu both really
know where th action is so that yu werent really
lieing and at th same time same were good to th
children and swinging and confused but at th same
time getting what yu want and no one's killd yu
yet and yu even had a lyrical moment and were
social and controversial and no one even suspects
how yu hate evrything i mean evrything but slosh
brings yu back to love like yu compromised but
didnt have to pay for it and as long as they dont
know what yu conpromisd they cant get yu to pay
anyway sompromise is old fashiond dialectick and
yu still know where yr going know who yr doing in
were yu abul to be negatie and dangerously so but
with it appearing as an endorsement of th positive
virtures of lust and greed an dosilation and death
and the full joy of personal romantik freedom were yu
were normal today did yu screw society wr yu normal today
today did yu fuck th world were yu normal today did yu
screw society were yu normal today did yu take society
to bed with yu were yu normal today did yu fuck society
were u i mean were u gloriously intolerant for th
good of yr total soul did yu stick to business
and still retain an awareness of yr karmik destiny
like were yu dangerous for just a while so evryond
know yu mean business and know there th business lies

-bill bisset, 1971

nowhere to stand - k.d. lang

as things start to surface
tears come on down
scars of a childhood
in a small town

hurts she pushed inward
starting to show
now she'll do some talking
but he'll never know

tables have turned now
with a shield of her own
but she's blind to the difference
what's taught is what's known

numbed by reaction
stripped of the trust
a young heart is broken
not aware that it's just

a family condition
the strength of this land
where what's right and what's wrong
is the back of a hand
turns girls into women
a boy to a man
but the rights of the children
have nowhere to stand

memories of children
are written in stone
some they get buried
not to be shown
still they do linger
deep down inside
like a seed that's been planted
and won't be denied

If I Can't Sell It, I'll Keep Sittin' On It--Andy Razaf

I own a secondhand furniture store and I think my prices are fair.
Course this real cheap guy I know came in one day. Saw this chair he wanted to buy, but he wouldn't, claimed the price was too high.

So I looked straight in the eye, and this was my reply...

If I can't sell it, I'm gonna sit down on it.
I ain't gonna give it away.
Now darling if you want it, you're gonna have to buy it.
And I mean just what I say.

Now how would you like to find this
waitin at home for you every night.
Only been used once or twice
but it's still nice and tight--

So if I can't sell it, I'm gonna keep sittin on it.
I ain't gonna give it away.

Now you can't find a better pair of legs in town
and a back like this--not for miles around.
And that is why if I can't sell it,
I'm going to recline upon it.
Why should I give it away?

Because it's made for comfort,
built for wear and tear.
Where else could you find such an easy chair!

If I can't sell it, darling I'm gonna sit down on it.
I don't see the need to give it away.
Because it's lush, plush, slick and sleek.
Darling, a high class piece like this
at any price is cheap!

So if I can't sell it,
I'm gonna sit back down on it.
Why should I give it away?

Now look at this nice bottom,
ain't it easy on the eye?
Guaranteed to support any weight or size!

If I can't sell it,
I'm just gonna keep sittin on it--
Don't ask me to give it away.

Now, I have really had my fill of folks
always comin around with their hands stuck out,
wantin' something, don't want to give up nothing.

Now if you want this,
put your hand in your stash
and give me some cash.

Now if you want something for free,
go to the Salvation Army! Don't come runnin to me.

Now this is not Saint Vincent de Paul's place,
this is Ruth's place.

Read my lips: No Free Trips!

And you can look at me and see
I have not been starvin' darling.
Now I have a few diamonds that I haven't even
taken off to dust lately.

Now you are not getting anything around here for free.
Show me the color of your money.
Goodbye!

--as only Ruth Brown can do it

Nowadays--John Kander

It's good, isn't it?
Grand, isn't it?
Great, isn't it?
Swell, isn't it?
Fun, isn't it?
Nowadays

There's men everywhere,
jazz everywhere,
booze everywhere,
life everywhere,
joy everywhere,
nowadays.

You can like the life you're living, you can live the life you like.
You can even marry Harry but mess around with Ike.

And that's good,
isn't it grand?
Isn't it great?
Isn't it swell?
Isn't it fun?
Isn't it.
But nothing stays.
In 50 years or so, it's gonna change, ya know.
But, oh it's heaven, nowadays.