Everything Changes Song Text

DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME?

© Peter and Lou Berryman

Do you think Santa Claus, on a long November night
When Rudolph cracks a book
And the elves are breaking down with a bottle of Bourbon open on the toyline
Do you think he calls me up?
Not when the chance is slim
That I believe in him.
    No, he’ll call Christmas freaks
    With ten-foot plastic trees
    And one big statuette
    Floodlit and turning slowly shimmering like a red potato pancake
    Of Santa Claus himself
    That’s who he’ll ask with glee
    DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME?

And old Count Dracula, on those long summer eves
When twilight lingers on
And the man has shared the day with a RubberMaid array of underbed bins
Do you think he leaps at me
Upset ‘cause I insist
That he does not exist.
    No, he’ll jump vampire fans
    Who never dangle arms
    Too far beside their beds
    Who nightly wake up screaming fumbling with a hammer and a tent stake
    Since they believe in him
    He’ll suck their scapula
    To prove he’s Dracula.

And that poor Tooth Fairy, when she’s all out of dimes
And her truck’s full of teeth
And she hears nine more children wiggling on their molars in the suburbs
Do you think she picks that time
To ask why I prefer to not believe in her.
    No, she’ll call five-year-olds
    Who hoard their baby teeth
    Like little travellers’ cheques
    That they put un-der-neath their pillow and then they whisper with a new lisp
    “Tooth Fairy, pleath come thoon.”
    That’s who she’ll ask, you see,
    DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME?

So when your boss is mean and your begonia dies
And your best friend buys guns
And your new sofa comes off and litters about a mile of the motorway
You should not choose that time
To have your mom appraise
The way you live these days.
    No, you should march right in
    And call Yours Truly up
    Who hangs on every word,
    Who will go “Uh-uh, un-huh, oh dear, certainly and of course not” enthusiastically
    So soon’s this line is free
    Put in a call to me.

    Yes, soon’s this line is free
    As soon’s this line is free
    Put in a call to me.

Everything Changes

words, music, © 2008 Peggy Seeger
administered by Harmony Music

The house I lived in when I was a child
Had woods . . . . we all ran wild
You could hide ... then come home - after a while.
    The town I lived in when I was young
    Everybody knew my name
    The world was my own
    Out in the dark, playing games
    Till mama called me home.

But that was then and now it's now
Everything changes, somehow
The house I lived in
The town I lived in
Everything changes ----

O, you been gone so long
Memories fade
It's dark and I'm afraid
I'm your little girl child
Your own, your very own
Mama, it's late - time to call me home.

The house I live in - my hometown
The trees -- the city cut them down
It's all changed, you can't hide
The house stands there, lonely and strange
I stood and cried -
    The children ----their world is on a screen
    They play games – alone
    O - was it a dream
    When mama called me home

But that was then and now it's now
Everything changes, somehow
The house I live in
The world I live in
Everything changes - everything ... everything

O, you been gone so long
Memories fade
It's dark and I'm afraid
I'm your little girl child
Your own, your very own
Mama, it's late - time to call me home.

I'm your little girl child – out here alone
Mama, it's late - please call me home.

FLOWERS BY THE ROADSIDE

Crossroads
Lights change
Going down under waves and waves of cars
Strangers
Staring
Through the windows of the world you’ve left behind

Flowers by the roadside
Flowers by the roadside
Flowers

EASY TO BREAK,
EASY TO MAKE …
ONE MISTAKE
THAT YOU CAN’T TAKE …. BACK

EASY TO BE BROKEN
EASY TO BE BROKEN

He says
She says
They say - that’s just the way we are
Fighting on the home front
Black-eyed Susan in a boxing ring
Flower by the roadside

Flower
Flowers

EASY TO BREAK,
EASY TO MAKE …
ONE MISTAKE
THAT YOU CAN’T TAKE …. BACK

EASY TO BE BROKEN
EASY TO BE BROKEN

Strangers
Crossroads
Staring out from waves and waves of cars
Drive on
It’s a world we can leave behind.

They say,
It’s just the way we are.
Just the way we are
Is it ... just the way we are?

GO TO SLEEP

Grey houses covered in roses in the rain.
Dreams that sit and play around the window pane.
GO TO SLEEP,       GO TO SLEEP

The place you live when you were small
The family photo on the living room wall
GO TO SLEEP,    GO TO SLEEP
YOUR MOTHER IS SLEEPING.

Some sleep in the world of roads and cars
Some prefer to walk to sleep under the stars.
GO TO SLEEP,    GO TO SLEEP

Restless as the seasons of the year
Tiring of the comfort and the wall of fear
Now you know you feel it in your bones
Walk in any direction and you’re walking home.
GO TO SLEEP,   GO TO SLEEP, YOUR MOTHER IS SLEEPING.

Grey houses covered in roses in the rain
Dreams that sat and played around the window pane.
GO TO SLEEP,   GO TO SLEEP

GO TO SLEEP, GO TO SLEEP, YOUR MOTHER IS SLEEPING

MY MOTHER IS YOUNGER THAN ME

My mother is younger than me.
She died at fifty-two
In 1953
With plump red cheeks and black black braids.

My hair is grey now, my cheeks are lined.
She sits at my knee, her head inclined
To accept my care.
I comb and braid her hair
As she once did mine.
And as I sing
She tells me things
About her new school.

As I grew my wings
She opened the window
And out she flew.

I am seventy seven
She is fifty-three.
My mother is younger than me.

(written in 2001 and updated yearly)

NERO'S CHILDREN

Nero's children play with matches
Noah's children cannot swim

Adam's children kill each other
And sing ... of love and money.

Tune the fiddle, build the ark
Dance in the dark

Ashes to dust, in God we trust
And dream ... of love and money

Split the sky, trample flowers
Set the ice on fire

Home was built in a year, burnt in an hour
All for love of money.

Daddy's gone to war
The baby's crying
Mother's dying
Behind the bedroom door.

Strike the match and light the candle
Head for land and swim

Save each other, save your mother
And sing ...

of love ....   of love ...... of love ....
Sing of milk and honey

OVER THE MOUNTAIN TO YOU

words, music, Peggy Seeger
© 2011 Peggy Seeger, administered by Harmony Music, Ltd.

There's a path that leads from my door
Through the garden gate
To the lane that runs through the field of corn
To the road that goes to the town where I was born
Onto the highway then down in the valley
And over the mountain to you.

Summer and fall
I answer the call
Winter the spring
I make my way singing
To the lane that runs through the field of corn
To the road that goes to the town where I was born
Onto the highway (and) down in the valley
(And) over the mountain to you.

There's a path that leads from your door
Through the garden gate
To the lane that runs through the field of corn
To the road that goes to the town where you were born
Onto the highway (and) down in the valley
(And) over the mountain to me.

Summer and fall
You answer the call
Winter the spring
You make your way singing
To the lane that runs through the field of corn
To the road that goes to the town where you were born
Onto the highway (and) down in the valley
(And) over the mountain to me.

WE WATCH YOU SLIP AWAY

(Kate St. John)

Day by day you let life go, sit in your chair
Drawers unopened, books unread, they comb you hair
Day by day you’re leaving home we watch her slip away
We watch her slip away.

Passion, love, work and children, hope and pride
A whole life lived, now veiled and pushed aside
Resigned, confined, losing her mind you’d sit and cried
When I said goodbye.

But I didn’t know what goodbye meant until you moved away
To a no man’s house in a no man’s street (just) yesterday
Not far from home but farther than the farthest star
Mama - do you know where you are?

    The wheelchair - the stained brown carpet
    Eyes cast down when we pass the mirror.
    Past open doors, the ghost army
    Stricken bodies, whirling minds.
    You don’t belong here
    You don’t belong here
    You don’t belong here

You held me up to pick May flowers, laid me down to sleep.
Sang secret songs in the dark, just you and me
I must remember who you were, how it was back then
Before you slipped away

Slipped away, you’re leaving, slipped away
Slip away, you’re leaving,
Slip away.

Tomorrow I will come again and tell you that I love you
And tell you that I love you.
And tell you…

WHEN FAIRY STORIES END

(1998)
alternative title: “When She Smiled”, “Diana”
words and music: Peggy Seeger
© Peggy Seeger, administered by Harmony Music, Ltd.

When she smiled we were there as we’d always been,
For children will believe in fairy tales and once upon a time;
When she went to the ball we were there to see it all,
Then we were with her, we were together, with each other,
We were never alone.

When she cried, we were there as we always were,
We only want to share though happy endings never may come true;
When she fled from the ball the camera saw it all
Then we were with her, we were together, with each other,
We were never, never alone.

      HOW WE YEARN, HOW WE BLEED,
      HOW WE HUNGER, HOW WE NEED
      A GOD OR GODDESS TO BE WITH US,
      TO BE THE ONE WE WANT TO BE -

When she died we were there as we’ll always be
When fairy stories end
Then we’ll turn the page and find another one
Who will smile, who will cry, who will dance for us and die
That we may come together, cry together,
Hope and dream and sigh together
And never never never never be alone.

YOU DON'T KNOW HOW LUCKY YOU ARE

(1990)

Lie back and think of England ... that was the advice given to many a Victorian lady about to embark upon the seas of matrimony. Sex was such a taboo subject that piano legs were covered with ruffles for fear of offending tender sensibilities. My grandmother was born in the 1860s. She was instructed by her mother on her wedding-night to pretend to faint when conjugal operations began. Then when it was over, you ‘came to’ with ‘Where am I?’ (But how did you know it was over if you were in a faint?) In other words, you lay back and thought of England. My father told me that story. Over the years I have probably embroidered on it (as Victorian women embroidered the strategically placed holes in their nightgowns) - but you get my drift. Women were not supposed to be forward about sex. They were not supposed to enjoy sex. They were not supposed to know about sex. These same creatures who menstruated every month and who endured pregnancy and labour and motherhood, were not supposed to know about sex? I’m not sure I believe this. I think women were really attempting keep men from knowing that they knew. Poor creatures, it would have been too much for them.

words and music: Peggy Seeger
disc 15A, 20, 21
© 1992 Peggy Seeger

Before you pour the wine out and turn the lights down low,
(Are you thinking I don’t notice that you’re taking it slow?)
There’s a little something I want you to know:
You don’t know how lucky you are.

I’m not just any woman looking for any man
And I don’t intend to change me to fit into your plan,
I’m a hell of an angel, and you’d better give a damn
You don’t know how lucky you are.

∆ I’m not the kind of woman who’d follow you around,
    Who wouldn’t let you be your own man and always kicking you around,
    Put you on a pedestal, then knock you down,
    You don’t know how lucky you are.

Now, I’m a woman knows how to use the door,
I’m writing you a love song and it’s one you can’t ignore,
Lie back and think of England, ’cause I’ve been here before,
You don’t know how lucky you are.

Are you the kind of man who won’t share the dirt
Who can’t clean out a toilet or sew a button on a shirt?
Before I start the race, boy, I’m checking out the turf,
You don’t know how lucky you are.

      ∆    I’m not the kind of woman who cares to take a chance,
            Who’d trade a lot of living for a little romance...
            Shall I go home now? Or do you want to dance
            And find out how lucky you are...?
       ’Cause I know how lucky you are!

Everything Changes Song Text

DO YOU BELIEVE IN ME?