Songs

Songs

Here are the lyrics to some of the songs of the reunion. Please add more, and list the titles up here on top so we can navigate around and find them. The Choir of Angels "rapportoire" is here.

Below are some general Land songs:

Jody's beautiful song about the Land
What About Me by The Summary Judgment Blues Band
I've Got a Never-Ending Love for You
Round - Hawks high above Lone Oak Hill
Will We Still Live Here Tomorrow
A Wish Come True - a poem for Peter and Zeke, written by Michael Lederer on The Land, 1977

Jody singing , photo by Court

VIDEO OF JODY SINGING (WITH ZEM)



Song about the Land
Jody Calcara
1
Who knows where any story begins or where the long road ends
This one begins in the middle of me and some of my friends
Was singing down in San Diego with Carol & Susan, back then
When a group came down ‘gainst the Viet Nam war, ended up joining them
There stood David Harris, & Joanie too, and an army of resisters
When the speeches were done, we joined the run of our new found brothers and sisters
Our new found brothers and sisters.
A cold November, in ‘71, drove up the coast in the rains
Towards a mythical ranch called The Land In the Santa Cruz Mountains range
It was 800 acres of Heaven on Earth, green pastures, woods, and springs
People built cabins under the trees, a Tribe of wanderlings
Gardens sprang up, a volleyball court, a tree house with wood burning stove
It was anything goes, and many things went, and up and down we drove.
2
In the Frontlands was the big ranch house with Judy’s and Rainbow’s song
It was Michael and me and Wags in three cabins overlooking the pond
Back of the Front House under big trees the Long Hall I proclaim
That every full moon there was a party and the music was just insane
Billy Bonzini sounded like a band with just his voice and guitar
He sang "Rollin’ down the river" and stompted the floor with people dancing under the stars
Now down a bit, close to the road, the Old Redwood Barn
In Leslie’s store, and Silver’s loft, you’d hear many a twisting yarn
Then heading Back, you’d pass the Swamp with its symphony of frogs
Now the San Andreas wasn’t our fault but it was there under water and logs
Up in the woods, a spring bubbled out of the roots of a big Bay tree
The purest water we ever had, like it came from the land of the free
And you could see Forever from The Edge of the World, and from the top of Lone Oak Hill
Blue smoke from a tipi, down in the woods as the fog crept in with a chill
3
Walk farther back, take the trail going down the long, tilted valley
To the cook shack …..hidden in the trees, what dinners in that Oaken galley
I remember the night of the cook shack fire, people yelling in the middle of the night
We grabbed shovels and shoes, ragged fire crews, running towards the fight
We ran through the night, and were all alone with the flames a hundred feet high
And we noticed there wasn’t a breath of wind -- Oh that Holy quiet sky
Then the crowd arrived, the energy thrived pulling burning wood from the pyre
We threw dirt with shovels -- working together we put out that fire
4
The days were full of golden sun, the nights full of icy stars
It was a panorama of names and faces, beat-up trucks and old cars
See Juanita, Fran, Kim and Oak, and Winter under windy skies
And Bill Garaway, when he still had a beard and a twinkle in both his eyes
Goodbye Norma, Purusha, Sierra, Leonard and Rip
We’ll always see the smile you wore that brightened this long trip
So long Kenne, Diane, now you’re gone like a whip-poor-will
We’ll watch the stars again together on the other side of the hill
5
The years have scattered this ragged tribe but the memories are clear as the air
The bulldozers came and erased what they could but the Land is still there
Who knows where any story begins, or where the long road ends
This one is bound to continue with all my exuberant friends
A tribe of friends
Thank God for my long lost, new found brothers and sisters….

Sara, Rio, Jody and Mecca - photo by Patsy

"What About Me" performed by The Summary Judgment Blues Band at 2008 Reunion Boogie
Kevin, Sara, Mecca, Jody, and ? Drummer (insert if you know his name.) It use to be Rip when they were a band.

you poisoned my sweet water
you cut down my green trees
the food you fed my children
was the cause of their disease

my world is slowly falling down
and the airs not good to breathe
and those of us who care enough
we hope to do something

ohh ooh what you gunna do about me?
ohh ooh what you gunna do about me?

your newspapers, they just put you out
they never tell you the whole story
they just put your young ideas down
i was wondering, could this be the end
of your pride and glory?

oh ooh what you gunna do about me?
oh ooh what you gunna do about me?

i work in your factories
i study in your schools
i fill your penitentiaries
and your military too

and i feel the future trembling
as the word is passed around
if you stand up for what you do believe
be prepared to be shot down

oh ooh what you gunna do about me?
oh ooh what you gunna do about me?

and i feel like a stranger
in the land where i was born
and i live like an outlaw
and im always on the run

and im always getting busted
and i got to take a stand
i believe the revolution
must be mighty close at hand

oh ooh what you gunna do about me?
oh ooh what you gunna do about me?

i smoke marijuana
but i can't get behind your wars
and most of what i do believe
is against most of your laws

im a fugitive from injustice
but im going to be free
cos your rules and regulations
heh, they don't do a thing for me

oh ooh what you gunna do about me?
oh ooh what you gunna do about me?

and i feel like a stranger
in the land where i was born
and i live just like an outlaw
and im always on the run

and though you maybe stronger now
my time will come around
you keep adding to my numbers
as you shoot my people down

oh ohh what about me?(oh ooh what you gunna do about me?)
come on oohhh about me(oh ooh what you gunna do about me?)
and i said(oh ooh what you gunna do about me?)
i wanna know(oh ooh what you gunna do about me?)
and what about me now (oh ooh what you gunna do about me?)
oh ooh what you gunna do about me?
i ain't looking for no trouble baby
no trouble, but..

( Quicksilver Messenger Service What about me?)


Never Ending Love
Bonnie & Delaney Bramlett
I've got a never ending love for you
From now on, that's all I want to do
From the first time we met I knew
I'd have a never ending love for you.

After all this time of being alone
We can love one another
Live for each other from now on
Feels so good I can hardly stand it,
A never ending love for you.....

RIO, RAIN, MECCA SING ON LONE OAK

photo by Marilyn


Round we sang while a pair of red-tailed hawks soared high above Lone Oak Hill
Spreading our long tail feathers as we fly
We circle around,
We circle around,
The boundaries of the earth.

Norma, Mecca and Sara - photo by Patsy

Will We Still Live Here Tomorrow?
Carole King/Gerry Goffin aided and abetted by Rio Burns; dedicated to our lawyers
Tonight it's ours (almost) completely
This land is our land, so sweetly
But this week we had a peek at the writing on the wall
Will we still live here tomorrow?

We didn't know till someone told us
It was a three-day notice
The Frontlands, Backlands, and this old Long Hall
Will we still live here tomorrow?

Tonight the boogie's hoppin
Everyone loves everyone
But will we all be shoppin
For a home when the morning comes?

We didn't know what we were doin'
So we called Tooby and McHugh in
But tonight they're right here dancin' up a storm
Will we still live here tomorrow?

Tonight the Long Hall's shakin
And it's not the San Andreas Fault
But will our hearts be quakin
When this night (when this night) comes to (comes to) a halt?

Now that we're gathered back together
To share this lasting treasure
We ask the question that consumes us all:
Will we still live here, could we still live here?
Yes let's all live here tomorrow.

RIO AND MECCA SING "Will We All Live Here Tomorrow"




SANDY


MICHAEL

photos by Neil

A WISH COME TRUE
A poem for Peter and Zeke
By Michael Lederer, written on The Land, 1977

After living together for two years in the Blue Dome on Black Mountain, Cindy Massie and I and her two magical sons Peter and Zeke moved to The Land. We lived in the tepee on the edge of the San Andreas fault, beyond the large oak tree with the Spanish moss and across the golden meadow from Michael Emrys' little cabin. Hawks circled above us and the boys played everywhere and there was firelight every night and much love. After about six months Cindy decided that she needed to take the boys back to her native New York where we had first met. I stayed on alone in the tepee for another six or so months before the missing them got to be too much and I packed my own bags and hitched across the country to rejoin them. During that time I was alone I would think about them every morning and every day and every night and one morning when I woke up alone in the tepee I wrote the following poem for little Peter and even littler Zeke:

Yesterday as the sun went down
From Lone Oak Hill I looked around
And I didn't have to look too far
Before I saw the night's first star
I wondered if you saw it too
I knew that it was watching you
And I wished that I could see you too
Or even better, be with you
So I closed my eyes and I wished so hard
That with eyes closed I still saw stars
I wished I had a pair of wings
When suddenly I felt something
I looked behind and I saw wings grow
When just then a gust of wind did blow
And I sailed that wind up to that star
Where I turned and looked down very far
And I saw you lying in your beds
With the glow of starlight around your heads
When just then some light shone in my eyes
And when I awoke, to my surprise
My wings had only been a dream
And yet how beautiful it seemed
That in the night my wish came true
For in my dream, I DID see you!

Michael Lederer, 1977