TIME TO BREAK THE CHAIN
We’ll never stop all the violence with more violence.
Never break the code of silence with more silence.
As long as we keep playing the game, the game will go on.
As long as we keep staying the same, the same’ll come along.
We’ll never stop all the war, with more war and hate.
Never stop all the terror with the terror of the State.
Tradition’s downside vestige remains, and keeps us apart.
Instinct and logic keep clashing in vein, infecting our hearts.
Human nature gets most of the blame for why we never change.
But in your heart is where it starts – it’s time to break the chain.
We’ll never find peace of mind with so much hunger and need.
There’s never time to be kind, kneeling at the altar of greed.
Karma is the law of cause and effect; the universe is curved.
What you give is what you will get, and what you deserve.
As long as the self and ego is king, things will never change.
The heart within is where it begins –it’s time to break the chain.
It’s time to break the chain. It’s time to break the chain.
Words & Music by:
C. Michael Stout
February, 2007
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COVERED BRIDGES TO YOUR HEART
With your road maps, and books full of pictures;
And your eyes fixed on those wooden fixtures.
Your mind went searching,
Your soul was working hard -
To find the covered bridges to your heart.
Like a magnet, you were drawn to them.
A strange desire to you right through them.
They were your gateway,
Your only safeway to chart -
Those covered wooden bridges to your heart.
Above the rubble,
And rivers of trouble,
Them bridges take you down
Where tranquility is found,
Those covered wooden bridges to your heart.
So plain and simple, you could even draw them.
So raw but gentle, you were in awe of them.
You kept insisting,
They were the missing part -
Covered wooden bridges to your heart.
Timeless tunnels, between generations;
So still and empty, with no expectations.
But for you at least,
They were a piece of art -
Covered wooden bridges to your heart.
In this fool's world,
This cold and cruel world,
Them bridges take you down, where serenity is found -
Covered wooden bridges to your heart.
Some never notice, they just breeze right through them.
They think they're worthless, they got no use for them.
But for you they spun
A love song from the start -
Covered wooden bridges to your heart.
Above the rubble, and rivers of trouble,
Them bridges take you down, where tranquility is found
(You love those) Covered wooden bridges to your heart. (3X)
Words & Music by:
C. Michael Stout
July, 1994
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HEAVEN’S MIST
In the Appalachian Mountains, heaven’s mist imposes
Rain alls in the woodlands, wildflowers and roses.
Shimmering and glimmering, the warm breath of spring
In the Appalachian Mountains, heaven’s mist does ring.
Fields of fern, hemlock and oak, swayin’ in the breeze.
The smell of pine and sweet fine chives, the summer air does tease.
Voicing, rejoicing, I hear the hillsides sing.
In the Appalachian Mountains, heaven’s mist does bring.
Colors blaze in the harvest haze, cornfields turn to gold.
Rusted leaves of ancient trees, swaying majestic and bold.
Changing, rearranging to winter from fall.
In the Appalachian Mountains, heaven’s mist does call.
…Changing, rearranging, as the seasons fall;
In the Appalachian Mountains, heaven’s mist does call.
Words & Music by: C. Michael Stout, 1996, rewritten December, 2006
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HARD TIMES ARE FIGHTIN' TIMES
White collar, blue collar, pink collar mass, we're all sinking real fast.
And every single day,
They're taking our rights away - the first to go is the working class.
Well crawling on my knees ain't my cup of tea; I'd rather kick a little ass
[Because] Hard Times are fightin' times for me.
[CHORUS] Hard Times Are Fightin' Times for you and me.
Times were hard enough in what they called prosperity.
I'll be damned if my belt is gonna tightin';
Let the suits on Wall Street do the bullet bitin'
['cause] HARD TIMES ARE FIGHTIN TIMES (3X) for me !
There's over forty million poor who cannot afford a bed in a hospital ward.
With so much wealth in this land
You know I don't understand why we all can't have health care and more.
Well send my medical bills up to Capital Hill; that's what my tax money's for.
['cause] Hard Times are fightin' times for me.
[CHORUS] ...Let the politicians do the bullet bitin...
[BRIDGE] I lost my job, fell off my horse;
They took my house; I had to get a divorce.
I'm on my last dollar, got holes in my shoes;
Might as well hollar, I got nothin' to lose.
Well the whole damn corporate sytem is a mess, it's in rotting decay.
And they want the poor and working classto pay the penalty.
Get up out of bed, and wake up the dead, 'cause it's a brand new day.
[because] Hard times are fightin' times for you and me.
[CHORUS] ...let big business do the big bullet bitin...
Words & Music by: C. Michael Stout, 1988
[rework from original Prairie Fire version, 1974]
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CHILDREN OF THE AFTERMATH
There they are, over there;
On the sidelines, unaware of what's unfoldin.'
There they are, so young;
The inheritors of the whirlwinds we've been sowin'.
Pickin’ up the pieces from the ash,
Cleaning up the mess after the crash -
CHILDREN OF THE AFTERMATH. (2X)
There they are, so innocent and free;
Refugees of storms that don't blow yet.
There they are, so poor;
Deep in debt before they're old enough to know it.
Stuck with the tab after the bash,
Recycling all the garbage and the trash –
CHILDREN OF THE AFTERMATH. (2X)
[BRIDGE]
Tiny voice, you got no choice;
You’re just a prisoner of time.
Wise up, rise up, drink from the cup
That loosens the grip on your mind.
There they are, the unborn;
In the womb of this dyin' old reality.
There they are, so fragile and pure;
The heir apparents who'll endure the insanity.
Buryin' the dead after the clash;
Carin' for the sick after the blast-
CHILDREN OF THE AFTERMATH. (4X)
Words & Music by:C. Michael Stout
June, 1993 (revised December, 2006)
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GLOBAL WARNING IS HERE
Hurricanes come one after another,
Each more intense, more immense than the other.
Flood waters roar, rain storms all about;
Right next door to wild fires and drought.
Sea waters risin’ as the polar ice melts;
Lakes and rivers dryin’ up in giant dust belts.
Climate extremes are the order of the day.
Paradise dreams, are torn and blown away-
It’s safe to say all the children will pay.
Gaia screams in bloody fear – THE GLOBAL WARNING IS CLEAR.
GLOBAL WARMING IS HERE
CO2 amasses on top of the globe;
Greenhouse gases, in a massive stranglehold.
Rain Forests, rare species all going extinct;
All of civilized humanity teeters on the brink.
No where to run, there’s no where to hide;
Not thinkin’ about it won’t make it subside-
Our children’s children will surely pay the price..
Gaia knows the real deal – THE GLOBAL WARNING IS CLEAR.
GLOBAL WARMING IS HERE.
The fossil fuel Lobby sowin’ seeds of distraction.
It’s ‘business as usual’ for the crooked politician.
Whole scientific community speaks with one voice now,
Warning you and me, that we don’t have a choice now.
The cost of doin’ nothin’ ain’t no money can buy;
We better change our MO if we’re gonna survive-
Think about the children if you don’t know why.
Gaia knows the end is near – GLOBAL WARNING IS CLEAR
Global WARMING IS HERE.
Words & music by:
C. Michael Stout
July, 2006
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CRYSTAL EASTMAN
Crystal Eastman was a warrior of yore,
Mover and shaker, path-breaker for sure.
Voice for the victims of the captains of wealth,
The mother of all work place safety and health.
Sister Eastman, your spirit’s alive and risin,’
Crystal Eastman your name will never die.
Sister Eastman, your cause is alive and thrivin,’
Crystal Eastman, your name will never die.
She took her pen to the factories of hell;
Shined the light where the dead and injured fell.
Wastelands of pain and injustice she saw,
She wrote the first workers’ compensation law. [CHORUS]
Courageous, audacious, always on the front lines,
Hell-raiser, trail blazer way ahead of the times.
She led the fight to right so many wrongs;
Charming, disarming, so beautiful and strong. [CHORUS]
Organizer, rabble-rouser, brilliant and wise,
Her words were music, there was fire in her eyes.
She sowed the seeds, co-wrote and paved the way
For the ACLU, and the ERA. [CHORUS]
Fought for women’s rights and equal pay overdue;
Said ‘mothers raising kids are workin’ people too.’
Her life was a torch that burned for liberty;
A symbol of the free woman to be.
Code-pink resister to the robber-baron’s wars.
Outspoken sister, real peace and freedom force,
They black-balled her, dragged her through the mud.
But in the end they couldn’t bury her love. [CHORUS]
Sister Eastman, your spirit’s alive and thrivin,
Crystal Eastman, your name will never die.
Sister Eastman, the time has arrived
To tell the world about the love that you gave;
The families and the lives that you saved.
Oh Crystal Eastman, Oh Crystal Eastman, Oh Crystal Eastman!
Words & Music by: C. Michael Stout, February, 2007
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STAND OR FADE
Dusty hills, brownfields, broken wheels that used to roll out the best.
Boarded doors , closed stores and ghost towns all across the U.S.
Broken dreams, abandoned terrains;.
Silent machines of rusted remains,
Helplessness and hopelessness drifting over the plains,
Masquerading as the agents of change.
Worker mass, where is your class, where is your will to survive ?
Salt of the earth, where is the work of worth that kept you alive ?
Your labor’s lost, it’s left in the cold;
The human cost is uprooted souls.
A ‘slow-motion’ holocaust with invisible hands
Spread like a cancer all over the land !
[CHORUS] STAND, get up off your knees.
STAND, get back on your feet.
Let your struggle and resistance begin.
Let your love for life spread like the wind.
I said it before, and I’ll say it again -
(You Better) Stand — (You Better) — STAND
(You Better] — STAND !
Stand or fall. stand or crawl
Before you fade and it’s too late.
They disinvest, scrap the rest, run off to some foreign land.
They mergerize, polarize all the wealth into just a few hands.
Corporate greed, capitol flight;
Refugees of industrial blight;
Shattered, battered, tattered families and bankrupted lives,
For the victims of their free enterprise.
[Chorus]
STAND . . . it’s the only thing you’ll both leave
and take with you when your gone.
Words & Music by: C. Michael Stout, May, 1985
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FLOWERS OF THE WORKING CLASS
John Barbero and Ed Mann were Youngstown, Ohioans.
Steel warriors of the rainbow, they were kind and gentle souls.
Native sons, two of the ones who would speak for the community.
Union misters, human resisters to every kind of slavery.
John Barbaro and Ed Mann were a force on a course pushing forward our history.
And you know, they were never afraid when confronted with the enemy.
Prophesizers, organizers of the people in the mills and factories.
Future molders, courageous foot soldiers in the fight to be free.
[Bridge]
Then raise your heads, let your conscience arise;
The rain and wind are swirling outside.
Seize the time, grab hold of the day;
Pick up your sword, we have dragons to slay.
Hear what they said, remember their names;
They may be dead but their spirit remains
In the hearts of you and me!
John Barbaro and Ed Mann have come and gone,
Like the sand in the hour glass.
Their spirit will live on,
They both were flowers of the working class,
Of the working mass, of the working class.
Words & Music by: C. Michael Stout, September, 1992
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WHEN WILL WE LEARN
When will we learn to just get along ?
When will learn that we can sing one song
that fills the void, the empty hole in our hearts,
that sews together the seams ?
When will we wake up and finally start
to trust in our dreams ?
When will we learn to work side by side ?
When will we learn that love is color blind ?
When will we learn to blend the music again,
that made the rainbows appear ?
When will we learn to dance together and then -
wipe away our tears ?
Was it something we just read in a book,
a figure of speech ?
A religious goal we only can preach
and teach, and just try to reach ?
When will we learn just to live and let live ?
When will we learn how easy it is to forgive ?
When will we finally learn to conquer the fear
of what is different from us ?
When will we learn that everyone and everything here
just needs love, needs love, needs love !
Words & Music by: C. Michael Stout, May, 1995
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WE NEED A REVOLUTION NOW
Whole planet’s in trouble, paradise lays in rubble;
The Empire’s bubble has started to burst.
Perfect storms form, as the poets all warn,
For the proletariat it will only get worse.
Agents of reform, beaten, battered down and worn;
These scoundrels don’t know compromise.
Damn the fear and lies, our destiny cries –”
WE NEED A REVOLUTION NOW! (2X)
In the sweatshops and cages of the economic outrages,
On the darkest pages of wage slavery;
Inside the killing fields, underneath the iron heels,
Grinded by the wheels of a plutocracy.
Famine and drought, hunger ragin’ all about;
For the have-nots there’s no other way out.
The system is broke; the truth needs spoke -
WE NEED A REVOLUTION NOW (2X)
[Bridge] Greedy vampires sucking our blood;
These vampires are never satisfied.
We need the fire of a much higher love
To defeat them, we must unseat them –
It’s a question of survival!
The bell has been rung, the final battle’s begun;
Judgment day has come in the land of broken dreams.
The workin’ masses choke, their neck’s inside a rope;
In debt, indentured servants to the global machine.
Stand up and rise, we better get organized;
These vultures won’t go without a fight.
We need something like a world general strike –
WE NEED A REVOLUTION NOW (4X)
Words & Music by: C. Michael Stout, February, 2007