Lifesmith Rock

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Prattle." Hypocrisy gnaws at me like sharp teeth of a rat Talk a good game but I’m better than that Preach about honesty but I’ve lied just the same Treat others with honor but played like a game. The Father knows in my heart of hearts true I’ve cheated and stolen, my debts’ become due And so my confession wherein becomes real The end of days comes with heartfelt appeal. No human is perfect but that’s hardly excuse For my hundred lies and emotional abuse Oh mistakes I have made them, ‘tis many a slip In drug-laden stupor often lost my grip Personal crimes against my own better heart Tear at me still, in dreams rend me apart Guilty I guess made worse pontificating Be a model for others while defecating. Constant battle within to be God-like and wise Digs at me daily from the moment I rise Distracted it seems by baser urges and goals In earlier ages there were simpler roles Judgment seems pointless for who needs more stress A careful assessment and adjustment seems best There may come a time when the Big Fella weighs all I want to be ready when He gives the call.

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Prattle." Oh we live in a godless world Where lust and greed have replaced love As the basis for human understanding and trust Where it is the common passion to scorn compassion Trample the weak, cut down the flowers Deify the hustler that defies all the powers. Oh we live in a godless world Where confusion and doubt are mental means To a path of psychic sanity Where it’s fun to laugh at peace and truth Roll over the slow ones, run over the dim ones Take what you can before you become one. So all those things that they told you in school Don't mean shit in a godless world They'll string you up and tie you down And throw you to the lions as food. Oh we live in a godless place Where the minister's daughter's in love with a snake And the snake is the staff on the corporate board Where lust craving discos mock fertility rites Knock over the old ones and lie to the children And don't give 'em time to seek their revengin'. Oh we live in a godless place Where deviate subversion is not a disgrace But merely the clowns at the show Where hunting and killing are TV's refilling Destroy all the free men, pervert all the good men To cheat, steal, and twist all that makes life so human. So all the things they taught you in school Don't mean shit in a godless world They'll string you up and tie you down And throw you to the city to drown. Yes we live in a godless house Where charity and forbearance are forgotten lore As the earth grumbles loudly to even the score Where the primal urges are culture's primeval Crush all the leapers, stamp out the artists And you'll find in time oh yes you will That if you don't find God in your heart And live with him every fucking day of your life You'll become a shallow, empty, soulless mass of protoplasmic humanoid devoid of drive, ambition, and personality; a cog; a contemptuous blob of mindless, spineless, and secretly abandoned lowly being with a locked door on one side and a raging fire on the other, , , , sizzling, , , , popping, . . , melting, , , , stench--your soul breaking down--- You'll burn--Burn--BURN ! ! and I'll be there another cell in the finger of God—yes I'll be there to gather your ashes…to rebuild a world again based on love and peace and genuine understanding. So all those things they taught you in school Don't mean shit in a godless world Without God they'll rip you apart And pull you in their fire to burn. . . .

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Prattle." In the ultra thin cool of the summer In the burning green sun in the sky May your trees bear no fruit that is bitter Turn your foes in the blink of an eye. In the smell of the skin-burning pavement Where the dime stores stay open all night Make your peace with the blue puppet lawmen May you stronghold your morals upright. In the sweet delay of the satin cloth prison In the rabid injection of passion's delight May your tears be a hail from heaven May your match heads never be blind. In the stench of the money god's primitive want Where the blood can't find its air May your lungs be as free as the pain you inflict Without images of real despair. So see it all backwards said the Fool on the Hill And carry it off like a cross There's a time so near when the winds will change And death will be your boss.

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Trifling." I had a dream just the other night I kept asking myself, "Do you feel alright? " The things that happened there -- crazy so it seemed And I really don't know what I seen I'm trying to remember what I seen Riding on my wife on the crest of a wave It seemed like a perfectly normal way to behave Crashing to the beach and right into bed Was it all really in my head Was it all made up in my head Riding shotgun to a critical mass Flying electron uranium blast Falling over Japan nineteen forty-five How much longer will I be alive Can it be that I am still alive Riding on a dolphin's back to the depths of fair Atlantis Uncovering discovering ancient scientific practice A culture that evolved long pre-Byzantine Could it have really been a dream Could it all really be a dream Riding on a spherical wave of immeasurable proportion Forty light years wide electromagnetic radiation Neutrinos and photons flying by my side Isn't life just one big sky ride When will the other life cease to hide Riding on the hot line from Washington to Moscow Those missiles that you're sending, we really can't allow I guess it'll have to be a war in the end And all I've left is this dream to defend Hoping that this dream is just a dream in the end Hoping that this dream is just a dream.

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Trifling." Life is but a decoy, my friend, it isn’t what you think at all We’re riding a vehicle of flesh and bone, the Creator’s reveille call And though we think we act alone, our spirits are all entwined In truth we are all just discrete facets of the eternal infinite Mind. We gloat and we strut and contrive that by ourselves we are strong Yet grains of sand are we awash in beaches many light years long But there’s power even there for a missing grain so changes it all For humility knows its place when bellowed conceit’s unwitting fall. Even more than a vehicle, we are the path to discover all that is We can become unlatched if we find what time’s true nature is Just like a piece of movie film, we see life as time, cells and tracks Our innumerable choices and decisions turn potentialities into facts. Life is but a journey to higher ground, not the collection of things Our pre-pubescent attitudes betray our severe lack of awakening Wake up, human child, wake up from your slumber of ignorance To a brighter day, a lighter way of tapping universal abundance.

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Trifling." I don't want to gangsta rap but I dig R and B Western's fine for dancing when it's out in the country And I got nothing at all against Beethoven and Bach But as for me, all I want to do is rock. Rockin your girl, rockin your world Rockin your cage, rockin on stage Rocking on time, rocking sublime Rockin your cares, rock if you dare... My kid tells me every day that he hates his school "Dad, my nose in those books, well that ain't too cool," And even though he's a first string footballin' jock There's nothing he'd rather do than kick ass rock... A housewife I know has this great secret dream That doesn't include her three kids and their screams And though it's not nice to abandon her flock Given her chance, well, she'd love to rock. Rockin your girl, rockin your world Rockin your cage, rockin on stage Rocking on time, rocking sublime Rockin your cares, rock if you dare...

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Pablum." Seven billion little universes in this orchestra sublime Balanced on a knife's edge; experiential space and time Each with a focus, each with a plan A private perception, their world in hand Observing the others in remote singular pantomime. Beings of our kind still possess a personal sovereignty theirs Unintentional and impenetrable despite their unawares Each has a vehicle, each seeks the road A separate happiness to shed their load And linear time to do it all thru a discrete passage of cares. But by unconscious assent we all bought into physical laws true A shared waking dream is our world of emerald and watery blue We all drink the same, we all breathe the air Procreate by longing to love by the pair Immature relationships suggesting collectivism are far too few. Your thoughts are impervious to another's inspection then And another's dreams are inconceivable, you have never been Each knows his own, each feels alone An enclosed surface, a sacrosanct zone An island of your own sane serenity in mortal coil's den.

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Pablum." I gotta play with the big boys, the little ones can be weird A calico in the ocean than a shark in a pond and be feared To measure my efforts against the best is what makes me feel real Not dominate some one horse town, an insecure ego’s appeal. I’m not into control as I trust my compadres as they can rely on me No need to force agendas on someone, big boys have eyes which can see. Don’t have to tell you how smart I am and don’t need to beat my chest Little ones are always a-boasting from a fear of failing the test. Let me play with the big boys and if I don’t win it’s okay Rather be last in Gotham than first in Podunk Town, PA There’s winners and losers in all we do but always the cowards die A thousand times over while noblemen hold their heads high. Don’t want to know about the minor leagues, they play in a smaller park Give me the big-time Yankees, more character, confidence and heart Until I play in a sports arena, I’m just a hacker in a two-bit band Little ones act like this is Led Zeppelin when it’s only a grain of sand.

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Pablum." People make excuses for things they could not do Why they’re fat, why they’re late, why their payment’s overdue People shirk responsibility and sacrifice respect Why they failed, why they forgot, why their answer’s incorrect An easy way out, so it seems, of getting out of hard work’s way But neglecting one’s accountability is laziness’ highway. Completing a task from beginning to end is difficult for some “I had no time,” “Something came up,” “I had to pick up my son,” Excuses you hear everyday, so common, so shallow, so trite “I mailed the check,” “My car broke down,” “I didn’t see the light,” They insult your intelligence with their sophomoric guile, Comes across so disrespecting, flippant, and infantile. Yet tolerate it we most often do, dare we call them an outright liar Cause every song has its singer, and the wolf even needs a crier Once in a while we all get caught unprepared it’s true Our fallibility precludes any penchant we might have to sue We say, “I’ll believe you this time, but don’t let it happen again,” With some folks it’s not a question of why, only a question of when. So take the bull by the horns, take the entire blame sometimes People respect you more if you admit you have done the crime May it pain you to give excuses for shortcomings you commit Plan a little better, use your time wisely, sharpen up your wit You might even bare the burden of others, in a helpful way reveal A new way to be, humbler and wiser, a jewelled creaturely appeal.

From the Lifesmith Group album, "Pablum." When you come to the end, what questions will you ask? Was I righteous, was I true, did I prove my love to you? When your numbers up, what then can you count? Days of plenty, a zillion twenties, or the love of many? Once your body expires beyond life, what will you transcend? The mental blocks, chains and clocks, a thousand natural shocks? If you have a mind when you're ready to pass on, what will be on it? The next few days, purple haze, double and triple plays? When you're given the time with your life on the line, what will you say? That the traffic was bad, the sex that you had, or what made you mad? When your lights go dim and you're naked within, what is it that you'll want? Just one more sip, yet another trip, never to lose your grip? So the reaper approaches, not there to coach us, what calls will you make? Should have known better, not written that letter, not been such a debtor? Your plane's going down, no rescue around, what are you sorry you did? Broken some hearts, lied with some charts, compromised your arts? Aye the end she comes as a surprise for most A shock, a shame, and a blunder Very few know the time of their passing A lightning strike and a gasp of thunder. When you're down to your last, dare you hold fast, who is it you thank? A holy Creator, the now and the later, your ego's dictator? So you roll down the line to the end of your time, how is it you'll feel? Deeply fulfilled, wisdom instilled, or cheated and billed? When your white light appears and life's in arrears, what will you then need? A push and a shove, the warmth from above, the Father's great love? You've inhaled your last, looking back on the past, what do you think? One heck of a ride, gave it my best try, 'twas great to be alive?