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LOOK INTO YOUR WORLD
Well, I saw you again to day
Faceless and nameless
- holding your sign
Looking for a chance to make it through a day
Somehow I managed to walk right on by
(chorus)
Gotta look into your world
Gotta see what I can do
Gotta look into your world
And let this love shine through
I see a lot of what I could be
If something went wrong that I couldn't control
Gotta step away from where
you are
Because seeing you there puts me in that role
There's a fine line between you and me
And it's kind
of hard
Too look at you and wonder if I'll be
Like you - holding a final card
MONEY BLUES
You live in a black and white world now, baby
A
world full of power and greed
Where you can get the things you want, now
Which is always much more than you need
Break
the backs of the poor
To get the things that you love
You're a have, and they're have nots, now
You know your
greed, it fits you like a glove
You look down from your tower
At all of us down here below
You think that
you're so much better
I can't believe you've sunk so loww
And nobody loves their money like you do
And your money
is your Lord
But our Lord is the Lord of Love
And that's the one thing you can't afford
GOSPEL ACCORDING
TO YOU
It must be nice to have all the answers
To
be secure in what you do
It must be nice to exclude all the others
Who don't agree with you
It must be nice to
be no longer searching
To have it all in black and white
Twenty points on a page to ponder
Sign and date and you're
all right
(chorus)
You want me to live
The Gosepel According to You
Live the walk
Walk the talk
The
Gospel According to You
And if someday you deem us worthy
To share the stage and be with you
Surrounded by
your loyal clones
From which the flight of reason flew
I know that it's a waste of time
To cast my pearls before
swine
But God can meet us where we are
There are no papers for us to sign
NOTHING IS SACRED
Well, I can't believe the things we do
Because
we only want a part of you
I can't believe the lengths that we'll go
To tittilate and make a show
(chorus)
And in the end
Nothing is sacred
We try to peek inside of you
And do the things that you all do
Invade
your live because we've got a right to know
The things you do and the places you go
Life is the cost of our cheap
thrills
And we never can get our fill
Because nothing shocks us anymore
We only want more blood and gore
THESE
ARE OUR LEADERS
Okay everybody...lets twist!
Everybody wants
to know
What he does and where he goes
How he plays with what and whom
And just what he is going to do
We
want him to tell us everything
But unlike the canary he don't sing
And in the end nobody wins
As we sort out supposed
sins
Hey!
These are our leaders
We take the higher moral ground
And judge him harshly on what we've
found
But nothing here is fast and true
The facts aren't clear for me and you
And as we try to figure it out
Just
what is truth and what is doubt
The answers don't so easily come
We're left to ponder what was done
Hey!
These
are our leaders
Sitting here - in the middle
We watch both sides squirm and wiggle
The words come out in omissionary
lies
As one confirms, the other denies
I was told when I was young
To tell the truth when all is done
But
both sides seem right and wrong
And blame each other all along
So here I am, I'll never know
Which way the wind
of truth will blow
No one tells us anything
So lets all raise a glass, and sing:
Hey!
These are our leaders...
RANT
Hate is not a family value
No matter what they
try to tell you
Because they've got the money, they think they're right
As the push us further to the Right
We
look at their seemingly benign faces
As they cast a wedge between the races
Hate is not a family value
No
matter what they try to tell you
Worhipping a god I can't comprehend
Where the poor are left for themselves to
defend
They put all the children and their hunger on hold
As they worship a god of money and gold
Destrying
everything we've achieved
They say they worship God, but they worship greed
Hate is not a family value
No
matter what they try to tell you
BROKEN HEART
He can ease the pain
He can heal the hurt
He
will hear your cries
You he won't desert
The past is gone
It's been wiped clean
What's done is done
And
needs no more to be seen
(chorus)
Broken hearts of the young
Hurt so easily when all is said and done
But
peace will be found - in Jesus' love
If you let him in
Let the hurt go
Release the blame
Ease your bitterness
Let loose your shame
The myth that says
People can never change
Have not seen how
The Spirit can rearrange
THE LENS
Through our lens
We see the world as a bitter
place
Where through fear we dare not show our face
For fear of hurt
Through our lens
We see people as less
than they are
We judge others and we condemn from a far
Through our lens
But looking through the lens of the
Gospel
We see the greatest are the least
The poor are worthy of our greatest feast
And none should be made to
suffer
Through our lens
We see a world in need of change
But we'd rather revert to a bygone age
That never
was
But looking through the lens of the Gospel
We see the greatest are the least
The poor are worthy of our
greatest feast
And none should be made to suffer
END OF THE DAY
Here we stand, at the end of our road
Wondering
who is left to carry the load
As we arrive at the end of the day
There we go - trusting only ourselves
And once
again, we've gone and put God on our shelf
To leave there when we don't want to play
It's not up to us
To
conveniently forget
What we should do
For those we should love and protect
In every action, ask what God wants
us to do
And in every deed, think of a world bigger than you
And you will see beyond your walls
It's not up
to us
To conveniently forget
What we should do
For those we should love and protect
All lyrics and songs
copyright (c) by Stephen Berg. All rights reserved.
Extended Play (2000)
THEME FROM THE BELLYLAUGH WORKSHOP
(instrumental)
STONE COLD
Unhappy reminders of the things that we have
wrought
Betray the trust of those whom we have bought
Well, I don't know and what use is it
The killing continues
as we see fit
We train them all and we put guns in their hands
To kill the innocent in some far off foreign land
And
we've grown stone cold with our attitude
Tell me what am I supposed to do
Stone cold with our attitude
The
come to us to learn the ways of the "free"
They only leave once they've learned to enjoy a killing spree
They come
to us and we teach them how to kill
We feed them ethics that would make most moral men ill
We teach them that murder
is a means to an end
We teach them that terror and death is their only friend
I get enraged when I think of what
we've done
Teach the love of power and the Gospel of the Gun
USER
You pulled me in, you made me feel
Somehow
I did you wrong
You used my friends and then you tried to be
The hurt one all along
You're a user, abuser,
and all time loser
You play us and then you turn the screws
You turn us all against each other
And then you make
us out to be fools
And now I see
Through the lies
And I'm looking into your eyes
And you're a user!
You
blame us for the things you've done
You're as pure as driven snow
But the hurt you cause and the evil you are
Makes
me say you've got to go
I'me tired of being used
DUTY LEFT BEHIND
Another family torn apart
He left without
any sign
Except for the note that was pathetically written
About how his life had died
He's gone to follow
his heart
His duty left behind
To "find himself" as the cliche goes
Gone to a new or better life
With his
duty left behind
He wants to be a singer
A raging rock and roll star
But he don't care about all the bridges
he burns
Just as long as he goes far
He off following his heart
His duty left behind
He's blazing a brighter,
greater glory
Living a dream he's long denied
With his duty left behind
If you read all of our books and watch
TV
And all the trendy magazines
It says grab the glory while you can
Because life can be as fleeting as it seems
Teaches us to cast aside our loved ones
For pathetic unfulfilled fantasies
And all that's left is hollow
And
worthless as the money and the greed
I remember CASABLANCA
Hey, Bogart loved that girl
But he learned to see
beyond himself
And find his place within his world
We must find our place within our world
CALL ME
Each morning that I rise
Each morning
I see
A world in need of change
And that is up to me
We are called to act
We are called to be
Bearers
of God's love
In the Word we shall be free
Call me...
And everything we do
And everything we are
Is
meant for greater good
With God we can go far
Learning to let go
And trusting in God's voice
Will teach us
what to do
In this we can rejoice
Call me...
And in the end we'll see
A richer life is sown
As we
see beyond ourselves
And this life we call our own
And each day we give
Brings honor to his name
As we strive
to share the love
In Grace we shall be saved
Call me...
CARE FOR YOU
Didn't mean to intrude, my friend
Looks
like you could use some help
I notice you've been crying
And things aren't going very well
Well, I thought that
I would listen
And try to understand
And I know I cannot feel your pain
And the anguish it demands
But still
I'll try
I still care for you
I know that you feel bad
I know that you feel cheated
I know sometimes it
feels so worthless
Like you've been defeated
But it will some day get better
You need to take some time
As
you're living day to day
Peace some day you'll find
And still I'll try
Well, I still care for you
You
say you're sorry you took my time
You didn't mean to stay so long
You say you do not like to put yourself
Into
places you don't belong
Don't worry about that so much my friend
I know right now you're feeling blue
And no matter
the time of day or night
I'll always be here for you
You know I'll try
I still care for you
You know I'll
understand
Don't you know that I care care for you
I still care for you
All songs written by Stephen Berg.
All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) by Stephen Berg.
The
Left Is Right (2002)
RECORDER FANTASY IN C
(instrumental)
ONLY TEASING
Now the time has gone for us to say goodbye
I know I'll miss you, but I don't know why
You fill my thoughts most all the time
Yet I know I've never ever fallen this hard
I'd like to change, but the path is barred
Lost in confusion all because of you
My friends tell me that I'm a fool
That I never really should have fallen for you
Friends shouldn't say goodbye, they should only
go away
I know I'll miss you, but there's nothing more
to say
I only wish that you would stay
LIES
They look at you...no lie
They take it all and they say goodbye
They don't care about the poor
Out of sight, out of mind, so easy to ignore
You know they're lying with their eyes
They say it's all right
You know they'll never compromise
All you get is lies
In the name of God, they'll tell you
That you're better off with less so you better
make due
As we swing to the right, it's an obscene dance
Out of sight, out of mind, you never stand a
chance
It gets quite dangerous out on the streets
Struggle and you strive trying to make your ends
meet
Struggle and scrape just to get your family by
But they don't care if you live or you die.
You know they're cold, they don't care
They say to do with less and it's more than fair
You know they got their pile, they're living
high
And they can take it al with them when they die
But Jesus said for the rich it is hard
Getting to heaven is not in the cards
You know that wealth is no sin but
But what kills is greed
Sometimes we want more than we need
ALL I KNOW
Never look for, and I never try
To find an answer or a reason why
But I don't know, I don't know
Another warrior meets and end
In the blink of an eye you're gone my friend
And I don't know, I don't know
Well, I don't see any way out
Except to spread love love near and far
You saw beyond the mere touch of a man
And became o messenger of love
And this is all I know
Feed the poor, we must care for all
Because all are equal under God's laws
But it's so hard, it's so hard
To carry the fight without you
I put my faith in all I think and say and do
But it's so hard, it's so hard
TUNNEL VISION
I'm on the road to nowhere and I don't know what
to do
I live a live obscene that I wouldn't wish upon
you
My life is paranoia and full of all kinds of
spills
My job is to annoy ya, and other assorted ills
But I see the light at the end of the tunnel
So far away that I'll never get there
All it does in my life is rain
Now I have to do it all over again
All I see is the teeny tiny little light at the
end of the tunnel
I never was a has been, guess I'll always be
a never was
I play my tunes to an indifferent world and only
just because
JAMES TWO
Words and music by Phil King. Used by permission.
As I was lying on the sidewalk
A woman came up close to see
I asked for some help and she said she was a
Christian
She stood there smiling down at me
I'll pray for you brother, she started to say
I see that your life is just wasting away
I see that you're starving and freezing to death
But don't come to near me you've got such bad
breath
(chorus)
Well, you know that I love you
And you know that I care for your soul
Someone will help you, help you get out
of this hole
But not me...
I doing my best to remember in prayer
All of your needs as I start to compare
The troubles you're having I had just last summer
Choice of best dress, or career, man what a bummer
chorus
solo
chorus
Never knew what to wear to the parties and balls
So you see my dear brother I've been through
it all
I pray with such earnest that God will provide
All that you're needing, gosh look at the time,
I must go
chorus
Now I'm still lying on the sidewalk
The woman's voice seems far away
The pain gets worse as I slip into my final sleep
And wake up on my judgment day
Why didn't anybody tell me
Why didn't anybody tell me
Why didn't anybody tell me
Why didn't anybody tell me
chorus
NOTHING MATTERS
Nothing that I do matters anymore
No matter how hard I try
I sit in the silence of another lonely night
And ponder why
Nothing I can say makes any difference anymore
It's like talking to a cold stone wall
And my words, the slide off you so easily
As you take it all
Here I am, I'm alone in a crowd
Loving you in spite of your sin
And no matter how hard I try to keep you here
I know I'll never win
Nothing I can say makes any difference anymore
No matter how hard I try
I sit in the silence of another lonely night
And ponder why
SOCIAL SECURITY
Social Security, where are you to day?
I need you now, I'm old and gray
And I haven't any money left to spend
They promised to take care of me in the end
Social Security, where are you
Social Security, I need you
When I was young I thought I'd pay
For my upcoming retirement day
But you went broke before your time
So here I am, my dues denied
THE LEFT IS RIGHT
Stand alone...burning plane
Drunken madness and stone cold wisdom
Never change...never try
Continue to fight against the rising tide
And oh
They're so strong
And oh
They're so wrong
People become commodities
Votes bought and sold...statistics on a page
Still I sit with my grieving rage
Against a system that I know must change
The right is wrong, left is right
Don't know why we stopped our caring
So drunk with power, so drunk with money
We don't hurt when we see others hurt
BETTER LIFE
Nothing seems to work no more, no matter
how I try
But there ain't nothing I can do about it
Since I changed my life for you I'm a pilgrim
on the way
Life is good, there ain't no doubt about it
And I
Can see
Beyond the lies
To a Better Life
And I
Can Be
What you
Want me to be
Peeling back my layers of sin and guilt and loathing
too
Replace it with a love and will to do
Changeling I have now become, I am not my own
The will that governs me is right from you
Everything I have is yours, in truth I own nothing
All is a gift of stewardship to you
The Earth, the air, the sea and all is not ours
to destroy
Dominion doesn't mean that we can kill
THE WAY WE NEVER WERE
Demagogues
Feeding on prejudice and hate
Limbaugh and Fallwell
Robertson and the 700 Club
Status quo
Never change a thing on our path to Hell
Anti-woman
Anti-rights
Anti-black
Anti-anything
That doesn't fit into a package that they designed
Let's turn back the clock folks!
Wouldn't it be so grand
If we could be the way we never were
Right?
Conservative?
Christian?
Dial the Truth Minstries with God ou our side
Protectionism is the way to go here
As we withdraw from the world's violence to turn
the guns on ourselves
God blessed nation we never were
Violence
Greed
Butchery
That's how the West was won
Woudln't it be so grand
If we could be the way we never were
STEPHEN BERG (2005)
JOHN THE REVELATOR
Traditional. Arranged by Stephen Berg
Tell me who's that writin'
(John the Revelator)
Tell me who's that writin'
(John the Revelator)
Tell me who's that writin'
(John the Revelator)
Wrote the book of the Seven Seals
You know that God walked down in the cool of the day
He called Adam by his name
But he refused to answer because he was naked and afraid
You know that Christ and twelve apostles
And three he led away
He said watch with me awhile
While I go yon and pray
Well, Christ came down in Easter morning
Mary and Martha went down to see
Go tell my apostles
To meet me at Galilee
SAMUEL CHECOTE
Words and music by Stephen Berg.
Copyright (c) 2005 by Stephen Berg.
Born in Alabama in 1819
Full blooded Creek lineage was he
Parents settled west of Okmulgee Forced from the Old Indian Territory
Went to the Asbury School and Harrell's Academy
From Samuel the words of faith would flow
As he told the story we all know
Jesus’ love and sacrifice
Related to his people’s way of life
He never forgot who he was Minister of God
He was filled with Love
Early in life came to Methodist ways
Entered the ministry and preached many days
Creek Council was hostile to missionaries
Closed all the churches, forced Checote to flee
Persecuted for preaching Christianity
To Chief McIntosh Checote spoke
Caught that leader’s ear and had the laws revoked
Resumed ministering in 1852
Joined the Indian Mission Conference with faith renewed
Spreading to his people the Good News
Confederate soldier in the North and South fray
Rose to the rank of Colonel, then the war had its day
Caused some trouble when the fighting was done
Northern Creeks distrusted the Confederate ones
Through Checote the healing of the tribes had begun
Became the leader of the Creek nation
Called “The Great Chief” he became their salvation
Built the Old Rock Church in Muskogee
Elder, preacher, circuit rider, he was all of these
Died in 1884, buried near Okmulgee
ALL I KNOW II
Words and music by Stephen Berg
Copyright (c) 2002, 2005 by Stephen Berg
I never look for, and I never try
To find an answer or a reason why
Well, I don't know, I don't know
Another warrior meets an end
In the blink of an eye you're gone my friend
And I don't know, I don't know
Well, I don't see any way out
Except to spread your love near and far
You saw beyond the mere touch of the man
And became a messenger of hope
And this is all I know, this is all I know
Feed the poor, we must care for all
Because all are equal, all are equal under God's laws
But it's so hard, it's so hard
To carry on without you
I put my faith in all I think and all I see and all I do
But it's so hard, it's so hard
Well, I can't see any way out...
I WILL ALWAYS
Words and music by Stephen Berg
Copyright (c) 2005 by Stephen Berg
The simple truth lies beyond
These well constructed walls
These barriers hide the me inside
Waiting for a fall
And I will hope
And I will run
And I will see
My way through
And I will always love you
My feelings remain
Complex and strong
And they've never gone away
Years have past
The pain holds fast
As the opportunity fades
OVER AND OVER
Words and music by Stephen Berg.
Copyright (c) 2005 by Stephen Berg
Well, before you win you know you gotta lose
When it comes to war, you know you gotta refuse
Oh yeah, over and over again
God knows we try - You know we pray for peace
As Christ commanded, we turn the other cheek
To be a people of peace
No one listens because no one seems to care at all
I beat my head up against the wall
Oh yeah, over and over again
I raise my voice - I stand for peace
I march with those who pray for the killing to cease
Oh yeah, over and over again
NATION OF VICTIMS
Words and music by Stephen Berg.
Copyright (c) 2005 by Stephen Berg
You're a victim, you know I hear you say
You say nothing here is your fault, so you push the blame away
You got drunk and smashed your car last night
You know the bartender, he didn't do you right
You know he let you have one more for the road
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