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LYRICS BLOOD DIAMONDS SMILE AT ME YESTERDAY SO IT IS FAITH IN THE FREE BLOOD DIAMONDS (Dean Bowman/Emil Halas/Neil Minor) 4 bar intro (pedal) Diamonds don't come for free, They come at great expense At the expense of millions of your neighbors Chorus How many babies have to die for blood diamonds? (8x) Do you think about the babies that die for the rocks that you wear? Or all the lives ruined or do you even care? Or the murderous banks and investors selling diamonds in your town Telling you they're the rarest of the rare, even though they are found under the ground? Diamonds are precious dipped in African blood, A myth, A lie Because the babies are dying right now, Right now, Every day For your shining glitter Repeat Chorus Bridge Evil-national, Guilty-national Inter-national Multi-national Culti-national Diamonds (2x) Fortunes made and lives in ruin for the privilege of a few to sell liquid lies Tell your stories to the folks back home But when you see my little sister, you won't have too much to say Because when they cut her arm off all she could do was look away Repeat Chorus Bridge Solos Bridge You don't show your love with diamonds…you show your hate. You show you love with time, love, kindness Diamonds don't come for free. They come at great expense. At the expense of your African neighbors killed by a system that tells you Diamonds are rare. That's a myth! Diamonds are not rare! Repeat Chorus Bridge Repeat Chorus back to top ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: SMILE AT ME (Dean Bowman/Gregg Jarvis) Intro (16 bars) 4 bar bass only 4 bar band intro 8 bar band Chorus You reign, you reign when you smile at me (4x) 8 bar band Verse 1 You break the rules and change them every day Thought by now I'd now the funny games you play And you smile at me from a distance All the folks can plainly see Saying to you let him go Let the man go free Repeat Chorus You watch my every move With a telescopic lens Catch an earful on your mobile phone In your Mercedes Benz And you smile at me from a distance All the folks can plainly see Saying to you let him go Let the man go free Repeat Chorus Solos Call the operator tell her "please baby, Where can I go where the sun don't set when I rise?" Is I is a is or is I is a ain't if I was to believe all the bad things that They can say about a brother, is I'm gon' have to find another way home Repeat Chorus 8 bar band back to top ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: YESTERDAY (Dean Bowman) 1 If I could give you yesterday Would you still think in the past If I could give you yesterday Do you think tomorrow'd last Candle light and romance Are the color of my dreams But if I could give you yesterday Now wouldn't be as bad as it seems 2 If I give you yesterday Do you think our love would last? If I give you a diamond ring Would you test to see if it's glass? If I give you tomorrow Would you make like yesterday If you were here like yesterday We could get the best of today Solos Drum break Kimba, Kimba You love is sweeter than ever before Kimba, Kimba You know my love for you will ever endure 3 How I long for yesterday When your love lit like a spark When each day was a holiday From the joy wrapped in our hearts Nothing lasts forever But you're the picture in my dreams If I could give you yesterday Now wouldn't be as bad as it seems back to top ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: SO IT IS (Dean Bowman/Gregg Jarvis) Chorus So it is So it is So it is (3x) They had this thing they called slavery But it didn't work So they changed it Gave it new name Called it sharecroppin' Kind of like priceline.com Name your own price for my labor Now it's called the music business Chorus So slavery didn't work Well, how could you expect to get away with that? You watch your neighbors sweat and toil And they get no money You get the limousines, fly first class Stay in five star hotels Enjoy the fine young women And the workers get nothing Sounds like college basketball Chorus Got to keep those labor costs down Get around that old minimum wage back to top ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: FAITH IN THE FREE (Dean Bowman/Jeff Haynes/Kelvyn Bell) Check it, So now young'ns is going to the museum Looking at statues And drawing images from the last train to Birdland Watch that day from way back long Look to draw the music strong But maybe have more Faith In The Free (8x) Go to the shelf and dust the statue Spit shine bootlick slave flunky idol worship Imitating the movies (I'm singing in the rain) Need to have more Faith In The Free (8x) Solos Count it off Just start it It's easy to follow That is it's easier to be led than to lead On the one You see it pays for people to silently unacknowledge the freedom of soul in the wilderness of untrained ears and undisturbed hearts Those with faith in the free back to top ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Tribute To John Hicks John Hicks 1941-2006 When I heard that John Hicks had died immediately I remembered when I introduced him to my mother, referring to him as "the greatest jazz pianist in the…world!" John just laughed, backing away from such a claim. Surely with all the great jazz pianists in the world, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Andrew Hill, Ahmad Jamal, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Keith Jarrett, Stanley Cowell, Cedar Walton, Hilton Ruiz to name but a few and leave out a great many greats, there was someone else among a formidable list of giants of piano jazz to make that claim. Yet, I stick by it. John Hicks was the greatest jazz pianist in the world. Years ago he told me his first music lessons were on his mother's knee in church. It was she who gave him his soulful voicings, full of color and sheen, and he would take them with him to bandstands and concert stages the world over. His sound was special; it conjured up images of those Sunday mornings where "soul" and "power" were synonyms. Hicks was a giant among giants, who made jazz, be it improvising, writing, composing, comping, or (for me and many others) singing an art music for folk. So many great musicians, including many of the giants, make music for the intellectuals. You have to get this stuff in college, they seem to believe. Or otherwise have hipster friends who "turn you on to" Coltrane or Miles or (with luck) Ellington. You need a Ken Burns or a Wynton Marsalis to tell you that this stuff is hip. It's interesting, and intelligent, and (can even be) enjoyable. John Hicks remembered that music is for enjoying. Who cares about something if we all have to pretend we understand it. John made you understand. His playing was singing with chords and without words. His playing, his musical speech told stories, built arches, erected sculptures of sound, with the human ear in mind. He didn't mince words. He didn't tickle the ivories. He got to the point. The point is music. The history of jazz usually includes the story of bebop; how it came out of the need for music to become progressive again, to get its edge back from when the big bands started in the early 1920's. Big bands had become old hat. It was too commercial. Rock and roll was becoming a genre (not a sexual activity). Beat poets, folk artists, and hipsters happened to modern jazz. And eventually (that is, within a decade) rock and folk artists such as Joni Mitchell and the Grateful Dead would call jazz artists to explore deeper the meanings of their music through their harmonic and rhythmic improvisations. What I remember most learning about this era, the bebop era, was not so much the wizardry of Charlie Parker, the genius of Dizzy Gillespie, but the comping of Bud Powell. The way Bud swung so easily over changes, as if singing them, his playing made me want to sing jazz. John Hicks' playing made me believe it was possible. Rest In Peace. back to top ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: POEMS Coming soon... ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: SONGS All Dean Bowman songs published by BLAK BERRY JAMS (SESAC) Screaming Headless Torsos (1995, Live, 2005) Darryl Dawkins’ Sound of Love (D. Fiuczynski) (Live) 1996 Faith In The Free (J. Haynes/K. Bell) (2005) 2005 Just For Now (D. Fiuczynski) (Live, 2005) 1996 Mind Is A River (D. Sadownick) (2005) 2005 No Survivors (D. Fiuczynski) (2005) 2005 Smile At Me (G. Jarvis) (2005) 2005 Wedding In Sarajevo (J. Mayer) (1995) 1996 Woe To The Conquered (D. Fiuczynski) (2005) 2005 Word To Herb (J. Mayer) (Live, 1995) 1996 Lester Bowie (When The Spirit Returns) Biggie’s Ride (L. Bowie) 1998 Player Hater (L. Bowie) 1998 When The Spirit Returns (L. Bowie) 1998 Odyssey of Funk and Popular Music 1997 Bunnett, Cowell, Redman (Spirituals and Dedications) Illusion Suite (Stanley Cowell) 2002 Elliott Sharp and Terraplane (Blues For Next) As It Falls (E#) 2000 Feel Each Day (E#) 2000 How Long The Train Been Gone (E#) 2000 Stone Brothers As I Rise (J. Keller) 2005 Blue Light (E. Halas/S. Foley) 2005 Highway Robbery (Joshua Keller) 2005 I Know You Evil (Joshua Keller) 2005 Scatter Brain (Joshua Keller) 2005 No Child (Sam Cohen) 2005 back to top |
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