Lyrics: Made in the U.S.A. (American Made)

fire at the Bastille
bringing death to all your woes
I’ll break from these chains
and claim my mind as my own
the winds are blowin’ strong
the night is getting cold
I’d like to see America
before I get too old

I marched for our lives
I occupied the streets
I gave you all my love
in the time of COVID-19
I was born to run
Maybe I’m a rolling stone
I ain’t letting go of rock n’ roll
No I just don’t wanna be alone

the tune’s as smooth as wine
we’re crooning in time
I’m patching up matchboxes, now
and blue valentines
the winds are blowin’ strong
the night is getting cold
I’d like to see America
before I get too old

I’ve got Beethoven to my left
Robert Johnson on my right
I can hear the blues playing
on the river Danube tonight
I see Jimmie Rodgers on the coastline
And the Carter family too
Train whistle’s blowing
Neath an Appalachian Moon

I’m no beast of burden, and
I don’t shoot to thrill
I wanna see Rita Hayworth
on every hundred dollar bill
I’d like to read Walt Whitman
William Blake and Danté
You can take Jackie Robinson
Cause I’ve got Willie Mays

I swam ninety miles
of a blue crystal sea
I reached the rocky shores
of the Florida keys
we’ll raise a toast to the road
a toast to you and me
we’ll raise our glass
at Half Dome over
Yosemite Valley

rise of the cotton gin
death to my woes
I’ll break from these chains
and claim a house as my own
you wanna hear that I resist?
say my life is hard?
How long can I go
before they say I’m playing any card?

with rhythm and rhyme
like fruit of the vine
I’m patching up matchboxes
and blue valentines
In a home of the brave
where together we are saved
I’ll be your man
baby, we’ll be
American made

I don’t dwell on immortality, no
Legacy from me to you
I’m a guest here, I know
Only passing through
the winds are blowin’ strong
the night is getting cold
I’d like to see America
before I get too old

The Root

Political discourse like broken leaves Stands in the shadows of laughing trees The root of evil Disguised as greed Only as old as Adam and Eve Cannot die but it must be beat, and What comes to pass, what’ll come to be Sings from deep within you and me. Like a lion you are A golden heart As old as time Though unborn, just thunder in the dark Younger, less experienced His untested mark The test to wait Through the blood The great flood Many years in the deepest recesses of Noah’s old ark No angels for you, no Just those in your soul We’ll see what you do, unprotected Still molested Untested virtue You’ll need help through the rain Deep within the grain, your skin screams in pain They may give you the whip, they may call you insane And in the dark of the night, few will call you brave Yet in the dark, like a lark Goes right to your soul In the quiet night, yea In the murdering cold A voice, quiet choice Calls out, says you’re not alone To love your brother, all you got is each other It’s all you each will ever know. Soon the voice dies Some crucified, their eyes Said to watch from the sky You feel a need to keep the dream, carry on Though you question why Whether you do it, or not Remains up to you All you want’s your own life Nice wife, and your own bit of fruit The choice seems clear, then And it seems quick Keep the people out, yea It’s them that are sick It’s them that rape, pillage And crack the whip, indeed A wise man knows when to quit No, I won’t cast stones I’ll just build me a wall Better to be dressed to kill Than prone to crawl And yet every time night falls Through your window view You won’t play the fool You want what’s owed to you You know you’ll have it all, if you just forget The voice in the night every time the sun sets But rich or poor Still you feel unborn You got love But who’s it for? When you realize a sobering truth That love itself is no great virtue To the courage that came first Living in a dream, still deep inside of you You wake in a cold sweat, it’s hard to forget All the gold you own, and the possessions you’ve kept But you leave it all behind and step out in the night Soon the sun’ll come a-rising and you’ll enter the fight And each and everyone will ask you “Whose side are you on?!” They’ll worship and abuse you, and still you’ll carry on Through the rain, there’s a thunder And that rain’ll come hard Yet still, you’ll stand together With your brothers in arms.

Mr. Moonlight Slim

Chase not the praise of others
seek only the affirmation of self
as you keep an eye out
for anytime you think
you’ve got things
figured out

as you constantly
create yourself
you may yet switch
names like you do
different hats
adopting shapes to match

but all the while
the stars align with
Slim the crescent moon
smiling in night
you are they
and they are you

a bluesman, true
born of the southern
American swamps
singing, dancing
for the coming
light of the sun
up the road, knowing
remembering all is
but one