The King James Version of the Bible translates the words of the angels differently from modern versions, using the words “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (where the word “men” is used generically to mean “people” or “human beings”). Most Christmas carols reflect this older translation, with It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, for example, using the words “Peace on the earth, good will to men, / From Heaven’s all gracious King.”
ABOUT THE SONG
Chords — majors over minors with a dash of diminished
C Cm D Dm E Em F Fm Adim F#dim C7dim
150Beats Per Minute / Dance Pop
Written and recorded on “Light over Dark” / Diwali night in West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA
Diwali also known as Deepavali and the “festival of lights”, is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn every year. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five day period, but the main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, Diwali night falls between mid-October and mid-November.
LYRICS
When the words start to roam
into a long poem
derived from an ancient oral tradition
The succession of ambition
narrating the deeds and adventures
of heroic and legendary figures
The planting of seeds and paying back of indentures
How humanity of humans will configure
Glory in story,
Mama and Papa saga,
Bend into legend,
Word dance romance,
Ironical chronicle,
Mirth from myth,
Label as fable,
Unveil a tale
End with The End
The Rama Drama:
On completion of the ritual six seasons have passed by
and then in the twelfth month,
on the ninth day of Chaitra month [April-May,]
when the presiding deity of ruling star of the day is Aditi,
where the ruling star of day is Punarvasu (Nakshatra),
the asterism is in the ascendant, and when five of the nine planets viz.,
Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus are at their highest position,
when Jupiter with Moon is ascendant in Cancer, and when day is advancing,
then Queen Kausalya gave birth to a son with all the divine attributes like
lotus-red eyes, lengthy arms, roseate lips, voice like drumbeat,
and who took birth to delight the Ikshwaku dynasty,
who is adored by all the worlds,
and who is the greatly blessed epitome of Vishnu, namely Rama.
— Book I : Bala Kanda, Ramayana by Valmiki, Chapter (Sarga) 18, Verse 8, 9, 10 and 11
ABOUT THE SONG
Chords — Dm Dsus4 Asus4 Bb
100 Beats Per Minute / Trance
Written and recorded on “Light over Dark” / Diwali day in West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA
LYRICS
[prelude]
Hit the buttons
Twist the dials
Turn the knobs
But, but, but
Pushing buttons
[intro]
Live from KingArthur.com
Got the microphone
Keyboards and synthesizers
(What’s the difference you tell me)
We got ourselves some mixers… and effects…. and some recording
Ya… and a little light… just in case you want to….
But most importantly for this song called, “Pushing buttons”
We have buttons
Pushing buttons
[song]
Twisting knobs
Pushing Buttons
Turn a couple dials
Trying to create the smiles
Contagious to all of us
The Smiles
Pushing buttons
Yeah, pushing buttons
Just pushing buttons
Pushing buttons
Twisting knobs
Trying to make the heart throb
Turning dials
Creating smiles
Pushing buttons
Push
Hugh
Ya gotta push… huh!
If you want something to happen
Then….
Push the button
Yeah, push the button
and turn the dial
and twist the knobs
and make the heart throb
and dials turn the smiles
if it’s hurtin’
soothin’
pushin’
the botton
go ahead
push
push for all of us
push for all of us
Genesis 19 New International Version (NIV)
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
19 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.”
“No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”
9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here… sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please! 19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it… it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”
21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities, and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
ABOUT THE SONG
Chords/Tempo — Dm BbM7 131 Beats Per Minute / Digital Rock (based on Sodom and Gomorrah)
Written and recorded in West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA.
LYRICS
Matthew 24:29-31:29 “Immediately after the distress of those days ” ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
If the times are troubling you, too
Feeling like The End Of Days in so many ways
Here’s the thing to do:
Live like every day is the last
Don’t let them slip into the past
Make it one of these days
Pick an instrument… and play
Let our amplifiers blast
Blow away the dismay
Matthew 24:21-22:21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
Calm Before The Storm in the Studio
LYRICS
Just calm your ass down?
Calm YOUR ass down
Don’t-cha think it’s be better
If we were all the class clown?
Calm your ass down
Sorrows? Let ’em drown
180 degrees on the frown
Let it be shown you’ve grown
Won’t let this opportunity be blown
Be the driver… know where you’re goin’
LYRICS
How could this be?
I can’t believe what I see
Must be some sort-of Ebola outbreak
Hemorrhaging from every orifice
Suffice to say
Don’t know how much I can take
Disturbing in every way
I can’t believe what I see
I am bleeding from my I’s
War, poverty, disease… no more please
Oh my goodness, dear
I fear what it is I hear
Must be some sort-of Ebola outbreak
Hemorrhaging from every orifice
Suffice to say
Don’t know how much I can take
Disturbing in every way
I can’t believe what I hear
It’s the politicians that I fear
War, poverty, disease… no more please
This social disease is beat
I’ve gotta get off my seat
Must be some sort-of Ebola outbreak
Hemorrhaging from every orifice
Suffice to say
Don’t know how much I can take
Disturbing in every way
I can’t let these events pass
I am bleeding from my…
But,
[The elected orifice officials chime in “but, but, but”]
War, poverty, disease… no more please
LYRICS
Should I go over there and ask her to dance
Take that chance?
Don’t want to come off as some jerk that wants to twerk
Why? I don’t want to be that guy
Want to be next to you in shinning armor
(Maybe even arm in arm… or….)
Should I take a chance and ask her to dance?
Not gonna hassle by asking to hustle
Not even to do the bump
(Might be going to far if we bump rumps)
Should I take a chance and ask her to dance?
Should I go over there and say do you care…
To dance
Would don’t need to slow dance
We don’t need to go that far
We can just get into our own space
And understand at most… just hold a hand
Should I take that chance
Go over there and ask her to dance
“Do you care to dance
I thought I saw you cast a glance
Would you care to dance?”
Should I go over there
(Instead of sitting here with a blank stare)
There’s a lesson that I need to remember
When everything is falling apart
In life, just like in loving
There’s such a thing as trying to hard
You’ve gotta sing
Like you don’t need the money
Love like you’ll never get hurt
You’ve gotta dance
Like nobody’s watching
It’s gotta come from the heart
If you want it to work.
— Kathy Mattea
Written and recorded in West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA. Every other song on this album is about the dark or the light. This song is about the light.
LYRICS
The world seems less wild
If you can crack a smile
The beasts turn more mild
Now let’s dance a while
And a 1 and a 2
Here’s a smile for you
Ya know… do the Do-si-do
And Skip to My Lou
Put your left foot in
Put your left foot out
Shout! Win-win
Do the hoochie coochie coo
LYRICS
Is it now?
Is it… now?
Because…
Somehow
I seem to be
Diss…
Disoriented
Because of the scent
I relent
Because… the reality
It can’t be Earth
There’s no humanity
The wrong birth
No humans at all
Neanderthal
Is that all?
Neanderthal
After all
Are they all Neanderthal?
(Overcome the fear with seer)
For a treat
Eat meat
Are they all asleep
Neanderthal
Creep
While you sleep
Creep
(Overcome the fear with seer)
It’s like prehistoric
The mortal sick
Prehistoric
Environmental sick
(Overcome the fear with seer)
Most prehistoric
The solution
Institution?
Prehistoric
Devolution
(Overcome the fear with seer)
I sense
A rinse
So we can get our sense
And know how to flow
Overcome the fear with seer
Written and recorded live in West Chester, PA. A live improv dedicated to the Spirit of youth. Inspired by the kids on the corner. Thanks for giving the tips. (It’s suggested to wear headphones.)
LYRICS
Let the dance be found
Turn yourself around
Jump about… shout!
Fun without a doubt
Let the energy out
Dance and sing about
Let the energy in
That’s when you’ll begin
Jump up! Do the double leg kick
Quick! Jump high! Try!
Let the dance be found
Love will abound
Jump up and shout!
Sun, let my soul melt
Let the synergy out
Our feeling felt
Let the synergy in
Our feelings begin
Jump up! Do the double leg kick
Quick! Jump high! Try!
ABOUT THE SONG
Chords — C +G, +D, +Bb Am +G, +D
Am D
Written and recorded live in West Chester, Chester County, Pennsylvania, USA. Inspired by a young girl that was inspired to dance while listening to me write this song.
