One Thousand Origami Birds

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• 1 One Thousand Origami Birds

  When all you do is ramble

  And you ain't got no time for love

  My darlin’ lay your body down

  My darlin’ lay your head down

   

  Like a paper aeroplane

  Like a lonely vagabond

  Peace, it is fragile and travels alone

  If you don’t talk to strangers you’ll never know

   

  Still trying to fight the battles won

  One thousand origami birds that burnt up flying too close to the sun

   

  Oh, Lord

  Peace will come

  Oh, Lord

   

  When your shoes are all worn through

  And your blistered feet are bleeding

  My darlin’ lay your body down

  My darlin’ lay your head down

   

  Still trying to fix the damage done

  One thousand origami birds that burnt up flying to close to the sun

   

  Oh, Lord

  Peace will come

  Oh, Lord

   

  When your heart is filled with anger

  And your eyes can barely see

  When your muscles all are burning

  And you’ve forgotten your own name

  When the road ahead is winding

  My darlin’ lay your body down

  My darlin’ lay your head down

  My darlin’ lay your body down

  My darlin’ lay your head down

   

  One thousand origami birds that burnt up flying to close to the sun.

   

  Oh, Lord

  Peace will come

  Oh, Lord.

• 2 Grey Sky

  If this is summer

  I’m moving back north

  ‘Cause you told me that it would be sunny, but its all rain

   

  Still you’re my protection from the weeping grey sky

  I don’t mean it when I tell you goodbye

   

  We’re not the same

  And I’m covered in stitches

  Still I hope someday you’ll put down your gun

   

  And our tears will all dry up with the weeping grey sky

  I don’t mean it when I tell you goodbye

   

  Oh you better try till you give up

  Till your hands are dirty and your knees are skinned

  You better try till you’ve got nothing left to give.

   

  One day we’ll be married and we’ll be on the same side

  I don’t mean it when I tell you goodbye

• 3 Hope

  She works real hard

  And pays her bills

  She try’s to improve

  On what she builds

  She takes the hits

  And bears the pain

  When life is hard

  Laughing in her face

   

  Hope don’t leave

  When she needs you

  Please don’t run away too far too soon

  When all is dark inside her room you’re the one she holds onto

   

  Some get luck

  And a fast track there

  And some are happy just where they are

  But oh, I feel that there’s more to me

  But the dealer won’t count the cards up my sleeve

   

  Hope don’t leave

  When I need you

  Please don’t run away too far too soon

  When all is dark inside my room you’re the one I hold onto

   

  You’re a temptress

  But I know your kind.

  You whisper softly “you’ll make it if you try”

  And every time I fall I curse your name

  But I love you so I hope you’ll stay

   

  Stupid girl

  You cannot win

  It’s a rough and ruthless world we’re in

  But oh I know it’s beautiful

  To jump from ledges

  When you know you’ll fall

   

  Hope don’t leave

  When we need you.

  Please don’t run away too far too soon.

  When all is dark inside our rooms you’re the one we hold onto

• 4 Levies

  I walked home in the rain using lines on the road

  Just to guide my way back to the place I was headin’

  I took off my shoes and I let myself in

  Tried to feel the warmth come back again

   

  But this time the flood came a-poundin’ my door

  So I packed all my things and I started off walking

  I knew you were close as the waves ate the shore

  I could feel you breathing

   

  Feel you breathing

   

  You stood there beside me to fight

  And we built our levies to last through the night

  And dug in like Spartans waiting for light

   

  The lights on the hill were a constant torment

  While way down in the valley we toiled

  You were wet haired and muddy

  With your will and your back bent

  But, what a beautiful girl

   

  Oh, what a beautiful girl

   

  Who stood there beside me to fight

  And she built her levies to last through the night

  We dug in like Spartans waiting for light

   

  I know what you will say

  Before you say it

  Even at the end…

   

  I walked home in the rain using lines on the road

  To guide my way back to the place that I started

  With every step I was closer to home

  I could feel the rain start to hold

   

  You stood there beside me to fight

  And we built our levies to last through the night

  And dug in like Spartans waiting for light

   

  What a beautiful girl

• 5 Hey You!

  What you want from me isn’t mine to give

  You hardly even remember why you’re angry

  But I know you won’t forgive me for as long as you live

   

  Hey You

  Why you look so lonely?

   

  There on top of that weight you bear, sits a crown of sparkling gold

  And I’m the king of wishful thinking

  To ever hope that you might take it off

   

  Hey You

  Why you look so lonely?

  It ain't so bad

  One thousand times I’ve told you

  If the goings rough or when you loose your way

  I’ll guide you home

   

  It’s always been the same with you

  Always heart in hand

  That is why I love you but it’s also why I’ll never understand

   

  Hey You

  Why you look so lonely?

  It ain't so bad

  One thousand times I’ve told you

  If the goings rough or when you loose your way

  I’ll guide you home

   

  Your spirit is the strongest that I am yet to meet

  Even when you’re falling down

  I’m always sure you’ll land right on your feet

  And I just love watching you grow from day to day

  I’m always facing towards you girl yes even when you’re pushing me away

   

  Hey You

  Why you look so lonely?

  It ain't so bad

  One thousand times I’ve told you

  If the goings rough or when you loose your way

  At any single moment of any random day

  I’ll guide you home

• 6 Atoms On A Planet

  Figure eights and mountains in my brain

  A bouncing ball and moods of cellophane

  I drove for hours searching for the cure

  With every passing mile I thought of her

   

  I’ve been searching for a while and I’ve found

  That we are only atoms on a planet

  Spinning around

   

  No one else will look me in the eyes

  They’re busy buying things to get them by

   

  I’ve been searching for a while just to find

  That we are only atoms on a planet

  Killing time.

   

  There’s politicians leading us to hell

  We worship at a poisoned wishing well

  And no one’s really happy in themselves

  But I’m trying hard to be one of the first

   

  The president, the rock stars and the people on the hill

  They are only atoms on a planet

  Spinning, still…

• 7 The Tempest

  I’ve been finding comfort in the works of great masters

  Sing ‘hallelujah’ or sketch Mona Lisa’s

  But all of the beauty that humans created

  Is wasted on the happy and ignored by the haters

   

  So write me a song I can sing when the tempest is chasing me

  A lyric and melody

  The sound of my voice echoed back at me

   

  Simplicity’s stare is the hardest to hold

  And I wont be a product, because products get old

  So I’ll play my guitar or I’ll rattle my drums

  Until all this is useful for something or someone

   

  So write me a song I can sing when the tempest is chasing me

  A lyric and melody

  The sound of my voice echoed back at me

   

  There’s a flood in the way

  But I’ll swim across it

  Though Hemmingway shot himself just to be rid of it

   

  Music with meaning is not worth the worry

  To big corporations that use art as a quarry

  They sit on their wallets and they rattle their jewelry

  While the kids in the cheap seats are straining for hearing

  And all art is immoral and all fashion so ugly

  It has to change every season so it doesn’t get boring

  But one simple song, if delivered with feeling

  Could get you and your family through ten thousand seasons

   

  So write me a song I can sing when the tempest is chasing me

  A lyric and melody

  The sound of my thoughts echoed back to me

  Echoed back to me

  The sound of my thoughts echoed back to me

  The sound of my thoughts echoed back to me

  The sound of my thoughts echoed back to me

• 8 After The War

  After the war was over

  I sat down on the bloody ground

  Where we’d been fighting

  With all the bodies scattered ‘round

   

  I heard them asking “what was this all for?”

  But it looks like you don’t hear them anymore

   

  A hush descended

  It seemed to last for years and years

  Though no one was speaking

  They did the talking with their tears

   

  They kept on asking “what was this all for?”

  But you smile like you don’t know them anymore

   

  And I hope you find the one you’re looking for…

• 9 Them There Hills

  He’d been walking ‘round

  This old southern land

  With nothing but a swag and billy can

  And “it is comfortable” you’d hear him tellin’ you

  “When you don’t answer to no one and no one answers to you”

   

  The places that he’d been ain’t never seen much rain

  The drought drank for one day a year and then set in again

  And the aching hills baked onto the earth

  Still know what that one day is worth.

   

  I’ve been waiting like them there hills

  For my boots to mend and my tanks to fill

  I’ve walked from Darwin to Alice Springs

  Oh yeah, I’ve lived like a king

   

  The farmers that he met raised their families there

  They lived in modest homes built on hard work and prayer

  And on Saturdays you could hear them sing

  “Tomorrow the resting begins”

   

  They’ve been waiting like them there hills

  For their herds to feed and their dams to fill

  But their roof don’t leak and their children sing

  So, oh yeah they’ve lived like kings

   

  On his dying day the sun was beating down

  He sang a ramblin’ tune as he rambled along

  The driver didn’t stop

  His body wouldn’t work

  When his face hit the red sandy dirt

   

  He thought:

   

  “I’ll give my body to them there hills

  ‘Cause my boots won’t mend and my tanks are empty

  And I’m getting weaker every word I sing

  But oh yeah I’ve lived like a king…

  I think I’ll give my body to them there hills

  ‘Cause my boots won’t mend and my tanks are empty

  And I’m getting weaker every word I sing

  But oh yeah I’ve lived like a king”

• 10 Valentina

  Hey my Italian girl

  You’re so sad and far away from me these days

  I’ve been halfway ‘round the world

  In seven weeks and I ain’t seen your face

   

  But don’t you fall apart on me

  I’ll see you in the spring

   

  Hey Valentina

  Won’t you come back home to me?

   

  Everyday this island

  Taunts me with her ever stretching beaches

  If only I could sail I’d cover

  All the space between us

   

  And if I owned a parachute

  I’d fall fourteen thousand feet for you

   

  Hey Valentina

  Won’t you come back home to me?

   

  Spent these twenty two years just wondering

  How this island could have made it as a prison

  And now I know ‘cause you’re not on it

   

  I’ve been working on the day shift

  And saving every dollar that I make

  Today I bought my ticket

  Flying north for fifteen hours straight

   

  And when I get there in the morning

  I hope you’re waiting for me

   

  Hey Valentina

  Won’t you come back home to me?

• 11 Sandakan

  Three years in jail and I’ve committed no crime

  Except to be fighting to protect what was mine

  They came and took us and they beat us down like dogs

   

  I’m a doctor, a father, a husband and a man

  But I felt like a waif there inside Sandakan

  I don’t remember my own wife’s face no more

   

  I was happy back in Lismore

  Until they called my number

  And within two months we were landing in Singapore

  I’ve walked more in the last three

  Than in the thirty that preceded

  So if I ever make it home I wont be traveling no more

   

  Two thousand odd men they kept locked up inside

  From nineteen forty three to nineteen forty five

  With bullets disease and hunger taking lives

  I had a radio hidden for the first hundred days

  But when it got found it got taken away

  And replaced with half rations and instruments of pain

   

  Still, I was happy back in Lismore

  Until they called my number

  And within two months we were landing in Singapore

  I’ve walked more in the last three

  Than in the thirty that preceded

  So if I ever make it home I wont be traveling no more

   

  They started the marches on January third

  Five hundred men were to go in the first

  Stick thin figures pounding up the dirt

  When June came along all the ones left behind

  Were herded at gunpoint up the mountain side

  And into a forest ten thousand miles wide

   

  I was happy back in Lismore

  Until they called my number

  And within two months we were landing in Singapore

  I’ve walked more in the last three

  Than in the thirty that preceded

  So if I ever make it home I wont be traveling no more

   

  They’re killing my men if they stumble or fall

  And moving us on with their whips and their calls

  I don’t think that I’ll be going home

  At all…

• 12 There's A Hole In Me Darlin' Come Take It Away

  When the night is in motion and the curtains are drawn

  I run from my thoughts like the dark hunts the dawn

  I dream of the things that I wish I could say

  There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away

   

  I’m desperate for time and I’m desperate for love

  I’m desperate to be what I know I’ll become

  And thought I pretend by the light of the day

  There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away

   

  You’ll never know

  Just how much I’ve grown

   

  I’m shallow I’m tired I’m ungrateful I’m numb

  And my temper is hot like the mid morning sun

  And I’m sorry I hurt you I wanted to say

  There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away

   

  You’ll never know

  Just how much I’ve grown

  I am not one

  To let go easily

   

  There’s not much I know of this world that we’re in

  Forget where I’m going I don’t know where I’ve been

  But I know I will love you till the end of my days

  There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away

   

  There’s a hole in me darlin’ come take it away