We’ll Camp a Little While in the Wilderness
Appalachian trad.
arr. Ian A. Cook
We’ll camp a little while in the wilderness,
in the wilderness, in the wilderness,
we’ll camp a little while in the wilderness,
then we’re all going home.
CHORUS
We’re all going home,
we’re all going home,
we’ll camp a little while in the wilderness,
then we’re all going home.
Oh, mothers (/fathers/brothers/sisters), are you ready,
ready, oh, ready?
Oh, mothers (/fathers/brothers/sisters), are you ready?
Then we’re all going home.
The Mirthful Heart
Abbie Betinis
text by Grace Fallow Norton
Without, a city’s whirling dust,
Without, a city’s alley-wall;
Without, a bleak, pale strip of sky.
Within, high festival.
Without, no greeting on the street,
From the hurrying crowd no smile.
Within, my heart’s bold pageant moves
In glorious solemn file.
REFRAIN
Sing on, sing on, sing on, sing on,
Sing on, sing on…
There was no call for revel. Day,
Who summons us each morn,
Came forth in dreariest garb and blew
No gala herald-horn.
But slave of day I am not — nay,
Her mistress still, I wield
The crystal sceptre of my mood,
Bearing my dream’s white shield.
Exultant, rapture-flooded, mad
With mystic inner mirth,
My heart holds her strange carnival
Unseen of all the earth.
Earth Song
Frank Ticheli
Sing, be, live, see.
This dark stormy hour,
The wind, it stirs,
The scorched earth cries out in vain:
O war and power,
you blind and blur.
The torn heart cries out in pain.
But music and singing
have been my refuge,
and music and singing
shall be my light.
A light of song, shining strong:
Alleluia! Alleluia.
Through darkness and pain and strife,
I’ll sing, I’ll be, I’ll live, see…
Peace.
To See It
Ian A. Cook
text by Laura Foley
We need to separate
to see the life we’ve made,
to leave our house
where someone waits, patiently,
warm beneath the sheets;
to don layers of armor,
sweater, coat, mittens, scarf,
to stride down the frozen road,
putting distance between us,
this cold winter morning,
to look back and see,
on the hilltop, our life,
lit from inside.
Deep River
Spiritual
arr. Ian A. Cook
Deep river,
my home is over Jordan,
deep river, Lord,
I want to cross over into campground.
Oh don’t you want to go
to that gospel feast,
that promised land
where all is peace?
True Colors
Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly
arr. Ian A. Cook
You with the sad eyes,
don’t be discouraged.
Oh, I realize,
it’s hard to take courage
in a world full of people,
you can lose sight of it all,
and the darkness inside you
can make you feel so small.
Show me a smile, then.
Don’t be unhappy.
Can’t remember when
I last saw you laughing.
When the world makes you crazy,
and you’ve taken all you can bear,
you call me up
’cause you know I’ll be there.
CHORUS
And I see your true colors
shining through.
I see your true colors,
that’s why I love you.
So don’t be afraid
to let them show.
Your true colors,
true colors
are beautiful
like a rainbow.
Show me a smile, then.
Don’t be unhappy.
Can’t remember when
I last saw you laughing.
When the world makes you crazy,
and you’ve taken all you can bear,
just call me up
and you know I’ll be there.
The Longest Time
Billy Joel
arr. Ian A. Cook
Oh, for the longest time.
If you said goodbye to me tonight,
there would still be music left to write.
What else could I do? I’m so inspired by you.
That hasn’t happened for the longest time.
Once I thought my innocence was gone.
Now I know that happiness goes on.
That’s where you found me when you put your arms around me.
I haven’t been there for the longest time.
Oh, for the longest time.
I’m that voice you’re hearing in the hall,
and the greatest miracle of all
is how I need you, and how you needed me too.
That hasn’t happened for the longest time.
Maybe this won’t last very long,
but you feel so right, and I could be wrong.
Maybe I’ve been hoping too hard,
but I’ve gone this far, and it’s more than I hoped for.
Who knows how much further we’ll go on.
Maybe I’ll be sorry when you’re gone.
I’ll take my chances. I forgot how nice romance is.
I haven’t been there for the longest time.
I had second thoughts from the start.
I said to myself: “hold on to your heart.”
Now I know the man that you are.
You’re wonderful so far, and it’s more than I hoped for.
I don’t care what consequence it brings.
I have been a fool for lesser things.
I want you so bad. I think you ought to know that
I intend to hold you for the longest time.
Oh, for the longest time.
Ebb Tide
Robert Maxwell
arr. Fred King
text by Carl Sigman
First the tide rushes in,
plants a kiss on the shore,
then rolls out to sea,
and the sea is very still once more.
So I rush to your side,
like the oncoming tide,
with one burning fire:
will your arms open wide?
At last we’re face to face,
and as we kiss through an embrace,
I can tell, I can feel,
you are love, you are real,
really mine in the wind,
in the rain, in the sun.
Like the tide at its ebb,
I’m at peace in the web
of your love.
And So It Goes
Billy Joel
arr. Bob Chilcott
ed. Ian A. Cook
In every heart there is a room,
a sanctuary safe and strong.
To heal the wounds from lovers past,
until a new one comes along
I spoke to you in cautious tones;
you answered me with no pretense.
And still I feel I said to much.
My silence is my self-defense.
And ev’ry time I’ve held a rose
it seems I only felt the thorns.
And so it goes and so it goes,
and so will you soon I suppose.
But if my silence made you leave,
then that would be my worst mistake.
So I will share this room with you.
And you can have this heart to break.
And this is why my eyes are closed,
it’s just as well for all I’ve seen.
And so it goes and so it goes,
and you’re the only one who knows.
So I would choose to be with you.
That’s if the choice were mine to make.
But you can make decisions too.
And you can have this heart to break.
And so it goes and so it goes,
and you’re the only one who knows.
A Birthday
Carlos Cordero
text by Christina Rosetti
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water’d shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.
Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.
Up on the Roof
Gerry Goffin and Carole King
arr. Deke Sharon and Anne Raugh
When this old world starts getting me down
and people are just too much for me to face,
I climb way up to the top of the stairs,
and all my cares just drift right into space.
On the roof’s the only place I know
where you just have to wish to make it so.
Oh, let’s go up on the roof.
When I come home feeling tired and beat,
I go up where the air is fresh and sweet.
I get away from that hustling crowd
and all that rat race noise down in the street.
At night the stars put on a show for free.
And, darling, you can share it all with me.
I keep telling you that
Right smack-dab in the middle of town,
I found a paradise that’s trouble proof.
And if this old world starts getting you down,
there’s room enough for two up on the roof.
Come on! Come on, babe. Up on the roof.
Sing a Song
Maurice White and Al McKay
arr. Deke Sharon
When you feel down and out,
sing a song, it’ll make your day.
Here’s a time to shout,
sing a song, it’ll make a way.
Sometimes it’s hard to care,
sing a song, it’ll make your day.
A smile so hard to bear,
sing a song, it’ll make a way.
CHORUS
Sing a song,
sing a song,
sing a song,
sing a song.
When you bring your heart to believin’,
sing a song, it’ll make your day.
Life ain’t about no retrievin’,
no, no, no, no, it’ll make a way.
Give yourself what you need,
sing a song, it’ll make your day.
Smile, smile, smile and believe,
sing a song, it’ll make a way.
If you sing a song today,
you will make a better way,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Deep Peace
Sara Thomsen
trans. & ed. Abbie Betinis
text from a Gaelic blessing
Deep peace of the rolling waves to you,
deep peace of the silent stars.
Deep peace of the blowing air to you,
deep peace of the quiet earth.
Let peace, let peace,
let peace fill your soul.
May peace, may peace,
may peace keep you whole.