NSP Song
NSP, Join with me, as we transform the world’s reality,
Love and kindness, radical amazement, peace and generosity (2)
Save the planet from environmental crisis, stop wars , torture and poverty,
Let our voices cry out that we have no doubt that love and kindness will triumph, you will see
Our Network of Spiritual Progressives affirms science and spirit both!
Domination replaced by love, gentleness placed above the world of power and of might!
It’s time to end poverty and hunger, around the world and in the U.S. too.
We have enough to share, with humility and care, we care one with all humanity – it’s true!
Don’t let them tell you to “be realistic” in a world full of wars and poverty.
Only fundamental change can prevent a world deranged from destroying us and all the planet too!
The selfishness and greed that surround us lead many to despair that things can change,
Yet we know that people yearn for a world that can turn to love, peace and generosity.
A Shared Blessing after the Meal Has Been Finished
You shall eat, and be satisfied, and then you shall bless (x2) ve’achalta ve’savata uvey’rachta
We ate when we were hungry and now we’re satisfied
We thank the source of blessing for all that S/He provides
Hunger is a yearning in body and soul
Earth, air, fire, water, and spirit makes us whole…
Giving and receiving we open up our hands
From seedtime through harvest, we’re partners with the land…
We share in a vision of wholeness and release
Where every child is nourished and we all live in peace
Loving for the stranger, peace and justice too.
So all the goodness in our lives is shared with others too.
Transformation is our goal, loving is our way,
Humility, joy and gratitude, thank God, every day.
Peace Song
LOE YISAH GOY EL GOY CHEREVE LOE YIL-MEH-DOO ODE MIL-CHA-MAH
Let everyone ‘neath her vine and fig tree live in peace and unafraid
And into plowshares beat their swords nations shall learn war no more.
Let justice roll down like a mighty stream, affirming goodness is not just a dream,
And we will use all our consciousness to build bridges of love and kindness
I’m going to lay down my sword and spear Down by the Riverside, Study war no more!
I ain’t gonna study war no more (6) (Then back to Loe Yisah Goy el Goy Cherev)
America the Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain
For purple mountains majesties above the fruited plain
America America Godshed Her grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea
O beautiful for pilgrim’s feet whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness
America America God mend thine every flaw
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law
O beautiful for working folk who forged the wealth we see
In farm and mill, in home & school, unsung in history
America America may race nor sex nor creed
No more divide, but side by side, transform the world, made free
Imagine (Tikkun version)
Imagine there’s all goodness … It’s easy if you try
No Hell below us … Above us only sky
Imagine all the people … Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries … It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for … And no oppression too
Imagine all the people … Living life in peace
You, you may say I am a dreamer … But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us … And the world will be as one.
Imagine no possessions … I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger … A sisterhood of man
Imagine all the people … Sharing all the world…
You, you may say I am a dreamer … But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us … And the world will be as one
Imagine love is flowing … No scarcity of care,
Holiness surrounds us … The sacred everywhere
Imagine awe and wonder … Replacing greed and fear
You may say we’re all dreamers, … But we’re not the only ones
TIKKUN and Spirit soaring … And the world will live as one!
We Shall Overcome
We shall overcome (2) We shall overcome someday
Oh, deep in my heart I know that I do believe that we shall overcome some day.
We’ll walk hand in hand….
Blacks and whites together, gays and straights together…..
Israelis and Palestinians, Muslims Jews and Christians….
We will not despair, we are not alone, Spirit is unfolding through us…oh deep in my heart, I know that I do believe, love and justice shall prevail.
This Land Is Your Land
This land is your land, this land is my land
From [the] California to the [Staten] New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
[God blessed America for me.]
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And saw above me that endless skyway,
And saw below me the golden valley, I said:
This land was made for you and me.
Was a high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn’t say nothing –
That side was made for you and me.
One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people –
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
This land was made for you and me.
Ode Yavoe
Ode yavoe shalom aleynu, ode yavoe shalom aleynu, ode yavoe shalom aleynu, ve’al kulam. Shalom, aleynu ve’al kol ha/olam Salaam Shalom
I Ain’t Marching Anymore (by Phil Ochs)
D G C D
Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans
G C D
At the end of the early British war
G C
The young land started growing
G
The young blood started flowing
C Am D
But I ain’t marchin’ anymore
For I’ve killed my share of Indians In a thousand different fights
I was there at the Little Big Horn I heard many men lying
I saw many more dying But I ain’t marchin’ anymore
It’s always the old to lead us to the war
C Am D
It’s always the young to fall
Now look at all we’ve won with the sabre and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all
For I stole California from the Mexican land Fought in the bloody Civil War
Yes I even killed my brother And so many others
And I ain’t marchin’ anymore
For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men And now they want me back again
But I ain’t marchin’ anymore
(chorus)
For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar When I saw the cities burning
I knew that I was learning That I ain’t marchin’ anymore
Now the labor leader’s screamin’ when they close the missile plants,
United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore, Call it “Peace” or call it “Treason,”
Call it “Love” or call it “Reason,” But I ain’t marchin’ any more.
The New Internationale (traditional melody, words by Rabbi Michael Lerner)
Arise ye prisoners of alienation, arise ye wretched of the earth
For justice calls for liberation, a grand new world in birth
No more racism or sexism shall distort us
Throw homophobia out the door.
The earth we save from destruction
We give priority to the poor.
Tis our love for each other, let God’s spirit fill this place
The international working class can unite the human race
Tis the moment always ready to rebuild the world with love.
And in the place of violence we honor the peaceful dove.
Let There Be Peace on Earth (Sy Miller & Jill Jackson)
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on Earth,
The peace that was meant to be.
With God our Creator, we’re one family.
Let us walk with each other, in perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now.
With ev’ry step I take, let this be my solemn vow:
To take each moment and live each moment
in peace eternally.
Let there be Peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.
The Times They are a Changing
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.
Changes (by Phil Ochs)
Capo 1st fret
Intro: G/A/D/Em/G/A/F#m/Bm/Em/A/D/Em/A/D
G A D Em
Sit by my side, come as close as the air,
G A F#m
Share in a memory of gray;
Bm Em A D
And wander in my words, dream about the pictures
Em A D
That I play of changes.
Green leaves of summer turn red in the fall
To brown and to yellow they fade.
And then they have to die, trapped within
the circle time parade of changes.
Scenes of my young years were warm in my mind,
Visions of shadows that shine.
‘Til one day I returned and found they were the
Victims of the vines of changes.
The world’s spinning madly, it drifts in the dark
Swings through a hollow of haze,
A race around the stars, a journey through
The universe ablaze with changes.
Moments of magic will glow in the night
All fears of the forest are gone
But when the morning breaks they’re swept away by
Golden drops of dawn, of changes.
Passions will part to a strange melody.
As fires will sometimes burn cold.
Like petals in the wind, we’re puppets to the silver
strings of souls, of changes.
Your tears will be trembling, now we’re somewhere else,
One last cup of wine we will pour
And I’ll kiss you one more time, and leave you on
the rolling river shores of changes.
(repeat first verse)
There but for Fortune (by Phil Ochs)
Intro: G Cm G Cm G Cm
G Cm G Cm
Show me a prison, show me a jail,
G Em Am D
Show me a prisoner whose face has gone pale
Em C Am
And I’ll show you a young man with so many reasons why
Bm G Am D
And there but for fortune, may go you or I
Show me the alley, show me the train,
Show me a hobo who sleeps out in the rain,
And I’ll show you a young man with so many reasons why
There but for fortune, may go you or go I — you and I.
Show me the whiskey stains on the floor,
Show me the dunken man as he stumbles out the door,
And I’ll show you a young man with so many reasons why
There but for fortune, may go you or go I — you and I.
[Extra verse… written by Noel Paul Stookey]
Show me the famine, show me the frail
Eyes with no future that show how we failed
And I’ll show you the children with so many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or I.
Show me the country where bombs had to fall,
Show me the ruins of buildings once so tall,
And I’ll show you a young land with so many reasons why
There but for fortune, go you or go I — you and I.
You and I,
There but for fortune, go you or go I — you and I.
Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream (by Ed McCurdy)
Last night I had the strangest dream
I’d ever dreamed before.
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Filled with women and men.
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again.
And when the paper was all signed
And a million copies made,
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful pray’rs were prayed.
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing ’round and ’round,
While swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground.
[repeat first verse]
The Left Hand of God (by Sharon Abreu)
I want to sit at the Left Hand of God. (2 x)
I want to live my life in peace,
Feel anxiety release,
In kindness, compassion and love.
Why would I go anywhere else,
If I knew my way home,
If I knew myself?
I want to sit at the Left Hand of God. (2x)
I’m gonna let the tears flow,
In joy or sadness, let them go,
Let the waters of life be set free.
At the Left Hand of God,
That’s where you’ll find me.
Won’t you join me? (2 x)
As I join with the Divine,
In a New Bottom Line,
I see forgiveness unfold all around me.
And my heart, free from sin,
Begins to let love in.
I find meaning in this life of mine,
Gonna stop and take some time,
Appreciate the grand design.
And sit at the Left Hand of God,
Sit at the Left Hand of God.
Why would I go anywhere else,
If I knew my way home,
If I knew myself?
I’m gonna sit at the Left Hand of God. (2x)
The light of Heaven on my face,
I see the whole human race
Glow with generosity, heal all animosity,
Celebrate civility, embrace sustainability,
Feel the Earth’s pulse beating in our heart,
Hear it singing, “We were never apart.”
And we’ll sit at the Left Hand of God,
We’ll sit at the Left Hand of God.
Why would I go anywhere else,
If I knew my way home,
If I knew myself?
Shalom aleichem, (Tr.: Peace be upon you)
As salaam aleikum, (Tr.: Peace be upon you)
Paz, liebe, libertad, (Tr.: Peace, love, freedom)
Here at the Left Hand of God. (3 x)
It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.
Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you’d just be
One more person crying.
So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It’s alright, Ma, I’m only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
An’ though the rules of the road have been lodged
It’s only people’s games that you got to dodge
And it’s alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you’re the one
That can do what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he’s in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it’s alright, Ma, if I can’t please him.
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn’t talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a guillotine
But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only.
Shalom Chaveyreem
Peace to our friends (all the people of the earth)
Shalom chaveyreem, shalom chaveyreem, shalom chaveyreem, shalom, shalom
le hit-ra-ote le hit rah-oat shalaom, shalom