Lyrics
-
I
Every skin around the fire,
Children’s promise burning true. Alive with winged, finned, and furry ones,
Hear their singing, remember the bargain,
All of us kin, and family, of the Garden,
Family of the Garden.II
Your flame is golden,
A gift from the sun.
The light you carry
Will show the way through these darkened days,
Summoning Guardian Angels, and reminding them to stay,
And reminding them to stay,
With your prayer,BRIDGE
with your feet, with your hands,
with your tears, with your touch, with your laugh,
with your sight, with your shame, with your listening,
with your praise, with your tongue, with your dreams,
with your scent, with your shoulders, with your kindness,
with your grief, with your prayer, with your prayer.III
When my breath is gone, to the silence of the stars,
To you, child, this will be sung.
You are the joy
Of Mystery’s Desire,
For water, air, earth, and fire.
Oh, you are the joy
Of Mystery’s Desire,
For water, air, earth, and fire.
For water, air, earth, and fire.
For water, air, earth, and fire.Toronto 8/95 - 04/19
-
I
THE MORE YOU FIND ME,
THE MORE I HIDE.
THE MORE YOU KNOW ME,
THE LESS I CONFIDE.
YOU GET SO WEARY,
OF MY OLD STORY,
THAT KEEPS YOU A STRANGER, AND ME SO LONELY
AND BEWILDERED BY LOVE, BEWILDERED BY LOVE.
CHORUS
IT’S WHY I SING, IT’S WHY I SING THIS SONG,
TO MOVE IT THROUGH MY BLOODSTREAM,
AND MY HEART’S DEAD END.
MY HEART’S DEAD END,
MOVE IT THROUGH, MY HEART’S DEAD END.
II
WE SIT ON THE BOARDWALK BENCH,
YOUR FINGERS BRUSH MY EAR.
WE GAZE OUT AT THE BOLD GREAT LAKE,
MY SHOULDER CATCHES YOUR TEAR.
I TUCK IN MY BREATH,
TILL I CAN BARELY BREATHE.
IT’S SO AUTOMATIC,
SO SECOND NATURE
STILL, AT SEVENTY.
AT SEVENTY.BRIDGE
SOMETIMES THESE COLD FEET GET WARM,
AND YOU COAX MY SHOULDERS DOWN,
AN UNCANNY PLACE FREE OF HARM,
THERE’S NO WORDS, THERE’S NO SOUND.Toronto March 29/20
-
Feathers whisper, the flesh from spirit made.
Put your ear to the wind, and you will hear it laid
Upon the ground of bone and passion
By the breath of love, by the breath of love,
By the breath of love, by the breath of love,
While crow flies, while crow flies above.The opening of a dormant seed, returning to the earth.
The pulling of the rampant weeds, revealing my worth.
The quickness of the blazing sun, the witness of the quiet moon,
The ashes of the deeds long done, the promise of a life renewed.
The spinning of the frantic worlds that circle within, without.
The stillness of the open sky, and those that know about
The breath of love, the breath of love,
The breath of love, the breath of love,
While crow flies, while crow flies above.The past is my lesson.
The present my creation.
The future my inspiration.
Crow, lead me, lead me, lead me,
From temptation.Feathers whisper, the flesh from spirit made.
Put your ear to the wind, and you will hear it laid
Upon the ground of bone and passion
By the breath of love, by the breath of love._____
Music, Anthony Rankin Wilson; Lyrics, Anthony Rankin Wilson and Brian MacMillan
3/20
-
OPENING
Aquilegia, Aquilegia, Aquilegia, Aquilegia, Aquilegia.
I
Dear Columbine, I’m writing this letter to you,
Lonely inside the grey November rain.
Will you be true to the promise of April,
When our love affair begins again?CHORUS
Oh, Columbine, oh, Columbine,
Will you be, will you be mine?II
Hummingbird, like me, falls for your charm.
Your red and yellow bonnets, they nod and explain
Why, even now in winter, the memory of you
Has its’ way with me again.III
You arose last Spring, delicate glory, petals of praise.
At last, I listened to you, so fierce and tender,
“Be most careful with beauty”,
You warned my human heart again, and again.CHORUS
Oh, Columbine, oh Columbine.
Will you be, will you be mine?
Oh, my my Columbine.CLOSING
Aquilegia, Aquilegia, Aquilegia, Aquilegia, Aquilegia.
____
Otter Lake/Toronto Nov./20 - Jan./21
-
The donkey found your mittens,
But the cow’s wearing your hat.
The little lambs are licking your face,
And I know how you love that.CHORUS
Joyeux Noel, Joyeux Noel,
Joyeux Noel, Joyeux Noel,
Joyeux Noel Jolie.
Joyeux Noel Jolie.You came early on Decarie,
Un enfant du Montreal.
Your papa climbed the mountain,
And your mama broke your fall.CHORUS
BRIDGE
Bubby and Grandpa Lou,
Amama and Nonno,
Oma and Grandpa Jer,
Auntie Sasha Rose.
By cars and trains and planes
and trains and cars and trains,
We all found
Your heart and toes……Like the donkey found your mittens,
But that cow’s still wearing your hat.
Those little lambs are licking your face,
And I know how you love that.
And I know, yes I know, and I know,
yes I know, how you love that.Anthony Rankin Wilson/Nonno 12/2016
-
(Song for Lola)
I
Little bare feet, finding the ground,
Gotta bottle that pit-pat sound.
Hardwood floors, keeping time
For memory.
Eternal ten minutes, 6 weeks old,
Gazing Buddha eyes hook my soul,
Reel soul in, then throw soul back
Into Just This.CHORUS
When doubt falls upon you,
I’ll pluck the North Star from the sky,
And sow it in the centre of your heart.
Ancient faith will grow every time you dance,
Every time you cry.
Ancient faith, every time you dance, every time you cry.II
Red wood wagon rollin’ up the street,
Headed to the park in the Summer heat.
Nothing so special, nothing ordinary
About this morning.
Looking down the road where the future ends,
I’ll be at the corner where the possible bendsTowards beauty, towards daring, towards the holy Earth, towards your holy body, towards courage to praise, towards good goodbyes, towards caring.
___
Otter Lake/Toronto 07-08/20
-
(Song for River)
I
Some say you, some say you fell from a cloud of joy.
Others claim, others claim you were born riding a red John Deere.
Well, I don’t care, you’re standing right there,
And that’s all that matters to me.
I remember you, I remember you saying, “out”, and “out” again,
Eyes on the window, toes to the door, pointing past the walls.
Something you gotta do, something’s calling you,
To somewhere the opposite of small.CHORUS
Kick off your shoes, we’re going outside,
Breathe in the fields, open up wide.
Your feet will know where we gotta go,
We’re all kin, maple and crow,
Everywhere is home, my Black River, my Black River Boy.II
We won’t tell, we won’t tell anyone where we’re going.
It’ll be between you and me, and Maya the dog.
We’ll go down to the Black, have a forest snack,
And find Madingo, the wise old frog.
Madingo said, “I’m telling you, I’m telling you, I been around a long, long time,
“From gills to lungs, between river and rock,
“You gotta a froggy in you, yes it’s true,
“So let’s hop in the river and talk…BRIDGE
“…about your dreams, about the hawk, about your sister and mine, about the fox, about tadpoles and peepers, and the springs and the cedars, about the bass, about turkeys and vultures, and compost and manure, about secrets and truth, about the cat and mouse, about everything, let’s talk about everything.”
___
Otter Lake/Toronto Sept.- Oct./20
-
I
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long way, a long way, a long way from my home.
Yes, I’m a long way, a long way from my home.II
Sometimes I feel like a forest of timber, sometimes I feel like a forest of timber,
Sometimes I feel like a forest of timber,
Waiting, waiting, waiting for the blind man’s blade.
Yes, I’m waiting, waiting for the blind man’s blade.III
Sometimes I feel like a river run dry,
sometimes I feel like a river run dry,
Sometimes I feel like a river run dry,
Empty vein, where’s the rain, where’s my high mountain source?
Empty vein, where is my rain?IV
Sometimes I feel like soil in the wind, sometimes I feel like soil in the wind,
Sometimes I feel like soil in the wind,
Thin as dust, thin as dust, blowing a long way from home.
Yes, I’m blowing, blowing a long way from my home.
Remember you, remember me, remember the more than human,
Belong, belong, we all belong, here.V
Sometimes I hear voices of the wild, sometimes I hear voices of the wild,
Sometimes I hear voices of the wild,
They howl, they coil, they sing, “you are not alone here.”
They sing, “you are not alone here.”VI
Sometimes I look into my
grandchild’s innocence, sometimes
I look into my grandchild’s innocence,
Sometimes I look into my grandchild’s innocence,
And I see, I see the curse, then the cure.
I see the curse, then the cure.
“Remember you, remember me, remember the more than human,
Belong, belong, we all belong, here. We all belong here.
We belong in this Earth.___
Sept/19- Jan/20
-
I
Hushabye, hushabye,
My child of the Holocene.
Say goodnight, say goodnight,
Say goodnight to who we’ve been.II
When you wake, when you wake,
May we this morn come to know,
What to leave, what to leave,
Behind, and which way to go.___
Otter Lake September/20NOTE:
The Holocene is the current geological epoch, though many believe we are now in the next epoch, the Anthropocene or perhaps better named, the Capitalocene. The Holocene began approximately 11,650 years ago, after the last glacial period. The Holocene, a relatively stable climactic period, corresponds with rapid proliferation, growth, and impacts of the human species worldwide, including all of its written history, technological revolutions, development of major civilizations, and significant transition towards urban living.
-
I
Oil paid for my undergrad.
Imperial Oil paid my dad, in the then
Oil capital of the nation,
Filled our Chevy at the Esso station.
Few were talking in those days,
About parts per million.
It was a black gold holiday,
It was something reptilian.CHORUS
Oil, oil, you’re tracking me.
Oil, oil, you made it so easy,
To forget the physics of this,
This long, deep, apocalypkiss.II
The Oilers are my hometown hockey team,
Their glory days a distant dream.
But Connor’s skating that dream alive,
While oil takes its’ final dive.
Feels like irony is haunting me,
While the planet is melting.
“Go Oilers”, sounds like blasphemy,
And fossil fuels, like lunacy,
And fossil fuels, like pornography,
And fossil fuels, like a felony.
Oil paid for my undergrad.
Imperial Oil paid my dad, in the then,
Oil capital of the nation.
Filled our Chevy at the Esso station.___
Toronto, Jan.-Feb./21
-
I’m the second son of John Rankin. He left Manchester for Calgary, In the custody of a secret and his shame.
1933, he found a wife, A brown-eyed flower of Italy, Angel of Gethsemane, consoling in vain, She couldn’t take away that pain.Chorus
I love when you pick me up, holding me high and strong,
And through your touch I know when something’s wrong.
I knew something was wrong.Chorus
Did you love when he picked you up, holding you high and strong.
And through his touch, did you know something was wrong?
I knew something was wrong, now I know something was right.
Something was wrong, and something was right.Followed his pay to the Gateway of the North,
Had 4 children, he loved the theatre,
Acted his career, an Imperial Oil man.
25 before I knew
What happened to him, where he’d been,
Never seen, past the suicide,
Past the day his father died.[Last Chorus]
Bridge
You memorize your lines,
Becoming for a while someone new.
See how the spotlight shines,
See how your grief bleeds through.I tried to talk to you,
But it was too late, and if that angel
Couldn’t break the spell, I didn’t stand a chance,
I didn’t stand a chance in hell.
There was another spell, this one’s breaking,
Disappointment in you, that blinded me,
Wouldn’t let me see, your courage to be,
Your devotion to artistry.___
Toronto, April/98 - Nov./20Anthony Rankin Wilson
-
CHORUS
They call me The North Saskatchewan, swiftly flowing waters.
I am born in the Rockies, I find the Hudson’s Bay.
I dance the dance of the Blackfoot and the Cree,
I carried canoes deep with beaver and buffalo,
I brought the white traders, and the guns and the rum.
I’m still here falling from the ice, still hearing the drum.I
Alberta boy of 5, trembling near the river’s edge, I couldn’t see below your silty surface,
Only the Big Sky in reflection.
You fall from sun and ice and stone down here to Edmonton.
Your flood plain and ravines, my playground of the fading wild, living a dream of you flowing forever,
Eastward beyond, and beyond, your next bend,
Too young then to know there would be wounds to mend.CHORUS
II
It was upstream to the furs. It was downstream to the fort. Wise ones saw below barter’s shifty surface,
Wise ones knew we’d grow to feel so alone.
We came with our god in heaven, they knew God in the silent Stone.
Now I stand trembling on the shores, of the Great Lake Ontario,
Dish With One Spoon Territory
Of the Mississaugas, the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee.
Waking, waking, and waking again from my river dream.BRIDGE
Liquifying Icefields, thunder of ten thousand hooves, trembling aspens, windbreath of the pronghorn, scent of the wolf willow, whistle of the plover, tracks of the grizzly, pipe of peace, feathers of trumpeters, frozen fields of winter, screeching wheels on steel, barbed wire closing the open, all the shining tepees, the rattling of silver coins.
Spirit moving through the tall grass.CHORUS
They call me The North Saskatchewan, swiftly flowing waters.
I am born in the Rockies, I find the Hudson’s Bay.
I dance the dance of the Blackfoot and the Cree,
I carried canoes deep with beaver and buffalo,
I brought the white traders, and the guns and the rum.
I’m still here falling from the ice, still hearing the drum.OUTRO
Spirit moving through the tall grass.
Anishinaabe Water Song
Water, we love you, we thank you, we respect you.___
Toronto/Otter Lake Jan./10 - Oct./20
-
I
Alberta Road, the past in my eyes,
Foothills pillow the peaks the other side of Caroline.
Tell the jealous gods, these memories are mine.
Highway 54, mist rising like a veil in the morning chill,
The Clearwater makes river love all through those hills,
Oh I have forgotten all this, my friend, until...Chorus
I walk in the clarity of light.
I see to the end of the world.
I breathe the breath of Magpie and Pine,
From here to heaven, and back again to Alberta.II
Mama said, “no son, don’t leave home this way,
“You’ll be living in sin, the devil’s come to play,
”Look what you’re doing to me, what more can I say?”
50 years gone, feels like yesterday,
Mama’s lightning bolts of loss and guilt, who was I to betray?
No regrets, yet I can’t wait, my friend, until...Chorus
Bridge
Do we ever leave, do we ever really leave, do we ever leave
The first ground we’ve known, the ground in our bones?III
My future ran east, prairie moon still hung in my eyes,
Turning her golden fields to silver, from that infinite sky.
Tell the jealous gods, I’ll follow these memories to the other side,
I’ll follow the Alberta Road to the other side, and...Closing chorus
I’ll walk in the clarity of light.
I’ll see to the end of the world.
I’ll breathe the breath of Magpie and Pine,
From here to heaven, and back again to Alberta.
I’ll follow the Alberta Road to the other side.___
Waterloo/Otter Lake/Toronto 10/72,9/22,12/22