it was asked to be written about a "trip" in DNP.
it turned into three different expierences with three different people and i think it came out quite nicely.
you can't hear the violin and cello solos, but you will one day.
i haven't decided on a name. i think i'll have to ask kirby.





we were trippin' out to this riff in our head
something that goes like this but comes out way different...
kinda like your first kiss.
in those times, just in time, i fell out of a tree
low i lay and saw the world so clearly
and all the right colors
in the sky, in the sky, in the sky
in the sky to the ground, from the water to your mouth
i can see it from this riverbed of ours.

violin break

one huuka, some cheese, "maam, check please!"
out into the streets we ran so childishly...
because, why did it matter?
two young lovers with room to grow
let's see who can do three cartwheels in a row
because, why does it matter?
don't ask why, don't ask why, don't ask why
don't ask why, i won't lie...they were two kids getting high
off of life and their love for eachother.

cello break

our faces glowed from our epiphanies
as we ate like kings from banana trees
and felt relieved to be going swimming.
the milky way's got a way with me
am i really here? or am i just dreaming?
on my way out to sea...
we will sail, we will sail, we will sail
we will sail off the earth and find out just how it works
to believe in something that embodies matter
because, if you see what i see from where i'm standing?
what you've shown me can only get better.

if you see what i see from where i'm standing
what you've shown me can only get better.

i started this in denali this past summer. mainly began as a song about certain people that were influencing and bringing my spirit to higher levels at the time (and continue to do so). but, i realized as a whole, it needed some formation...it was drastically sparatic and to someone who may not know the stories at the time - it was confusing. so, i think i lessened the confusion a little bit by tieing things together -word wise- a little bit, but it's kind of turned into this fantasticle story about people i know. and the music itself is crazy, different time signatures and different rhythms. i love it. i was asked last night during a random recording in a friend's house - about my indian name and if i'd written anything involving it. i mentionted this song because i speak of paul seitz and his band "giant bear" and how my mother named me "little bear". after i'd finished it he asked what it was called. i shrugged and said, "...not sure, i just finished today. what do you think?" his wife, franchesca, piped in and said, "well...'little bear', right? i mean that's how the whole thing came up." so here it is.



little bear.
by
little bear.

well, i call these the hopeful days, though we all seem to fall from grace.
she was a friend to a certain end and now she's got my
momma cryin' on the phone she says, "your father's goin' home. to where he knows he belongs."
i don't with a pretty girl tonight. i'm going home alone to wonder why
i'm so tired of trying to try, try, try. "Try!"
says my friend paul, he's a giant bear - my momma named me little bear...
we've got beards and we've got the beat, beat, beat, beat.


chorus:
lookin' pretty goddamn good together...
you guys, are lookin' pretty goddamn good together.
stay watchful over, over, over eachother.
you guys are lookin' pretty goddamn good together.


i'm balancing on a railroad beam, the wind picks up, my body leans
into a sanctuary off in the trees where
kirby says, "now brother dave, you're not alone in being saved. i've found my elephant and she's a soul worth solving."
y'know, there's a time and a place for everything,
a girl and a boy and a song to sing, letters from alabama read, "darling...
laura, laura i'm convinced. you are a flower in our midst.
built strongly from the roots and growing in my garden."


break:
lookin' pretty goddamn good together
i'd stay watchful over eachother. it's better. better, better, better for you
it's never, never, never too late to...
live.
(woman vocals)
just simply live! that's the only dance there is!
live, only to live. that's the kind of state i'm in.
live. only to live.

outro:

under the shade of a banyan tree i met an unusual young lady.
learning and wondering 'bout it all i heard her saying:
"aint it wonderful to be alive and know
you can sing you heart to pieces and it comes back whole? i step from the ledge on the summit edge and let my voice out."
she says:
"you sing about friends and lovers, about a time
you were off in the mountains, deep in your mind.
what did you find? out during your climbs? did you find some kind of answer?"
i shrugged my shoulders and i looked at my feet
i said, "this worlds a mighty big place for me...
but i'd like to believe i'm ready for anything."

finally finished this one. i wish you could hear it. and hear the horns that i hear in this song. trumpets and trombones, people. yes. it should be very powerful once it is fully put together. the message in this one is basically asking people of history how our society got to where it is today after all these years of hard work to create change...
where are you, oh horn section?


me and mr. washington
by
nahkohe-ese

me and mr. washington go forth with no real direction
dreaming of the day we drive our cars into the ocean.
and oh the people looking on will wonder what to say
and lived confused about us 'till the day they do the same
and they will see while swimming that they are free.

reach for a solace i find only in my brother Sky...
we are relieved to know that someday this will pass us by
and it's got us feeling quite alright!
we have no money and we certainly have lost focus...
why have we landed on a planet that's as fucked as this?
we've heard the word, "move westward."

chorus:
i've thrown myself to the stratosphere
i've thrown my heart to the atmosphere
and now i've got these words comin' out of my ears:
how did i end up here?

me and old napoleon cry, "liberty, oh liberty!
the crimes committed in your name have brought me to my knees!"
and i am trembling.
hey, malcom, brother malcom there's an X above my door tonight...
wish you were here to teach this generation how to fight.
enough of all this talking.
mr. thomas jefferson do you have any good suggestions?
i'm trying to stay hopeful, but i've got all this frustration.
i want to see my future get progressively better
i want to see a world where equality's what matters.
let's make the call and move forward.

we shall overcome...shall we overcome? we shall overcome.

i was flipping through my journal and found a few pieces that had spastic beginnings, full of emotion and what not....and then died out as my anger or whatever i was feeling at the time came to a simmer.



look.
i love your sister more than i love myself. she's like a book you'll never find just laying around on the shelf. and i don't want to write about this, but i can't seem to get my mind off it. i know you love that shit when i'm grabbing your wrist. and what time is it? do you really love me yet? or were you faking that yes! when i unbuttoned your dress? a TEST for us losers whoe you're keeping as pets. but, wait sweetie, i'm here up north with your family and deep down inside i wonder if you'll ever stay a part of me - empty and down in a cold part of town where the chief raises me up and gives me a crown. says, boy she was something rarely found, i'm sorry for you losses but you best turn around and look fondly on the time when you wore a younger man's clothes and you believed it when she told you she loved you the most.
but, anway, back to what i was saying. she was perfect, i remember, and the timing was right when you waved from your deck and there was hope in the sky. there was everything and everything and suddenly she was everything. tucked under a wing that was too unstable anyway to sing for me. but if you had seen my face on the deck looking straight away from your imposing figure to the people who had pictured our faces in the mirror but never seen the terror of my long lost love for distraction, you would have noticed my feet losing traction but my body was taking no action to recover us from an upward fall. i was all over your body, i was all up in your heart, i kept hearing whispers from the back but never thought to start - the questions. like - are you really who i've dreamed? are you really this impossible to keep from loving me? and every little inch, and every little pore, i kept track of each relapse every time i felt i loved you more. i was uneasy. a little too anxious. so i left you in a city so i could pull some dumb shit. and that took guts, by the by how are they now? because leaving on a whim you must feel like you got fucked. but, you didn't i swear i was truly always there but i was just as bad at keeping track of tabs. i wondered off the shallow end and found myself bending backwards around them. them? them, those who messed with my mind just in time to lose your kind eyes. and it was my fault, in part, i was fucking with a strong heart. what the hell was i thinking? now i'm sinking in my chair in my room with my god-aweful long hair, my beard that's gotten thick, and the people who never ask me anymore whether or not i need it. i yelled in the phone, you hung up on me, i wondered how you argued so convincingly. i wanted to do coke, i wanted to drink and drive, i wanted you to worry so that maybe i could die and live for no good reason on this earth that's not that old and i watch you from my grave as you cried i told you so. but, what a selfish thing of me! to make you hurt uncontrollably! and it took a few months, a few more bumps, a rainy northern season and a few tweaker chumps - to tell me of their revelations upon traveling and growing old - ed told me, fuck man, i've seen it all - i'm sold. i've realized how selfish, how rebellious, and untamed - a single person can be in life and all of a sudden - change. there's no reason. there's no reason.
so in a way, your sister's a saving grace, kept for me at these pondering times and putting cheek to face. i'm lucky, i'm lucky, i really am lucky. so i love you for loving me and i hope you love me for loving her and vice versa because i see her in you and it makes me miss both of ya.

long live love and here's to living long in love.

finally finished this song today.







sing him of my revelations
by
dave bell

vs.1
hello rainbow, what an afternoon you've chosen to appear to us.
you're looking quite, quite lovely...how are my friends the clouds?
sweet, sweet mother don't you cry again. my sister spoke of children dieing, dieing in her whom.
brother keep your wallet underneath the covers when the snow comes.
winter gets so cold, so cold my palms can sweat no more.

chorus:
so i reach for my head and i understand nothing
i reach for a constilation that seems to be growing, growing
stronger than me, built by a beast.

vs.2
blue van, driving north through canada. so long old louisiana and a fistful of friends.
yukon, nothing here but emptiness though somehow i feel the most comforted
with no one, with no heat, and no telling where i'll wake up next.
Liard springs to life the warmest water cleansing and oh my god! what's the matter with the sky?
look, look! here it comes that borealis! mine eyes have not seen anything like it!
what a world this is.

vs.3
laying in his cell confined to just euphoric painless memories in mind.
the nurse can't seem to tell if he's alright, there's silence from his wife.
IV sends him dreaming of his children, does he really even know them?
there's no pain, but this cancer can't be good so I am hanging on his every word
and pleading you've done the best you could.
his face weak from all the medication, I'm determined to sing him of my revelations
and send him on his way.

outro chorus:
well, pa i'm sure you're in line with whatever you've got coming
but, i'm sure there were times you felt absolutely nothing
at all in your head, at all in your bed.

<<>>just some stuff i've been toying with<<>>


hello, rainbow. what an afternoon you've chosen to appear to us.
you're looking quite, quite healthy...how are my friends the clouds?
sweet, sweet, mother don't you cry again, my sister
spoke of children dieing, dieing, inside her whom.
brother, keep your wallet underneath the covers
when the snow comes...
winter gets so cold, so cold, my palms can sweat no more, no more.
so, i reach for my head and i understand nothing
i reach for a constilation that seems to be growing, growing
stronger than me, built by a beast.
pa, i'm sure you're in line with whatever you've got coming
but, i'm sure there were times you felt absolutely nothing
at all in your head, at all in your bed.

-----------------------

well, i call these the hopeful days
though, we all seem to fall from grace
and her heart seems to be straying away, too.
my mother's crying on the phone, she says,
"your father's going home, to where he knows he belongs."
and i'll kiss all the girls tonight, go home alone and wonder why
i'm so tired of trying to try, try, try, try
well, my friend paul's a giant bear and my mother named me little bear
we've got beards and we've got the beat, beat, beat, beat
so here's a drink to lonliness, to broken hearts all bent to shit
to all these puzzled people that are just trying to fit
i'm balancing on a railroad beam, the wind picks up my body leans
into a dream of a sanctuary off in the trees
'ol boy kerby says, "brother dave you're not alone in being saved!
i've found my elephant, and she's a soul worth solving."
you're straight up my brother man
with hands that formed from can't to can.

so here's the finished version:






the island
by
dave bell

andy was a dreamer,
constant believer in giving his feet to the earth
killing him softly this corporate monopoly,
one of the few to be heard.
bang on your drum, cross the river to the island
where we'll sing to the setting sun
raise up your wine glass and rip up your contracts
for tonight's our revolution!

oh, and have you been liberated yet?
go, and fill your gaps with maps and set
your eyes on the promise land!

mt. denali, great mt. denali i love your patient faults
raise me to the level of a fiery iery devil, i need to be freed again.
oh, my bulgarian oh, my domincan and anyone else with a voice
bring your soggy lungs, your love and your drums
and we'll sing into the void!

oh, your eyes are scheming something big
go, and fill your gaps with maps and set
your eyes on the promise land.

she is a loner, she is a stoner, but who doesn't smoke around here?
did you come to work or see alaska's worth?
man, you've got to give into your ears.
forget about jobs when we're talking to "bob" and we'll wander off into space
look at my hands man, i'm building a grand plan to get myself out of this place
'round in the compound shit's going downtown and our patience is wearing thin
and we won't relax 'till someone's kissing our ass
and our voices are heard again.

oh, our father's balanced us with hands
go, and be a mountain man with your eyes on the promise land.

andy was a dreamer,
constant believer in giving his feet to the earth
killing him softly this corporate monopoly,
one of the few to be heard.
bang on your drum, cross the river to the island
where we'll sing to the setting sun
raise up your wine glass and rip up your contracts
for tonight's our revolution!

oh, and have you been liberated yet?
go, and fill your gaps with maps and set
your eyes on the promise land!

mt. denali, great mt. denali i love your patient faults
raise me to the level of a fiery iery devil, i need to be freed again.
oh, my bulgarian oh, my domincan and anyone else with a voice
bring your soggy lungs, your love and your drums
and we'll sing into the void!

oh, your eyes are scheming something big
go, and fill your gaps with maps and set
your eyes on the promise land.

she is a loner, she is a stoner, but who doesn't smoke around here?

i can see the road from here
i can see my home from here
and it's snowing.
cold, shivering, shortness of breath
shortness of silence, short of a test
to get to the bottom of what's up at the top...
the promise land's got all the answers.

so when i get down
keep my feet up on the ground
i raise my voice like a chorus in the void
do you see what i see?

this river so savage breaking from winter
such as a splinter freed from my hand
two wheels and two feet
these hills don't seem too steep
to cruise and to daydream
such scenes ill repeating
oh, valley what wonders you've seen over summers
and fall from a late spring
the ice is still melting.