Heatherlevsongsamples

Click here for Lyrics to "Reason for Rain"

A Garden is Waiting (track 1, 3:42)

Butterfly flying through a city with no green

Sending us messages, if we listen to what they mean

Butterfly flying, past the alley and the street

It finds a garden, and that's where we meet.

A garden is beautiful, a garden is free

A garden will feed us, if we let it be

A garden is growing, under snow and frost

A garden is waiting, to be loved or to be lost

Flowers are growing, through a crack in the dirt

Reaching for sunlight, healing our hurt

So many flowers, it's hard to believe

This little garden was once abandoned by greed

Chorus

People are growing when they plant a seed

In the bitter city, the fresh air is sweet

People are smiling at the beauty they see

A garden is growing inside you and me

What Have You Done (track 2, 3:44)

What have you done? What have you done,

What have you done, this time--

Thief of our country

What have you done?

You lied so our nation went to war

You lost us our allies, and what for

How many have died, how many more

What have you done?

You sold off our radio waves today

You sold off our Nation's parks they say

You sold off our overtime pay

Till nothing is left to sell away

What have you done?...

You cut:

Americorps and Medicare

Education, you don't care

Reproductive health care funds

Ergonomic protections

Books for children of the poor

Stem cell research to find a cure

Unemployment benefits

But you cut the taxes of the rich

What have you done?...

You hide the reports on eleventh of September

Reports on global warming weather

On the deficit you made

On layoffs and government aid

Reports on the NASA Shuttle crash

And reports on Enron's hidden cash

And every record of your rule

Is hidden cause you are a fool

What have you done...

What have you done this time

We'll find you out, What have you done.

Won't sign the germ warfare treaty

Won't sign the ABM treaty

Won't sign the Kyoto treaty

How did the US get so greedy?

You let the crowd loot Iraqi treasures

Halliburton take drastic measures

Multinational corporations

Own you and your machinations

You say that it's an orange alert

People like us might get hurt

But security money's out of reach

It's time we voted to impeach

What have you done?

We're gonna get you on the run

You are not a fortunate son

Your election was not even won

What have you done.

Myself in You (track 3, 2:49)

Give me one, more surprise

Give me one more look in those eyes

Give me one more reason to stay

Never thought I'd have my way

You remind me of someone, maybe that someone is me

Open your eyes, take a look, maybe you will see…Yourself in me

I hardly know, your name

But time could never take the blame

For this question I must pose

You know the answer if anyone knows

You remind me of music, sweet but blue

If I listen I might hear myself in you

So I ask, now tell me true

Do you want to know my secret too?

Would you like to see me again

Would you like to have a friend

On the Train to Babylon (track 4, 3:01)

On the train to Babylon, on the train to Babylon

On the train to Babylon

All things past are ghosts and gone

I am a stranger in strange land… am a stranger in strange land

Am a stranger in strange land / swirling dust and blowing sand, / take this soul out of my hand

On the train to Babylon…

Let me hear strange songs no more, let me hear strange songs no more,

Let me hear strange songs no more,

Of battle hymns and praise of war

On the train to Babylon…

Let me sing of goddess fair, Let me sing of goddess fair,

Let me sing of goddess fair,

In Babylon beyond compare

…All aboard

The One (track 5, 3:23)

One single blade of grass in a meadow long and green

Curving up from the earth, with clover in between

One single blade of grass who dances on the breeze

A person comes along, the grass is all he ever sees

The one, the one, the one, the one, who sings among the crowd

The one, the one, the one, the one, who lives a life out loud

The one, the one, the one, the one, who sings among the throng

The one, the one, the one, the one, whose life turns into song

Morning comes to us and birds begin to sings

Leaves of grass are crowned by droplets clear as anything

Sun shines down again and swallows up the rain

A leaf of grass can lift up its head again

The one, the one, the one, the one, who sings among the throng

The one, the one, the one, the one, whose life turns into song

The one, the one, the one, the one, who is so hard to find

You are the one, you are the one, and finally you’re mine

Stare into the stars, and peer into the sky

Look at each person’s life and it will tell you why

All too easily you’re treated as the field

Live like a leaf of grass and all the truth will be revealed

The one, the one, the one, the one, who sings among the crowd

The one, the one, the one, the one, who lives his life out loud

The one, the one, the one, the one, who is so hard to find

You are the one, you are the one, and finally you’re mine

The one, the one, the one, the one, who sings among the throng

The one, the one, the one, the one, whose life turns into song

The one, the one, the one, the one, who is so hard to find

You are the one, you are the one, and finally you’re mine

A Cat Walks (track 6, 2:07)

A cat walks down the street in the afternoon

A man talks from the corner of an old forgotten tune

A girl chalks it all up to a midsummer moon

A guy hocks his possessions a little too soon

A gal locks herself into a bad honeymoon

A cat walks down the street in the afternoon

You can try to say nothing when it's a little too late

You can slide down the road in an escapist state

You can die while you're living a life that you hate

You can buy everything but your hunger won't sate

You can sigh sigh sigh as you capitulate

You can try to say nothing when it's a little too late

All I need is an answer to my every need

All I want is to follow where nobody leads

All I see is the generosity of greed

All I wish is for all of the slaves to be freed

All I get is a answer that’s meant to mislead

All I need is an answer to my every need

Lost Love and Bad Weather (track 7, 3:12)

Sitting at the sad café / picking at a salad

Looking at my silverware / thinking of a ballad

Window fogs with risen mist / pigeons preen their feathers

I stare into the rain and think of lost love and bad weather.

Black road paved with glassy rain / high-heeled legs are walking

Perfect hands and mobile phones / are made to keep on talking

Waitress brings my coffee up / it's weak and smells of leather

I add the cream and start to dream / of lost love and bad weather

Something down behind my heart / is waiting for the ocean

All the storms that bend my soul / will melt into that motion

Only dream left to dream / bind you and me together

Nothing will dry out the rain / but lost love and bad weather

I raise my cup to make a toast / to ordinary magic

Wondering if my story ends as humorous or tragic

No way to see through the clouds / see if I'm worse or better

To stand inside the rain or think / of lost love and bad weather

Something down behind my heart / is waiting for the ocean

All the storms that bend my soul / melt into that motion

Only dreams left to dream / bind you and me together

Nothing will dry out the rain / but lost love and bad weather

Red Moon Song (track 8, 2:38)

Red Moon Song, breaking through the black sky / above the City

High she sings floating in the darkness

My red crone mother.

Red half Moon, sailing in the stars / above the ocean

Navigate by her changes / my red Moon Sister

Thin red Moon, waning in the darkness / my red Moon whisper

Fade away, fade away and grow again

Like life Almighty.

If Cars Were Banner (track 9, 3:11)

When you buy a car, do you realize

Your money pays for things you probably despise

Like oil spills covering Alaskan land

Cash in a crooked politician's hand

Children dead on desert sand

So wouldn't it be nice if cars were banned?

Chorus:

Wouldn't it be nice if cars were banned

Trees could grow upon the land

No more smog up in the sky

Let's make it happen by and by

Wouldn't it be great if streets were quiet

No car horns and engines to make a riot

Think of all the time you spend in traffic jams

Wouldn't it be great if they were banned?

Think of all the tax money that you owe

To pay for wild land to be covered up with road

And for hospitals for people hit by cars

Wouldn't it be great if they were barred?

(chorus)

Cars give us jobs, you may say

And they're just the good old American way

But GM doesn't care about American jobs,

They send 'em where they're cheaper, the greedy slobs

Imagine if kids could play without fear

That drivers'll hit them while drinking beer

And if you weren't stuck inside a metal cage

Running people down with your road rage

(chorus)

Shell Oil doesn't seem to care

If they poisoned the water or pollute the air

But if you're in Nigeria and mention that

They're going to execute you in no time flat*

We're drilling Alaskan wilderness

So gallons can be five cents less

And the Saudi royals got rich quick

And give money to terrorist lunatics

(chorus)

Greenhouse gasses fill the sky

And 40 thousand people a year will run over and die...

None of these problems would be there

If people had cars that they would share

If buses trains and bikes were everywhere.

This song could go on without any end

Until you realize that your car is not your friend

We're all car addicts, let's just say no,

And then those cars will have to go.

(chorus)

But we can change things, watch and see

(slower) We will have to, eventually

So let's get together, we'll work all day

To make those cars all go away

(last chorus)

Won't it be nice when cars are banned

Trees could grow upon the land

No more smog up in the sky

It's gonna have to happen, by and by.

*refers to Ken Sero-Wiwa

Gigabytes of Pain (track 10, 2:10)

I work at a job where I stare at a computer screen all day long

When I think of the human contact I've lost it seems something is inexplicably wrong

So I'll just have to explain, the gigabytes of pain…

I am just a temp, you know, but the temporary life takes so long

Seems like I'll never log off once I have logged on

And the fax machine is sending me messages

Saying everything it transmits are only vestiges of my soul

Oh I'll just have to explain, the megabytes of pain

I make copies, and I have to file them / Sometimes I slip into denial when

It is sunny outside, and my nylons run (away), my brain has died...

I'll just have to explain the world wide web of pain

I'll just have to complain 'bout this ridiculous refrain

Kiss Your Ass Goodbye (track 11, 2:19)

If that power plant should blow / kiss your ass goodbye

You’ll have an incandescent glow / as you kiss your ass goodbye

So, kiss your friends, kiss your dog, kiss your house goodbye

Kiss your kids, kiss New York, and kiss your ass goodbye

Indian Point's a power plant / on an earthquake fault line

The worst nuke plant in the USA / I think it's shut down time or...

Kiss your friends, kiss your dog, kiss your house goodbye

Kiss your kids, kiss New York, and kiss your ass goodbye

Indian Point is 40 miles from downtown New York City

If a meltdown should occur the results would not be pretty

Kiss your friends…

Entergy's the company that owns this nightmare plant

If you ask if they can keep it safe, the answer is they can't

Insurance on this power plant is paid by all our tax

Storage of their waste is too/ its time it got the ax

Kiss your friends…

Water to cool down the plant/ is killing all the fish

And it's such a good target, it's a terrorists' best wish

So kiss the plant, kiss the nukes, kiss the waste goodbye

Kiss the nuclear industry, and Indian Point goodbye

The Vidiot Song (track 12, 2:17)

When you think that a TV screen / Is more important than a human be-in

When your attention span can't handle C-SPAN / And you love to watch Gilligan's Island

When you think newscasts are objective / And you can quote Star Trek's prime directive

You sing along with the latest commercials / And you think Donahue is controversial

Then you're a vidiot, vidiot

Turn it off once and hear me say

That you're a vidiot, vidiot,

And you're running the USA.

If you think "Cops" is a documentary / You got the Beevis and Butthead mentality

You've been brainwashed, night and day / Till you brain was washed away,

If you cried when they shot J.R. / You wish "Cheers" was your neighborhood bar

If NBC, CBS and ABC / Are the only five letters that you can read,

chorus

If you think cable's better than Jesus / And you can imitate Bart Simpson's sneezes

If you think TV women are well-depicted / That TV's not a drug, and you're not addicted

When you think there's nothing obscene / About staring at an empty machine

When you spend more time watching Brady Bunch / Than with your own kids, then I've got a hunch (that you're a...)

Learning To Ride a Bike in New York City (track 13, 3:06)

Learning to ride a bike in New York City / is just like learning how to tap dance in minefield

Is just like learning how to breathe under the ocean / is just like learning how to surf in a tsunami

Dodging all those cars in New York City / every taxi on a mission of destruction

Every pothole is my possible extinction / each pedestrian a phantom of a nightmare

I'm a sensitive girl, in a beat-up rotten world

I'm sensitive chick, my skin is paper thick

I'm a delicate girl in a beat up ragged world

It's a delicate world, for a beat up ragged girl

I once went skinny dipping in Siberia / I once climbed Everest without my oxygen

I once went hiking with no backpack and no compass / lost each time until the very end of time

I'm a sensitive chick...

See my eyes behind the mirror / see my face behind glass

Look down deep inside the inside / look down deep inside the past

Keep on searching till you find it / keep on looking for the way

Keep on searching for the answer / the questions never go way

I'm a sensitive girl...

The Village is Haunted (track 14, 2:54)

The village is haunted, by the eyes of a thousand smiling dead

And the eyes of the living are a tortured, burning red

Light me a candle as if the flames could tell me why

Nothing is sacred except the tears we cry

And nobody knows why they hate us this much

Who is the devil; do the angels feel our touch?

The Towers are burning and the people turn to ash

How many were silenced / in the sound of that crash

There is a moment that chooses life or death

Haphazardly chosen in the instant of a breath

What good is the fury and the hatred which is blind

The anger of terror that wastes all humankind

And I don't know if the answer is there

How can we wake from this nightmare?

The village is haunted by a thousand smiling dead

The eyes of the living can see nothing but bloodshed

The village is burning in New York and Afghanistan

Both of them slaughtered by the ignorance of man

The worst face as evil is a bloody battle cry

A hatred so ruthless it never will ask why

How is it ended? By war, or peace, or both?

A war between our gods leaves us nothing more than ghosts

Lyrics for "Reason for Rain" © Heather Lev 2000:

Reason For Rain (track 1, 3:33)

Rain is falling off the leaves and onto the street

About to make my melancholy mood complete

Every raindrop melts into a unified one

Soon they will be dancing back up to the sun

Who says any of this has to make any sense

Whoever thinks they understand is pretty darn dense

I wait upon this Saturday for you to explain

Or find me someone who can give a reason for rain

Rain, a reason for the rain

Seasons down the drain

Time passes in a manner insane

No reason, reason for rain

Every time this happens I contemplate

Every raindrop's hydrogen and oxygen fate

What happens to them after they fall to earth

Immortal water circling through death and birth...

If only my blood could tell the tale

Perhaps I was a raindrop once , perhaps I was hail

I have fallen to the earth gone dancing to the sky

In search of and romancing with the reason why

Harlan County (track 2, 3:39)

Take me back to Harlan County

take me back to Harlan County

I am going home/I am going home

If I knew the way to Harlan

If I knew, my little darlin'

If I knew the way to Harlan

I would take you home/I would take you home

Just a mile past the canyon

turn left at the sycamore tree

walk in the rising moonlight

that's how you get to Harlan County

once it was so rich in timber

now it's rich in the blackened cinder

once it was so rich in timber

I am going home/I am going home

just a mile past heaven

turn left at your forgotten dreams

that's where my home will linger

that's how you get to Harlan County

once the rivers were so clean

now there's no life to be seen

acid rain from the coal machine

I am going home

just a mile past heaven...take me back to Harlan County

take me back to nature's bounty...I am going home

--Heather Lev, guitar, vocals; Sharon Abreu, fiddle, Michael Lengyel, percussion,

Mary (track 3, 3:20)

I had a friend once her name was Mary

Just like the mother of God

With her long black hair, her Peruvian background

Her eyes so magically odd.

One day she left with that gang of gypsies

That roams this land of the free

Tarot for her living, her law of giving

To the Goddess of Charity...

Mary... Goddess of Charity

Won't you set me, won't you set me free

Won't you set me free

Last time I saw her upon Mount Shasta,

Abandoning her life

A painted Volkswagon took her away

To live on the edge of a knife

I tell her story to those I discover

But few of them understand why

A middle class princess from Indiana

Would leave the American Lie...

She's a homeless girl with a college degree

Her mother is worried to death

But Mary cares little for law or convention

Or where she gets her next breath

This deadheaded tripper with no drug to take her

On a journey from mountain to sea

Let us bow down to our mother Mary,

The Goddess of Charity

Mary... The Goddess of Charity

Won't you tell me, your vagabond mystery

Mary...Won't you set me, won't you set me free

Critical Mass (track 4, 3:19)

One man at Tienanman Square stood in front of the tanks

It changed the world in Soweto and in the World Bank

They took one stand at Stonewall and turned the world around

Silence equals death, now we all can hear the sound

Of a critical mass, uh-huh, you can never keep us down

With a critical mass, uh-huh, all you need is a critical mass

Never underestimate the power of a few

To bring the many to their senses, to change the standard point of view

It brought the end of slavery, and the end of the Vietnam War

It's the only thing to change the world, it's changing it more and more

It's a critical mass....

Those with greed and those with power may think that they have won

When they make another martyr, but they're so far from done

From Joe Hill to Steven Biko, Judy Bary to Wounded Knee

Hannah Senesh, Martin Luther King, lived and died to set us free

With a critical mass.

There are the few who profit from the misery of all

But their empires cannot stand if the people make them fall

It's time we brought a new life to this asphalt-covered land

It's time we took it over, took the streets back in our hands...

With a critical mass...

Our lands are being ruined, we are living without a choice

But if we stand together they have got to hear our voice

The people, united, can never be defeated

So we can work together till our victory's completed

With a Critical mass, uh-huh, you can turn the world around

With a critical mass, uh-huh, all you need is a critical mass....

--Heather Lev, guitars, vocals; Jonathan Appel, drums, bass,

When I was Just 14 (track 5, 2:32)

When I was just 14

I didn't know nothin'

And now I know more nothin'

And then I was 15

I thought I knew something

But it, in fact, was just more nothin'

And I don't know how many years

It will take to understand

That no matter how much I think I know

I knew more when I began

And now I'm in college

I think that I'm learning

Learning that all I know means nothing

And the more that I'm learning

The more that I'm thinking

The less I understand anything....

Before I could talk/ When I was a baby

I knew more than I know in college

But I went to school

I learned all these rules

And this/ erased/ my knowledge

And I don't know how many years

It will take to understand

That no matter how much we think we know

We knew more when we began

My Lorelei (track 6, 3:38)

There is a girl who weeps in the corner about something she's lost

maybe she's growing up, that has a high cost

I see her sometimes walking to school

each day she's learning a very important rule, stay a fool

my Lorelei, my Lorelei, my Lorelei, take wings and fly

there is a teacher, maybe a preacher, he'll make her a deal,

there is an innocence in her eyes, that he wants to steal

silence is her only requirement, he knows he can trust her

so he takes her down by the school yard, that's where he'll touch her

my Lorelei, my Lorelei, my Lorelei, he says you can't cry

ashes to ashes and dust to dust, she is surviving a betrayl of trust

next time you see her look carefully

a soul that is healing and trying to be Lorelei

there is a day when, out of the playpen, she plays her hand

she tells her mother, says please believe me, she takes a stand

there is fear there, in those eyes, her mother shakes her head

say it's not so, I can't believe that, is it true what you said

Lorelei

my Lorelei, my Lorelei, my Lorelei, take wings and fly

ashes to ashes and dust to dust, she's surviving a betrayl of trust

next time you see her look carefully

a soul that is healing and trying to be Lorelei

--Heather Lev, guitar, vocals, harmony, Michael Lengyel, percussion, Barry Kornhauser, bass

Oh Merry, Merry (track 7, 1:43)

Oh merry, merry gathering folk, lift the plough

and sow the seed in the dark, rich earth, spring is now

let the sun shine upon the earth, and let us praise the work of giving birth

Never Stand Alone (track 8, 3:02)

For there's battles to be won, songs to be sung

and a hundred thousand seeds to be sown

and you never have to stand, never have to stand,

and you never have to stand alone

You can cry with grief, sigh for relief,

nobody may hear your moan

you can complain, or dance out in the rain

but you never have to stand alone...

oh, the powers that be, never set you free

and it seems that they have a heart of stone

but a rock can be moved, laws disproved

and you never have to stand alone...

so give me your hand, share with me your plans

'till the seed that we've planted is full grown

it will flower, it will spring

it can change anything

and you never have to stand alone

Earth Mama Blues (track 9 (3:09))

My mama's hurtin' she's sick in bed/A little longer and she's gonna be dead

She told me "Baby whatcha gonna do, if I live or die now it's all up to you"

Oh mama Earth, what have I done to you?

A planet's not a plaything, I'm singin' Earth Mama Blues

She told me "Baby, that acid rain, when it falls down well it sure gives me a pain,

And listen honey, it's really gettin' hot, that CO2 is building believe it or not"...

"My ozone's fadin' my forest too, my children are a-dying and I'm singing the blues."

I said "Mama, what can I do, oh Mama I've got to help you"...

She said "My baby, clean up your act, you waste what I give you

and that is sure a fact/All life are my children your sisters and brothers, protect life don't waste it and love your mother..."

Matthew Shepard

(track 10, (3:48))

In a school in Wyoming, Matthew Shepard studied hard,/but they don't understand

all because he loved a man/all because he loved

he stands out, he stands for something

that they can't comprehend/all because he loved

we'll take you, we'll break you,/we'll hurt you, we'll hate you

we'll straighten your bones/all because he loved a man

all because he loved/in the dark of night/all the hate comes to light

won't you go home

it happened one night, they were sure they were right/they shut out his cries

tied him to a fence, tied him to a wall/and left him to die...

Now witches were burned, there's nothing we've learned/hearts pumping fear

what you hate in someone else is a part of yourself

that you can't bear, all because he loved...

now if love is a crime and hate is divine/Then send me to hell

what happens in Laramie could happen to you or me/Matthew Shepard knew it well...

Let love have its reign, we won't forget your name/and this is our home

If I could (track 11, 3:44)

if I could save you from yourself, you know I would

but you won't take my hand, understand

the place I stood

inside the rain

knocked out of the pain

you won't come inside, you only hide, you can't explain

I've heard it said,

if you see a drowning man

don't jump in, he will win,

and drown you by his hand

a sinking ship,

you start to slip

you only wait, you hesitate,

and bite your lip

you did the best you could

you stood there where you stood

what you think is love is mostly

love, but it's limited only, by fear

it's so clear

I draw the line today, right here

so I give up, I give in

I hate to lose you, but I can't win

you'll never see, you'll never know

this path I'm on, you'll never follow

if I could save you from yourself, you know I'd set you free

but there's only one person I can save, and that is me

--Heather Lev, guitar, vocals, harmony, Michael Lengyel, percussion, Barry Kornhauser, bass

Rules of the Game

(track 12, 2:15)

Walking through space, walking through time

Tryin' to find out what's yours & what's mine

Changing my face, changing my name

Nothing is bound to stay the same

Tell me, what do you do

When the rules of the game are changed on you

Tell me, what do you say,

When all that you've counted on flies away

Now that you tell me your answer is no

Who do I turn to, where do I go

Always thought you were a friend of mine

Now we got to put it all behind

Tell me...

Travelling through this world of change

All you can do is rearrange

Just when you think you've finished your plan

The wind comes and takes it from your hand

Autumn Breeze

(track 13, 2:05)

If you were mine, if you were yours

if we defined which way the wind roars

then you would see, and I could touch

the wind high and free, and we would love that much

Oh blow, you autumn breeze

let the small rain fall

bring us to our knees, blow through us, one and all

as you cross the trees, and find my lover's face,

I bid one favor please, sail him to this place

The Way That I Love You (track 14, 2:39)

I love you, the way New Yorkers love Central park

The way Vampires love the dark

The way monkeys love the trees

The way Jacques Cousteau loves the seas,

Won't you love me too, the way that I love you

Oh, won't you love me true, the way that I love you

I love you the way a moth loves a flame

The way Madonna loves her fame

The way bees love their honey

The way that Donald Trump loves money

And if I've run out of hope, can I borrow a cup from your cupboard

And if I'm at the end of my rope, can I stay with you until my heart is rediscovered...

I love you the way I love to sing a song

The way Fay Wray loved King Kong

The way the ocean loves the moon

The way my guitar loves a tune

W000