You can purchase the CD, “Music from Living on the Earth,” from Alicia’s online store here.
All songs© 2001 Alicia Bay Laurel, Bay Tree Music (ASCAP)
In the Morning
Chorus:
In the morning, in the morning
With the first light ye rise
And keep your mouth closed
And open your eyes.
In the morning, in the morning
When the first light is new
Come rise ye and roll ye
In the sweet morning dew
Verse 1:
Rise ye early by morning’s dew
And wash out your mouth and the rest of ye, too.
Don’t take ye no worry if the water’s too cold
It’s years of cold washing that prevents growing old.
Verse 2:
Clean out the house, now, and scrub out the pots
And water the garden afore it’s too hot
And stretch out the kinks that you tied in your sleep
For the day’s a ballet, gotta stay on your feet.
Verse 3:
Musicians play songs and the writer must write
The lover must practice his art in the night
Some paint and some garden, but whatever you do
You’ll do it much better by morning’s dew.
Chard and Chives
I’m going out to do a dance in the garden
I’ve got a space cleared out to plant a gift of love to everyone
The garden—I hope it feeds everyone
But, in the meantime, it gets me out in the sun.
Each little seed I planted with a sweet love song
Each little weed I killed I hoped it came back as a fruiting tree
Oh garden—please pardon my ignorance
I’m a city girl just learning to listen to plants.
All of the pits and peels that went into the compost
Come back as comfrey, kale and carrots, a row of beans and mustard greens
And lettuce—be thankful for garlic, chard and chives
May our salad days last the rest of our lives
Whenever I’m down and blue I go to my garden
And soon I’ll be singing and acting goofy as a girl in love for the very first time
Oh garden—I love the way you set me free
Hope I grow for you the way you grow for me.
Rain
Rain’s falling down, how the drops fill the air
Trees are green all around, grass is thick everywhere
And a sigh fills the space ‘tween the clouds and the ground
Between heavier drops it’s a faraway sound
Falling down, all around
Passing by, through the sky.
Oceans are crashing, the mountain is still
And the rain covers all, like the wind has no will
But the clouds blow inland and the earth turns around
And above all the clouds, sun and moon shining down
Shining down, all around
Passing by, through the sky.
Hang Out and Breathe
Verse 1:
What I wanna do now is hang out and breathe
Take care of the family at hand
Live in the moment and be who I am
For things may go different than that which we’ve planned.
Chorus:
Oh happy most wonderful!
Hang out and breathe til I die
Meet my Creator with open heart
Surrender my body with joy in my eyes
Verse 2:
When I can remember to hang out and breathe
And let all my worrying cease
Things may go crazy and things may go fine
I’ll be a love fountain in a garden of peace
Verse 3:
Nothing is more simple than to hang out and breate
You’d think that’s what all of us do
We come to this planet to live and to learn
So don’t hold your breath while your wishes come true
Thanksgiving Hymn
Early springtime flowers abound, everything sings
Baby birds are flying around, trying their wings
So we go to planting our seeds in the ground
Soft the April rains come falling, falling down
So we go to planting our seeds in the ground.
Summer river waterfalls gleam, ocean bound
Time to take a swim in the stream, bodies turn brown
So we go to tending our garden so green
Strong the summer sun is shining, shining serene
So we go to tending our garden so green.
Autumn’s bounty covers the earth, fragrant with food
Mother Nature’s bosomy girth, brilliantly hued
So we go to harvest the fruits of the earth
Warm September winds come laughing, caroling mirth
So we go to harvest the fruits of the earth
Oh, the year’s sweet gifts unfolding, day and night
So we thank our Maker for giving us light.
Rinpoche
Verse 1:
Scattering seeds of enlightenment, the rinpoches came to tea
Kalu tapped his foot to my songs as he watched for souls to set free
“For the sake of the ones that hear you,” he said
“Will you sing this song for me?”
Chorus:
Aum mani pedme hung, aum mani pedme hung
The whole golden afternoon kept singing to me
Verse 2:
All you four-legged and two legged ones, all you winged and rooted that breathe
May you have the causes of happiness, may your sorrow and pain become peace
May you come to a state of enlightenment
For the sake of all sentient beings.
Verse 3:
And when the rinpoches walked away, leaving their stardust and smiles
Everyone gathered where they had sat, and we talked and made music a while
When my friends had all gone their ways,
I strummed a new song in my style.
Oh Sweet Self
Verse 1:
No matter how hard they try
Your lovers can’t love you any better than you love yourself
You wouldn’t let them if they tried.
Chorus:
Oh sweet self, I’m gonna love you more
A little more than I did yesterday, every day
I’m gonna blossom in my own care
Gonna give myself the time that I need
Gonna pick a blossom, put it in my waving hair
And let the blooming flowers go to seed.
Verse 2:
I took some time to be all alone
Found that I could make it all right, even at night
Even with nobody by my side.
Verse 3:
So I won’t try to buy up your love
Don’t see no need to compromise my self anymore
Gettin’ high is all my love is for.
Mandala
All the plants in the garden can heal you
Get to know them, let their consciousness feel you
On the land, and the plants of the sea, too
If you grow them, you will know they can see you.
Energy high, from the sun and the star belt
Happy to be a part of a larger mandala
They reach for the sun, they suckle the earth’s milk
Richly arrayed in their jeweled regalia.
All the gods in the heavens can love you
When you’re dancing feel them hover above you
On the earth all the people are learning
To the loving of the heavens we’re turning.
Anyone’s eyes can be channels of God’s love
Tune right in with a carress and a kiss
Everyone needs a hit of the real thing
Since we’re all here, it’s not easy to miss.
All the ways to nirvana can free you
I’d say any way that will let you just be you
After all, it’s the knowing we’re all one
That will let you give up growsing and have fun.
Energy flows in myriad patterns
Experiences endlessly follow each other
Let them go by, you’ll see as the world turns
Each one teaches you that God is your lover.
Nineteen Sixty-six
From lollipop to teenybop
From bunny hop to drop out
From LA I ran away
To find out what life was about
Took the route
Along the sea
To find me
Poetry and LSD
Beneath a tree in Big Sur
Opened me to serenity
But found my mind so very hard to find
But life was kind
On the way
To San Francisco Bay.
The city trip of being hip
And paying lip service to law
First was fun, but then the sun
Went away and I had to give
You must pay For the way You live.
Time again, I met a friend
Who took me to a greener place
Stayed a while and found a style
Of living that was earthy, like me
I could be
Constantly
Very free and easy
Oh, so free and easy, yeah.
Vai Raga
Verse 1:
Street vendors are singing in rhyme
Pilgrims are visiting shrines
The children play the same games everywhere
The stars’ places, the moon’s phases,
The men’s paces are the same.
Verse 2:
Love shines from the eyes of holy men
They bless you and they disappear again
They remind you not to lose your dreams
The lambs bleating, the pigs eating,
The winds meeting could scatter them.
Chorus:
Come, abandoning all plan.
Place yourself in the hands of the Creator.
Verse 3:
Down to the source of the Force
Streaming like a wide river’s course
We will merge into a silent sea
Without places, without spaces,
Without faces we are Eternity.
Pain and Love
Chorus:
Pain and love, pain and love
Take away the pain, and bring on the love
Pain and love, oh, pain and love
Take away the pain, and bring on the love.
Verse:
For each of us can be a voice of compassion
Each in our own way, each in our fashion
We may look different and stand different trials
But the magic of mercy is the source of our smiles.
Bridge:
So let’s share our lovin’
What else have we got in this world?
It’s the only way the earth can survive
The way things have gone
Lullaby
I won’t leave you alone
I won’t leave you alone
Until you’re ready to start out on your own.
I won’t leave you alone
I won’t leave you alone.
I won’t leave you at night
I won’t leave you at night
Until the morning fills your window with its light
I won’t leave you at night
I won’t leave you at night.
I won’t stop you when you go
I won’t stop you when you go
But I’ll be ready to smile and say “hello”
I won’t stop you when you go
I won’t stop you when you go.
I won’t leave you alone
I won’t leave you alone
Until you’re ready to start out on your own.
I won’t leave you alone
I won’t leave you alone.
Family to Me
Chorus:
Today we stand facing the world side by side
Dressed in our best as the groom and the bride
For you are my sweetheart and always will be
And now you are family to me.
Verse 1:
All through our courtship I learned about you
You proved to be tender, loyal and true
I hope you have noticed the same about me
‘Cause that’s what it takes to become family
Verse 2:
By trusting each other and seeking what’s real
We truthfully share what we hope for and feel
Becoming invincible as we grow old
Is the love in our hearts and the peace in our souls.
Verse 3:
The loving between us becomes like a sun
That shines both for us and for everyone
It shines in our eyes and shines from our home
And shines through the world wherever we roam.
Invocation
God bless you, my guitar
For showing me the music in my soul
We have travelled very far, you and I
And I’ve learned from you
That the whole world is very holy
And that silence is the source of sound.
Thank you for every note that came forth from your throat
God bless you, my guitar
God bless you, my guitar
God bless you, vocal chords
For airing undulations of my heart
May you vibrate sympathetically
With the muses of the dark uncharted spaces
And the angels of the light!
Thank you for every note that came forth from my throat
God bless you, vocal chords
God bless you, my guitar.
Photo by Sylvia Clarke Hamilton
Alicia Bay Laurel 