1. |
Die Every Day
09:05
|
|||
You better die every day
Like a rose
You better run on that hill
Like a horse in the wind and the pouring rain.
You gotta give it away, let it go
As an offering to the wind.
Fall every day, like the rain
And roll down the hill like the
Waters pouring from the drains
And join the river
And join the bigger river
And let yourself flow to the sea
Die every day like a rose
Give yourself away like her petals
Shine every day like the sun
When the fire is burned then it’s done
Then it’s done
You better Die every day like a butterfly,
After you have given yourself to the cocoon
And shown all your colours to everyone
And then it’s your time, and then you’re done
And then you’re done.
Why not sing your prayers out loud, once in a while?
Why not let your gratitude be heard out loud?
Why not pray out loud?
In the garden of my first summers
In the garden of my first summers
The house was big, the windows open wide
The kitchen door left open to the summer time.
The apple tree was burgeoning with the autumn fruits
Too sour to eat now but I’d sometimes try
Mama’s coming out with a smile and the
Washing’s drying on the summer line and the
Trees are secret and I love their roots and I
Hide away there with my songs and my dances.
Knees are muddy on the English earth and there’s
Grass stains on my summer dresses and
No one minds for the grin and the blood on my knees always.
Hold my hand I need your help to walk here
You my father, you my mother and
you my sisters all being big old girls in the world
Die every day like a rose
Giving her petals away
Fall, from the sky like the rain
Throw yourself on the earth
Roll down the hill and join the stream
Become the river become the sea
Become the clouds become the waters
Become a part of everything
There is a tender fire inside
There is a tender fire inside that
Wants to hide and be hidden away.
There is a little song inside
That wants a secret place to come out and
Sing like a bird.
Dance every day, like the wind on your face
Sing your song, give it away
Burn, if you will, till it’s all gone
Be warm be bright be hot be strong
There is a tender fire inside
There is a tender fire inside
There is a little song that wants to sing like a bird.
|
||||
2. |
I See You, I Love You
04:29
|
|||
Is there a dream in your heart that wants to live but it doesn’t live yet?
What seed do you have in there that wants to grow, but it hasn’t been sown yet?
What would it be like to take that seed in the palm of your hand and say
'I see you, I love you, I believe in you, and I’m gonna give you some time'?
I see you, I love you
And I’m gonna give you just a little bit more of my time.
What’s in your heart that doesn’t live yet but wants to live?
What song do you have in there that wants to sing, but it hasn’t been sung yet?
What would it be like to go inside and hear that song and say 'I hear you, I love you
And I’m gonna give you just a little bit more of my time'?
I hear you
I love you
And I’m gonna give you just a little bit more of my time
I see you
I hear you
I love you
And I’m gonna give you just a little bit more of my time.
Those dreams in your heart
May they bloom, may they bloom.
|
||||
3. |
Quiet Fears
02:33
|
|||
And you walk
In all of your quiet fears
Ok you still live and the
Feathers seem to fly in sunlight outside still
The breath of the wind
Still lifts them and your blood still flows
And those
Quiet ribbons of tension that thread around your form
Live there for now
OK.
And you walk
In all of your quiet strength
Ok the ground there beneath your feet supports you every day
You breathe, drink and love
You fill your body healthily
And somewhere deep down inside your heart
you know all the truths
You need to know
OK.
|
||||
4. |
Bless the Girl
05:34
|
|||
Bless the Girl as she blossoms
Bless the girl as she blooms
Bless the girl as she begins to love them
Bless the girl as she begins to open herself
Don’t shame her, don’t rape her, don’t blame her don’t hate her
Don’t leave her alone, don’t make her stay home
Don’t shame her, don’t hate her, don’t rape her.
Bless the child as she becomes a woman
Nature wanted nothing less
Bless her beauty, bless her body
Bless her sense/scents
Bless her eyes
Bless her lips
Bless the life
Between her thighs
Bless the boys or girls any one or two or three she is loving
Don’t fight, don’t lie
Don’t shame her, don’t rape her
Don’t blame her
Don’t leave her wounded at home
On her own
Navigating something so strong
Eros is a wide, wild, garden of magnificence.
A life spring of nourishment and sustenance
For everyone, everyone
Like the rain and the sun
And meeting at the garden gate heart to heart eye to eye
If it’s a yes
Well then you are blessed.
|
||||
5. |
Morning Bird
04:15
|
|||
I’ll be waiting for you brother
On the platform
All night if I need to
I’ll be waiting for you brother
On the platform
All night if I need to
The morning bird
Sings through the darkness of the night
So many hours it’s had its grip upon us
The morning bird
Brings a song
Wakes the dawn
With colour
A little curl a little twirl a little furl
Of heaven’s song
From the morning
Bird
O and the morning bird
The morning bird
Didn’t have such a good night herself but still
The morning bird is here to sing you
Your day.
The morning bird
Sings through the darkness of the night
So many hours it’s had its grip upon us
The morning bird
Brings a song
Wakes the dawn
With colour
A little curl a little twirl a little furl
Of heaven’s song
From the morning
Bird
|
||||
6. |
Prayer for Peace
06:30
|
|||
Soft man
In the holy in the holy land
In the holy o what did you do?
What are these images
That pass behind your eyes
Every time you try to go to sleep?
In the holy in the holy
Welcome to this land.
They put a uniform on your body
and a weapon in your hand.
These are your neighbours.
You’re an adult now
and this is how you are going to relate to them.
Soft man
Clear eyes,
you take my hand
will I let you inside
my sacred?
O and ay
We prayed for peace,
we prayed for peace today
My hand upon your shoulder
in silence we prayed
and I saw
The neighbours being friends
Woman to woman and men to men
I saw the children play together in the street
with the sun in their eyes and the waters flowing
And I saw
the olive groves burgeoning
and I saw
The homes comfortable
and I saw
trust and friendship
neighbour to neighbour
eye to eye
arm in arm
I saw man to man and woman to woman my friend
I prayed for peace with my hand upon your shoulder
Prayed for peace with my hand upon your shoulder
Soft man
Would you put the war into my body
if I let you in?
Soft man
would you bring the trauma into my being
if I let you in?
Soft man.
She said “it’s 10am
It’s time to pray.
If you’d like to join us,
we pray for peace in the Middle East here every Friday.”
And we all went outside
And each in our own way
Took a few minutes
To pray for peace in a gentle way
I saw the schools
with the children learning together.
Is that possible?
Hebrew and Arabic I don’t suppose it would work.
But I have walked the streets of Belfast
Where there was the first Protestant child
to go to a Catholic school
And then the second and then the third,
and I have heard talks from the leaders
Who said “Ok,
What do you want, what do you need?
Let’s figure it out, let’s find peace”
and this morning I saw the Leaders listening and trusting
“Here you are you’re my neighbour I live with you I love you
Let’s find Peace.”
Soft man, what’s going to happen now?
I’ve seen it happen in Northern Ireland before my own eyes
So I believe it can happen right there
I’ve seen it happen in Northern Ireland before my own eyes
So I believe it can happen right there
I grew up with bombs too
From the IRA but you know you
Don’t hear about those any more.
|
||||
7. |
Enter Me
04:39
|
|||
Rain is falling
Just finished work
It’s 11:30 and the night is drawing in
Guess it’s thanksgiving holiday soon
and I’ve gotta rest.
You’re far away
But your beauty still reaches me
Who are you? I’m still
Learning my way into the forest
Is this gonna be love?
Is it gonna be life?
Is it gonna be days?
Is it going to be whole,
Is it gonna be brave?
My heart it is
Tender cautious and true.
Enter me and I will enter you.
And I don’t want to hurt you
I don’t want to lead you astray
See I don’t know what I want today.
But when I hear you play
My body says
Enter me
It’s so vulnerable
To let my flesh speak this way but when I
Hear you play it’s what my
Body says
Enter me
You got me paying attention.
Enter me
You got me taking you seriously.
Maybe.
You do something to me,
When you’re playing so beautifully.
My body says
Enter me.
When I first heard this in the car as I was teaching
It sent this rush of energy through my heart my body and my loin
And this song came bursting through the windows of the car on Cedar Avenue
Driving up the hill and
Looking at the sunset
Teaching the children
Singing this singing this song inside my form
Enter me
You got me paying attention.
Enter me
You got me taking you seriously.
Maybe.
You do something to me,
When you’re playing so beautifully.
My body says
Enter me.
|
||||
8. |
Broken World
06:39
|
|||
Welcome kid
In your soft small hand
I will place the whole world
You know
It’s so beautiful
The trees they grow and
The birds live in them and
They sing to the dawn
As she rises every morning and the
Fruits form on the trees and they will
Burst into your mouth so sweetly and the
Rivers will flow and they will
Bring you peace in your bones
As they glisten in the sun
But you know there’s a time limit on the world and the
The rivers are going to stop running the sun is going to set things on fire
What was green will brown and dry, and what was ice will become mud.
So much of life is already dead
The delicate things our grandmothers lived with are gone
The birds will keep singing their song
Until such a time comes that they’re gone.
Welcome kid
Is your heart big enough to hold the whole world
To hold the whole world as it is?
Welcome kid
Is your heart big enough to hold the whole world
To hold the whole world as it is?
Hey girl
You like his eyes
And his chest seems to call you in
He’s got these ways that put him
In the middle of your gaze and everything else becomes a blur and fades away
But when you get close you’re gonna see…..
Everything
Everything the good the bad the flowing the ugly
And the broken cos the
One thing you can be sure of is that he’s broken and you’re broken too
Otherwise how would you fit in this world of broken people and broken things
And yet still every morning every blade of grass drinks a bead of dew
And your skin will melt into his like the most beautiful thing in the world.
Welcome kid you know
You’re a British citizen and soon, an American too
And your countries between them are responsible for,
I don’t know, maybe something like half of the violence
Half of the violence
Empires old and new
We say that we’re great and we say that we’re strong
We’ve got these great big institutions
With these great big grand columns
We’ve got a Queen and some princes we’ve got these Hollywood stars
and half of the world comes to visit at their doors
But you know
The people are in prison and the prisoners are slaves
The police are shooting at the black people and the people are shooting at the children in schools
More than half of the money’s getting sucked right up to the top 1 or 2
And those people are feeling broken too
Dear lord
If you’re there at all
Tell me
How do you stay whole
In a broken world
If you’re a broken girl at all?
How do you stay whole
In a broken world
If you’re a broken woman
At home.
|
||||
9. |
||||
Woke up with this morning with the sun in my eyes
After a night of trouble and storm
Rains they’ve been falling, the tears we’ve cried
Struggle feels so deep in the heart
Woke up this morning with the sun in my eyes
Still kinda heavy from the tears I’ve cried
Woke up this morning with you in my arms
Woke up this morning with the light in your eyes
Could we, could we be allies?
After growing up watching the love of opponents?
Woke up this morning with the sun in my eyes
All the birds were singing there outside
And the cat came to join in the warmth and the cuddles
And even seemed kind of glad I was home.
Sometimes the road gets so hard
Rains all night through the storm
Held together by just a thread
And sometimes even that thread itself gets broken
Will men and women always been at war
Underneath the pretty rubric of love?
Tell me, did anyone ever really work it out?
To be in love and peace
Me behind you and you behind me
Holding the parts that are beautiful and whole
And the parts that are difficult and wounded,
Can we heal with our love?
Can we heal with our love?
Handle with care.
|
||||
10. |
Musical Darling
03:10
|
|||
Took yourself away
And all your funky bass
And I miss you
My Musical Darling
O the birds are not song birds tonight.
And my song is only half a song without you
Since you’ve taken your music aside.
You got mad and said don’t ever
Never contact me again.
Ok, but where do your rhythms find their place?
Where do they find their place?
Hello from a hill in California
These days she’s either flooded or she burns
The reservoirs are emptying and I don’t think I can stay here
My life, my path in life it turns
But I miss you
My musical darling.
O the birds are not song birds tonight
My song is only half a song without you
Since you’ve taken your music aside.
Breaking the rules
Was always my way
Reaching for you
Is what I wasn’t strong enough not to do
I miss you
My musical darling
O the birds are not song birds tonight.
And all these songs are only half songs without you
Guess I’ll just hope there’s other musicians in the world.
Maybe there’s other musicians in the world.
|
||||
11. |
Thank You for Your Heart
06:27
|
|||
Thank you for your heart
Thank you for your heart
Thank you for your heart
Thank you for the way you’re brave enough to feel
All the things you feel
When you’re a human frickin being
it’s kind of intense inside this form
Thank you for your grief
And thank you for holding me
with your whole body
as my heart was breaking into two.
Thank you for holding me like a mother when I was struggling hard
THank you for the ways you showed me all of your heart
Thank you for your touch
Thank you for your dance
Thank you for sitting with me
while I smoked cigarettes
‘cos I didn’t wanna feel it all
O, thank you.
How is your heart, how is your heart, how is your heart?
Is it jumping for joy?
Is it stuck in the mud?
Is it deadened by the screens, by the pressure and all the work?
Has it been shrouded in caffeine
Has it been pushed down too many times
Has it been wounded by somebody else’s suffering and their violence?
Is it ready to be checked into a hospital
Is it ready to lie down and rest?
Is your heart rising again?
In its nature and its grace
In its rightful time and place
right here, right now.
Each heart is like a flower in a vine of a plant
No heart should be alone
no heart is separate from the other hearts
We are flowers on a vine
We are lives in a line
We are humans wanting to try
We need to belong and to touch
And be connected with all life
We want to live in the love
In the arms of the earth
In the holding of all of nature and your
Touch and your skin and your eyes and your voice and your heart and your life
I welcome your heart, I welcome your heart
Thank you for your heart.
Thank you for your heart.
Cause we all need a gentle time
And we all need a gentle touch
And we all need a soft, soft ground
And we all need it easy
And we all need the safe safe quiet
Of a good night.
And we all,
And we all
Are creatures
And we all,
And we all
Are tender.
And we all need a gentle time
And we all need a gentle touch
And we all need a gentle heart
Reaching out towards us.
|
Briony Greenhill UK
I practice, perform and record primarily improvised music on themes of human depth, paradigm shift, the intimacy and bigger
picture of our times.
“The Joni Mitchell of a new generation”
— Jason Rabineau
“This is moody, lo-fi heaven of the highest order.”
— BBC
... more
Streaming and Download help
If you like Briony Greenhill, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp