Lyrics

THE PARADISE SONG

VERSE: I'll sing you a song and I'll call it The Paradise Song
I'll sing of the scheming and dreaming that pulls us along
The feet in a tumble the thoughts at the end of some line
Sniffing and straining and tugging to follow in time
Some paradise vision that leaves not a track or a sign

VERSE: From moment to moment from parent to child it is passed
Though the centuries rewrite the verses the chorus holds fast
Sing a line for your children a rhyme for the children of men
Sing it strong for your countrymen or lift up your voice in a hymn
Still the chorus is no more than wanting what you never can win

VERSE: It's a personal treason to hope without reason or rhyme
With the obsessions of millionaires we can sell our shoes for a dime
You make plans for the future plans that will suit your own aims
And from sunset to sunset there are plans made in billions of brains
And to locate a matched pair you could search your whole lifetime in vain

VERSE: Now if it's true that the future is a prisoner of the present and past
Then there's no track of time the feet of failure cannot outlast
You can look at the prophets listen to the conquerors' drums
Utopians scientists hedonists your daughters and sons
There's a paradise anthem playing in every one

VERSE: Alexander Napoleon Hitler and Caesar intend
By fortune or family the steps of the State to ascend
And with the power of their visions to kindle the courage of men
And with the strength of their armies order from chaos to win
But the madness of heroes only stretches as far as their skin

VERSE: All the gurus and man-gods spread-armed and cross-legged find
In a paradox paradise perfection in sadness defined
They sit on their mountains waiting for no one to tell
But the dog-tongued disciples are looking for something to sell
And from the matchsticks of truth they make all these mansions of heaven & hell

VERSE: Galileo and Bacon Descartes and Einstein believe
That a system of inquiry a grasp of the world can achieve
So they throw out the old laws look for truth with their fingers and eyes
Now we can blow up Wisconsin and fly 'round the world in the sky
And every man is our neighbor and every creature is poisoned inside

VERSE: All you communists capitalists democrats your time cannot last
All your leaders are wealthy your poor still suffer as the centuries pass
Your writers seek justice but the poor man just wants what riches can give
Show him revolutions or lotteries it's still the same reason to live
He slips through your doctrines like blood dripping out of a sieve

VERSE: So here you huddle in history the bombs at your elbows and eyes
You're praying or partying or raising up kids in a lie
You have facts and figures on the triggers of that deadly rain
Still the radio plays in your head the magnetic refrain
To some paradise vision that tugs like a tide on the brain

VERSE: And the laws are deserted you draw on a desert in thirst
To take what you want and not want what you take you are cursed
Like a thief in the darkness who finds everything worthless at dawn
You are standing bewildered and wondering what you've done wrong
And in your head are the meaningless sounds of The Paradise Song

CHORUS: But the dreams are gone
The dreams are gone
The dreams are gone
We can still go on

CHORUS: The dreams have died. . .
We can still survive


CHORUS: The dreams are lies. . .
Now we can be wise



Karl Williams (ASCAP)

© Canny Lark Music