Song Lyrics of Laura Wetzler - An amazingly Gifted Songwriter/Singer of Jewish Folk

Song Lyrics
All Songs © Laura Wetzler ASCAP
All Rights Reserved

New Song!
FLYING

Flying
Words and music © Laura Wetzler 2006 ASCAP All Rights Reserved
For Helga Beyer (of blessed memory) and Ursula Beyer Zadik, of Breslau, Germany

Chorus:
Flying over the mountains
Down through the pine tree maze
Two sisters race the cold wind
Whispering each other’s names.
One lands safely
And makes the most of all her days
One is forced off the mountain
And lifts off into the haze.

Resistance newspapers
Smuggled in ski poles
Over the border they sail
Two teenagers on a mission
That lands them both in jail
(Chorus)

Helga shows no remorse
She believes “Man is good”
Younger and idealistic
How could she imagine
What they would do?
Ursula locked in solitary
Puts on “the innocent” act
Reads the toilet-paper newsprint
Does sit-ups to keep her mind intact
(Chorus)

Helga serves her 3 years
But they never let her go
They murdered her in Ravensbruck
Ashes beneath the snow
Ursula, 8 years in Shanghai
Arrived here 60 years ago
She vowed to live and love the life
Her Helga would never know
(Chorus)

A feisty young sister
Looks out from a picture frame
By her absence
She is present
And her presence has never changed
Now, you don’t get over everything
Mostly you just go on
And wonder
Why you’re here
And she is gone.
(Coda)

Flying, flying, flying over the mountains…

To Save a Life
Words and Music by Laura Wetzler ©2001 ASCAP Laura Wetzler Music
Laurawetzler.com All Rights Reserved Used by Permission

No one wants to know
what we all know is so,
given the givens,
what good can we do?
Can we face
reality with grace?
Given the givens,
what good can we do?
(We can…)

To save a life,
it's like saving the whole world.
Your gift goes on
and the future
is healthy and strong.
To save one life
is like saving
the whole world.
You're a hero, it's true,
if the last thing you do
saves a life.

When it ends
it can begin again
for those who are left
who will never forget
the gifts you gave
and all the people
you saved!
Bring meaning to loss,
bring hope to the lost,
you saved a life,
you can save life!

Don't stand by
as your neighbors die
when so many can live
with what we can give.
So much doctors can do
they can't do without you.
What we
no longer need
is precious indeed
to save a life.

Tell your family it's so
the greatest thing we know
is to save a life.

The following lyrics are from the recording: Songwriter's Notebook.

HOLD ON	UNION STREET	SHADOWS
ANNIE	NOBODY'S GOING TO MAKE IT OUT HERE ALONE	BROKEN TIES
TAKEN BY SURPRISE	THE TASTE OF YOU	CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM
WONDER	B'MAKOM IN A PLACE	THE DEEPER THE TOUCH

HOLD ON
You worked so hard in that place,
it can really break your heart
and I can see by your face
this thing is tearing you apart.
You blame yourself, I know,
but this is so much bigger than you.
They don't care who they hurt
when their deals go through.

Hold on to your self now
Hold on, you are precious to me
Hold on, don't let them have you
don't let this bring you to your knees.

The things that count for something
don't mean much to these guys.
You've got to know what's true
don't let them touch you with their lies.
I've seen you fight through hell
and go to any length
It's time to reach down that well
and draw up all your strength.

ANNIE
Annie,
they never expected her to live
but here she is and she’s no kid
She can’t say a word but she’s singing big
she’s shouting to the music.
It must have been a favorite song
maybe from when she lived at home.
She rings like a bell the whole song long
totally filled with music.

Oh, the joy her face can hold
She’s six years young; she’s 30 years old
She spins like a penny; she shines like gold,
totally filled with music

She lives in a group home
with Millie and Sam
Every now and then they go on the lam
out to find the ice-cream man
down by the boardwalk.
Well, everybody needs a little excitement
They get into trouble, she doesn’t like it
off to her room
but she doesn’t fight it.

TAKEN BY SURPRISE
Taken by surprise
I never expected to lose you,
no one can accuse you
of staying overtime.
A spirit of your size
would burn any box they placed you,
why bother to encase you?
You were fire.

Alright, I get it
It's bright and brief and ended.
Why must you send it
skulking through my door?
Alright, I get it
At least give me credit.
I know I'm supposed to let it
make each minute more.

Someday every warm hand will be cold
this I know.
I just assumed you would be old
not necessarily so.

Why should I be immune?
It’s just, you left too soon
and I'm out here reading the runes
to tell me what to do.
Once again reminded,
up my face and blinded.
But, look,
the dust is shined with
shimmering, breathing light

WONDER
A slow walk through a darkened train
a burst of color and the tunnel fades
a mountain view from an open pane
I'm up from under.
A cool hand across a furrowed brow
the softest breath breathing will allow
it's present tense, so go easy now
up from under.

How strange to feel the way I do
a pleasure so foreign
what will I do?
How will I cope
so filled with hope
and wonder?

Welcome back from the walking dead
I was so hooked on pain
I was fed on dread
deprived of sleep in a feather bed
no wonder
Be still in the warmest arms
for the longest time,
for the longest ride
as down, down, down, down, down you slide
into wonder

Listen, just take your time
There's endless space and unbroken line
Where to go and what you'll find
this time?
Change comes
as you worked, it would
Know what path it takes?
We never could.
The gift is given-
take it
and wonder.

UNION STREET
(Ode to the Gowanus Canal)
A woman haunts the dead end
she smiles, she bends
until she sees my female face.
A counterman in the greasy spoon
slings the workers lunch at noon
by three he's abandoned the place.

The bridge is up on Union Street
to pass a tanker to it's oily berth
and the horn sings
to be home on the Gowanus
copper green vein of the earth.

On a misty night
you fear the condensation
you fear the funny flavored fog
What industry mysteries
released into the darkness
are rising from the urban bog?
Scrap shops, brass bobs,
auto wrecks and print shops
all line it's burly banks
PCB's and benzene,
microbes science has never seen
are leaching from the leaky tanks.

I've seen the trash burn
on the surface of the water
on the surface of the water fire glows
I've seen the soot
rising from the foundries
blanketing the neighborhood like snow.
There's a guardhouse
for the man who works the drawbridge
maybe twice a day it's up or it's down
there's a flagpole
and it's flying dear old glory
in the strangest breeze in town.

NOBODY'S GOING TO MAKE IT
OUT HERE ALONE
Words by MAYA ANGELOU*
Lying, thinking last night
how to find my soul a home
where water is not thirsty
and breadloaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
and I don't believe I'm wrong
that nobody but nobody's
going to make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely
I'll tell you what I know
the storm clouds are gathering
the wind is going to blow
the human race is suffering
and I can hear the moan
Nobody, but nobody's
Going to make it out here alone.

*From the poem "Alone",
from Oh Pray My Wings Are
Going To Fit Me Well
©1975 by Maya Angelou,
Random House, Inc.
Reprinted by permission

THE TASTE OF YOU
We share each breath we take
until it's time to wake
then we snuggle
and you're half-way out the door.
In the rising light
as you drive out of sight
I stare outside my window
wanting more.

Though I'm left alone
I still feel you so warm
in the place that you've left in my bed.
I hold onto
the taste of you
as I make my way through the day.

We lead our separate lives
we have these workday grinds
we have time that we call our own
but when that workday grind
takes me from your side
I wish that we could hide out here at home.

B'MAKOM IN A PLACE
Based on a saying in Hebrew by Hillel, 1st century b.c.e.
B'makom sh'ayn anashim
Hillel omer l'hishtadayl l'hiyot ish

In a place where no one's acting like a human being
we must strive to be more human
than the world we're seeing.

In a place where no one's speaking of a clear injustice
we must ring our voices out
in spite of what it costs us.

In place where no one cares about the sick we're losing
we must fight for every life
life is what we're choosing.

SHADOWS
Shadows in the moonlight
dancing on your porch, white
Willows, they bent in deep night
that summer when I met you.

Work was our common ground
Your words first brought me around
You were strong and sleek
I was strong and round
that summer when I met you.

Who knew what we'd go through?
Years later, I'm still in love with you
You're changing, I'm changing too
The one I want is you.

Shadows in the moonlight
dancing on your porch, white
Willows, they bent in deep night
that summer when I met you,
the summer I met you
who knew?

BROKEN TIES
Lighten up your heavy hand
loosen up your grip
There's so much to understand
so unclench your fist.

You're tight with loss
broken ties:
open up your eyes
The dead have futures
only they can know
we must let them go.

Flash of memory fills your heart,
their presence is so damn real
Keeping cool is an art
when in dreams they feel so near.

CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM
Chorus based on a Iraqi-Jewish Hamavdil melody
trad. arranged Laura Wetzler

We're children of Abraham
we're from the same tent
let us gather in common sense
Shalom Aleichem, Aliekum Salaam
life is short, let peace be long.

Abraham, what would you say
if you knew your family was
fighting this way?
Well, you know how it is
your Dad was not amused
when you turned down
the family trade
to start something new.

So many stories
used this way and that
to justify terror
or wearing a hat.
So many stories,
you choose what you hear:
The blessings of peace
or the rantings of fear.

Not a word in years-
what a waste.
We sing the same notes
differently arranged.
Our poetry reaches
across all time
our rhythms echo
our languages rhyme.

THE DEEPER THE TOUCH
I don't know who you're seeing now
projected on my face
but I am not your enemy
though you've put me in her place.

The deeper the touch
the deeper the fear
the deeper the backlash
plays in my ear

I know I have my part in this
I cop to what I've done
My past is littered with broken faith
this broken road I've run
but it's a long time since I cleaned up
I'm working every day
but when you need to you cough it up
and serve it on my plate.

The deeper the touch
the deeper the fear
the deeper the consequences
play in our ears

We jerk ourselves from pleasure
like it's nothing we deserve
We sabotage each happy thing
like it was our most primal urge
and the dramas come like holidays
ghosts of holidays passed
we hurt each other to push away
so no tenderness should last.

The deeper the touch
the deeper the fear
the deeper our histories
play in our ears

So it's not the movies,
it's not TV
it's not pop radio
but it's the most important thing
that I have every known
Though anger may eclipse our face
it always passes by
we begin again from a safe distance
and give another try.