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1. |
Peaceful
03:04
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We live to be peaceful
We live to be free from the whim
There’s always something new to need
We cherish what we use and we share the rest
We know this is how it feels to be blessed
Take my hand now you’re ever so kind
Let’s walk through the woods and see what we find
Let’s steal a patch of sun and you tell me
What’s on your mind
Who here plays piano?
And who the drums?
Who has a horn he toots or banjo she strums?
Who can sing like a sparrow?
Who can dance, swing and sway?
And who can think of a better use for our day?
Take my hand now let’s open this door
Let’s study all the world in parts and see what they’re for
Let’s see what we can protect and what to restore
This life we choose, it fills our cup
This life we choose, it gives so much
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2. |
Two Old Shoes
02:43
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These are two old shoes but I love what they do
Well, they bear me here and there on my way
And my favorite old jeans, oh well, they’re ripping at the seams
But I find that I admire their decay
Here’s my method too, for hardly ever being blue
Hardly shy or ever hiding away
I open my heart ever day from the start
Like you’d open up an old attaché
For every reason the world gives you
To be nothing but an orphan or a pawn
Catch your reflection on the water kid
You thought you were a duckling, you’re a swan
You’re a swan
And who do you spare with your glow in there?
Tucked up your sleeve instead of given away
The world needs your power more with every passing hour
Needs your light more with every passing day
So, Lovely, by all means, in your old shoes and your jeans
Accord yourself with all the grace of a flower
You don’t have to compete to offer up something sweet
To shine your light on the day or the hour
For every moment you could foment
Thoughts of loneliness or cause to be afraid
Line your sturdy hearts up children, throw them open
And behold the world you made World you made
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3. |
Effervescing Elephant
01:08
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An Effervescing Elephant
With tiny eyes and great big trunk
Once whispered to the tiny ear
The ear of one inferior
That by next June he'd die, oh yeah!
Because the tiger would roam
The little one said: "Oh my goodness,
I must stay at home!
And every time I hear a growl
I'll know the tiger's on the prowl.
And I'll be really safe, you know
The elephant he told me so."
Everyone was nervy, oh yeah!
And the message was spread
To zebra, mongoose,
And the dirty hippopotamus, who
Wallowed in the mud and chewed
His spicy hippo-plankton food
And tended to ignore the word
Preferring to survey a herd
Of stupid water bison, oh yeah!
And all the jungle took fright,
And ran around for all the day and the night
But all in vain, because, you see,
The tiger came and said: "Who me?!
You know, I wouldn't hurt not one of you.
I'd much prefer something to chew
And you're all too scant." Oh yeah!
He ate the Elephant
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4. |
All the Birds
02:07
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All the birds are singing out your name
All the birds are singing out your name,
And all the trees are blowing in the breeze
Only to lean closer to you
All the butterflies are dancing in the skies
And all the fish give their tails a swish
All the trees are blowing in the breeze
Only to lean closer to you
We walk all day in the open wide
Arm in arm, side by side
How can I say how it feels inside for me?
All the birds are singing out your name
And all the little birds are singing out your name
All the trees are blowing in the breeze
Only to lean closer to you
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5. |
So Many Words
02:46
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A for agate, A for allosaurus, A for aeronautic
A for atom, A for abacus, A for archipelago
So many words start with the letter A
Wave your hands in the air and let’s learn a few today
Say, “A!”
B for bandicoot, C for clawfoot, D for diorama
E for eavesdrop, F for fritillaria, G for glacier
So many words start with B, C, D, E, F, G
Come on, clap your hands and you can sing them with me
Say, “B, C, D, E, F, G.”
Oh, oh! Just flipping through my OED
H for hemlock, I for ignoramus, J for javelina
K for katydid, L for lanyard, M for mitochondria
N for nocturnal, O for ovoid, P for Paleolithic
Q for quagmire, R for resolution, S for semaphore
Oh, when you’re thumbing through a dictionary
You can’t thumb your nose at all the wondrous words it knows!
T for tailcoat, U for useful, V for vaudevillian
W for warbler, X for xylophone, Y for yarmulke
Last of the bunch is the letter Z, a zesty, zealful letter if you’re asking me Say “Z.”
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6. |
Turn Around
02:32
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Looking out the window of a moving car,
The radio tuned down low
The song says to believe in something that’s better
So let us go
We’re not some little wounded birds, come to flitter
Or to be studied in a cage
We’re stronger than you think
And we may just be the ones to turn the page
To be made new now, we come upon ourselves and oh, we’re changing!
We’ll settle up your debts, forgive your debtors
And we won’t forget our defenders or our betters
The radio sounds a serenade, it’s carrying us on
And surely this is my song, surely it is yours
Surely it was made just for us, all at once and all at once
Surely this is my poem, surely it is yours
Let the meter move us, turn us, take us up
And ever make us new
Turn, turn around, take our hands and we’ll make a circle so large
The earth understands that our plans are hers
Turn, turn around
Turn, turn around
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7. |
Madame Claire
02:45
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I’m the protégé of Madame Claire
Madame Claire, she sits just over there
Thumbing through her manners catalogues
I sit over here and she sits over there
And they want to marry me in the space of a year
So they’ve signed on Madame Claire
It seems to me an awful lot to appease
To hope for more from a girl with a wicked tongue
And scabby knees
But they say she’s a bargain,
Having helped girls far more far gone
Though I would glow to watch her go and never beg her pardon!
“Oh child! Oh child!” she’ll say, “You vex me!
Oh child, is there some place you’d rather be?”
And I say, “You don’t know the half!”
But you spoil the child when you spare the staff
Spoil the child when you spare the staff
Madame Claire’s face suggests an active
Mental landscape where she’ll steal
Or perhaps I project this incredible sense of longing that I feel
To escape this courtly setting and so begin forgetting
Every curtsey and tea, every princess and pea
And my future begetting!
Oh Madame! Oh Madame! You won’t catch me!
Oh Madame there is some place I’d rather be
For all the manners in you’re keeping
I’ll sneak out while you’re sleeping
And by the break of day, I’ll be far away
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8. |
Oh, the Inspiration
02:37
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Sleep my darling, sleep an hour
Sleep as though a folded flower
White as the clouds, be your dreams light
As the willow is tall and slight
As gentle as this night is, oh
Oh, the inspiration came to me!
Oh, the inspiration long at sea
Rowed the boat to shore with a lone pine oar
And oh my darling, you came to me
All the young birches, tall and slim
Gleaming in the forest dim
High the firs tower, as if in flight
A hundred tiny birds, tuck in for the night, oh
Oh, the inspiration came to me!
Oh, the inspiration long unseen
Filled the room with light, to the highest beam
And oh my darling, you came to me
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9. |
Yeah
02:09
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Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
I know a kid named Slim and he’s dancing in the gym
He’s dancing like his shoes are gonna sneeze
I know a boy named Blue and he knows just what to do
When the song requires a shimmy and he’s dancing in the gymmy
He says
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
I know a girl names Scout, and she knows what it’s about
It’s all about a giggle and twirl
And I know a kid named Evie and her moves are really heavy
And her legs they have the habit of kicking like a rabbit
She says
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Well you’re not too young ... to get it done!
And you’re not too small ... not at all!
And you’re not too wiggly ... higgly piggly!
And you’re not too precious ... to wash the dishes
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
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10. |
Let's Get Dressed Up
02:24
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You can lounge around in a track-suit kid
But you’ll never catch that on me
I may be just a kitten, but turns out I am smitten
With chic and rakish toggery
Trade that polar fleece for a velvet cape or some gold lame
A touch of houndstooth or lace should put a smile on your face
Or won’t you look cute in brother’s three-piece suit?
Let’s get dressed up! Let’s get dressed up!
See how it feels in a high set of Mom’s heels as we dance the day away
You say, “Goodness, such refined taste! Well, how can you afford?” Without stoppin’, I just go shoppin’ in our cupboards and dresser drawers
Mom’s long skirt pulled up under your chin makes for a dashing evening gown
A flowered pillowcase tied loose round your face makes quite a statement when it sweeps the ground
Let’s get dressed up! Let’s get dressed up!
How much better to be dapper and dandy as we dance the day away
Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today
Toss yourself in to my dress-up bin, fun won’t be far away
That kneesock with a hole in the toe serves as a smashing evening glove Throw this pink scarf in or this feathered hairpin
You’ve got something special all the kids will love
Let’s get dressed up! Let’s get dressed up!
Throw on a sash, we’ll have a bash as we dance the day away
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11. |
Lonely Girl
02:59
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Here’s the lonely girl you never sought
Here’s the quiet kid that you forgot
Watch as she circles the school paking lot singing
“This little light of mind, I’m gonna let it shine...”
Here she is in her school’s study hall
Losing time staring holes in the wall
But what is this magic that holds her in thrall?
That tears off the roof in a singular squall
Sends several fantastical friends down to call singing
“Please, Lovely, join us!”
An enchanted summons then Bid her to enter in
And no one sees her when she leaves
Into the air, what a glorious prize
The wind and the sun burn the scales from her eyes
And piercing the sky with her grace and her stealth
She circles the globe and encounters herself And oh, what abundance here, what worth and wealth
Do you see?
An enchanted summons then
Came rather from within
And it insisted she believe
Lonely girl, yours is a timorous lot
You think too much, Darling, of what you are not
And next time you do, please recall you can sing
And the itch at your back is the beat of your wings
And they’re carry you forward to wonderful things
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12. |
Little Red Wagon
03:02
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Riding up and down in your little red wagon
Fare thee well my darling
Round and round in your little red wagon
Fare thee well my darling
Riding to the baker in your little red wagon
Fare thee well my darling
Riding to the dairy in your little red wagon
Fare thee well my darling
Riding to a garden in your little red wagon
Fare thee well my darling
Ready for a picnic in your little red wagon
Fare thee well my darling
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13. |
Whistling Song
02:33
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Sitting by the water squishing sand through our toes
Lining up the shells we find in bright, shiny rows
I think I could stay forever
Float all breezy like a feather
Wile away the afternoon with you
Watch the sea, she scampers up then dazzles away
I could watch this little dance beside you all day
Mother seagull, how she bustles
Pulling seaweed, crabs and mussels
Wile away the afternoon with you
And I’ll tell you the truth, if you’ll swear to repeat it
You’re holding my heart now, you delight and complete it
Watch the sun she’s sinking now, inflaming the sea
The strand regards the golden light and then sets it free
Whistling a tune we’re heading home, but I am not forgetting
My ever so lovely afternoon with you
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14. |
With Linked Arms
02:55
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We’ll set out with linked arms and you’ll tell me all you know
Let us hurry my love, free as a dove, lest we never go
Take my hand walk with me through the leaves as they fall
Leave your troubles behind, see what you find
When you let go of it all
And yes the waves break, always to the wind
There’s only sea and air
Downpour; it will come
As I’m sure the ground is under us
I know that you know
Birds launch and boughs sway in the breeze
Move through the air, becalmed and with care
Might we someday match their ease
And you know your way to dreams
You know how real they seem
Baby, mine
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Cat Doorman Portland, Oregon
Cat Doorman is Julianna Bright, a musician, an artist, a mom and a big believer in the power of art, story and song to make us kinder, braver, better humans. Her songs for kids have been awarded the Parents' Choice Silver Honor and become a mainstay on Sirius Satellite's Kids' Place Live. ... more
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