Snake Oil & Hummingbirds

by Joanne Rand

Snake Oil & Hummingbirds cover art
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credits

released 29 August 2009
Co-Produced by Joanne Rand and Stephen Hart
Recorded at:
Jane Clark Studio, Cotati, CA
BASS, San Rafael, CA
Myrtletown Records, Eureka, CA
Sebtone Studio, Sebastopol, CA
Mixed and Mastered by Stephen Hart

tags

tags: americana contemporary folk folk folk-rock singer songwriter traditional folk blues-rock classical pop rock Arcata

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about

“A fixture of the Northern California folk scene, Rand’s life, activism & art are woven seamlessly together. A celebrated ... more musician, composer & teacher. From stripped-down folk songs to lush, textured rock arrangements, she makes consistently engaging, perceptive, universal music.”-SFStation.com 2012. Touring nationally for 25 years, Rand is busy working on her 13th CD of original songs. less

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Track Name: Streets Today
Streets Today - Joanne Rand 2008 (all true stories)
Woman in a wheelchair going down a busy street,

Wind blowing her white hair, and she’s carrying her Christmas tree.

I see you 
believe in yourself; there's nothing more that you can do.


Man on a street corner with an IPOD and a sign.
My kid say's: Where'd you get the money for that, mister?
You can't have mine.
I see you 
believe in yourself; there's nothing more that you can do.


IMAGES AND SNATCHES OF THE STREETS TODAY

LEAVE ME LAUGHING AND CRYING
CAN'T SOMEBODY FIND SOME WAY
TO KEEP US TRYING?
Man presses a newspaper flat against his face.

He leans his head into it, snoring at the boring human race.

He sits on the curb; we dare not disturb his peace.


A guy in ragged clothes; he's emaciated; he's frail.

He's tall and he stalks the streets, talking to his feet with his arms aflail.

He walks alone, without a hearth or home.


CHORUS

Big, disheveled woman screaming at a man and his child:
"Leave me alone, or I'll the cops and I might get wild!"

Then I see her cardboard sign: 
"Woman looking for a home that I can call mine."

That's something I can relate to: the need to belong
And find my people.

'Cause me, I've always felt that I was born of the wrong skin
And a hundred years too late to fully breathe in.
I yearn for my tribe

Being of the earth and satisfied
College campus students, so many different kinds and shapes and colors
And the world is teaming with their bright young minds.
Where will they go? Where will they go?
CHORUS
Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself.
Track Name: Open Door
Open Door - Joanne Rand 2008

I'm walking through an open door.
I cannot see what's out there.
The remaining room in my life is not as big as it used to be,
But it's still important to me.
Sacred...space,
That which is left of my life.
Don't squander it. How will I paint the walls:
Wild and wavy, playful, crazy...
Or striped, confined by rules?
Let's make it Mother-of-Pearl for the mother of all fools.
Life is encompassed by a space and a hyphen and a space
Sandwiched somewhere between Birth Date and Death Date.
What are birth and death anyway? Certainly not who we are.
I am a planet, I am a star; I am the sun, the moon; I am gravity.
I am a candle blown out too soon. I am a firecracker with a short fuse
And you cannot refuse me; you cannot use me,
But you can love me if you choose.
We're walking…(verse 1)
We are candles; we are firecrackers; we are planets; we are stars;
We are the sun, the moon; we are gravity and I will love you as you are.
Walk with me through the open door.
Walk and say "Goodbye" To where we've been before.
I'm walking through an open door. I'm walking through an open door.
All I really want to say is: "Won't you walk with me?
Want to walk and find the way and wonder we will see?
Walk with me through the open door.
Walk and say "Goodbye" to where we've been before.
Walk and say "Hello."
Track Name: Broken Open Hearts
Broken Open Hearts - Joanne Rand 2007
ROLLING & ROLLING & FINDING OUR CENTER
THE BROKEN OPEN HEARTS
BROKEN OPEN, OPEN HEARTS
Life it is an apple rolling on the ground
Seeds in every part of it and magic to be found
So rest your head upon my chest and marvel at the site
Where good and bad both reside, dove and raven side by side
And life is short...but wide...when it's broken open!
CHORUS
Life it is a dandelion plucked past its prime
Seeds sail every-which-away and bring me peace of mind
So rest your head upon my chest and marvel at the site
Where birth and death both reside, dawn and darkness side by side
And life is short...but wide...when it's broken open!
Life it is an open sky with clouds that turn
Colors changing endlessly beneath a sun that burns
So rest your head upon my chest and marvel at the sight:
Sun and Moon and Earth and Sky. Ours is not to question why
Is life short...but wide...when it's broken…open, broken…open?
Track Name: Squaw Rock
Squaw Rock - Joanne Rand 2007
Bump in the road at squaw rock where the rapids make us flutter
What’s the road crew up to, messing with the water?
Bump in the road at squaw rock and a detour up ahead
It’s named for the Indian women who leaped to their death
Bump in the road at squaw rock. Be prepared to stop
My daughter asked me why they jumped from the top
Bump in the road at squaw rock. We roll slowly by
Cavalrymen chasing the women made them want to die
Bump in the road at squaw rock and now we’re on our way
A hundred women’s lives are just an echo in our day
Bump in the road at squaw rock, I’ve seen it from in flight
It’s a monumental tombstone. My god, what a sight!
It’s as if the earth had gathered in a massive first held high
A sacrificial altar, Mt. Sinai
A finger pointing upwards to call attention to
What these women chose to do
It’s a testament to freedom and to the human soul
And to those who’d rather die than be bought and sold.
Me I’m sucked into the freeway, the free freeway
I’m sucked into the grind of my day
Sucked into the freeway, the free freeway
And a hundred women’s lives, long ago, are just an echo in my day.
But I keep on wondering
If I were one of them, what would I do; would I give in?
What will we do when we’re pushed to the edge?
Will we survive or jump, instead?
Are we survivors? Are we slaves?
What is the future of our world today?
We're sucked into the freeway - stoplight –
cell phone - satellite – sit-com - uptight
tunnel-vision grind of our day
We're sucked into the IPOD – myspace –
googleearth - arms race – shock-&-awe - shopping mall
holographic grind of our day
Get a retina scan. Get a chip implant. Clone your DNA, they can.
Save the human race! Save the human race!
Save the human race, while we can.
Bump in the road at squaw rock
Look! There’s a little flag on top.
Track Name: Shenandoah
Shenandoah –Traditional. Arranged and amended with additional lyrics by Joanne Rand 2007

…and so the white man fled
And his canoe was laden
And he hung his head
With his heart forsaken
Because of a father’s pride
The white man learned to hide his heart
Because of a father’s greed
The land began to bleed
And the white mans race
Grubbed for gold all over the place
And he tore the land
He did not understand that
Power does not lie
In the things that gold and silver can buy
Power cannot be
In the thin wires of electricity
It’s in a river flowing free
It’s in a river flowing free
To the sea.
Track Name: Brother's Son
Brother's Son - Joanne Rand 2009

He cannot come back again
Until he’s learned the hard way
Surely he’ll rise again,
Once he’s seen it my way
Oh, my brother’s son; oh, my young one
Sink your teeth into the flesh;
Dig your roots down deep, boy
Only life you got; kiss the joy, boy
Oh, my brother’s son; oh, my young one
FIND YOUR TONGUE.
SPEAK YOUR MIND.
KNOW WHAT COUNTS.
KNOW WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT.
Track Name: Into the Wild
Into the Wild - Joanne Rand 2008 (for Chris McCandless)

He's not unlike you and me
What in our dreams we could be
If we walked into the wild.
He shed his family
Because of bigamy
He told the trucker how he takes
The river to the sea
And now he walks into the wild
POOR BOY, HE'S JUST A "LEATHER TRAMP"
SHEER JOY, HE SEEMS TO FEEL IT WHEN HE
HITS THE ROAD
Losing his load and his mind unfolds.
Out in some desert he set fire to all his currency
In ash and flame he changed his name
He ran from his name
Was this boy insane?
Tell me, was this boy insane?
He's not unlike you and me
What in our dreams we could be
If we walked, gently, into the wild
He shed his family
Because of lies told
And now he takes
The river to the sea
And he walks into the wild.
Following his consequences
Following his bliss, he is
Walking, gently into his "Wild Child"
CHORUS
Brave boy! He waved a cheerful "goodbye"
And gratitude was in his eye
And reverence for all that's wild
And his wisdom gained is:
"Happiness is shared
"Happiness...only real when shared."
This boy affected me
This gentle Pilgrim he was lost
And in so doing, found himself.
He reached so many!
More than he ever could if he'd
Got some big job, been some big shot
And he's still reaching, healing, teaching
His life is a church. His death is a shrine!
Poor boy! He was just a "leather tramp"
Sheer joy, he seems to feel it now
Brave boy! He waved a cheerful "goodbye"
And ecstasy was in his eye
Was this boy insane?
"Happiness is shared"
He's not unlike you and me
What in our dreams we can be
Track Name: Ocean In Me
Ocean in Me - Joanne Rand 2007
The Ocean's indifferent blanket of life
Like a sheet shaken out in the wind
One minute laughing the next a wild cry
As the ages roll out and in
And my girlie's a-play on the rocks
And my gander's a-gathering mussel
And the ominous sound of the pound of the waves
As the ocean and earth tussle
The Ocean's indifferent blanket of life
Like a horse's wild mane on the run
It's life and it's death and it's all in between
In the wind and rain and sun
SUN SHINES DOWN SOMEWHERE AT SEA
SOMEWHERE I WOULD RATHER BE
THERE'S AN OCEAN IN ME
Verse 1
CHORUS
The Ocean's indifferent blanket of life
Like the down of a swan on the wing
Like the foam that is left
From the mermaids' breath
Like the cry when the wild geese sing
And it pulls my heartstrings
When I hear the geese sing
'Cause I'm a wild thing
I'm a wild thing
There's an ocean in me
And I love the sea!
Track Name: Prayer for the River
Prayer for the River - Joanne Rand 2007
Sing a prayer for the river:
May you run wild and free and long
Sing a prayer for the river:
May you run clear and cold and strong
May your people do no wrong
May your waters hold our song
Sing a prayer for the river
Sing a prayer for the salmon:
Multiply, dive and leap in wild abandon
Sing a prayer for the salmon:
Circling, circling feel the impulse
Feel the urge and lay your eggs
Clear cold water rushing downstream
Full grown salmon are returning
Sing a prayer for the salmon
Sing a prayer for the river
Sing a prayer for each other.
Track Name: Song of Life
Song of Life - Joanne Rand 2008

The song of life is a miracle and a strange thing, too
Don’t let it go, now; don’t give it up, now
Don’t let life get the best of you
Remember dreamtime life is real
You may only get one shot; could be all you got
Just once around the wheel
And the waterfall keeps falling and the years go by
I can hear the music calling out my name, and I
I am pouring like a river, sometimes underground
I will not stop, now; I won’t give up, now
I won’t sit down
Hear the music calling out your name
Track Name: Tennessee Waltz
Tennessee Waltz
By Red Stewart & Pee Wee King.
additional lyrics by Joanne Rand 2006

I’ve been waiting for my darling to come back to me
And I’ll be waiting for all of my days
I’ll be keeping that home fire burning
Though I can’t see the smoke from the haze
CHORUS
I was waltzing; now I’m waiting
And I’ll be waiting for the rest of my days
‘Cause I lost her to my best friend
Now I can’t see the smoke from the haze
I remember the night and what true love can be
And I’m waiting now patiently
There I lost my little darling as they were waltzing
The beautiful Tennessee Waltz