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THE MEANING OF LIFE

by Dan Sullivan

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1.
Man on a Pale Horse 03:01
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The Flag’s flying at the courthouse A symbol of unity As the country tears itself apart From Sea to Shining Sea We’re putting kids in cages Half the country’s up in arms The other half shrugs it off All they say is “What’s the harm?” There’s a Man riding on a Pale Horse He says he’ll make America great He’s either your hero or villain In these Divided States It’s the Fourth of July once again And fireworks are flying They’re drowning out the sounds Of a thousand children crying Protesters marching in the streets All across the land While the President is on his cellphone And he’s tweeting again He’s the Man riding on a Pale Horse He says he’ll make America great He’s either your hero or villain In these Divided States
2.
Hurry back, Jesus 03:10
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There’s hatred everywhere I look We haven’t got a prayer They’re killing children in the schools They’re killing everywhere Neighbor hating neighbor Nations armed for war Every day seems a little bit worse Than the day before Hurry Back Jesus Cause things aren’t going so well You said you’d be back again And we know you will But if we can last ’til then Ain’t no one can tell Hurry Back Jesus The world is going to Hell Lawlessness everywhere Men do as they please Poisoning the oceans And the very air we breath The truth has been forgotten With the lessons of the past People greedy everywhere For things that never last Hurry Back Jesus Cause things aren’t going so well You said you’d be back again And we know you will But if we can last ’til then Ain’t no one can tell Hurry Back Jesus The world is going to Hell Famine, war and hopelessness Beggars plead for alms The hungry dying every day While the world keeps building bombs Corruption, graft and bribery Favors bought and sold While the meek, the poor and helpless Get left out in the cold Hurry Back Jesus Cause things aren’t going so well You said you’d be back again And we know you will But if we can last ’til then Ain’t no one can tell Hurry Back Jesus The world is going to Hell
3.
American guns 02:14
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He walks into the school With his weapons underneath A nondescript jacket He’s armed to the teeth Any sense of humanity He had has been eroded His life is empty of meaning But his guns are all loaded He gets his reason to murder From an inner rage He gets his license to kill From the NRA Put your platitudes in the prayer box They won’t bring back the children It wasn’t God who took them away It was AMERICAN GUNS that killed ‘em Now politicians fret and fuss And wipe away crocodile tears Just don’t talk about AMERICAN GUNS ‘Cause they have no ears to hear They’ve learned to play their roles so well Their grief is well rehearsed But they never lift a finger to stop it May all of them be accursed
4.
58 Candles 02:33
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Beautiful woman, Beautiful child Beautiful man, Beautiful smiles And now there’s 58 Candles Burning Picture this, Picture that Look at all their photographs And now there’s 58 Candles Burning How many times have we seen All this madness before Sometimes it almost seems Love’s not enough anymore So much life left to live So much love left to give And now there’s 58 Candles Burning How many time have we seen All this madness before At times like this it seems Prayers aren’t enough anymore Beautiful woman, Beautiful child Beautiful man, Beautiful smiles Now there’s 58 Candles Burning
5.
Jesse Daniels 04:40
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Down in Florida a society matron Was compromised one night It was a black man who did it She saw him clearly in the light The Sheriff kindly counseled her Your friends need never know A black man ever touched your skin And tarnished such a rose “But Mama, I didn’t do it” Poor Jesse Daniels cried “I was home in bed asleep By 10 o’clock that night" They’re taking him to the courthouse The papers have all been signed “But Mama, I didn’t do it” Poor Jesse Daniels cried Jesse Daniels was just eighteen And he loved to ride his bike He never hurt nobody Or stayed out late at night But he was kind of slow in school And that fit the story fine But mainly he was white enough To save that woman’s pride “But Mama, I didn’t do it” Poor Jesse Daniels cried “I was home in bed asleep By 10 o’clock that night" They’re taking him to the courthouse The papers have all been signed “But Mama, I didn’t do it” Poor Jesse Daniels cried So they railroaded Jesse Daniels To the Chattahoochee Home His father died and his mother cried And Jesse just grew old After 14 years of appealing The verdict was overturned You see justice moves quite slowly Against a Sheriff’s word “But Mama, I didn’t do it” Poor Jesse Daniels cried “I was home in bed asleep By 10 o’clock that night" They’re taking him to the courthouse The papers have all been signed “But Mama, I didn’t do it” Poor Jesse Daniels cried
6.
The meaning of life 03:26
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Drunkards and sages Down through the ages Have pondered life’s meaning There’s not much that they’ve missed From Shakespeare to Plato They’ve passed on what they know The accumulated wisdom Goes something like this: It is what it is you won’t always get All that you ask for on your Christmas list There isn’t a Genie who’ll grant you one wish Life is a blessing; It is what it is Buddah and Jesus And the mystics all teach us We’re just passing through And death is not the end There’s no foolproof system On the bumpy road to wisdom Be kind to fellow travelers And treat ‘em all like friends It is what it is you won’t always get All that you ask for on your Christmas list There isn’t a Genie who’ll grant you one wish Life is a blessing; It is what it is
7.
Everything happens for a reason 02:52
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Well, my car wouldn’t start last evening And I lost my job last week My wife ran off with the mailman And I stutter every time I speak They say “everything happens for a reason” When your life has hit the skids They tell you some good will come from it But who are they trying to kid? Of all the things that coulda happened Why’d it have to be this If everything happens for a reason Why won’t they tell me what the reason is? Well I went to the doctor this morning And he gave me the bad news You should put your affairs in order You’ve only got a week or two So I went to see the lawyer Who handled my divorce Everything happens for a reason Is what he said of course Of all the things that coulda happened Why’d it have to be this If everything happens for a reason Why won’t they tell me what the reason is?
8.
Will you be my Valentine? 02:20
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Candy hearts and paper flowers Lovers talking on the phone for hours Please don’t break this heart of mine Will you be my Valentine? She smiles at him he smiles at her She wonders how she can be sure Please don’t break this heart of mine Will you be my Valentine? He never thought he’d fall in love again She never thought she’d ever fall for a guy like him When two hearts fit just like a glove You might as well just call it love Please don’t break this heart of mine Will you be my Valentine?
9.
Cherokee Joe 03:09
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Nobody knew what his real name was He had a tattoo on his arm of a mourning dove He hung around places where the homeless go Everybody called him Cherokee Joe They’d drop their tips into a hardshell case While Cherokee Joe sang ‘Amazing Grace’ He’d work the street in the heat of the day He’d end each gig singing ‘Ira Hayes’ Cherokee Joe, Cherokee Joe Where did you come from? Where did you go? He came with the sun And left with the snow I’ll never forget Cherokee Joe I was 14 getting nowhere fast in school In a great big hurry to break all the rules I saw him on the corner one day when I was bored He showed me his guitar and a couple of chords So I bought a guitar - I was just acting out - With the money I earned on a paper route When I showed it to him all he had to say Was Good Luck kid, now go learn to play On the day I learned to play my very first song I went looking for him but they said he was gone All that was left was the sun in the sky He left nothing behind not even goodbye We never met again but I learned how to play I learned it’s easy to just walk away I learned how to laugh and I learned how to cry But I never learned how to say goodbye.
10.
Everybody's crying over you 02:29
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The old dog is howling at the moon just like he knew Old friends of mine ask me if it’s true ‘Cause nothing travels faster than bad news And it seems like everybody’s crying over you The sky has eyes and just like yours they’re blue The trees have ears when the wind whistles through The grass can’t hide the early morning dew It seems like everybody’s crying over you As days elapsed my grief had passed For you or so it seemed But love and grief play tricks on me At odd moments when I see An old dog howling at the moon just like he knew Or a couple holding hands like we used to do You’re gone five years and I bet you never knew That everybody’s crying over you And the old dog’s still howling at the moon
11.
Three o’clock in the morning 03:04
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It’s 3 o’clock in the morning The radio’s turned down The dog cocked its ear and growled When he heard the cat meow The refrigerator’s humming But the phone hasn’t made a sound I guess she’s not gonna call tonight Or she would have called by now It’s 3 o’clock in the morning I can hear a car go by The wind rattled the window pane And the radio just died The refrigerator’s humming But the phone hasn’t made a sound I guess she’s not gonna call tonight Or she would have called by now I need to hear her tell me why She hasn’t called or come around But silence is running deep tonight And faster than the speed of sound

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released March 5, 2018

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Dan Sullivan Kalamazoo, Michigan

Some people like gardening, working on cars or woodworking. Others enjoy knitting, collecting stamps or coins. That kind of thing. I like writing songs.

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