Lyrics
Awake Prelude © Sarah M. Greer
It’s the time of morn when a day is born
Darkness begins to fade
The stars and the moon end a silent tune
Room for the morning is made
It’s the time of night when there’s been no light
Daylight isn’t assured
When suddenly a cacophony
but it starts with a single bird …
“Awake!” said the lark cuz she saw the spark
of the first morning sun
“Cock-a-doodle doo!” that old rooster saw it too
sang a song cuz the morning had come
Watcha ya doin’ sleepin’?
the morning sun is creepin’
we birdies should be cheepin’
Lift your voices and sing there’s a new day beginning
“Get up, let’s go!” cawed the noisy old crow
“You’ve been in bed for far too long!”
The robbins, the geese and all the chickadees
raised their voice in a chorus of song
Watcha ya doin’ sleepin’
the morning sun is creepin’
we birdies should be cheepin’
[vocalizes]
Now there was one bird found this ruckus absurd
unlike all the other fowl
With a groan and a sigh opened one birdy eye
“Quiet!” hooted the owl
Can’t you see I’m sleepin’?
Just cuz the sun is creepin’
Don’t mean you should be cheepin’
Why don’t you just let up? It ain’t time time to get up just yet
Be the Light © Sarah M. Greer
Be the light and shine
One step at a time
On your journey home
Be the light and shine
Use your heart and your mind
Everything is gonna be fine
Be the light and shine
Even if it takes you some time
Even if you stumble,
Even if you struggle as you make your way
You’ve got to be a light and shine,
Especially in these perilous times
It’s the only way we know
That things will be fine
Be the light as you walk on your way
Be the light in the night and day
Be the light for your family and friends
Be the light from the beginning to the end
Be the light when the way gets dark
Be the light you could be a spark
Don’t you think it’s time?
Time for you to shine
Brown Girl Blues © Sarah M. Greer
I got the blues
It’s nothing to do with whether the sky is gray
Got the blues
It’s nothin’ to do with how the weather is today
The kind of blues make you wail and shout
You just can’t work ’em out
The Brown Girl Blues
I got the blues
The kind that make you feel down
I got the blues
The kind you get from just hangin’ around
The feeling down,
The Brown Girl Blues
When you ain’t given space
Based on something as arbitrary as race
When you find you can’t fit in
’cause of the color your skin
Sometimes you get the blues,
The “don’t-know-what-to-do”s
The brown, Brown Girl Blues
You might not believe it,
but it ain’t happenin’ to you
You can’t conceive it;
it ain’t nothing you’ve been through
Oh this fear, the fear we face and often feel
The wounds that don’t ever, ever, ever get to heal
Feeling down, when you’re feeling brown
Brown Girl Blues
You got to keep being different
Finding yet one more way to be resilient
Constantly asked to motivate and inspire
When all you feel is used up and tired
You’re the one, you’re the one who pays the price
when you stop being nice
Being treated like a minority
When you’re part of a global majority
That’s the Brown Girl Blues
When they act like it’s a mystery
But they keep repeating history
It’s the Brown Girl Blues
The round-the-world, come-around-the-girl, Brown Girl Blues
I got the blues
The kind you can’t ignore
I got the blues
2017’s too much like 1964
What’s more
You can’t even sing the blues
’cause everyone expects you to
The Brown Girl Blues
Easier © Sarah M. Greer
*not yet recorded
Sometimes it’s easier
To pretend that I don’t see
That the problems happening in the world
Got nothing to do with me
I live my life
With compassion and care
How can I be responsible
For what’s happening over there?
Sometimes it’s easier
To cover up my eyes
Stop listening for the truth
Or at least stop checking for the lies
I live my life
Not hurting anyone
How can I be responsible
For something I haven’t done?
I don’t know, I don’t know
Don’t blame me
Don’t make me look at the things I can’t unsee
I don’t know, I don’t know
Just let me hide
Keep the vision of myself I hold inside
Sometime’s it’s easier
To pretend that we’re all free
Write the check or sign a pledge
But let someone else march in the streets
People who know me
Say that I’m good and kind
How can I be responsible
For problems that aren’t mine
Sometimes its easier
To whitewash history
Erase the torments of the past
Refuse to think critically
Everyone I know
Lives exactly like me
How could it possible that some of us aren’t free?
Sometimes it’s easier
To act helplessly
Decide the trouble’s too far away
And refuse to feel guilty
The problems are so vast
How could I make a dent
Best to keep moving forward
Than to struggle to repent
Sometimes it’s easier
To look the other way
Shut my mouth to keep the peace
When there are things that I should say
It’s so much easier
To do what I’ve always done
You can’t hold me responsible
I’m not the only one
Fall for Me © Sarah M. Greer
Under the sun, under the moon
Might be in April, maybe in June
I think that you could Fall For Me
Under the stars bright in the sky
Might be in January, maybe July
I think you’re gonna Fall For Me
Now who can say how it will start?
Where or when you’re gonna give your heart to me
Darling, it is pointless to pretend
I mean we both know how this is gonna end
Might be in August, maybe September
There’ll come that night we’ll always remember
The night, the night, the night you’re gonna Fall For Me
On the wings of a breeze, a flurry of snow
In the chill of a winter our feelings could grow
I just know you’re gonna Fall For Me
Wait and see
With the showers of April or the blooms of May
Might take a week or an hour, a month or a day
Let me count the ways you’re gonna Fall For Me
Who can say how this will begin?
The who, what, where, when and how you’re gonna give in to me
We both feel that spark of desire
Don’t you ever, ever, ever wonder what it might inspire?
On the edge of the sea with our toes in the sand
Our eyes might meet; you might take my hand
and Fall For Me
If Only You Knew © Sarah M. Greer
If Only You Knew what’s inside of you
If only it all worked the way we want it to
The way we want it to
If Only You Knew the things you could do
If you could just see who you’re gonna be
After all those stops and starts, the hurts and broken hearts
If you could just see who you’re gonna be
See how beautiful you are to me,
How bright you make my days
How wonderful my life’s become in so many ways
I always knew that inside of you is all you’ll ever need
If Only You Knew
If Only You Knew what’s inside of you
I hope it all works the way you want it to
I pray your dreams come true
If Only You Knew, if you only knew
If you could just see
How the world’s gonna be
As the days and years go by,
All the times you’ll laugh and fly
If you could just see how the world’s gonna be
May the deepest longing
That you hold in the quiet of your heart
May the life you live and the life you dream
Not be far apart
If wishes came true
Right out of the blue
I would give all mine to you
If Only You Knew
The dreams I dream for you
If Only You Knew
Maybe © Sarah M. Greer
Maybe the sky has turned dark
Maybe the moon has gone blue
Maybe it seems that you’ve lost all your dreams
Maybe it’s over for you
Maybe the rain is pouring down
Maybe those storms keep rollin’ in
Seems like tomorrow might be full of pain and sorrow
Maybe it’s time to give in
But maybe the shiniest silver lining
Is only found within the darkest clouds?
Maybe the tables are turning
Maybe you’re gonna win
Your ship is on its way in
Maybe the sun’s about to shine
Maybe the clouds are clearing fast
I’m hoping for you that all your dreams come true
Maybe it’s over at last
Storyteller © Sarah M. Greer
She had been entrusted with the stories
Every night before she went to bed she’d go over the stories
Word for word, phrase for phrase
To ensure they stayed fresh and clear in her memory
Every nite recite and in the morning new stories
Longer stories, more complicated stories.
She longed for childhood and simple stories
For the time when she was the carrier of only her own stories
The ones she invented.
Not the stories of all.
Not all of the stories.
The privilege and responsibility of being the bearer of the stories
weighed on her
The hair around the crown of her head turned white and wiry
It was the stories
Her stomach pooched out
While her legs and arms grew thin and small
It was the stories
She stopped eating to make room for stories
She had the privilege and responsibility
of carrying the stories
She had the privilege and responsibility
of wearing the word
She had the privilege and responsibility
of passing it on
Two Dimensional © Sarah M. Greer
How’d it come to be that when you see our faces
You think we’re two-dimensional
Like a picture on a wall?
How can we be free or ask for more spaces
If we’re only two-dimensional
A picture on a wall?
It’s not for us to live in the world that you do
Not for us to thrive or pursue
Not for us to question or get angry
Those are rights reserved for you
Now it’s come to be that when you see our faces
You think we’re two-dimensional
Like some picture on a wall
Don’t need to be free or take up more spaces
We’re only two dimensional
We live in pictures on a wall
A brown-skinned Peter Pan who never ages
Lynchings of a different kind for you to view
Reduced to laughing boys or wise old sages
Who are black and white and mute
How’d it come to be that when you see our faces
You think we’re two-dimensional
Like a picture on your wall?
How we ever gonna be free; assume our rightful places
If we’re only two-dimensional
Or not pictured at all?
So many things we are, you devalue
So many truths we hold, you disbelieve
You can’t imagine how we’re made to suffer
Or grasp how deeply we grieve
When We Meet © Sarah M. Greer
When we meet on the day that I meet you
We’ll laugh the way new lovers do
When the smile in your eyes outshines stars in the skies
and rivals the light of the moon
When we meet, when I meet you
When we meet and you press your cheek to mine
And we dance and our arms and hearts entwine
Won’t take a feat for my heart to skip a beat
at this dream of mine come true
When we meet, when I meet you
When we meet, when we’ve gone to come back again
When we meet and we’re reunited my friend
My heart’s gonna sing ’cause my soul’s gonna bring
a song that’s pure and true
When we meet, when I meet you
