Fireflies and Songs

by Sara Groves

Thirty years ago I was a little child
Riding in the back seat of a car
A woman sang, 'You don't bring me flowers anymore'
I felt a sadness in my little heart

We're looking for the music
In the music box
Tearing it to pieces
Trying to find a song

I was drawn to you in ways I can't explain
I fought like crazy, but I couldn't stay away
Piled on expectations and lots of blame
Like we couldn't do it any other way

We're looking for a firefly
Moving through the night
Staring at that one place
Swear it never lights

Were you surprised our hearts were not like ticking clocks?
The faces and hands easy to read
We both wished, 'If only in the land of Oz'
And longed for things we'd never really need

Now we're standing in the kitchen
All pretense is gone
You kiss me on the shoulder
Fireflies and songs

What You Want

by Derek Webb

You're softer than a cannon blast
But your effects much longer last
And I want you just like a hole in my head
But I need you like a meal and a bed

And you say, Come on
I'm not what you're after
But I know you're not just anyone

But I'm not what you want
No, I'm not anyone
But if you needed me
I could be someone

You're an army in a horse
And you have taken me by force
All the freedom in this world could not resist
The sweet temptation of your sweet elusiveness

So I say, Come on
As the gate swings open
I know you're not just anyone

And the lie's always cheaper than the truth
But the lie's all I've never known of you
So maybe none of this is true

'Cause I'm not what you want
No, I'm not anyone
But if you needed me
I could be someone

I Happen to Like New York

by Cole Porter

I happen to like New York
I happen to like this town
I like the city air, I like to drink of it
The more I know New York, the more I think of it
I like the sight and the sound and even the stink of it
I happen to like New York

I like to go to Battery Park
And watch those liners booming in
I often ask myself, why should it be
That they come so far across the sea?
I suppose it's because they all agree with me
They happen to like New York

Last Sunday afternoon
I took a trip to Hackensack
But after I gave Hackensack the once over
I took the next train back

I happen to like New York
I happen to love this town
And when I have to give the world a last farewell
And the undertaker starts to ring my funeral bell
I don't want to go to heaven, don't want to go to hell
I happen to like New York

The Waste Land (Pt. IV)

[Part III here]
by T.S. Eliot

IV. Death by Water

Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas swell
And the profit and loss.
                         A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
                         Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

[Part V here]

Something's Gotta Give

by Johnny Mercer

When an irresistible force such as you
Meets an old immovable object like me
You can bet just as sure as you live
Something's gotta give, something's gotta give
Something's gotta give

When an irrepressible smile such as yours
Warms an old implacable heart such as mine
Don't say no, because I insist
Somewhere, somehow
Someone's gotta be kissed

So, en garde!
Who knows what the fates might have in store
From their vast mysterious sky?
I'll try hard
Ignoring those lips that I adore
But how long can anyone try?

Fight, fight, fight it with all of your might
Chances are some heavenly star-spangled night
We'll find out just as sure as we live
Something's gotta give, something's gotta give
Something's gonna give

There You Go

by Aaron Tate

Is this the strange feeling
Of you working all to good?
'Cause I am so confused
I don't even ask for what I should

When I asked for, and deserved, stone
You broke and gave your body as bread
Even the stone that dropped down
When rolled away, spoke of the one who bled

There you go working good from my bad
There you go making robes from my rags
There you go melting crowns from my calves
There you go working good of all I have
Till all I have is not that bad

When I asked for, and deserved, a serpent
You gave a net full of fish
And even the serpent that told the lie
When lifted high, foretold the gift

For you so loved the unlovable
That you gave the ineffable
That who so believes the unbelievable
Will gain the unattainable