Get all 4 Paulette Meier releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Wellsprings of Life: Quaker Wisdom in Chant, Just Earth, Timeless Quaker Wisdom in Plainsong, and Come Join the Circle: Lessonsongs For Peacemaking.
1. |
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In 1649
To St. George's Hill,
A ragged band they called the Diggers
Came to show the people's will
They defied the landlords
They defied the laws
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs
We come in peace they said
To dig and sow
We come to work the lands in common
And to make the waste ground grow
This earth divided
We will make whole
So it will be
A common treasury for all
The sin of property
We do disdain
No man has any right to buy and sell
The earth for private gain
By theft and murder
They took the land
Mow everywhere the walls
Spring up at their command
They make the laws
To chain us well
The clergy dazzle us with heaven
Or they damn us into hell
We will not worship
The God they serve
The God of greed who feed the rich
While poor folk starve
We work we eat together
We need no swords
We will not bow to the masters
Or pay rent to the lords
Still we are free men
Though we are poor
You Diggers all stand up for glory
Stand up now
From the men of property
The orders came
They sent the hired men and troopers
To wipe out the Diggers' claim
Tear down their cottages
Destroy their corn
They were dispersed
But still the vision carries on
You poor take courage
You rich take care
This earth was made a common treasury
For everyone to share
All things in common
All people one
We come in peace
We'll organize until it's done.*
* Original lyrics: "The orders came to cut them down"
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2. |
Why Do We?/Power
03:41
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Why Do We? (Paulette Meier) and Power (John and Johanna Hall)
Intro: Why do we pump oil from under the ground?
Why do we dig uranium from under the ground?
Why do we pump oil deep from under the ground?
When we have sunshine abundant from the sky,
And we have the power of the wind soaring by,
And we have endless water flowing down.
Why do we destroy our sacred ground?
Chorus:
Just give me the warm power of the sun
Give me the steady flow of a waterfall
Give me the spirit of living things as they return to clay
Just give me the restless power of the wind
Give me the comforting glow of a wood fire
But won't you take all your atomic poison power away
1) Everybody needs some power I'm told
To shield them from the darkness and the cold
Some may seek a way to take control when it's bought and sold
I know that lives are at stake
Yours and mine of our descendants in time
There's so much to gain and so much to lose
Everyone of us has to choose
Chorus
2) We are only now beginning to see
how delicate the balance of nature can be.
The limits of her ways have been defined,
and we've crossed that line.
Some don't even care or know that we'll pay
But we have seen the face of death in our day
So little time to change our ways,
If only we together could say:
Chorus
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3. |
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Litany (Mother Help Us to take Heed)
words & music, ©2000 Jamie Fota
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Her tears are spilling over, her tears flow endlessly;
She’s crying for the hungry, and the homeless on the streets.
Mother, help us to take heed! Help us regain dignity!
Mother listen to our plea! Help us restore sanctity!
Her sorrow’s spilling over, her sorrow grows endlessly;
She’s aching for the lonely and oppressed minorities.
Mother, help us to take heed! Help us regain dignity!
Mother listen to our plea! Help us restore sanctity!
With the voices of our ancestors, speaking of responsibility,
She’s saddened for the future as the air gets harder to breathe.
She watches as we plunder the earth beneath our feet,
And she sobs for all the wild things displaced by insanity!
Mother, help us to take heed! Help us regain dignity!
Mother listen to our plea! Help us restore sanctity!
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4. |
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Rediscovery (I'm Glad I Found You)
by Paulette Meier, © 2007 (ASCAP)
1. Rushing stream, you are still here
How many years have you been gushing by?
Cascading over these ancient stones,
Whispering tales in mystical tones?
I’m glad I found you.
2. Old beech grove, you are still here.
Dappling the light from the warm noon day sun.
I’ve missed the sweet scent of your life giving leaves.
Forgotten the grandeur of high canopies.
I’m glad I found you.
Chorus:
The fate of the natural world's in our hands;
We mourn for the loss of our farms and woodlands
But while we do all that we can for our earth,
We need this communion
To treasure it’s worth.
3. Meadow bright, you are still here.
Teeming with life on this fine autumn day.
Butterflies flitting from aster to gold.
Song of the bob white brings memories of old.
I’m glad I found you.
4. Quiet pond,
You are still here.
Restful oasis for geese on their flight.
Now I remember your minnows and frogs,
And blue dragonflies and turtles on logs.
I’m glad I found you.
Chorus
Bridge:
Why did I let so much time go by?
Caught in the grip of technology’s lie?
When I was young we would roam fields of green.
Pick pails of blackberries and wade in the stream.
But our house was part of new suburban sprawl.
And my love of nature came linked with its fall.
5. Stars at night,
You are still here.
Shining so clear in celestial skies.
I feared your numbers had dwindled to few.
But lights of the city just dim them from view.
I’m so glad I found you
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5. |
Take Time
04:17
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TAKE TIME by Paulette Meier © 2006 (ASCAP)
1. Take time to go outside in the still dark hours of the night.
Take time to watch the shadows of trees swaying under soft moonlight.
Take time to listen to the rustling of the leaves.
Take time to feel the coolness of the gentle nighttime breeze.
Refrain:
Take time, the gift of time.
Take time, the gift of time.
2. Take time to feel the pain of all those suffering in the world.
Take time to cry the tears from unmet needs when you were a girl.
Take time to notice all the love you have inside.
Take time to feel the sadness for the love you had to hide.
Refrain
3. Take time to center down in prayerful silence with the Divine.
Take time to sit in stillness, waiting patiently for a sign.
Take time to write your story and the lessons you have learned.
Take time to thank the ones who were there at every turn.
Refrain (continue during bridge)
Bridge:
Use it wisely, the gift of time.
It’s not easy, the gift of time.
With so many things pulling at me,
worrying me,
technology,
news and TV
money.
How much time do we spend spending money?
4. Take time to plant a garden and watch it grow o’er summer days.
Take time to touch the soil and feel the hope of nature’s ways.
Take time to listen to the wonders of a child.
Take time to teach the ways of the tame and of the wild.
Refrain: Take time, the gift of time.
Take time, the gift of time.
X2
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6. |
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Dance, Dance, Take a Chance Words and music: © Jamie Fota (BMI)
Dance, dance, take a chance; let the rhythms flow through you!
We’ll join our hands, hands, in a circle dance
As we glide in the light of the moon, whooh whooh!
The time has come for us to be counted upon
For bringing in the new with our music and our song.
So you say you cannot sing and you don’t think you can do anything,
I beg to differ, there’s something we all can do! Yeah!
Dance, dance, take a chance; let the rhythms flow through you!
We’ll join our hands, hands, in a circle dance
As we glide in the light of the moon, whooh whooh!
We are like a puzzle that’s about to unfold,
Each part disguised until the picture is whole.
And each tiny jigsaw piece helps to make the scene complete;
In the melding of us together we shall all be strong! Yeah!
Dance, dance, take a chance; let the rhythms flow through you!
We’ll join our hands, hands, in a circle dance
As we glide in the light of the moon, whooh whooh!
The hour is here, it’s time to reach out and be bold;
Celebrate the new age, help to push out the old.
A new beginning for history, a time of caring, not bloodthirsty;
Let us gather together and bring in the new with a song! Yeah!
Dance, dance, take a chance; let the rhythms flow through you!
We’ll join our hands, hands, in a circle dance
As we glide in the light of the moon, whooh whooh!
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7. |
I Want to Know
04:28
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I Want to Know
by Paulette Meier © 2010 (ASCAP)
CHORUS:
I want to know where all the things that I use come from.
I want to know whose hands produced them all and brought them.
I want to see the faces of the ones who labored,
So I can know to whom I owe my gratitude.
1. Sitting in the kitchen of her daughter’s suburban home,
Tears pouring down her cheeks, Reema tells me her heart’s woes.
She aches with longing for the life she’d left in Iran,
The connecting ways of her village life, seem forever gone.
CHORUS
2. Now stranded in the U.S.A., where her children want to be,
The neighbors all stay locked inside;
are they really free?
No outdoor markets filled with food,
the farmers brought with pride,
No people gathered trading goods, with hearts all open wide.
CHORUS
3. Reema goes to work each day, sewing hats in a factory.
Her hopes for more community are dashed with every seam.
She asks me why no one knows the fabric of their lives,
the web that holds us all together, from which we all survive.
CHORUS
BRIDGE:
Sometimes in life you meet someone who opens up your eyes.
Now I see how much we’ve lost by severing the ties,
That link us to the source and truth of everything we use.
Instead we live in veiled deceit; is this the world we choose?
FINAL CHORUS
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8. |
The Farmer is the One
03:08
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(Original title: “The Farmer is the Man.” Anon., Public Domain. Last verse by Tom Isern)
1. When the farmer comes to town with his wagon broken down
The farmer is the one that feeds 'em all
If you'll only look an' see, I think you will agree
That the farmer is the one that feeds 'em all
The farmer is the one
The farmer is the one
Lives on credit 'til the fall
Then they take him by the hand
And they lead him from the land
And the middle man's the one that gets it all
2. When the lawyer hangs around, and the butcher cuts a pound
The farmer is the one that feeds 'em all
And the preacher and the cook, they go strollin' by the brook
But the farmer is the one that feeds 'em all
The farmer is the one
The farmer is the one
Lives on credit 'til the fall
With the interest rates so high
It's a wonder he don't die
For the mortgage man’s the one that gets it all
3. When the banker says he's broke, and the merchant's up in smoke
They forget that it's the farmer feeds 'em all
It would put them to the test, if the farmer took a rest
Cause the farmer feeds 'em all
The farmer is the one;
The farmer is the one;
Lives on credit 'til the fall
It would put them to the test
if the farmer took a rest
Cause the farmer is the one who feeds them all.•
Bridge:
Then the farmer left town
and the place was broken down
and the pigweeds and the thistles they were ripe.
But the land in fallow lay, it was waiting for the day,
When dreams and schemes would bring it back to life.
4. Now the farmer’s back in town,
farmers’ markets all around,
once again the one who feeds them all.
Things are better now, no doubt
with the middle man left out,
and the farmer is the one who feeds them all.
The farmer is the one, the farmer is the one,
Come and get your pumpkins in the fall.
Just put on your garden duds,
Bring a box and get your spuds,
Cause the farmer is the one who feeds them all.
Yes, the farmer is the one who feeds them all.
Yes, the farmer is the one who feeds them all..
* Original lyrics
And his pants are wearin' thin
His condition it's a sin
He's forgot that he's the man that feeds 'em all
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9. |
Song of the Spirochetes
03:33
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Song of the Spirochetes
words and music: © Paulette Meier, 2014
1. We are a colony of spirochetes;
We want to grow and multiply.
We all depend on you for sustenance;
We really don’t want you to die.
We’re very sorry that you hurt so bad,
That we cause trouble makes us feel so sad,
But it’s just our way.
2. We’re quite amazing bacteria,
And we come to you from ticks.
Antibiotics are so fooled by us,
‘Cause we’ve got lots of magic tricks:
We can morph into many different forms,
And protect ourselves in cysts and biofilms,
(Till the coast is clear!)
Chorus
Borrelia Burgdorferi’s our name!
Causing Lyme Disease is our claim to fame.
We wish it didn’t come with so much shame;
And we think we’re not the only ones to blame.
3. It seems everyone is out to get us,
So we’ve learned how to hide.
Your body’s defenses are no match for us,
They can’t detect where we reside.
We spiral into your tissues so deep,
Where it’s hard for your blood to reach.
Cause we’re spirochetes!
4. Yes, by stealth we evade your immune system,
So antibodies may be few.
Without them, your blood tests cannot show we’re there,
So results may not be true.
The varied symptoms we create in our hosts
Mislead your doctors so they wrongly diagnose.
(Lucky for us!)
Chorus
Bridge:
We’re not the ones warming up the planet,
So deer tick populations can explode.
We’re not the ones who cut down the big forests,
So foxes and coyotes lost their homes.
We’re not the ones to blame for lack of predators
So ticks have all the food source that they need,
from deer, chipmunks, and mice and other rodents;
We’re transmitted to and from them when ticks feed.
5. Yes, we are a colony of spirochetes,
We want to grow and thrive.
Like others in our phylum of bacteria,
For eons we’ve survived.
Your human ways are allowing us to flourish,
So now from YOU we are finding ourselves nourished.
And you might die. But we’ll survive.
Chorus (last line: “We KNOW we’re not..”)
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10. |
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Sing for the Climate (Do It Now!)
Music: Traditional, Lyrics: Nic Balthazar and Stef Kamil Carlens, 2012. Used with Permission. Arranged by Diana Porter 2015.)
1.We need to wake up
We need to wise up
We need to open our eyes
And do it now now now
We need to build a better future
And we need to start right now
2. We’re on a planet
That has a problem
We’ve got to solve it, get involved
And do it now now now
We need to build a better future
And we need to start right now
3. Make it greener
Make it cleaner
Make it last, make it fast
and do it now now now
We need to build a better future
And we need to start right now
4. No point in waiting
Or hesitating
We must get wise, take no more lies
And do it now now now
We need to build a better future
And we need to start right no
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11. |
Hawk and Owl
03:52
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Hawk and Owl by Paulette Meier © 2004
Chorus:
Hawk and owl, two birds of prey
One by night, and one by day.
Make clear my vision, oh help me see.
Guide me along my soul’s journey.
1. O great horned owl, you with your eyes so yellow,
You can see what’s behind every shadow.
You bring the sun into the night.
And with your keen sight and your silent flight
You obtain that which you need.
Help me attain what I need.
2. O red tailed hawk, you with your rust red feathers,
You connect earth and heaven together.
You scan the ground from such great heights.
And with your broad wing span and your agile flight
You soar on the currents of life.
Help me ride the currents of life.
Chorus
3. And great horned owl, you with your hidden ears,
The slightest sound in the woods you can hear,
You know the secrets of the dark.
And with your wisdom and your listening heart,
You discern what you must do.
Help me discern what to do.
4. And red tailed hawk, you with your far reaching vision
That holds you on course with your mission.
You see ahead to what may come.
And with your talons strong and your wings wide flung
You see which way to go.
Help me see the way to go.
Chorus
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12. |
Teach Peace
05:00
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Teach Peace
(words & music, ©2000 Jamie Fota)
Teach peace, unlearn the violence, respect each other’s dignity
Teach peace, unearn the violence, live peace wherever you be.
Corporate greed’s spread war through many nations,
Let the poor live on rations while using their land.
We need to seek justice, justice for all nations
Justice for all races on Earth.
Teach peace, unlearn the violence, respect each other’s dignity
Teach peace, unearn the violence, live peace wherever you be.
People beware! We’ve waged war on our surroundings,
In our poisons we are drowning, can’t we understand?
We need to seek peace, seek peace with God’s creation,
Learn to give, not just be taking from Earth.
Teach peace, unlearn the violence, respect each other’s dignity
Teach peace, unearn the violence, live peace wherever you be.
It seems everywhere the seeds of war are ragin’,
One upmanship is takin’ us over the edge.
We need to settle down, sit down at the table,
Solve a conflict when we’re able, agree.
Teach peace, unlearn the violence, respect each other’s dignity
Teach peace, unearn the violence, live peace wherever you be.
Teach peace, unlearn the violence, respect each other’s dignity
Teach peace, unearn the violence, live peace wherever you be.
© 2000 Jamie Fota
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13. |
Born to Love
05:09
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Born to Love
© Paulette Meier, 1998 (ASCAP)
CHORUS
We were born to love, and love is what we’re here for.
We were born to love, and love is what we’re here for.
No baby is born to the earth, expecting to be hurt
at the hand of another human being.
No child comes into the world, expecting to find hate
among fellow human beings.
1. Generations oppressed,
Passing on the distress.
A mother lashes out in anger;
A father beats his son in rage,
And the heart of a child
is slowly broken.
CHORUS (First two lines)
2. An estranged one stalks the night,
Filled with ancient cruelty.
He kills your loved one cold;
The bullet rips your heart in two,
And you wonder what it means
To go on living.
CHORUS (First two lines)
3. Your trust in life betrayed,
You think his death will help heal you.
But it doesn’t stop the pain,
And it doesn’t mend your soul.
And it doesn’t help us all
Be more fully human.
CHORUS (first two lines)
4. We will hold you close;
You are safe to feel your rage.
Through the storms of grief and anger,
And the unleashed terror of the night.
The tears break through like rain,
heal your pain.
Heal your pain.
Tears break through like rain,
Healing your pain.
We will hold you close.
Again and again.
All the time it takes
to heal your pain.
Healing your pain.
CHORUS (all lines)
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14. |
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It’s the Race to the Bottom
music and lyrics by Paulette Meier © 2004 Verse 3 @2011
1. I had a job working nine to five,
The pay was ok,I didn’t struggle to survive,
Ten more years of filing records all day,
With a good pension plan, I could make it all the way,
Then the county decided to privatize;
Contracted out my job right before my eyes.
Well now I’m doin’ the same ol’ job, but with
much lower pay, and my pension got robbed.
And now there’s no union to stand up for me;
It’s much harder now to build solidarity.
‘When..
Chorus:
It’s the race to the bottom.
It’s the race to the bottom.
It’s the race to the bottom,
Where labor costs are lowest, corporate profits rise sky high.
2. I’ve been a teacher most of my life.
I love those children; wanna do them right.
But they’re 35 kids, with all different needs,
Meetings galore and parents to please.
I work twelve hours most every day,
But still we had to bargain to cut our pay.
And now they’ve outlawed our right to negotiate,
You can bet I’ll see my class size rise to forty-eight.
It’s the kids who will suffer, who will bear the cost,
And over time, we’ll see how much we’ve lost
When ……
Chorus
It’s the race to the bottom.
It’s the race to the bottom.
It’s the race to the bottom,
Where they’re cuttin’ public service while private profits rise,
3. I lost my job at age 42.
My husband said, “Hon, you’ve got to train for something new.
So I went back to school so I could study I.T.
Then I got a good job in public energy.
But within a year the word came down,
They privatized my job and sent it India bound,
Where they’re training those workers to speak differently,
So we can understand them more easily,
Those hypocrites say “Support the USA,”
But when it comes to jobs, they send them all away
When….
Final Chorus:
It’s the race to the bottom.
It’s the race to the bottom.
It’s the race to the bottom,
Where labor costs are lowest, corporate profits rise sky high.
Yeah, where they’re cutting public service while private profits rise,
Where they’re out to bust the unions and take away the workers’ rights.
Where they pay the lowest taxes and their riches multiply.
Where labor costs are lowest, corporate profits rise sky high.’
Where they’re cutting public service while private profits rise.
NOTE: This song was first written for the Association of Federal Government Employees union to protest the privatization of government jobs. It was revised to address the attack on public employee unions waged by Ohio Gov. Kasich with Senate Bill 5, which was ultimately defeated by referendum. You can view a video montage with this song, produced by documentarian Barbara Wolf at: www.paulettemeier.com
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15. |
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Put The Old Ways on the Run (words & music by Jamie Fota)
There’s a kind of revolution reshaping thought today.
It’s a kind of evolution, bound to bring another way.
Yes, it’s time to find solutions, can’t make the same mistakes;
Obsolete institutions we cannot tolerate.
And we’ve only just begun to undo the damage that was done;
A new age philosophy, bringing hope for you and me;
Put the old ways on the run.
It’s time for new beginnings if we’re all to survive;
Let’s try and keep the earth clean and keep the waters alive.
The old order will be changing, bring in the new with pride,
A quiet rearranging, taking place from inside.
And we’ve only just begun to undo the damage that was done;
A new age philosophy, bringing hope for you and me;
Put the old ways on the run.
Time to get off the porch swing and make an active start.
If you’re not into the solving, then of the problem you’re a part.
If you try to keep from choosing, then you choose the other side;
To keep the world from losing, we can no longer hide.
And we’ve only just begun to undo the damage that was done;
A new age philosophy, bringing hope for you and me;
Put the old ways on the run.
And we’ve only just begun to undo the damage that was done;
A new age philosophy, bringing hope for you and me;
Put the old ways on the run.
Put the old ways on the run.
Put the old ways on the run.
© 1990 Jamie Fota
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Paulette Meier Cincinnati, Ohio
Paulette's singing and songwriting skills have served the causes of peace, justice, and the earth for the past 30 years. Her award winning children's CD, Come Join the Circle, inspires children in the ways of peace in families and classrooms across the country. More recently, she has turned to promoting inner peace through putting Quaker Wisdom to chant. ... more
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