Consolation Café Lyrics

1. Rise Up

© 2018 Christopher L. Elwood

Keyboard’s set up and the drinks are chilling
I’m set to boogie if y’all are willing
Rice and peas are set out on the table
We got a song to sing, join with us if you’re able

Rise up
In the name of love
Rise up
Shout to the stars above
Rise up
Dance with us hand in hand
It’s about a revolution
And the world will understand
That we’re rising up

A little bass and drums is always thrilling
Settle in a groove with a beat that’s killing
Got our flute and horns, guitar and a fiddle
Time to lay this down, don’t dare be noncommittal

Rise up
In the name of love
Rise up
Shout to the stars
Rise up
Dance with us hand in hand
It’s about a revolution
And the world will understand
That we’re rising up

2. Sufficient Unto the Day

© 2018 Christopher L. Elwood

Lily is an angel
You can see from her smile
She brightened up the dark days of my life
For a while
That’s the day that we got married
Man it rained so long
The patter on the roof
Was like an old-time country song

Here’s the time we danced all night
I was lost in her grace
I still can feel her hand in mine, her soft lips
Her embrace
The church with sympathetic eyes
The day that we said goodbye
Sang Lover of My Soul
You know it almost made me cry

Won’t you still these troubled waters
Send your love down like a dove
Sufficient unto the day
Is the evil thereof

We were down in Carolina
That’s the dress that she wore
I see it gently swaying as she crossed
The dance floor
Man her eyes they shone out
Like the stars in the sky
I look up thinking to see them
Then I stop and wonder why

Won’t you still these troubled waters
Send your love down like a dove
Sufficient unto the day
Is the evil thereof

And there are times the pain runs deep
A worried mind won’t let me sleep at night

I’m laying up a treasure
Where no thief can destroy
For wounded hearts that sow this life in tears
Reap in joy
But hold I will these tokens
The trace that remains
When it seems a dream is broken
Just a quiet comfort sustains

Won’t you still these troubled waters
Send your love down like a dove
Sufficient unto the day
Is the evil thereof

3. Freedom Time

© 2018 Christopher L. Elwood

Susie’s waking up
But she’s running behind now
Nothing for breakfast, missed the bus
And feeling undefined now
Her boss comes round to say
Another day you’re late for work
You’ll get the sack
But she says, Hey I quit
Today, you jerk
She’s thinking, why does life just seem so grey
(You’re bleeding your life away)
Something’s calling, you can’t go on this way
(Don’t wait another day)
I need a toothbrush, a ticket for the morning
(A new day is forming)
No destination but I’m boarding for the dawning of the

Freedom time
A chance to laugh and sing and dance and play
And throw away your money
Freedom time
Where everyone has all she needs today
And each tomorrow’s sunnier

Just another day
In the halls of oppression
He’s clean and pressed, looking sharp
And battling depression
His secretary says
Hey Walter, who ran over you?
You need another scene
Or maybe just a change of view
He says, Oh why does life just seem so grey
(You’re bleeding your life away)
I know you’re right, I can’t go on this way
(Don’t wait another day)
I need a haircut, a ticket for the morning
(A new day is forming)
No destination but I’m boarding for the dawning of the

Freedom time
A chance to laugh and sing and dance and play
And throw away your money
Freedom time
Where everyone has all he needs today
And each tomorrow’s sunnier

Don’t give in, we got to get together
(You can’t wait forever)
We’ll seize the light, it’s really now or never
(This can last forever)
Let’s make a pact, and shine like the morning
(A new day is forming)
No map to guide us but we’re heading for the dawning of the

Freedom time
A chance to laugh and sing and dance and play
And throw away your money
Freedom time
Where everyone has all she needs today
And each tomorrow’s sunnier

4. Wrong Way

© 2018 Christopher L. Elwood

It’s the wrong way baby …
Look out
Look out
Look out
Look out
Look out

5. Slow Down the Morning

© 2018 Christopher L. Elwood

I see the storm
Rolling in on your face
High pressure system
Has got you out of place
Holing up in your shelter
Making plans for rough weather
Later on today

We got to slow down the morning
Time to liberate your mind
From the feeling that you’re out of time
Slow down the morning
Set your troubled heart at ease
And just sail into this breeze of love

Out here the sun’s
Showing off to the skies
Soft clouds are wearing a blush
And winking their eyes
Looking out for their lovers
Sliding out from the covers
Shedding their disguise

We got to slow down the morning
Time to liberate your mind
From the feeling that you’re out of time
Slow down the morning
Set your troubled heart at ease
And just sail into this breeze of love

6-7. Shiveye

© 2018 Christopher L. Elwood

Last night the river called out
I heard its sweet refrain
Birds were crying in the distance
Heard the children
Saw you mouthing my forgotten name
As if bending my resistance
Singing out your breeze
That worries through the eucalyptus
Voices carrying their chorus
Bidding a reckless child
Abandoning his appointed home
Won’t you sail on in and join us

And her arms are reaching out to hold me
In her eyes silent mercies that enfold me

Shiveye …
Siwezi kufuta sura yako kutoka akili yangu
Katika usiku natamani ya nyumbani kwangu*

Last night the rain washed
Through the years that held our lives apart
Flooded the walls of hesitation
When the new light dawned
Your mists woke my enchanted heart
With a pang of elevation
Heard the cattle bells
That clanged a distant invitation
Boys were shouting out their warnings
You said come my friend
The tea is on the table waiting
Help us welcome in the morning

And your arms are reaching out to hold me
In your eyes silent mercies that enfold me

Shiveye …
Siwezi kufuta sura yako kutoka akili yangu
Katika usiku natamani ya nyumbani kwangu*

* English: I can never erase your image from my mind; in the night I long for my home

8. Consolation Café

© 2018 Christopher L. Elwood

Gus is a mess when he stumbles in
He’s got an ache to confess an original sin
He needs some comfort today
At the Consolation Café
Juli’s got style and she’s been through hell
She gives him a smile, and says, It’ll all be well
The tonic’s well on its way
At the Consolation Café

Life is short
The times are tough
Even your hardest work
Is never good enough
When you can’t see
What more to do
You find your way inside
They’ll come and pull you through
Everyone there’s working overtime
Sensing the need for your state of mind
You’ll find the friends for your way
At the Consolation Café

The sun is so bright and his vision’s blurred
Albert closes his book and says, It’s all absurd
But I’ll catch my breath for a stay
At the Consolation Café
Frantz says as long as we’re colonized
This cancer of hate will metastasize
Revolt’s a debt we must pay
At the Consolation Café

Martin is saying, I feel so tired
We’re so far away from what our hearts desired
Don’t know how long I can stay
At the Consolation Café
Stokely with Nina and Angela
Are playing Ain’t Got No Home for some stamina
Found a deep power to convey
At the Consolation Café

Life is short
The times are tough
Even your hardest work
Is never good enough
When you can’t see
What more to do
You find your way inside
They’ll come and pull you through
Because everyone there’s working overtime
Sensing the need for your state of mind
You’ll find the friends for your way
At the Consolation Café

9. Someone to Love You (Like I Do)

© 2018 Christopher L. Elwood

You can travel through the whole, wide world
You’ll never find someone to love you like I do
You can travel through the whole, wide world
You’ll never find someone to love you like I do

In the beginning
We were just good friends
But deep in my heart
You were my life, my joy, my beginning, my end
And when I fell into your eyes
And the light that erased
Every pain inside
You reached out and you held my hand
You know you made me
You made me such a happy man

You can travel through the whole, wide world
You’ll never find someone to love you like I do
You can travel through the whole, wide world
But you’ll never find someone to love you like I do

You are next to me
When the moon is high
You fill my empty cup
When my well has run dry
And when time has taken you far away
And the light in your eyes
Is just a memory in my cloudy day
I’ll lift my head, and feel your heavenly kiss
I’ll know the love that we had
And the sweet, tender arms that I miss

You can travel through the whole, wide world
You’ll never find someone to love you like I do
You can travel through the whole, wide world
You’ll never find someone to love you like I do

10. Better Place

Downtown, uptown
Anywhere around
Might be cool
Out of school
Careful when you’re black or brown
In the sequel
You know everyone is equal
But there’s no real mercy on these streets
Walking can be lethal

Looking for safe space
Anytime any place
Underneath overhead
Drinking water without lead
Air to breathe in this town
Don’t have to leave
For a little peace of mind
And a little time to grieve
For all the lives who had to bleed
So that the powers could succeed
Fueling insanity

It’s gonna be a big disgrace if we don’t leave the world a better place…

Bare neighborhood here
Where a mountain stood here
Lots of room
Building boom
We’ll see a flat horizon soon
A new landscape
Call it progress call it rape
This opinion of dominion
Is a cage we can’t escape
No one to save us
Our appetite’s rapacious
Can anyone remember clean water
Who pays gets the oasis
Callous haste
Toxic waste
Coal slurry
Soul worry
Anyone working up a sweat
Or in a hurry
Won’t be the judge and jury
They’ll hide the inventory
There’s two sides to every story

It’s gonna be a big disgrace, if we don’t leave the world a better place…

11. Menino do Arpoador

(Lyrics Carvalhaes-Elwood)

O Arpoador e o sol novamente
Não posso falar
A beleza do mar e o som do passado
Pulsando na rima do meu cantar
Ja é noite na brisa do seu andar
Vejo a saudade no seu olhar
Tudo longe e tudo tão aqui
Onde o futuro se fazia ali

O Arpoador e o sol novamente
Não posso falar
A beleza do mar e o som do passado
Pulsando na rima do meu cantar
Joaquim Nabuco meu coração
No andar do carro na contramão
Areia, futebol e o Cristo Redentor
Um menino alegre na pedra do Arpoador

English:

(Arpoador is a small beach and a rock outcropping—the Pedra do Arpoador—at the eastern end of Ipanema Beach, in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.)

Arpoador and the sun once again
I’m without words
The beauty of the sea, the sound of the past
Pulsing through the rhyme of my song
In the air of your wandering, night has fallen
I see the longing in your eyes
With everything so far, everything right here
Where the future was there

Arpoador and the sun once again
I’m without words
The beauty of the sea, the sound of the past
Pulsing through the rhyme of my song
Joaquim Nabuco, my heart!
In the car’s shortcut against traffic
The sand, football, and Cristo Redentor
A happy child on the Pedra do Arpoador

12. Autumn

Autumn’s in the air
Leaves are blowing through her hair
She whispers, please remember
Your last September
Crisply through the breeze
As she lightens up the trees
She’s calling, time to tender
Your final surrender
Leave your worries behind
You’ve got to dance in time with her
She’s gonna ease up your mind
If you just toe the line with her
Autumn’s taking you home

13. Heading Home

(Instrumental)

Mundo Brew