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Jesse Slokummp3.com/JesseSlokum

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    "Shadows Of FAME"genre: Folk
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    Shadows of FAME meditates on a world in which even rock stars get assasinated! Yet holds out hope for people working in the shadows of the big "players' for decency and justice instead of power and grubby handed grab all lifestyles
    CD: Busker For FREEDOM   Label: Kolo
    Credits: Jesse, guitar and vocals

    Story Behind the Song
    Began one night in front of a college town bar while I was busking in the summer of 1986 - the first two couplets came into my mind, as if I were reading them on a teleprompter in the sky in my mind's eye/ear!
    I fingered a "C" chord on my trusty Gibson, and out they tumbled...the chorus was created in Tucson in 1987, and the last two verses added within that year upon the request of a friend to end it in an upbeat way.

    Lyrics
    All the really deep pockets
    Called him strictly small change
    They said that no golden lockets
    Could ever be arranged
    But they had no lights in their sockets
    And their hearts were estranged
    Little boys, with their big rockets
    And no king, but brains deranged

    You wouldn't find him way up on a stage
    Out in the bright lights
    He only dwells deep in the shadows of fame

    You couldn't find him, paid to fling a rage
    Sweating in the night
    He never fell before the gun of one who took aim

    Now, we might see some nut, who shot
    First, and stole, and bought some crack
    It's well known on the street, what you got
    Is up for grabs to those who lack
    It's so hard to see, only an astronaut
    Gets to see this world go round, stack
    It anyway you choose, I share nothing but your lot
    My life's not a game, nor a racket

    So, please unbind me, or else turn the page
    Before the edge gets ragged
    Toss a coin into a well, and forget you knew my name

    The dis-eased, unkind see naught beyond this age
    For the hedge leaves are jagged
    They tumble pell-mell and desperately die in shame

    Still, there is a light!
    Still, there is a light!
    Still, there is a light!!
    Deep in the darkest shadow of Fame
    No devil's might!
    No devil's might!
    No devil's might!!
    Could ever deny such a claim

    You know? Events require tickets
    Unless you're known by all the throngs
    That's right, revenge requires pickets
    Billions are made, righting wrongs
    As losing rebels haunt the thickets
    Monks meditate, banging gongs
    This world's rejects still get rickets
    And I still sing my lonesome songs

    You couldn't find me, in some guilded cage
    Left to obscurity
    There is no spell that is known, that can't be broken

    You wouldn't find me, a shining old sage
    naked, but for purity
    Heaven and hell, to you, are words once spoken

    Some tie themselves to what they are tending
    As if life were but a tomb
    Never thinking that they're bending
    'Til they break and die, alone in a room
    That's not the news I have been sending
    Doom and Gloom are not mine to assume
    Faith is the doctor that does the mending
    Love's a tapestry we weave on a loom

    You wouldn't mind me, for taking my time
    There is no desperation
    Worse than No Hope, that's one thing I know for sure

    I wouldn't mind you, I'm seeking my rhyme
    Where there is inspiration
    There is strength to cope, to prevail, and endure

    (Chorus)
    You know? There is a light...

    In these days of infra-red, satellite trackers
    How can anyone think they can do it alone?
    We're still handing ransom to hi-jackers
    Like you'd throw a hungry dog a bone
    Tell me, has this wide world gone animal crackers?
    I patiently wait for the time to atone
    Working with the stackers,
    the packers, and the tackers
    Singing, to make a grin out of a groan

    Now, I'm coming out of the shade
    of the darkest steeple
    To say we must pay the cost
    Ony when each nation
    stops treating the rest like a beast to tame
    Will we know that we've got it made,
    but not because some people
    Say we are the last of the lost
    Lonely generation,
    tell me, what is there left to claim?

    Should the face of G_D appear
    It won't matter who gets Caesar's tax
    When we're alive in the spirit
    We can feel ourself start to relax
    'Cause there's this sound, now, when you hear it
    Melts the metaphorical wax
    In your ear, there's no need to fear it
    It's as sweet as a solo-ing sax

    If your life has become one big,
    supermarket, coast-to-coast
    Suburban mall fantasy
    With illusion glimmering,
    like ten thousand video games
    Close your eyes, take a deep breath, dig
    in your heart to the uttermost
    It's there that you can see
    An ever-present tree - shimmering
    - with ten bright, golden flames

    (Chorus)
    Now, you know there is a light...

    Life is easy on the first of May
    Unless you're up against the wall
    The last of December has to pay
    THE BILL, when the Collector does call
    Still, your crown, when you do as you say
    Shines with the beauty of PEACE, for all
    With such foundation built, today
    We live on, even when stars do fall

    Although the bombs may still get hurled
    And the daily news has gotten so stark
    That the best minds have come unglued
    I don't want to hear any more
    Where those who commit sin go

    Now is the time to feed the world
    Don't cast a curse into the dark
    Won't you put a basket of food
    On the step outside your door?
    Light a candle in the window

    Now is the time to feed the world
    Don't cast a curse into the dark
    Won't you put a basket of food
    On the step outside your door?
    Light a candle in the window

    Won't you put a basket of food
    On the step outside your door?
    Light a candle in the window
    Light a candle in the window
    Light a candle in the window


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