We Fit Together
BACK
The political shock of 2016 initiated a song-writing flurry for me. I realized -- at the start of 2020 -- that I need to get these songs, written in 2018 and 2019, out in the world sooner rather than later. In a country and world where so many seem to be retreating to the fringes of mutual distrust and tribal isolation, the idea that we do and can fit together – all of us, all over the globe, across economic circumstances and political ideologies – became vitally important to me. I hope these songs can somehow be comforting, inspiring, and motivating.
Performed by Barry Oreck, Rima Fand, Jesse Miller and Adam Armstrong.
Sample Tunes
Lyrics
We Fit Together
Lyrics: Larry Stallman & Barry Oreck
Music: Barry Oreck (BMI)
Like pieces fit puzzles and keys fit their locks;
like fingers fit gloves, and toes fit their socks;
like two beating hearts fit a candle lit mood;
like thunder fits lightning at high altitude;
like yin spoons with yang as only it could;
Fitting together is good.
Like a ball fits a socket; and a hand fits a pocket;
like a portrait fits a locket and fuel fits a rocket;
like a tingling sensation,
like a deep conversation
like the joke that only you get
like the first time I saw you I’ll never forget
We fit together good.
Chorus:
How did we land in the same time and space?
How did the tumblers all fall into place?
How did we earn the incredible grace?
to be us as only we could;
and to fit together so good.
The first time we danced
we moved like we’re one
with each footstep and turn a rhythm begun
the feel of your hand nestled in mine
the points on our compasses fell into line;
to us, without words, an unmistakable sign;
that we fit together good.
Like Romeo thought Juliet had died from her love;
and he ended his life where he stood;
like we know that we love at a terrible cost;
‘cause the firmament stars have always been crossed;
and the ships of our dreams have always been tossed;
we rush to make up for the time that we’ve lost;
and to fit together good.
No Place to Run
Music and Lyrics: Barry Oreck (BMI)
No place to run to safety
Ain’t nowhere to hide
There ain’t no way to stop the future
All over this shrinking world, all over this world
Ain’t no wall to keep your fears out
There’s nothing that’s that high
Can’t build up we must see over
All over this shrinking world, all over this world
People want to live like you do
They think that’s how to thrive
They just want a decent future
All over this shrinking world, all over this world
We thought we had to do anything to survive
Whatever means or ends it took to forever multiply
Dig the rocks and burn the trees
To warm the house a few degrees
They’ll have to reap just what we sow
No other place for them to go
Our time is short, so we’re short sighted,
all we see is now
Why can’t we care about tomorrow?
All over this shrinking world, all over this world
My sister’s quest is my quest also
My brother’s pain is mine
I won’t stand by and watch it crumble
All over this shrinking world, all over this world
The rising seas, the drifting sands
The fate of people wrenched from their own land
There’s no gate and there’s no wall
to keep us safe above it all
Every living thing depends on this
We’re on the edge of the abyss
A Simple Song
Music and Lyrics: Barry Oreck (BMI)
Today I’ll sing a simple song
about how all people can get along
With harmonies and a sweet refrain
to touch our hearts and ease the pain
to touch our hearts and ease the pain
It’ll calm us down like Kumbaya
or lift us up like Hallelujah
Our words reach out like a shining thread
to give us strength on the road ahead
to give us strength on the road
Give us all some hope and cheer,
remind us gently why we’re here
A song can do that now and then
a sweet reunion with a favorite friend
a sweet reunion with a favorite friend
Our cries, our calls, it’s history’s story
our dreams of lives bound for glory
We leave behind a little more
and learn from those that went before
try to learn from all that went before
A 60s Hippie’s Psychedelic Nightmare
Music and Lyrics: Barry Oreck (BMI)
I fell asleep in ‘76 sure we had it all fixed
but I awoke in 2016 in a horrifying dream
It was a dark psychedelic hippy nightmare
Doctor Doctor, I can’t get a grip
I’m coming down hard on a really bad trip
I saw a beautiful vision was it just hallucination
Now we gave it all away – my lost generation
It was a new world, we changed all the rules
A revolution, an earthquake, a bend in the tide of history
Sang our anthems of resistance, howled Ginsburg’s poetry
Locked arms in front of tear gas in Nixon’s dark country
From our tepees in Taos. communes in Vermont, draft offices on campuses and Oakland storefronts
Were we saving the nation or just on vacation?
Now who won and who lost, my lost generation?
It was a headlong experimental, multi-generational,
cross-cultural, anti-establishment explosion of hope,
fueled by dreams and dope,
Where all kinds of people demonstrate
to end all war, to love not hate
and never be afraid to agitate
Where are you now
my radical long-haired sister and brother?
Did we use up the fire, lose the desire to stand up for one another?
When revolutionaries turn sedentary
Hippie stoners are suburban home owners
We dropped our daisies in the barrel of a gun then walked away thinking we had won
America changed, but not like we expected
We let them rewrite history, get a racist fool elected
Can we step out of our homes and show up in person or just post angry tweets as the situation worsens?
Has all of our outrage turned to surrender or can we rise up together like we remember?
It seemed so simple then
Our fathers’ world was done, the road to justice won Awakened to the earth and the people we’ve hurt
A social, political, musical rebirth
Where are you now
my radical long-haired sister and brother?
Can we get back the fire, find the desire
to fight for one another?
When revolutionaries turn sedentary
and hippy stoners are suburban homeowners
spent the rest of our lives looking out for number one
Where are you now, where are we now?
Can we find a little hope to change the world somehow?
Where are we now, where are we now?
The war was won but the battle was just begun
Geezer in the Weeds
Music and Lyrics: Barry Oreck (BMI)
In the dim first light of morning
on my way to another job
I catch a glimpse of silver fly across the still blue water I see a hat and a ripple behind a boat stir the tops of the yellow grass
Just a hint of life lived out of sight and a choice to be sitting alone
It’s a geezer in the weeds
The very next day I called in sick
put my boat up on the roof
and paddled my craft across the pond
and followed that ripple upstream
And around the bend tucked under the bridge he sits with a little grin
With a nod and a tap of a finger to his cap
he beckons me to nose my boat in
I asked him kindly could he show me how
to cast in this tight lagoon
And how he learned to sit and wait
till the rising of the moon
And be a geezer in the weeds
He said ‘I’m no Thoreau, or young John Muir
There’s a million problems I can’t cure
But sitting in here with the beaver and geese
I can find my nature and feel some peace
Just a geezer in the weeds
Said I’ve spent too much time chasing things
now I let em come to me
And I let the wind tell me where to go and the stars when its time to sleep
My life is like a leaky boat that somehow stays afloat
I bail just enough to keep out of the mud
and I paddle just to stay in place
You can troll and cast for the largest fish
you can push and paddle and sweat
But the best rewards come to those who wait
and live with no regrets
Just a geezer in the weeds
He said ‘I’m no Thoreau, or young John Muir
There’s a million problems I can’t cure
When it comes to troubles I catch and release
And stay in the margins and find some peace
Just a geezer in the, Geezer in the,
Geezer in the Weeds