I was young back then – I was strong and I thought I knew it all With the arrogance of youth - I would fly around and not return your call You were so damn popular – everyone remembered your name Whether young or whether old there were people who would love you just the same Twenty seven years have up flown away I guess it's time I found my voice and had my say I didn't know it then but I guess I must have loved you It seemed to me that you were always right on my case But now that you're gone I gotta say I really miss you And it really hurts that I just can't remember your face I had time to rebel but no time to try to reconcile With the past in its place I've had time and space to contemplate your style Well rebellion is fine - in the mind of the young and naïve But sometimes we get lost and all that's left are the things that you believe Sometimes I wish you could have been a friend And known a little of my love before you reached the end I didn't know it then but I guess I must have loved you It seemed to me that you were always right on my case But now that you're gone I gotta say I really miss you And it really hurts that I just can't remember your face And so death follows birth but in-between it may not always go as planned Well I guess it's too late for some fathers and some sons to understand You were music to me and I wish I could have played for you somehow Well you knew me back then - but I really wish you could have known me now You played your jazz to me but it fell onto deaf ears Now I'd give anything to roll away the years I didn't know it then but I guess I must have loved you It seemed to me that you were always right on my case But now that you're gone I gotta say I really miss you And it really hurts that I just can't remember your face ©GrahamShankarjiMusic 2003

A thousand miles doesn't seem too far you can take a plane or you can drive it in your car The road ahead straight as Pencil lead disappears In the distance like a Dried out river bed A billion stars are in the sky And all the gods are standing by To try and teach us how to fly We walk the road or ride the tracks We carry life upon our backs Down never ending cul-de-sacs I read the signs in the Holy shrines there were Countless people, they were All dressed to the nines I don't know why but it Made me cry when I Saw how the men of God Are turning a blind eye Her face is on my screen again Three pounds a month will ease her pain Sometimes the world is quite insane Compassion seems in short supply When people mock a tearful eye It makes me stop and wonder why How many distances grow wider every day How many walls will rise to keep the poor at bay How long will you my friend turn your face away Forgive your enemies I once heard someone say And climate change will get much worse On this tiny speck of universe Our ignorance is like a curse I wonder if we'll ever learn Before the land begins to burn And it's too late to make that big U-turn How many distances grow wider every day How many walls will rise to keep the poor at bay How long will you my friend turn your face away Forgive your enemies I once heard someone say ©GrahamShankarjiMusic2019

Well I was farther away Than you thought I might be I was lost in my distance But it felt like you were near And so the miles held us back And oceans could not be crossed And the time zones were lost Then I saw you disappear I sit here and stare into life's missing days Can't seem to hear you when that old sad song plays If I asked you would you go with me To the other side of sorrow To the place I want to be Tell me now if you would like to see There's a rainbow on a mountain And it's just for you and me Annie_1213 So are you hearing my voice Sing my songs just for you? Did you take it for granted? I was someone who could learn? Yet as I sit here alone And I remember your smile Is it the future that matters Or the past that we should burn The days stretch far behind me like a vapour trail They're lost and broken never thought that I might fail If I asked you would you go with me To the other side of sorrow To the place I want to be Tell me now if you would like to see There's a rainbow on a mountain And it's just for you and me Annie_1213 It saddens me to see you're gone Maybe you've found your shangri-la But if the day comes round when you could use a friend like me If I asked you would you go with me To the other side of sorrow To the place I want to be Tell me now if you would like to see There's a rainbow on a mountain And it's just for you and me Annie_1213 ©GrahamShankarjiMusic2000

It happened quicker than the blink of an eye when nobody could see I sent a message to the god in the sky wonder if he’ll listen to me I love the feel of warm rain on my skin sometimes I love everything The sleeping mystery at the base of my spine gives me power to sing I wouldn’t have noticed, thanks for pointing it out that the sun looks like the eye of god When can I ride your magic roundabout? C’mon and give me the nod You told me once that I should seek it within deep inside my soul It’s easier said than done, but follow I must the rocky road to the ultimate goal You've got to keep your eyes open You might miss it when it comes It only happens once in a lifetime When you start to ask yourself questions like Where did I come from? Why am I here? Who am I really? Am I far or near? Is this all illusion? Or is it real? Who knows the answers? To whom do we kneel? Well will you walk with me wherever I go it’s cold and lonely and I need you along If I should ask a question don’t answer “No” ‘cos I’m not feeling too strong Well we can sing together in sweet harmony yeah we can sing to the sky Some songs have power that can set your soul free Songs that make you cry You've got to keep your eyes open 'Cos you might miss it when it comes It only happens once in a lifetime When you start to ask yourself questions like Where did I come from? Why am I here? Who am I really? Am I far or near? Is this all illusion? Or is it real? Who knows the answers? To whom do we kneel?

In the pain of a terrorist moment When humanity crumbles and falls When the blood of the fallen lies wasted And spattered on broken down walls The lines that divide us lie naked On the streets where we walk hand in hand And we beat our breasts in despairing Over things we just don't understand. And I pity Jihadi John Who could do the things that he's done He is hated by most everyone Yet he still seems to think he has won. We have a history littered with failures And must shoulder our share of the blame For the sins and the greed of our fathers And the scale of our national shame But we cling to our notions of justice To the freerdom we proudly proclaim And the idealogical battle Is lost and will never be won And I pity Jihadi John Who could do the things that he's done He is hated by most everyone Yet he still seems to think he has won. When a child's life is stolen in anger In pursuit of disgraceful ideals It is ignorance driving the school bus And crushing them under its wheels And he stands there before us like Satan With a mask and a knife in his hand His eyes are as dead as his victims Who slump at his feet in the sand And I pity Jihadi John Who could do the things that he's done He is hated by most everyone Yet he still seems to think he has won. And it's easy for us to make judgements But we've not seen our country destroyed We can sit in our ivory towers With no bullets for us to avoid So I pity the suicide bomber Whose stupidity makes him a threat He's been brainwashed by lies and deception He thinks he'll be better off dead

Come with me Down to the sea And we will find Good company I’m with you Beside the blue I hope you will Be with me too Golden sand and coconut tree Sparkling surf washing over you and me Fresh pineapple – very juicy Sun drenched island in the Caribbean Sea Lazy day Down by the bay Let me love you babe In every single way You belong Inside my song Don’t you know that The muse is never wrong Reggae music pumping ‘cross the sand Smoke a little ganja - groovin’ to the band Dancing barefoot - skankin’ hand in hand Feel the one drop in this Caribbean land See the glory Burnin’ bright Feel your soul as it's Filling up with light Sunny skies Where nothing dies The whole world reflected Inside of your eyes In'a disya contest there’s a prize for everyone It don’t matter when they shoot the starting gun Ain’t no losers after all is said and done We get to dance under a Caribbean sun We get to dance under a Caribbean sun We get to dance under a Caribbean sun

Got a hole in my tooth It’s been driving me mad I’ve had it for weeks And it’s hurting real bad Dentist tells me “Sir - you need some root canal work right away.” Hey hey hey – what can I say? Now I’m a lucky man I gotta dentist from Greece He’s a happy kinda guy If a little obese I think they call him Kyros and he Likes to get inside my mouth and play Hey hey hey He took a needle and he stabbed it in my face At least it seemed that way to me I’m clenching both my fists and hoping not to die With Kyros kneeling on my chest (it ain't no lie) It’s not a pretty sight to see a grown man cry Struggling up – just to get some air In the nightmare of the dentist’s chair Now Kyros he scraped And he scraped a little more Then he got out the drill It was getting kinda sore I tried to be strong But there’s only so much pain one man can take For god’s sake! The bastard actually grinned As he hit another nerve Shooting fire in my jaw In a hot jagged curve My body was twitching As my throbbing lower left molar began to break Big mistake Oh Kyros why’d you have to cause me so much pain Ain’t you heard of novacaine? I’m clenching both my fists and I'm hoping not to die With Kyros kneeling on my chest It’s not a pretty sight to see a grown man cry All ye who would enter best beware Of the nightmare in the dentist’s chair I’m spitting blood and tears are running from my eyes ‘cos Kyros – he’s a butcher in disguise I’m clenching both my fists and I'm hoping not to die With Kyros kneeling on my chest (I swear it's true) It’s not a pretty sight to see a grown man cry All ye who would enter best beware Of the nightmare in the dentist’s chair

What do you do To help you get through? Are there Gods right in your field of view? Or do you suffer from doubt? Within and without Or maybe you just want to chicken out It’s never easy trying to live this life It can catch you off your guard You’ve got your own road, yes and I’ve got mine But let love be your calling card Was it the time To turn to crime S’pecially then when you were in your prime But what have you done You and your gun Now you find you’re always on the run You look here and there and everywhere Try looking in your own back yard It’s your own responsibility To let love be your calling card Where have you been? What have you seen? Was it always somewhere in between Who did you meet And who did you greet Kings and Queens or just the man in the street Life doesn’t always have to be such a fight When every yard you’ve won seems hard You can always find a better way Let love be your calling card I try to be kind But bearing in mind S’always hard when I have been maligned Am I to blame? Or am I just lame? Or maybe I don’t want to play the game If there’s always someone on your back They beat you up and leave you battle-scarred I know it’s hard to turn the other cheek And let love be your calling card

I get caught up in the flip side of freedom Where illusion bends the rules of the game Yes I'm stuck behind the barriers I'm building That shield me from the heat of the flame Sometimes I feel sick – I feel so sick to death Other times there's the warm taste of love So I measure my life in my distances From way down below - to high up above I look to the sky and I'm not quite sure why Maybe I can find answers up there Whilst the dogs in the street fighting over the meat Never crosses their minds they can share And an old man gathers a rock in his hand And the child by his side doesn't care Well sometimes I feel like an outsider Like I never quite seem to belong Like an actor who stands in the dark of the wings In the cast of a play that's gone wrong Sometimes life can feel like a B-movie Where I know what the ending will be Maybe if I could re-write the screenplay I could be the star in my own history I look to the sky and I'm not quite sure why Maybe I can find answers up there Whilst the dogs in the street fighting over the meat Never crosses their minds they can share And an old man gathers a rock in his hand And the child by his side doesn't care instrumental I look to the sky and I'm not quite sure why Maybe I can find answers up there Whilst the dogs in the street fighting over the meat Never crosses their minds they can share And an old man gathers a rock in his hand And the child by his side doesn't care So let me run from the flip side of freedom Try and smash all those barricades down In this moment there's much to cling onto As the wheel of my life spins around In the distance I see him come stalking Like a shadow that falls on the land And I know that one day I'll go meet him And I'll play him this song And I'll hold out my hand

You run, just like I used to do In the sun, just like I used to do You're young, just like I used to be You're free, just like I used to be You're living in your own time just Like I used to do Searching for happiness just Like I used to do You might be sad sometimes just Like I used to be You can rise above it Something like me Paradise is in your eyes and all humanity You're tough, just like I used to be A little rough, just like I used to be So brash, just like I used to be Traveler trash, just like I used to be Your inner light is shining just like Mine used to do My eyes are blinded by the sun When I look at you I remember when I first set eyes on someone like you Something opened in my heart yeah, something quite new And I was helpless there was nothing I could do You follow every sign put down The footsteps in the dust Of human suffering As Shiva softly sings Of universal love Some call him Shankarji Like I used to be You look like you could have been me Scruffy, just like I used to be You've seen, the things I used to see Clear skies stretched to infinity I think you could be riding on The same road as me I see you in the distance Dancing like me The past and future fade away To duality The eye of God is in your heart Where I used to be And you are fast approaching your discovery You follow every sign put down The footsteps in the dust Of human suffering As Shiva softly sings Of universal love Some call him Shankarji Like I used to be

It’s not the destination it’s the trip from here to there That carries me along from ride to ride But there’s a woman in the distance - with long dark hair And I’m trying to find a way back to her side Running for home When I turn my back on Istanbul, on London and on Rome Running for home Gonna trade this fading ticket in ‘cos someday I’ll be running for home Sitting in the Liedseplein in sunny Amsterdam We shared a little smoke – then we shared a little joke We were trying to ignore the leers of every sad madam I told ‘em we were foreigners and we were stoney broke Running for home When I turn my back on Amsterdam, on London and on Rome Running for home Gonna trade this fading ticket in ‘cos someday I’ll be running for home Driving south from Marrakech to find the desert sun We were looking to escape the city scrum I’m crossing off my bucket list – one by one But my mind returns to where I’m coming from Running for home When I turn my back on Marrakech, on London and on Rome Running for home Gonna trade this fading ticket in ‘cos someday I’ll be running for home I lost my heart to India some forty years ago She loved me like she lost me once – I was her long lost child She was kind and she was scary – it was hard to let her go But she put me on that midnight plane with a mother’s sad smile Running for home When I turn my back on Rishikesh, New Delhi and on Rome Running for home Gonna trade this fading ticket in ‘cos someday I’ll be running for home

Kathmandu My sympathies to you And to all the people of Nepal My heart cries A part of me dies Watching you crumble and fall You gave to me When I was a young man Such a sweet memory Now I’ll do what I can Om namah shivaya – om mani padme hum So many people suffering It seems they’ve lost everything Earth may quake Foundations may shake And faith may be put to the test But you have fight Traditions of the light Burning in each Nepali breast Back in my youth When the timer held more sand You held the truth In the palm of your hand Om namah shivaya – om mani padme hum

The sunrise plays its light upon my upturned face I’m just another member of this human race The child upon your knee with peacock feathered hair She smiles unknowingly blissfully unaware I look into your eyes and you look into mine And in that altered moment how my life began to shine Everything I am Everything I do Every waking moment is bound up in thoughts of you First I was asleep Then I was awake Your grace is always there in every breath I take It might have seemed if I had somehow turned my back As if I’d modified my angle of attack I'm only human but when my mistakes are weighed I'll throw them on this funeral pyre that I have made Yet even after all these years I still know where you are You’re in my heart and in the strings of my guitar Everything I am Everything I do Every waking moment is bound up in thoughts of you First I was asleep Then I was awake Your grace is always there in every breath I take I know you won’t desert me in my hour of need I feel your energy in one rudraksha bead You give me everything for nothing in return And I will never ever be too old to learn I see myself reflected in your ancient eyes I stand before you naked crying to the skies Your touch reveals the inner light that makes me whole You cut through the illusions I have built around my soul Everything I am Everything I do Every waking moment is bound up in thoughts of you First I was asleep Then I was awake Your grace is always there in every breath I take

Sometimes it seems I find myself somewhere I never thought I would be I thought I saw your face I thought I felt your grace And it was rolling right over me And there were colours fading in with the sunrise Crashing like a wave in my eye Deep greens and blues And spectacular views Of the village where you chose to die Must be the poet in me that keeps walking I can hear him constantly talking And I'm climbing that hill Yes I'm climbing that hill Where the olives and cypresses wave And I'm climbing that hill Climbing that hill To the grave of Robert Graves There were shutters up at all of the windows Painted green by a long lost hand There were soft guitars And shooting stars And beaches without any sand In the heat of the day we were drinking Glasses of cold San Miguel In a shady café We could sit all day As the church measured time with its bell Must be the poet in me that keeps walking I can hear him constantly talking And I'm climbing that hill Yes I'm climbing that hill Where the olives and cypresses wave And I'm climbing that hill Climbing that hill To the grave of Robert Graves And Deiá was the place you kept returning to Where your White Goddess had her play In the words of your songs When the muse came a long And the poetry tumbled all day So now I'm walking this road like a pilgrim To a churchyard - high up on this hill Robert Graves in my head In your footsteps we tread In an atmosphere so tranquil and still Must be the poet in me that keeps walking I can hear him constantly talking And I'm climbing that hill Yes I'm climbing that hill Where the olives and cypresses wave And I'm climbing that hill Climbing that hill To the grave of Robert Graves

I thought it was time that I made myself clear I want to leave no doubts in your mind In every lifetime comes a moment of realisation when clarity is easier to find My understanding comes from just how much I need you and the warmth you bring into this cold old heart But all my failings only serve as a reminder that the lives we live can easily fall apart But my dear I always felt so safe in your hands You always stop me straying into the shadowlands And I will testify to love The years keep passing by like strangers on the subway and life can seem too long and then too short But in this moment as the future comes to pass I know that you're the one I count on for support Sometimes we have to wait a lifetime for fulfillment and for some, it can be a lifetime filled with pain But pain can disappear inside your sweet embrace like a shot of morphine pumped into my veins And so my dear I'll walk with you forever hand in hand I'll walk beside you and always be at your command And I will testify to love Touch a fire and we burn It's a lesson we must learn That the things we do aren't easy to undo But baby don't be concerned The fires have all been burned And the fact that I survived is down to you – to you I do my thinking in the small hours of the morning when the only sounds are drunkards in the street But I don't hear them I just listen to the music with the songs that I might sing you on repeat And so my dear the the road ahead will take us on our way However it turns out we're moving on from yesterday And I will testify to love And I will testify to love

They say what goes around comes around That it's just the circle of life But the nearer you get to the end, my friend The closer you get to the start You see the earth revolving On an axis of sorrow and strife You think that maybe it'll change one day But that could be just your bleeding heart We walk - on a road That nobody else has seen We came - here alone And that's the way it always has been We are – who we are But we're not who we think we might be I am I, I am he, nearly free You contemplate all the mysteries Try and figure what life is about But your life is a world only you create Every time you draw your next breath When you were young and time passed slow When the doors of perception opened wide What you saw and what you felt back then Will stay with you till the day of your death We walk - on this road That nobody else has seen We came - here alone That's the way it always has been Yes we are – who we are But we're not who we think we might be I am I, I am he, nearly free

Sometimes in the darkness I'm looking for the light Shadows can be lonely And stress can make you tight Some people aren't so friendly And some will put you down But if they've got a problem It's a problem of their own The world is going crazy And hatred's on the rise Xenophobic ignorance And racists telling lies Governments in turmoil The minister's resigned Now there's instability They're drawing up battles lines The love I feel for you will never disappear My life would be empty without you near I'm staying in the moment I'm gonna be here now The future is just space and time On Stephen Hawking's brow So sit with me in silence And watch the river flow Thoughts may come and thoughts may go And inner peace will grow Breathing in and breathing out Where God is I don't know

I wonder where you got to Since you and I were friends The earth it kept on turning No time to make amends And sometimes life will kill you With a killer's callous hand I don't think I will ever understand We wandered through the city We were both the worse for wear You wore a leather jacket And I had grown my hair Well you played some Leonard Cohen There were stories of the street But I just ended up with itchy feet I took off across the sea I'm looking for a certain tree Where gurus gave a name to me And showed me how to be And you were there with smiling face Standing in that sacred place I caught a glimpse of inner space In all its mystery We walked along the river bank Our silent steps in tune You sometimes spoke of Sweden In the shady afternoon Well you loved that holy river With a lover's heart and soul You said she brought you closer to your goal One day we climbed a mountain To the temple of the brave We chanced upon a holy man Who brought us to his cave And temple bells were ringing In the valley far below And everything around us seemed to glow And I'll always remember you I marveled at the things you knew The truth you always cut into The happiness we shared The smiling moon was overhead The tears of joy had all been shed There were no words we left unsaid That left us unprepared And I yearn for those forgotten days The love within your gentle gaze The light of knowledge all ablaze And feeling we were free And if I pass this way again I'll keep an eye out now and then I call your name and wonder when You'll come back to me

Well truth is a word that gets bandied around all the time What’s good and what’s bad they ain’t nothing but partners in crime But what is a lie? is it really not telling the truth? Is it birth? Is it life? Is it death or the culture of youth? Is truth in the passing of time – in the hours and the years? Is it fear of the ending of days – of the silent frontiers? Or could it be truth that we see in the stars every night? I tell you Truth ain’t got nothing to do with what’s wrong and what’s right Now truth never got in the way of the journalist's pen And truth is a stranger to all those political men Extremist religion has buried the truth in the ground Whilst the man who knows truth sits quite still without making a sound Some say there is truth in the new-born baby’s eyes Others will tell you that truth is somewhere way up in the skies You can’t pin it down – it’s notoriously hard to explain If you take the truth from the truth only the truth will remain

I believe in you And I love all the things you do You believe in me – unconditionally And all of the stars in the dark night sky They are made from you and me And Here - Here and Now We can be just who we want to be Look around and read all the signs Pointing your way home Gods and gurus writing all their lines But in the end we are walking home alone I – I can see – there in the distance Someone following me And I – I can hear Your voice calling out to me And here – here in the one true moment Where oneness overcomes duality Yeah and I – I am in you And you – you are in me

Well there are questions I want answered and I want an answer now Lies and propaganda are much More than we can allow One day I met a politician some asshole who knows it all Well I asked him why he was smiling but what he said I can't recall Crazy mixed-up neighbourhood where it's still kill or be killed They say it's like a jungle out there where the blood is being spilled And there are guys searching for hookers they're on a night off from the wife And in the shadows lurks some maniac with his hand wrapped around a knife It's never clean and it's never clear But we try to read all the signs Is it your reality or is it just these broken lines? Well you can sometimes understand it when someone goes on a killing spree They take the crap at work from nine to five and then they snap into insanity And the boss who's a fucking asshole she's the first to take a bullet in the head And by the time he's done – and put his head to his gun there's another seven lying dead instrumental. So we can dump our shit in the ocean and we can pump a lot of shit in the air It’s how the human race has worked it out and we all gotta get our share We are lords over all creation we can suck this planet dry And we can fuck around with the genome so we don’t ever have to die It's never clean and it's never clear But we try to read all the signs Is it your reality or is it just these broken lines?