Music

US AND THEM

On the hillside
Smoke is rising
In the valley children crying
With or against us
With or against us
House to house now
Danger storms in
Soldiers howling
Just one question
Are you with or against us
With or against us
Fear can make you lose your voice
Force you to a choice
That you don’t wanna make

CHORUS
I don’t wanna choose
Between us and them
I don’t wanna lose
And I don’t need to win
Don’t wanna have to choose
Cause I can’t pretend
I’m any different than you
Or you or her or him
I don’t wanna take a side
It’s fratricide
And it just tears me up inside and
I don’t wanna choose
Between us and them

Here’s a Black man
He don’t look like us
From the TV
We learn not to trust
With us or against us
With us or against us
Black man down now
Police beating
Some of them shudder
But their greeting is
With us or against us
With us or against us
Fear can make you lose your voice
Force you to a choice
That you don’t wanna make

CHORUS

The line between us
It ain’t a line
In the sand
It’s in our mind
It’s in our mind
One peak inside us
Then we will see
We’re like them
We’ll be free
We’ll be free

CHORUS

Lane Arye –lead vocals, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
John Alevizakis – lead guitar, bass, programming
Terry Baker – drums
Troy Lush – keys
Chris Webster – backing vocals

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IT’S CONTAGIOUS

Yesterday you were so mad at me
I really didn’t know why
I started not to care
I just wanted you to stop being so mean to me
I wanted you to get the hell out of my hair.
You shifted your weight just like a street fighter
A door inside me slammed even tighter

CHORUS
Oh it’s contagious
Oh how we treat each other
Oh it’s contagious
One bad turn creates another
Then I knew
I could maybe win this round
And if I did
I’d probably lose you
And then like a treasure that I had lost and found
There suddenly appeared your point of view
I pulled you close and said “I’m sorry”
You held me tight and said you loved me

CHORUS

You can pick up a club
Build up a wall
It’s the safest thing
But we know it don’t help at all
But when we lay
Our weapons down
And we come out into the open
We can change the way we’re turning
round and round and round

CHORUS

Lane Arye – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
John Alevizakis – guitars, bass, programming
Terry Baker – drums
Chris Webster – backing vocals

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THUNDER ECHOES 

A family can’t go home
Cause it’s lived in by the family from next door
Who can’t go home
Cause it was burned down by the soldiers
Who said they were protecting
Their families and their nation
And their god and their religion
From the people who the last time
Burned their homes
Killed their fathers
Those people had a reason
They said they were protecting
Their families and their nation
And their god and their religion
From the people who the last time
Burned their homes
Killed their fathers
It’s been going on forever
Now a family can’t go home
A family can’t go home
And a baby’s growing up
Angry
And the thunder
It echoes

CHORUS
Thunder echoes
Thunder echoes
Thunder echoes
A baby’s growing up
Drinking from his mother’s breast
That milk’s been curdled by
The bile of pain revenge and bitterness
That now is coursing through his veins
As if the thing that gives him life
Is the thing that killed his father
Will he take it as his wife

CHORUS

Now the boy is growing older
Growing stronger day by day
With his friends he’s plotting murder
In the ordinary way
And the cycle it perpetuates
A snake biting its tail
In the cover of a moonless night
A new widow starts to wail
Aiaiaiaiai thunder
Aiaiaiaiaiai  echoes
Aiaiaiaiaiai  echoes
And the thunder
It echoes

Lane Arye –lead vocals, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
John Alevizakis – slide guitar, bass, programming
Terry Baker – drums
Troy Lush – keys
Chris Webster – backing vocals

History of this Song:

In 1998 I was in Topusko, Croatia with a group of 67 Croats, Serbs, and Bosnians. My friend Arlene Audergon and I were facilitating a forum that was part of a six-year project, Rebuilding Sustainable Community In The Aftermath of the War. But this forum was different than the others had been — it was held in a spa/hotel that was being used as a rehabilitation hospital for Croat veterans who had been wounded in the war. They knew what we were there to discuss, and who was with us. And some of the wounded veterans were upset by it. Some asked to attend the forum, and we were honored to have them with us. Our organizers feared possible violence. The on-going pain and tension of the war was palpable and inescapable. And in the forum, stories of war trauma tumbled out. One man had been forced to flee his village with his family during the war. He told us he could not return to his house after the war because his neighbor’s family (from a different ethnic group) was living there, and his neighbor could not go home because his house had been burned down. In the midst of all this pain and horror, my inner ears were constantly filled with a simple and haunting musical motif. When I got home, I played that motif on my guitar, and wrote this song.

LESS

IT’S ALL YOU

You know how to
Take the cold
Turn it into warm breeze
You know how to save me when I’m
Drowning in the storm seas
When I’m sinking
When I’m spinning
When I’m shaking
You know how to hold me
You are giving hope
When I am giving up and doubting
You are showing love
When I’m forgetting all about it
When I’m hiding
Not confiding
You’re reminding me
To come out with it
Yes it’s

CHORUS
It’s all you
My success
Chance for rest
You’re the reason I’m whole
It’s all you
You help me feel
Keep me real
Girl I want to grow old with you
You are like an
Open window
When I need a breather
You are like a
Sister mother lover friend and teacher
When I’m cry’n
You help me find
The divine
Better than a preacher

CHORUS

There’s no more wondering if I’ll be alone
When days go by

Coziness calls and happiness falls
Like kisses from the sky

CHORUS

Lane Arye –lead vocals, backing vocals
John Alevizakis –guitar, bass, keys, programming
Terry Baker – drums
Chris Webster – backing vocals

LESS

BONE CHILLIN

He felt the exact same way when he was a child
His momma had that look in her eye that bordered on wild
And now the trembling inside his chest don’t ever subside
The moment something smells not quite right he stops in mid-stride
Cause he’s

CHORUS
Bone chilling blood freezing scared
We’re talking bone chilling blood freezing scared
Last night his girlfriend nudged him as he slept
She wanted to talk
He whispered hello like a mouse to a hawk
He felt just like that old Elmore James song
“It’s all my fault, I must have done somebody wrong”
Yes he was

CHORUS

But she said, “I love you
I’ll hold you as you shake
I want you
I’ll wipe the sweat away”
And he said, “I love you
But please no sudden moves cause I’m
Bone chilling blood freezing scared
We’re talking bone chilling blood freezing scared
I want you even though I’m
Bone chilling blood freezing scared”

Lane Arye –lead vocals, rhythm guitar
John Alevizakis –bass, programming
Terry Baker – drums
Danny Uzilevski – lead guitar
Chris Webster – backing vocals

LESS

I’LL BE HERE WHEN YOU WAKE

Sleep, Sweetness
Nothing will harm you
The day was harsh
But the night
Has a softer hue
Sleep, Sweetness
Turn off the alarm inside your head
Let the dark of the sky
Fill your mind instead
And I’ll be here when you wake
And you won’t have to worry about a thing
Cause I’ll be here when you wake
We can talk or laugh or we can sing
Yes I’ll be here when you wake
And you’ll be
You’ll be in my arms
Sleep, Sweetness
Your troubles won’t miss you
Here’s a kiss
That will last
Till the morning dew
And I’ll be here when you wake
And you won’t have to worry about a thing
Cause I’ll be here when you wake
We can talk or laugh or we can sing
I’ll be here when you wake
And you’ll be
You’ll be in my arms
Right here in my arms
You’ll be in my arms
Sleep

Lane Arye – vocals, guitar
John Alevizakis – keys

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