“The very embodiment of the term Crooner. Knows his way round the ivories better than most, with an unbeatable repertoire of Classics and originals to keep you entertained."
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LYRICS BELOW
to all the VIDEOS of the album
1. BEAUTIFUL SUNSHINE
Words and music: Paul Toshner
B B/Ab Ebm Ebm/Ab
B F# x B Db
Db/Bb Ebm Db/F F# Eb/G Absus-Ab Absus-Ab
I wake up in the morning, beautiful sunshine
I wake up in the morning all I see is you
At the end of a day of marked success
I take out my cufflinks as I get undressed
I thought of you as I climbed the stairs
Acutely aware I was glad you were there
And even though you’re asleep and unaware
I’m happy that I have someone who cares
The words flow easy
That's also your doing
But lets not get carried away though
I'm afraid of approving
And I wake up in the morning,
beautiful sunshine
I wake up in the morning
all I see is you
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day
You're more beautiful
Than anything Shakespeare could say
Shall I compare thee to a starry starry night
You’re more dazzling
than anything Vincent tried to hold in sight
אִשָּׁה יִרְאַת יְיָ Isho yiras Hashem
2. AN AMERICAN STAR (sympathy for the journalist)
Words and music Paul Toshner
F Dm
F Dm Bb Gm
Ab Fm Db Dbm
Bb Gm Eb Ebm
C Am F Fm
Db Db/Bb F# F#m
- “Hello I’ve come to do an interview on you
I hope that’s alright”
I had a job at a local rag
citing everything she’d say
I fell in love before we met
which for a journalist never pays
So when the day came along in a restaurant
And I heaped upon her praise
she coldly asked me what I want
I said "tell me ‘bout the early days"
She said - (sigh);
my mother would never leave without
her favourite fender strat
she rushed us both to the hospital
in my fathers old black cat
I was born at the side of the road
my friend and that was that
- "well tell me where did you grow up"
(Sigh) Yes I did “grow up!” and in a neighbourhood
where emotion is not revealed
maybe years have passed, I think you've guessed,
still I have not healed
But I would borrow my mothers strat
and sneak out to a club in “the old black cat” x 2
Born - how!? In an Englishman’s car
With a mothers guitar
An American star is born
down, where the tears do not cry
But a voice in her eyes.
And accompanying sighs are born...
Then she said something really quite strange and I saw it in her eyes
“I don’t believe in journalists, they ruin so many lives”
I said “I’m sorry, it’s an age old fight
But I don’t take no liberties because of my rights” x 2
1. F 4. Bb Born – down, in an Englishman’s car
With a mothers guitar
An American star is born
2. F 5. C Down, where the tears do not cry
and a voice in her eyes.
And accompanying sighs are born
3. Ab 6. Db Now in the land of the free
As she wants it to be
But she’d rather believe in me
- “ well thanks very much, bye!
- “It's a free land, it's a price you pay"
The journalist is “just doing his job” which is to serve a two edged sword:
making the star “canonised” as a superstar, and seeking to reveal they are “just human”.
3. THE VISITORS
Words and music: Paul Toshner
Bb Dm Eb
What brings you to these parts my friend
Is their something you’ve lost
Has the wind been strong
Did you not belong
Was the ground awash with frost
Come in I say
Warm those feet of clay
We’re not all Vincent Van Gogh
Its been foretold
That a colour less sold
(a colourless soul)
or the not so bolden rainbow
Gets to re-engage
Even centre stage
And somehow comes to pass
Or at very lease
doth find some peace
in what’s left of his ass
People die
things do change
if this is goodbye
it’s not so strange
not so strange at all
In the summer
my father comes south
to visit the visitors
in the visitors windows
4. ANENU / ANSWER US
(עֲנֵנוּ)
Paul Toshner
Music in part II: Puccini
Weather thing gone
Were the thing gone
Were’d the thing go
Wear the thing gone
F Db
In my dreams we laugh
but I know this can not be
if I ask what’s become of you
you’d ask the same of me
the right line
at the right time
in right place
with the right face
Ribono Shel L’olam
Anenu di padre
di tutto di padre
Adam
Master of forever
answer us
Father of
the fathers of man
In my dreams we laugh...
...easier said than done
be it money, health or love,
or loosing someone
When things seem black
it’s a time to stop
but not look back
a time to rest and see
what tomorrow will be
If you want call it a test
but be assured that
He knows best
His truth abounds
without a sound
even in a mess
If you see the good
you'll see the best
We're not naive
to trust it's just opposite for us
if things seem bad
try emunah (faith) אֱמוּנָה,
a tad
I know it's easier said than done
be it money, health or love,
or loosing someone
Dilegua, o notte
(Vanish, o night)
Tramontate, stelle
(Set your stars)
Tramontate, stelle
(Set your stars)
All'alba
(At daybreak)
HaKodosh Boruch Hu
(The Holy Blessed He
הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא
G-d)
Ribono Shel L’olam
(Master of forever)
Anenu di padre
(answer us Father)
di tutto di padre
(of [the] fathers)
Adam
(of man)
Answer us
answer us
Master of forever
answer us
Father of
all fathers of man
The right line
in the right time
with the right face
in right place
Ribono Shel L’olam
(Master of forever)
Anenu di padre
(answer us Father)
di tutto di padre
(of [the] fathers)
Adam
(of man)
5. THE HORSE SPOKE
a story of Emunah told to me by my cousin Ivor Tiefinbrun
Once upon a time my cousin Ivor went into the pub and everyone said “what happened!? Did you loose your
license, are you going to jail?!” He said “The horse spoke”. They said “What d’you mean?”
Well, he’d just come out of court for speeding so fast in a built up area, and the judge didn’t believe you could do that speed in that area. So he let him off with it.
But they all said to him “what d’you mean, the horse spoke!?
He said “let me explain, once upon a time there was a king, and the king had a favourite horse and he looked out the window and he sees the stable boy riding his
favourite horse. And he runs out, sais to the guard “chop his head off”. The stable boy says “wait a minute, I can
see the king every day from my little window, riding his favourite horse and I can see him whispering in the horses ear. I thought if I teach the kings horse to speak and answer him back, he’d be very happy!”
The king goes “Hmmmm!? That would be lovely wouldn’t it! You can really teach my horse to speak?! I tell you what I give you a year.
And if at the end of the year you succeed you’re going to be the richest man in the
kingdom, next to me. But if you fail you’ll wish I’d simply cut your head off coz you’re going to die a slow excruciating death.
He says “fine”
But he goes back to the stables, and the other stable boys say “you’re mad, you’re gonna be awake all year worrying about what he’s gonna do to you, you could have just had your head chopped off and that would have been it:
- “sholom al Yisroel done!”
He said “no you don’t understand. A lot can happen in a year; The king could die, I could die, the horse could die, the horse could speak.
You see the message of the story is that when he went out of court, he should have got a big ticket, lost his driving
license, and he went into the pub, and they all said “what happened”, he said
“the horse spoke”
they said
“What d’you mean!?”
6. PAPER GUN
Words and music: Paul Toshner
G F C G
C Dm Dm C
C Dm - G Dm - G C
D Em Em D
D Em - A Em - A D
E Em Em E
E F#m - B F#m - B E
“There’s something needs to be done.
It's like something in you that says I need to do this.
And if I don't do anything else I know that I know that I know that I have to do this!”
Mesoud Benasully
...when someone has wronged you
that is their problem
but that it happened to you is your problem
that it happened to you is yours...
where have men been,
what have they become
Gun, paper gun paper gun
Gun, paper gun paper gone
soon they’ll be seeing the light
in fact I certainly hope
we should be enjoying this
together on the other side
Probably you prefer that I told you that I
want to buy you pizza than I tell you I love you
then again depends on weather you have
an allergy to cheeze but nowadays you
can get tofu, tofu is an alternative to cheese
forget it, forget it, give up, don't do it,
don't do it to yourself, don't do it to your family
it's ok, good to love, good to look at other people,
but you must understand yourself
ok, teach me how to eat sushi
...you don't have chopsticks
what is normal, we all ask that question
the funny thing is being unusual nowadays is so bloody
normal that nobody really notices if you are unusual or not
in fact being normal is much more unusual than being unusual
The synergy is what counts
where in lies the reality
how fickle we are, how tempted to the unknown
the gender makes no difference
Singing a song, loving me, loving you back...
that’s what I'm thinking about
...nobody is going to change that
I'm talking about everybody’s coping about the same thing.
G-d bless you
hello Mr Appelbaum, I wonder whether or not
you'd like to come round and tell a story...
Of course you need to understand
that we are working on a masterpiece...
when action is replaced with emotion
instead of going to do something silly
get it out on paper
then perhaps you'll calm down later
or maybe not it depends how much
or how little self restraint you've got
Hope you are well, that's all I am saying
have a wonderful evening and whatever it is
you're not doing, don't do it for long
because if you don't do it what you're not doing
who knows what you'll end up doing
coz truth be told I am more bold
where you can not outrun
your hate, from love
that you thought so little of
as you laughed...at my paper gun
“I think every person at one point in their lives
they had this strong feeling that they have to do something
about a situation, maybe they were raised in a way that they shouldn't,
I'm saying...something must be done”
Mesoud Benasully
Like a social misfit
you play the scene
“there’s good and bad in everyone”
so you think you’ll come out clean
well I wont give you the pleasure
from me you wont get a rise.
Anyway you’re blissfully un-aware
of why you should be so despised
“never rub another mans rhubarb”
always good advice
like "an eye for an eye
a tooth for a tooth"
there’s a price
so avert your gaze and a little less praise
yes avert your gaze and a little less praise
when temptation fires your ego.
you’ll notice in time
you’re not paying the fine
“Im all right jack” doesn’t cover the legal
but I am your enemy my friend
and until the bitter end
you are the reason
for my mindful treason
It's broken so what’s to mend!?
In hot and bloody cool disdain
you’ve justified most every lie
moriality can feign
the end was over before the war begun
when I left you weaving your only fun
twas pen and paper that used to be
my field of no retreat
but now I'm doing all I can
that we should never meet
Gun, paper gun paper gun
Gun, paper gum paper gone
Gun, paper gun paper gone
soon they’ll be seeing the light
“It's like one of those people that they need to climb Mt Everest
and it requires years of training and then facing the unknown up there
and so many people they have tried and they have failed
and some people even have lost their lives lo alianeo
I don't have more words to conti....”
Mesoud Benasully
7. IT’S EASY NOW
Words and music: Paul Toshner
you can give it all up, throw it away
“it doesn’t matter - so what” I hear you say
what about a part in the play
but you think it's all gone,
so you sing along
you remember the words,
but it’s absurd!
coz you keep them inside
to protect your pride
it’s easy now
if you're in love
but you keep what you got
you keep moving on
you keep it in style,
it may take a while,
you may have to loose
to know how to win!
you can give it all up
throw it away
“it doesn’t matter
- so what” I hear you say
but you've got
a part in the play
you think it's all gone,
so you sing along
you remember the words,
it’s a little absurd!
coz you keep it inside
to protect your pride
it’s easy now
coz you're in love
who wrote the book how did it sell
who are you now
you’ve drunk from the well
of bugles and passing phases
newsreels and carbon sages
we all turn a page
but it matters what you read
and who you know,
not who might tell you
you could have had a part
in the show
you started to cry
it seemed for no reason why
so you wrote down a song,
but its taking too long
so get up on your feet again,
where you belong
8. YOU AND YOUR OWN
Music: Paul Toshner
Words: Paul Toshner and Max Witreol
Ebm F# B Db
B Em B Em B Abm
It’s such a shame when we complain
About our nearest and dearest
About the ones we need the most,
who give us all we are
And yes I know your not alone
it’s not just you, I know it’s everyone
We pass it off, in saying
we always hurt the ones we love
You and your own, it just makes sense
In the battle zone, not sitting on the fence
If you go I will test you right away,
I will test you right away, if you go
I'm grateful for your friendship
your troubles are also mine
as you say there’s no space between us
I say "in time"
You and your own, it just makes sense
In the battle zone, not sitting on the fence
If you go I will test you right away,
I will test you right away, if you go
9. IN LOVE AGAIN
Words and music: Paul Toshner
Tonight when we see we want to be
under the stars and the moonlight
we can be lovers, undiscovered
to the whole world, beautiful girl
I’ve never before
than when you’re with me
I wont let yougo, forever I see
you for me
for you
or any two lovers who
just like me
just like you
oh oh oh
Ohhhh I’m in love again
3rd time today
with you
if one of my dreams
came true to me
then holding my hand
we’d reach for
our own better day
where we went our way
to the whole world
beautiful girl
you for me
for you
like any two lovers who
like me
like you
oh oh oh
Ohhhh I’m in love again
3rd time today
with you
10. YOU MAKE ME ROCK N’ ROLL
Words and music: Paul Toshner
F# F#/Bb B Db
G G/B C D
You make me rock n roll
you make me take the can
you make me roll
what did I to deserve someone like you
what do I say when you say that the things I do
make you wanna go away
I didn't meant to hurt you that way
Like you don’t mean all the things you say
You say too true,
You say sometimes we say
the things we really don't want to do
You say we can understand
when we lend a hand,
when we stay for the fight if we hang in there tonight
You make me rock n roll
you make me take the can
you make me roll
what do we do!?
we stick at it for what we knew
but the situation’s hanging on the brink
How do we mend this parting
Tell you what, this is how I’m starting
Tellin you now that I’m in for keeps
You make me rock n roll
you make me take the can
you make me roll
11. HOPE IN THE DARK
Music: Paul Toshner
Words: Yoshua Widlen
You move and you struggle you double your trouble
I’m bursting your bubble, you’re stuck in a boat
Or the water you’re soaked
How do you float in your life
12. JIKAN
Words and music: Paul Toshner
Fm Cm Db/Bb Cm
Db Eb
Db Bb/D Eb Bb/D
Am Em Dm Em
Jikan, tired of life without change
Jikan, to re-arrange
to never look back
rise above
don’t cry for pain
only love
only love and Jikan
I’m so tired coz I’m so weak
time to sleep to find my feet
I know you see the world
that’s through my eyes
you know when I’m weak
it comes as no surprise
Jikan
Did we look to close to find
the love we need
in as much our lovers
hearts so hard when we
refuse to give
what we receive
When we’re tired we take the most
think of you think of me so close
remember a new day
brings another sun
remember the old days
warm from the only one
we really don’t need to run
from Jikan
13. TO NONE OTHER THAN ME
Paul Toshner
Am Dm
Here’s a little song
“to none other than me”
Not scared of man;
not scared to be himself
I hear the train in the distance
The world has gone quietly mad
It’s one thirty in the morning
things have never been quite so bad
I feel the hair on the back of my neck
the blood gone from my cheeks
I fear the abyss
I didn’t expect this
The errors I made
Are being seriously paid
I went beyond to admit
So as to excuse all of it
Years of devotion
to none other than me
now I am a prisoner
To none other than me
No reason to lie, no reason to see
the Lord He is good
He wants you to be
Not scared of man
not scared to be himself
I have who to blame
confused by their game
I may even be wrong
But that’s me singing their song
This time it’s through
what must I do
I hope G-d will forgive me
I hope I forgive me too
What a fool I have been
Time and again I think I win
That wherever I am
I think perhaps I can
Scared of man:
scared to be himself
No reason to lie, no reason to see
the Lord He is good
He wants you to be
Not scared of man
not scared to be himself
Sorry, I love you
but you have your issues
so much so what you do
selling hope
strung together with tissues
Hard to live up to
harder to swallow
easily choked on
left feeling hollow
But blame, is a thing of the past
I own my own mess
Like I said at the start
I have what to confess
Too scared of man:
too scared to be himself
No reason to lie, no reason to see
the Lord He is good
He wants you to be
Not scared of man
not scared to be himself
So if you think you're in a hole
or under duress
What will happen now
It’s anyone’s guess
Just don’t creep around in disguise
more and more lies
Till' you can safely say:
That you rue the day
"Perhaps I will change
Though probably not
G-d help me to care
If that’s what I forgot.
I got scared of man
I got scared of myself"
No reason to lie, no reason to see
the Lord He is good
He wants you to be
Not scared of man
not scared to be yourself
Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah used to say:
Where there is no wisdom there is no fear of G-d,
and where there is no fear of G-d there is no wisdom.
14. AN ARTIST - prologue
Words and music: Paul Toshner
Cm/C-/B-/Bb Gm Fm G x: C
Caug Gaug/B C Fm/Eb C Fm - G - C x 2
Eb Bb
Finally letting go,
finally sitting down,
finally what I know
laughing a clown in town
he doesn’t care about the surreptitious,
he’s into helping you get rid of the delicious,
junkie and monkey on your back
He cares about the sense of it,
He’s into the defence of it,
but not with violence, or silence,
is he free
He doesn’t care
about the critical,
it’s too political,
just his spiritual, lyrical visible
melody
so we sang together,
we sang together, we sang alone
An artist has to make some room
in everything he seems
taking that the higher lines are free
And how it feels to be seen and known
For what you have, and what you let go, and let show
But how it feels to be dreaming though,
everything’s quite sad
but I’m glad for what I have
If an artist has to make some room
in everything he seams
tell me really are the higher lines free
so we sang together,
we sang together, we sang alone
In the middle of the noise on a crowded day
I can hear myself and you know I want to say something
15. THE VISITORS – reprise II Mesoud Benasully guitar
Words and music: Paul Toshner
In the summer my father comes south.
To visit the visitors. In the visitor’s windows
So you know the mitzvah *1 of kibud Av *2. Tough one!
The Frimmer Yidden *3, they chap *4 the matsiv*5
in everything, that in this life, we’re just visitors here.
*1 Commandment
*2 Honoring parents
*3 Observant of the mitzvahs
*4 To understand
*5 The situation at hand
16. BEAUTIFUL SUNSHINE
Paul Toshner
It's all honey in the morning
with a little bit of toast on the side
Took a little time
אֵֽשֶׁת חַֽיִל Aishes chayil,
and I wake up in the morning, beautiful sunshine
I wake up in the morning all I see is You
and I wake up in the morning, beautiful sunshine
I wake up in the morning all I'd see is You
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day
for Thou art more beautiful
than anything Shakespeare could say
אִשָּׁה יִרְאַת יְיָ Isho yiras Hashem
“False is grace, beauty is vain”
you have risen above them all the same
and I wake up in the morning, beautiful sunshine
I wake up in the morning all I see is You
and I wake up in the morning, beautiful sunshine
I wake up in the morning all I'd see is You
Oh and it took a little time to think it over
took a little time