A very,very, very long entry in which I bare my soul through my favorite music
I worked really hard on this. You should too. And you should read mine, because the man is a certifiable genius.



I pick: Dan Bern

1. Are you male or female?

Like most American men
I think about sports a lot
It's the one time I can get close
To a lot of really good friends of mine
And talk and yell and slap hands
And say stuff like "Sammy, you're the man, I love you"

And we pore over scores and statistics
Like Medieval Biblical scholars
And I can go into a bar
And start watching some kind of game
And I can start talking to a black guy
Or a Mexican or a Japanese
And we're laughing and slamming and crying
All because of Michael Jordan
Cause then I wish I could fly
Like most American men
--Most American Men

2. Describe yourself:

When I vote, I vote democratic
Sometimes further left like peace and freedom,
Or even libertarian
I'm pro-choice, pro-environment
Against large corporations and the neutron bomb
But when I'm stuck on the freeway
And it's hot and someone cuts me off
I think they oughta fry that son of a bitch
It's the fascist in me

I given to seven charities
I've played five different benefits
In the past month
My bumper stickers say:
Save the whales, visualize peace, NPR
But when someone's rude in a restaurant
I'd like to make them look at the barrel of a gun
And then we'll see how smug they are
It's the fascist in me
Wish I had the power to seize your house
It's the fascist in me
Wish I had the authority to take your tongue
It's the fascist in me
I'd run you naked through the middle of the town
It's the fascist in me
--Fascist In Me

3. How do people feel about you?

Confused little girl
Confused little girl

Yeah well, she grew up
Became a confuse young woman
Got a confused little job
In a confused little loft
One day she said, "Man, I'm confused"
So she went to see a therapist
She poured out her heart
She said "Man, I'm confused
Is there anything you can do to help?"

He listened very carefully
Lit a cigarette
Thoughtfully stroked his chin
And then he said, "I don't see what the problem is"

Normal sane little world
Confused little girl
--Confused Little Girl

4. How would you like others to see you?

You can categorize me
Lump me with the others
If that's the way you wanna play
You can say that the way it's been
Is exactly the way that it's gotta be
And I'll make you feel right
If you gotta feel right
Well if you're willing to live truthfully
I think you'll see
That babe I'm not the guy who
Hurt you many years ago
--I'm Not The Guy

and

Someday you'll walk where I am
And then you'll see my footprints left in the sand
I feel you moving in my wake
So please try to learn from my mistakes
Do not judge from where you stand
Someday you will understand
I want what's best for me an you
And I know that you want it too, Suzanne

As you sit there in the shade
And reflect on the choices that I have made
Just remember what I've done
Has been done in the glare of the blinding sun

Someday you will understand
Someday you'll be dealt my hand
Someday I will shout your name
And I know you're deciding the same, Suzanne
--Suzanne

5. How do you feel about yourself?

Oh, them butterflies
Fighting against the wind ;
Not movin' anyplace.

Happiest moment of my life .....

Started whippin' my jacket around,
Hard as I could do;
Yellow and white wings flickering against my feet.

Oh, them butterflies
Fast as I 'd take 'em out, more would fill the air.
Oh, them butterflies
Never felt like that before.
It was the happiest moment of my life

Thought about this the other day
Little boy playin' on a pier
Swingin' his jacket against a column of yellow and white;
I'd always seen it so beautiful.
Now I just see an angry boy
Striking out against the world.
--Butterflies

and

I look in the mirror
And I wait for the damn thing to speak
Who needs whiskers? Who needs answers?
One good question would be a relief

So I'm going to all the movies
And I memorize my lines
And try to stumble through another day
And I'm always looking for the perfect jacket
Or a million dollars or a bullet
Is it only me who goes through life this way

I'm lost, crazy lonesome
I'm a plane with no place to land
I do anything
To make me feel like a man
Make me feel like a man
--Feel Like A Man

6. Describe your girlfriend/boyfriend/interest/whatever:

You have redeemed my faith in the alley way poet
Who drinks away his nights and sleeps away his days
Recounting mad visions of princes and reckless women and desperate men

When I close my eyes
I can picture you in that red dress
Clinging to your frame
Like a cloud that settled there
And there you were
But still it was not until that first kiss
That the earth under my feet made some barely perceptible shift
And I'm coming to this moment
When I say the words that I thought
Would never ever escape my lips

I'm going to love you forever
Forever and ever
I'm going to love you forever
--Forever and Ever

and

C'mon, we'll drive up the coast
Its a Tuesday and Thursday
I can't remember, and I don't care
We'll drive to Seattle
Or else Oklahoma
Or else if we wanna
A boat to Hawaii
Or maybe Japan with the kings of karaoke
Come out!
Come on out now girl, you've gotta come out!

Maybe the only thing jumping in the car and driving can get us is
an empty tank of gas

Yeah, but it sure beats sitting around here
Maybe we'll be lucky, find our own private river valley,
or at least an all-night diner where they know how to poach and egg
Maybe we'll meet some nice people along the way,
and anyway, you know
I'll never leave you

You know I'll never leave you
--Lithuania

7. What would you rather be doing?

Let's turn off the commercials
Let's turn off the tv
How well can we get to know
Each other in an hour?
We can fight the daylight
We have that power
I'm looking for one thing real tonight
--One Thing Real

or

I'd love to trade places
with a dog for a day
to know what he thinks and what he feels
does he think about life?
does he think about God?
or just about his next meal, like us?
--Rolling Away

8. Describe your relationship with your family:

Down Midwest backseat bumpy streets
You sang my Beatles songs with me
I sang your Broadway melodies
Bad harmonies
And where would Willie Mays have been
Without Jackie Robinson?
And who can say what I'd been
Without you to lead the way
--Oh, Sister

and

You see, everything I know, I learned from my dad
He learned it all from his
And his dad just happened to be
Wrong about everything
--Hannibal

9. Describe your relationship with your friends:

You know the best friend I ever had was a dog
It sounds like a cliche unless it's happened to you
Some days that dog was the only reason I even got out of bed
--Estelle

and

So baby, when I close my eyes
You know it's you I see
You know I'm pullin' for you
As you go on your way

Don't ever hesitate
To say what's goin' on
Ain't nothing black and white
Always some new place to turn
--Albuquerque Lullaby

10. Describe the worst relationship with an ex:

We walked outside and I said, "It looks like rain"
She said, "I hate the rain"
I said, "Well, we could use some"
She said, "I don't see for what"
I said, "Well, when it rains it feels like back home in the Midwest"
She said, "As far as I'm concerned the Midwest could fall off the earth"

She's gone, she's gone
Never to return you
And some day all the planets
Will be overwhelmed when the sun explodes
And reappear as angels
In some dark corner of the universe
In God's time, not yours
--In God's Time (Not Yours)

11. Do you believe in God?

God came to me in a dream
I knew it was God
Because He had a long white beard
And a pink striped tunic
And the word "God" was spelled out above him
And an arrow pointed at his head

Well, just now it occurs to me
He could be a dog
He could be a dgo
He could be a gdo
As in Waiting for Godot
But no, no, no
It spelled "God"
The Kabbala is for crazy people
Not for me
And not, might I be so bold to say, not for God
--Lightning Jazz

12. Describe where you live:

Well, it's a late night in Chicago
I break into Wrigley Field
It's early spring
The season isn't starting for a week
It's a little after midnight
I've been playing down the street
At an open mic in a little bar
Just under the el tracks
I've noticed for a couple days that
They've been doing some work on the ballpark
They've got scaffolding up
I climb in
--Ballpark

and

Shortly before Pittsburgh the tires came off
But we kept pouring down the interstate
Heading west and slightly north
And by the time we pulled into Cleveland
And skidded to a stop
It was noon and very cold
--Ballerina

13. Describe how you live:

I've been speaking later and later in the day
Most days I don't talk 'till maybe 8 o'clock at night
It keeps me whole, keeps me holy
Keeps me way up in the mountains even when I'm on the road
Keeps me coming up for air
Keeps me airing out some cum
Keeps me cool
--Black Tornado

and

Sometimes I think I'll melt away
And in the sidewalk cracks I'll stay
And who will notice, who will call
Cause life won't change much, if at all

I close my eyes and live
I close my eyes and live another day

Another day so far from farms where I grew up
Another day, another day
Another day so far from single pair of eyes
That speak to me of home, not another night alone

Another day is done
I lay my eyes to rest
There's food, I've got a bed
And a roof above my head

I close my eyes and live
I close my eyes and live another day
--Another Day

14. Describe how you love:

I was starting to think
The world was going to end when the calendar turns
And now you're here I see the future baby
And they can let the calendar burn

New love is beautiful
But new love is sad
New love brings back all the old loves
That you've ever had
I put out a casting call
You cast a spell
And we're practicing for the millennium making love at the Chelsea hotel

So who knows what tomorrow brings
But I know where I'll be waking up
Let's just listen to our breath tonight
And the breeze through the window that you opened up
Can you feel our hearts beating
Which is yours, which is mine, who can tell
Just another day of making love at the Chelsea hotel
--Chelsea Hotel

15. How about some social commentary?

When people heard the news,
They found it hard to understand
"How could such a murderer
Come from our own land?"

But when we build walls and borders
From fear and hate and guns
The hatred turns around and
Strikes at everyone.

Maybe now we'll understand,
Maybe now we'll see;
Super Patriots are seldom friends of you and me.
They're scared and weak and cowards
And they think that with their guns
The ones they're most afraid of
Will turn around and run.

But when we stand strong together
And let love enjoy it's will,
Misfortune can't defeat us
It makes us stronger still.

Like on the nineteenth day of April,
Of Nineteen ninety-five
The day all Oklahomans will
Remember all their lives.
--Oklahoma

and

See, I do not want my politicians in my bed or in my house or house of God
I don't care what they believe or what they look like or who their daddy is
And I do not care who a senator sucks or a president fucks at all

How many ads they got on TV
What they did or did not do in the war
See I'd rather kill the guns
Then have to kill off my emotions

I'm scared to speak my mind
Or disagree
Or even move
I might get noticed

Man, it's just no fun anymore
The golden rule has changed
Fire unto others before they fire unto you

I don't need no more erection pills
I don't need a million baldness cures
Hell, these days to die in a car crash
Is practically dignified

What's the point of going to the health club, building your body, pumping them weights
If a five-year-old can walk up and blow you away

Hey governor,
Whatchya doing about the guns?
Hey candidate,
What you gonna do about the guns?

I don't really want to die 'cuz someone's pissed off at his girlfriend
I don't want my kid to die 'cuz someone didn't make the football team

I don't care what John Rocker says
The first amendment's good by me
But the second one's outdated
It's ashes ought to be burned and scattered

We're talking disarmament
Disarmament
Disarmament
Disarmament
--Disarmament

16. Share a few words of wisdom:

Talk to your kids, play with your kids
Tell 'em your dreams, and your disappointments
Listen with your kids, and listen to your kids
Watch your kids, and let your kids watch you
Tell your kids the truth, as best as you can tell it
No use telling lies, your kids can always smell it
Cook for your kids, have your kids cook for you
Sing with your kids, teach your kids the blues
Learn their games, teach them yours
Touch your kids, find out what they know
Be sad with your kids, be stupid with your kids
Laugh with your kids, cry with your kids
Be yourself with your kids , be real with your kids
Embarrass your kids, let them embarrass you
Be strong with your kids, be tough with your kids
Be firm with your kids, say no to your kids,
Say yes to your kids, take it easy on your kids
You were a kid not so long ago
There's things you know, your kids will never know
There's places they live where you will never go
So dance with your kids, paint with your kids
Walk with your kids, tell stories to your kids
One day your kids, won't be kids
Maybe they'll have kids of their own
Lets hope they talk to their kids
Play with their kids
Tell 'em their dreams
And their disappointments
--Kids Prayer

and

Don't let your heart
Get broken by this world
At the bottom of the ocean
You might find a pearl
Don't let your heart
Get broken by this world
--Albuquerque Lullaby

17. Describe your outlook on life:

You know sometimes it feels
Like there's so much that you need
Sometimes the world is upside down
Sometimes it feels like the only thing you need
Is holdin' someone's hand as you walk through town
--Estelle

and

The best, the best, the best is yet to come
The best, the best, the best is yet to come
The best, the best, the best is yet to come
--Lightning Jazz