Latour
People Are Still Having Sex
Have you noticed that people are still having sex
All the denouncement had absolutely no effect
Parents and counselors constantly scorn them
But people are still having sex
And nothing seems to stop them
Do you realise that people are still having sex
Theyve been told not to, perhaps they are perplexed
When you see them holding hands
Theyre making future plans
To engage in the activity
Do you understand me
People are still having sex
Lust keeps on lurking
Nothing makes them stop
This AIDS things not working
People are still having sex
Its been going on for quite a while
Perhaps its quite fashionable
It hasnt gone out of style
Its a fact that people are still having sex
Its rather obvious its just what one expects
The evidence is all around that everyone in town
Has had it at one time or other in thier life
At this very moment people are still having sex
In a downtown condo or street in the projects
Although you cant see them or hear their breathing sounds
Someone in this world is having sex right now
People are still having sex
People are still having sex
Lazyboy
Lazyboy is the brainchild of Søren Rasted and his record "Lazyboy TV" was released in 2004. The disc takes in all corners of the globe in its conception; the basis of the album is combining social commentary by real people in the streets and funny facts about the world we live in. The album's lead single "Facts Of Life" is an infectious and melodic pop track, full of facts about the world we live in that will make you laugh: "Only one book has been printed in more copies than The Bible - the Ikea catalogue", and facts that may very well surprise you too: "More people die from a champagne cork popping than poisonous spiders".
Underwear Goes Inside The Pants
Why is marijuana not legal?
Why is marijuana not legal?
It's a natural plant that grows in the dirt.
Do you know what's not natural?
80 year old dudes with hard-ons.
That's not natural.
But we got pills for that.
We're dedicating all our medical resources to keeping the old guys erect,
but we're putting people in jail for something that grows in the dirt?
You know we have more prescription drugs now.
Every commercial that comes on TV is a prescription drug ad.
I can't watch TV for four minutes without thinking I have five serious diseases.
Like: "Do you ever wake up tired in the morning?"
Oh my god I have this, write this down.
Whatever it is, I have it.
Half the time I don't even know what the commercial is:
people running in fields or flying kites or swimming in the ocean.
I'm like, that is the greatest disease ever.
How do you get that?
That disease comes with a hot chick and a puppy.
The schools now: It is all about self-esteem in the schools now.
Build the kids' self-esteem, make them feel good about themselves.
If everybody grows up with high self-esteem, who is going to dance in our strip clubs?
What's going to happen to our porno industry?
These women don't just grow on trees.
It takes lots of drunk dads missing dance recitals before you decide to blow a goat on the internet for fifty bucks.
And if that disappears, where does that leave me on a Friday night with my new high speed connection?
Masterminds are another word that comes up all the time.
You keep hearing about these terrorist masterminds that get killed in the middle east.
Terrorist masterminds.
Mastermind is sort of a lofty way to describe what these guys do, don't you think?
They're not masterminds.
"OK, you take a bomb, right? And you put it in your backpack. And you get on a bus and you blow yourself up. Alright?"
"Why do I have to blow myself up? Why can't I just:"
"Who's the fucking mastermind here? Me or you?"
Americans, let's face it: We've been a spoiled country for a long time.
Do you know what the number one health risk in America is?
Obesity.
They say we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic.
An epidemic, like it is polio.
Like we'll be telling our grand kids about it one day.
The Great Obesity Epidemic of 2004.
"How'd you get through it grandpa?"
"Oh, it was horrible Johnny, there was cheesecake and pork chops everywhere."
Nobody knows why were getting fatter?
Look at our lifestyle.
I'll sit at a drive thru.
I'll sit there behind fifteen other cars instead of getting up to make the eight foot walk to the totally empty counter.
Everything is mega meal, super sized.
Want biggie fries, super sized, want to go large.
You want to have thirty burgers for a nickel you fat mother fucker.
There's room in the back.
Take it!
Want a 55 gallon drum of Coke with that? It's only three more cents.
Sometimes you have to suffer a little bit in your youth to motivate yourself to succeed in later life.
Do you think if Bill Gates got laid in high school, there'd be a Microsoft?
Of course not.
You got to spend a long time in your own locker, with your underwear shoved up your ass before you start to think,
"You'll see. I'm going to take over the world of computers! I'll show them."
We're in one of the richest countries in the world,
but the minimum wage is lower than it was thirty five years ago.
There are homeless people everywhere.
This homeless guy asked me for money the other day.
I was about to give it to him and then I thought he was going to use it on drugs or alcohol.
And then I thought that's what I'm going to use it on.
Why am I judging this poor bastard.
People love to judge homeless guys.
Like if you give them money they're just going to waste it.
Well he lives in a box, what do you want him to do?
Save it up and buy a wall unit?
Take a little run to the store for a throw rug and a CD rack?
He's homeless.
I walked behind this guy the other day.
A homeless guy asked him for money.
He looks right at the homeless guy and says, “Why don't you go get a job you bum.”
People always say that to homeless guys, like it is so easy.
This homeless guy was wearing his underwear outside his pants.
Outside his pants.
I'm guessing his resume isn't all up to date.
I'm predicting some problems during the interview process.
I'm pretty sure even McDonalds has an "underwear goes inside the pants" policy.
Not that they enforce it really strictly, but technically I'm sure it is on the books.
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Montreal in 1934. In his youth he attend McGill University where he formed a country-western trio called the Buckskin Boys at age 17.
He also began writing poetry and was part of the local boho-literary scene. His first collection of poetry as an undergraduate called 'Let Us Compare Mythologies' in 1956. It would be his second collection in 1961 called 'The Spice Box of Earth' that would launch his career.
He attended Columbia University in New York for a short period before skipping over to Europe to travel on a scholarship grant, eventually settling on the Greek island of Hydra with Marianne Jenson and her son Axel.
Cohen Greece occupancy was nomadic for seven years as he continued his prolific writing career with the poetry of 'Flowers For Hitler (1964)'and the two novels - 'The Favorite Game (1963) and 'Beautiful Losers' (1966). To date, each book has sold more than 800,000 copies worldwide.
But Cohen was restless and wasn't able to commit to the domestic scene or remain disciplined enough to stay put for writing books. Instead he settled near Nashville in the US in 1965 and decided to pursue a musical career. He was encouraged through the success of Judy Collins' versions of his songs "Suzanne" and "Dress Rehearsal Rag" in 1966.
By 1967, Cohen appeared at the Newport Folk Festival where he was spotted by Columbia Records' John Hammond and released Cohen's first album, 'The Songs of Leonard Cohen', by Christmas that year. The songs became so revered that Robert Altman's 1971 film, 'McCabe And Mrs. Miller' featured almost the entire album as the soundtrack
'Songs From A Room (1969)' and 'Songs Of Love And Hate (1971 ) followed and established Cohen as not only a poet but a leading pop artist as well. Cohen all the while had been performing his talk-music approach on stages around the worj and 1972 saw the release of 'Live Songs'.
1973 'New Skin For the Old Ceremony' saw Cohen with a more produced and orchestrated structure via producer John Lissauer. Following this period he took a break to focus on his writings and returned once more in 1977 with Death of a Ladies' Man' which was to be a collaborative effort with Phil Spector. But as is Spector's way, Cohen as excluded from the final phases of the recording process. Cohen had laid down rough vocals and Spector released them with benefit of Cohen redoing the weaker moments.
In retaliation, Cohen's 'Recent Songs' (1979) saw the Wall-Of-Sounds removed and replaced by a more raw, stripped down feel due to the work of co-producer Henry Lewy (Joni Mitchell).
Cohen exploration of the male/female relationship had run his course on his previous albums and with 'Recent Songs' he picked up the study of religious fervor which carried over onto the well-studied 'Various Positions' in 1984. The sheer mental drain of such a daunting work left Cohen excised and he once again took another sabbatical.
1988's 'I'm Your Man' was Cohen's "comeback" album with a vengeance. The sheer accessibility of the album with such classics as "First We Take Manhatten," Tower of Song," and "Ain't No Cure For Love," pushed the album to #1 in European countries.
During Cohen's downtime his music has remained in the mainstream through other artists' re-interpretations such Jennifer Warnes hit LP of Cohen cover tunes 'Famous Blue Raincoat'in 1986. There have also been two major label tribue albums featuring the cream of the musical crop performing Cohen's classics - 1992's 'I'm Your Fan' and 1996's 'Tower Of Song'.
Cohen returned with another shattering album with 1992's 'The Future' which, ironically he won a 'Male Vocalist Of The Year' Juno Award. The irony was not lost on Cohen who felt he was more of a poet and not a singer with his wry comment: "Only in Canada could I get 'Male Vocalist Of The Year'.
A tour pushed the profile of 'The Future' which culminated in another live release called, simply, 'Cohen Live!'
Everybody Knows
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you’ve been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
And everybody knows that it’s now or never
Everybody knows that it’s me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you’ve done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old black joe’s still pickin’ cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows
And everybody knows that the plague is coming
Everybody knows that it’s moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there’s gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows
And everybody knows that you’re in trouble
Everybody knows what you’ve been through
From the bloody cross on top of calvary
To the beach of malibu
Everybody knows it’s coming apart
Take one last look at this sacred heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Oh everybody knows
Everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
Linkin Park
Linkin Park are one of the most popular bands of Nu Metal, a fusion of metal, rap and industrial. They formed in 1996 under the name Xero with members Mike Shinoda (MC/vocals), Brad Delson (guitar), Rob Bourdon (drums), Phoenix (bass) and DJ Joseph Hahn. Phoenix left and vocalist Chester Bennington joined as the band changed their name to Hybrid Theory, then Linkin Park. After becoming popular in Los Angeles clubs, Linkin Park signed with Warner Bros. Their first album, Hybrid Theory was released in 2000 and yielded the hits "Crawling", "In The End" and "One Step Closer". Phoenix returned to the band as Hybrid Theory sold over 8 million copies. Linkin Park followed the album up with 2003's Meteora and it was another hit.
Breaking The Habit
Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume
I'm safe here in my room
Unless I try to start again
[Bridge:]
I don't want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
[Chorus:]
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight
Clutching my cure
I tightly lock the door
I try to catch my breath again
I hurt much more
Than anytime before
I had no options left again
[Bridge:]
I dont want to be the one
The battles always choose
'Cause inside I realize
That I'm the one confused
[Chorus:]
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So, I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight
[Bridge:]
I'll paint it on the walls
'Cause I'm the one at fault
I'll never fight again
And this is how it ends
[Chorus:]
I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
But now I have some clarity
to show you what I mean
I don't know how I got this way
I'll never be alright
So, I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
I’m breaking the habit
Tonight
Crawling
[Chorus:]
Crawling in my skin
These wounds they will not heal
Fear is how I fall
Confusing what is real
There's something inside me that pulls beneath the surface
Consuming, confusing
This lack of self-control I fear is never ending
Controlling, I can't seem
[Bridge:]
To find myself again
My walls are closing in
(without a sense of confidence and I'm convinced that there's just too much pressure to take)
I've felt this way before
So insecure
[Chorus]
Discomfort, endlessly has pulled itself upon me
Distracting, reacting
Against my will I stand beside my own reflection
It's haunting how I can't seem...
[Bridge]
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
Easier To Run
It's easier to run
Replacing this pain with something numb
It's so much easier to go
Than face all this pain here all alone
Something has been taken from deep inside of me
The secret I've kept locked away no one can ever see
Wounds so deep they never show they never go away
Like moving pictures in my head for years and years they've played
(If I could change I would take back the pain I would)
(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)
(If I could stand up and take the blame I would)
(If I could take all the shame to the grave I would)
(If I could change I would take back the pain I would)
(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)
(If I could stand up and take the blame I would)
(I would take all my shame to the grave)
[Chorus]
It's easier to run
Replacing this pain with something numb
It's so much easier to go
Than face all this pain here all alone
Sometimes I remember the darkness of my past
Bringing back these memories I wish I didn't have
Sometimes I think of letting go and never looking back
And never moving forward so there'd never be a past
(If I could change I would take back the pain I would)
(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)
(If I could stand up and take the blame I would)
(If I could take all the shame to the grave I would)
(If I could change I would take back the pain I would)
(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)
(If I could stand up and take the blame I would)
(I would take all my shame to the grave)
Just washing it aside
All of the helplessness inside
Pretending I don't feel misplaced
It's so much simpler than change
[Chorus]
It's easier to run
Replacing this pain with something numb
It's so much easier to go
Than face all this pain here all alone
It's easier to run
(If I could change I would take back the pain I would)
(Retrace every wrong move that I made)
It's easier to go
(If I could change I would take back the pain I would)
(Retrace every wrong move that I made I would)
(If I could stand up and take the blame I would)
(I would take all my shame to the grave)
Somewhere I Belong
(When this began)
I had nothing to say
And I get lost in the nothingness inside of me
(I was confused)
And I let it all out to find
That I’m not the only person with these things in mind
(Inside of me)
But all the vacancy the words revealed
Is the only real thing that I’ve got left to feel
(Nothing to lose)
Just stuck/ hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own
[Chorus]
I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real
I wanna let go of the pain I’ve held so long
(Erase all the pain till it’s gone)
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m close to something real
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along
Somewhere I belong
And I’ve got nothing to say
I can’t believe I didn’t fall right down on my face
(I was confused)
Looking everywhere only to find
That it’s not the way I had imagined it all in my mind
(So what am I)
What do I have but negativity
’Cause I can’t justify the way, everyone is looking at me
(Nothing to lose)
Nothing to gain/ hollow and alone
And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own
[Repeat Chorus]
I will never know myself until I do this on my own
And I will never feel anything else, until my wounds are healed
I will never be anything till I break away from me
I will break away, I'll find myself today
[Repeat Chorus]
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m somewhere I belong
I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m somewhere I belong
Somewhere I belong
Lionel Ritchie
"Simplicity," Lionel Richie explains, "is the key to what I do."
These are surprising, even shocking, words from an artist whose achievements--creatively and commercially--have been anything but simple.
Richie is, after all, one of the world's most recognized and rewarded performers. He's sold nearly 100 million albums and notched 22 Top 10 hits--13 of them during a jaw-dropping swing between 1981-87. Five Grammy Awards, an Oscar and a Golden Globe--not to mention piles of American Music Awards and People's Choice Awards--grace his shelves. Only Richie and Irving Berlin have scored No. 1 hits in nine consecutive years.
Richie believes that a hit song is one that is rendered with great craft and conveys simple ideas that are heartfelt, and resonate with listeners of any age, race, creed or nationality. That was true in the past of "All Night Long (All Night)," "Truly," "Hello" and "Endless Love," and it's true of the 13 songs on Richie's eighth solo album, Just For You.
"I want to find the simplest phrase that everybody says, no matter what language you speak," he says. "At one point I was actually going to make the title of this album 'Simplicity.' So much of my career has been about saying things the way people say them, using melodies not that I can sing but that the people can sing. 'All Night Long' will always be 'All Night Long.' 'Easy like Sunday morning' will always be 'Easy like Sunday morning.' 'Stuck on You' is 'Stuck on You.' 'Truly,' or 'Still' or 'Endless Love'--if you look at the titles, they say the entire thought before you even go into the story.
"And that's why the music has stayed around so long."
But let's not mistake this simplicity Richie describes for the intricacy of craft. Writing songs that stand the test of time, as he's done since the early days of the Commodores, is no simple task but rather an exercise in taste, experimentation and adventure. It requires a open-mindedness and daring that allows the artist to establish a signature sound and then be willing to take it into different areas-- as Richie does to great effect on Just For You.
Richie pursued fresh directions with Just For You, resulting in his broadest-reaching effort to date. He journeyed to England to work again with Paul Barry and Mark Taylor ( the duo behind Cher's smash "Believe") who were also part of Richie's last studio album Renaissance . Released in 2001, Renaissance sold more than two million copies worldwide. Then he went to Miami to get the vibe of 7 Aurelius, who's made hits with Mariah Carey, Ja Rule and Ashanti.
And while Richie was in Florida, Lenny Kravitz dropped by to check things out. "And Lenny said, 'So we're not gonna do anything together?" Richie recalls with a laugh. "And the next thing I know, we recorded three songs." Richie took "Road To Heaven² (produced by Kravitz and written by 7 Aurelius) and "Time of Our Life" for Just For You, and "Destiny," their other song, will appear on Kravitz's next effort.
Throughout this process, Richie pursued one creative goal and vision for the album. "I wanted to be as organic as possible," he explains, "no gimmicks, nothing flowery. It's kind of an old-fashioned way of doing things, but I wanted a kind of rawness and natural sound to everything."
Just For You then, is full of those organic kind of touches. The stirring rhythmic throb of the title track. The folky Celtic flavor of "Just 2 Be With You." The Middle Eastern whirl of "She's Amazing" and the soulful gospel anthemics of "I Still Believe." The ebb and flow of "Ball & Chain," which starts with just Richie's voice and an acoustic guitar and builds to a sweeping, electrified rock bridge.
The song "One World² was another new avenue for Richie. This time out, the co-writer of "We Are the World," the all-star USA For Africa hit for famine relief, goes even further on a socio-political limb, making observations with an inherent optimism amidst equally probing songs about loves won and lost.
"I've never gone into politics or religion that much," he says, "but on this album it was kind of necessary for me to say the phrases that people are thinking. Because here we are again; the world seems to be in turmoil, but the world has always been in turmoil. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
"I want to send a message to the world that says 'People, as critical as it looks, we're OK. We are in control, whether we feel it or not."
Richie's perspective comes from nearly four decades of making music, since he co-founded the Commodores in 1967 at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Signed in 1971 to Motown--where Richie wrote the hits "Standing on Shaky Ground" and "Happy People" for the Temptations--the Commodores became one of America's most popular bands by the mid-'70s, shaking dance floors with "Machine Gun" and "Brickhouse" and setting the slow dance mood with "Easy," "Three Times a Lady" and "Sail On."
Richie began stepping outside the Commodores in 1980, after Kenny Rogers' hit version of "Lady" led to him producing the singer's 1981 album "Share Your Love." "Endless Love," his 1981 chart-topping duet with Diana Ross (covered in 1994 by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey), was Motown's most successful single and further fueled Richie's solo ambitions.
Those took full flight with 1982's Lionel Richie, a quadruple platinum affair that was followed by two more multi-million sellers, 1983's Can't Slow Down--which won a Grammy for Album of the Year--and 1986's Dancing on the Ceiling. He subsequently took more time between projects for "growth" and "introspection," which led to the creative ventures heard on 1992's Back to Front, 1996's Louder Than Words, 1998's Time, 2001's Renaissance, 2003's Encore (International release) and 2003's aptly titled The Definitive Collection.
"Taking time to sit back and watch and think about what you've seen is important," Richie says. "Traveling did a great deal to me. I found that when I travel and just sit in the corner and watch, a million ideas come to me."
"Just For You" provides a home for dozens of those ideas, and Richie says he's ready for even more travels. He plans a world tour in support of the album--"For about the next six years," Richie says with a laugh. And he's not entirely kidding.
"We'll start in July and just keep going. I'm going to be off and on to make the next record and stuff like that, but basically I'm going to be a touring, writing and performing artist for a while. And, to be honest with you, I can't think of anything better."
Just For You
Golden days
Night was play
Pain was all a world away
We went to school
We learned the rules
We trusted all they had to say
Then life took a turn
We all had to learn
And we cant go back again
And my heart is breaking
Just for you
Just for you
And my arms are open
Just for you
Just for you
Just for you
God was God
And dreams were dreams
Life was all pecan ice cream
Truth was true
And lies were lies
And we thought love would never die
But the world moved on
My illusions gone
And I don't know who to blame
And my heart is breaking
Just for you
Just for you
And my arms are open
Just for you
Just for you
And these tears I'm crying are for you
Just for you
Just for you
I'm looking for protection
Give me shelter from the storm
I just hope this light inside me
Keeps me strong
And my heart is breaking
Just for you
Just for you
And my arms they're open
Just for you
Just for you
And these tears I'm crying are for you
Just for you
Just for you
Just for you
Oh my heart is breaking
And my arms are open
Oh these tears I'm crying are just for you
Oh yeah
Loreena McKinnett
The daughter of a nurse mother and a livestock trader father, songstress Loreena McKennitt studied classical piano and vocal training and learned to dance in the Highland style as a youngster. Her love of traditional music was strengthened in the folk clubs of Winnipeg, which she frequented during the brief period she studied veterinarian science at the University of Manitoba. Relocating to Stratford, Toronto, she continued to sharpen her skills as a composer and performer. In 1981, she auditioned for a role in the city's Shakespearean theater. Although she did not get the role, she remained inspired. After reading Diane Sward Rapaport's book How to Make and Sell Your Own Record, she formed her own label, Quinlan Road. After releasing two albums; a nine-song cassette, Elemental, in 1985; and a collection of Christmas tunes, To Drive the Cold Winter Away, in 1987, she had her first breakthrough with her 1989 album, Parallel Dreams. Distributed through a network of small, independent distributors, the album sold more than 40 thousand copies within four months. Its success was surpassed by McKennitt's fourth album, The Visit. Distributed by Warner Canada, the album sold more than 700 thousand copies and received a Juno (Canada's equivalent of the Grammy) award.
While her albums have featured soothing, ultra-melodic, arrangements, McKennitt's lyrics have reflected her interests in the poetry of W.B. Yeats, William Blake, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Her unique musical approach was addressed by her lighting director, Tracey Ploss, who explained, "When you get used to pop artists, the songs are mainly verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo. With McKennitt, it's prologue-bridge-verse. You've got all these segues at different parts of the song."
McKennitt's music has been heard on the soundtracks of numerous plays and films. In 1989, she was commissioned by the National Film Board of Canada to compose the music for a film series, Woman and Spirituality. Her subsequent commissions include such films as Jade, Highlander III, Disney's the Santa Clause, and TV shows, including Northern Exposure, Due South, and EZ Streets.
In 1998, McKennitt scored her biggest hit with "The Mummer's Dance." She became a hit in America, allowing the The Book of Secrets to sell more than four million copies. Sadly, her world crumbled that July when her fiancé, Ronald Rees, died while on a sailing trip with his brother and a family friend in Georgian Bay. Everything immediately stopped in order for McKennitt to grieve. Rumors of her retirement also circulated.
At the time of her fiancé's death, McKennitt was mixing a new album, Live in Paris and Toronto, at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios. Recorded in Salle Pleyel in Paris and Massey Hall in Toronto during the Spring of 1998, the album was released in 1999. All profits from the album have gone to the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund, which McKennitt set up to finance water safety and recovery equipment for the Ontario Provincial police.
During the new millennium, McKennitt allowed herself some healing time. She didn't disappear from music altogether. Her Spanish version of "Dante's Prayer" was slated to be featured in the Canadian/Venezuelan documentary "A House With a View of the Sea" in 2001. In 2002, she was back in the studio and negotiating a new record deal. ~ Craig Harris, All Music Guide
Written by Craig Harris
Breaking The Silence
I hear some distant drumbeat
A heartbeat pulsing low
Is it coming from within
A heartbeat I don't know
A troubled heart knows no peace
A dark and poisoned pool
Of liberty now lost
A pawn an oppressor's tool.
Oh my heart be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there's life within.
A gunfire shatters silence
Where birds once sweetly sang
A mother cradles a child now dead
Now death where life began
From the troubled heart of South Africa
Nicaragua's festering sore
The turmoil on the streets of China
Death crying out for more
A change is slow in coming
My eyes can scarcely see
The rays of hope come streaming
Through the smoke of apathy
But oh my heart be strong
And guide when eyes grow dim
When ears grow deaf with empty words
When I know there's life within.
May the spirit never die
Though a troubled heart feels pain
When the long winter is over
It will blossom once again.
Dante's Prayer
(To Shari Pepper)
When the dark wood fell before me
And all the paths were overgrown
When the priests of pride say there is no other way
I tilled the sorrows of stone
I did not believe because I could not see
Though you came to me in the night
When the dawn seemed forever lost
You showed me your love in the light of the stars
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Then the mountain rose before me
By the deep well of desire
From the fountain of forgiveness
Beyond the ice and the fire
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Though we share this humble path, alone
How fragile is the heart
Oh give these clay feet wings to fly
To touch the face of the stars
Breathe life into this feeble heart
Lift this mortal veil of fear
Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears
We'll rise above these earthly cares
Cast your eyes on the ocean
Cast your soul to the sea
When the dark night seems endless
Please remember me
Please remember me
Please remember me, ...
All Souls Night
Bonfires dot the rolling hillsides
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness
Moving to the pagan sound.
Somewhere in a hidden memory
Images float before my eyes
Of fragrant nights of straw and of bonfires
And dancing till the next sunrise.
I can see lights in the distance
Trembling in the dark cloak of night
Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing
A waltz on All Souls Night.
Figures of cornstalks bend in the shadows
Held up tall as the flames leap high
The green knight holds the holly bush
To mark where the old year passes by.
Bonfires dot the rolling hillsides
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness
And moving to the pagan sound.
Standing on the bridge that crosses
The river that goes out to the sea
The wind is full of a thousand voices
They pass by the bridge and me.
