l.i.w._steven - {Move-Around}

Bodhisattva Bassline

©music and lyrics by Hans-Michael Albers, vocals by suno 4.5+

a song I wrote in the 90s, originally intended as an advertising jingle for the yellow pages (the name of google before some crazy spirits came up with the internet), with the message: “there are more important things than wondering where to find a plumber.”

How green is the grass? How blue is the water?
How deep is the sea? How high is the sky?
How bright is the dawn? How dark is the sunrise?
How close is the moon? How small are the stars?

How old is the time? How vast is forever?
How big is all life? How much does it take?
How soft is a breath? How loud is a whisper?
How tranquil is bliss? How pointless is rage?

How sad is a tear? How cheerful is laughter.
How wondrous is joy? How soothing is pain?
How strong is a love? How loud is a heartbeat? 
How timeless is hope? How true is a dream? 

How long does it take to find all the answers?
How short is the time we have at the end?
How many thoughts will make you happy?
How free does it feel without any sense?

How big is life behind any questions?
How true is truth without a proof?

How big is life behind any questions?
How true is truth without a proof?

Life?

I owe my entire professional career to copywriting. writing was an obvious choice, as I had always sat down regularly to just put into words whatever came to mind like a madman with four fingers on my little travel typewriter. just like before, the following was written spontaneously, in pure rage, from the gut, without thinking. translated directly into english using DeepL.

©lyrics and additional rhythm guitar by Hans-Michael Albers, music & vocal performance by suno 5

what kind of contagious madness is this, that spreads so blatantly in our minds like the furiously of a raging ulcer of grotesque insanity, all-consuming hatred, reality-distorting prejudices, and fucking self-importance? who unleashed these bloody killers of common sense, who understands nothing but twists everything, turning the dumbest idiots into smug heroes of an ideocracy that smashes everything and tramples every ounce of reason into the ground of boundless stupidity?

they laugh at facts like it’s a circus show, science gets ghosted while the nonsense grows, critical thoughts in a freefall, truth is in exile, won’t find a home, gonna lose any relevance, reason’s a relic, buried in the dirt, morality's begging on a street of clones, the intellect retreats into ridiculous bubbles of romantic self-deception. the wise are silenced, fools got the mic, they gas up the dark and blow out the light, they sell fake news like a carnival prize, bouncing off the walls like echo chambers, they trade books for memes, wisdom for hurt, gold for glitter, sense for hype. they mock the laws of nature call it a game, spit on the caution ones, rewrite all rules, make the categorical imperative a rumor, a myth to blame for everything that ever went wrong.

is it all too late?

the old white man brings back his god of self-righteousness, who blesses everything and justifies every atrocity, no matter how abominable, his sublime image, the almighty world order of the master race, which can do whatever it wants as long as people kneel in church on sundays and celebrate their bigoted hypocrisy together. and no one questions the lies. they are the sacred idea of all existence, and now they are coming to take you away, to disintegrate your entire worldview, everything you ever believed in, they burn your compass and everything that gives you direction to protect you from despair and self-doubt.

this is not a dream, not a nightmare, not a bad drug, and not a horror movie. this is what is happening right now. it’s real. it’s fucking real. the most real reality you have ever experienced. you are not overestimating it; you are not a pessimist or a doomsayer. you’re not a wimp, you’re not a weirdo, YOU ARE RIGHT! and the only thing you need to finally get it, is that it's not too late to stop what we're becoming

it's not too late to stop what's comin'
now
‘cause anything not now is too late
‘cause now they're comin' for you
especially for you 
it's not too late to stop what we're becoming
it's not too late to stop what's comin'

Too late

even at the risk of annoying you by constantly harping on about how incredibly stupid and uninhibitedly destructive we humans are towards our planet and all life around us, here is another piece of work. 

I wrote the original 12 years ago after a rainy walk around hamburg's alster lake (just google it and see how beautiful this place in the middle of the city is). me and carina, we enjoyed the unique atmosphere, gazed at the sky with its colossal cloud formations and 1000 shades of blue and grey, the diverse play of colours and textures created by the millions of raindrops, the rainfilled leafy branches of the trees, the bushes, the grasses...

while seeing and hearing and smelling and feeling all these unparalleled wonders, roy batty's iconic monologue from the film blade runner came to our mind: ‘I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. attack ships on fire off the shoulder of orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the tannhäuser gate. all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. time to die’.

we concluded that we also have some very nice motifs on earth.

at that time, there were still a few hopeful signs that humanity would manage to preserve all these magnificent phenomena on our planet and courageously commit to a future worth living.

and today?

©music and lyrics by Hans-Michael Albers, instrumental cover & vocal performance by suno 5

(just to explain: whenever the sky turned red in the evening, my mother used to tell us that the angels were baking bread. for me, that made sunset the first great mystery of life…)

We’ve seen the angels baking bread
We've seen the sky burst into red
We've seen the moonlight wax and wane
We've seen the stars carve out a name

We’ve seen a million clouds go by
We’ve seen the mountains kiss the sky
We’ve seen the starlings' sculpted swarms
We’ve seen the eyes of mighty storms

We’ve seen it all

We’ve seen the rivers twist and bend
We’ve seen blue streams that never end
We’ve seen the crystal sparks of rain
We've seen no day will bring the same

We’ve seen the trees dance in the breeze
We've seen the summer's busy bees
We’ve seen how winter worlds can freeze
We've seen all seasons full of ease

We've seen it all

We’ve seen so many things and more
We’ve seen we’ve never seen before
We’ve seen a world of wonderlands
We’ve seen what now forever ends

We’ve seen it coming all too well
We’ve seen our heaven turn to hell
We've seen it and we let it go
We've seen it. Cut. End of the show.

We've seen it all
We've seen it all too good
We've seen it all
We've seen it all too good

We've seen it all

Perched on a tree

here comes the last of the three works on ‘retrospective future’.

background: as alarming as the scenarios are that scientists predict for the year 2100 if there is no rapid change in the way we treat our environment, this future still feels like abstract sci-fi, just beyond our imagination – more than twice as far away as the year 2001 was when kubrick's ‘a space odyssey’ came out.

but then, we watch our granddaughter, who just turned three, riding her scooter, screaming with joy. we realize how incredibly quickly time has passed since we were her age. and we have to think that in 2100, she will be only slightly older than we are today. and suddenly, 2100 becomes just one heartbeat away, an infinitely sad one.

I wrote 'scooting aleece' which originally dealt with a wild friend of us 40 years ago and we loved singing it at our all-night parties for two, albeit with different lyrics. recently, I rewrote the lyrics as a dedication to our granddaughter for the reasons mentioned above. to her and to all other kids her age.

while working on the AI vocals for the original 4/4 arrangement, for some reason I kept hearing a 3/4 beat in my head, which completely turned the entire compositional concept on its head. so, after creating the first version, which was faithful to the original, I created a second one that was completely different. and because it also featured a vocal premiere, I’d like to share this second version first. the first one will come later, if anyone is interested.

©music and lyrics by Hans-Michael Albers, instrumental cover & vocal performance by suno 5

Windy hair, sunny beams in the air
There is no better free
Endless now, every moment a wow
Feeling all you see

Life’s a dance, every turn full of news
Life’s a grand carousel
Days as nights, time’s a far-away thing
There’s no end, little belle
All your world’s just well

Scooting Aleece
Life’s a big ease
Scooting Aleece
Until one day
They gonna take 
Your smile away

We all know, we are burning your world
Making bucks of fire
Drown your dreams in the floods of our greed 
Stocks will rise ever higher

We’ll be gone, long ago, like this song
Just a mote in time
You’ll still there, bear it all along
Have to pay for our crimes

Scooting Aleece
Life’s a big ease
Scooting Aleece 
Until one day
They gonna take 
Your smile away

Scooting Aleece
we wish we could freeze
Scooting Aleece 
This happy day
They couldn’t take
Your smile away

Scooting Aleece
Fly with the bees
Scooting Aleece
Dance under trees
Scooting Aleece
All days like these

Scooting Aleece

lions and tigers and bears oh my
wolves in the woods eagles in the sky
sharks in the ocean will eat you alive 
and they all are grooving to the shuck and jive 

three little pigs asleep in the mud
farmer john was smoking some bud
when big bad wolf was doing his thing
you know he ate those piggies and began to sing

room at the top, at the top, at the top
room at the top, at the top, at the top
room at the top, at the top— top of the food chain

booboo and bambi were having some fun
the big game hunter was stroking his gun
when grizzly bear said ding dong ding
you know she ate that hunter and began to sing

room at the top, at the top, at the top
room at the top, at the top, at the top
room at the top, at the top— top of the food chain


top of the food chain

Warm horn call, soft drum roll.
Guitar highlife pattern drifts in — bright, circular.
Bass hums like a memory of home.

We carry the sound from long before,
Palm and wind, heart and drum.
Every street a story shore,
Every face the place we come from.

(Call) Rise, my people, rise!
(Response) Shine like the morning tide.
(Call) Hold each other high,
(Response) Joy no fit hide.

Trumpets trade phrases with talking drum.
Rhythm swells, then breaks — laughter through cymbals.
The groove moves from 6/8 to 4/4,
like roots meeting the river.

I hear the elders hum in the bassline,
Their wisdom flows through every sign.
London rain can’t drown that tone —
We still dance like Lagos sun.

Light no fear the dust,
Faith no need disguise.
Every breath we trust,
Future dey in our eyes.

(Call) Rise, my people, rise!
(Response) Shine like the morning tide.
(Call) Hold each other high,
(Response) Joy no fit hide.

Sax weaves long lines over congas,
Guitar answers in gold.
Bells shimmer, bass walks free —
everything alive, nothing alone.

We come from the river,
We go with the flow.
Carry the rhythm,
Let the spirit grow.

The morning tide (Afro Jazz Fusion reload)

Cruel Years

Gulag Orkestar

The Gulag Orkestar

Music moves us, reminding us that we are sentient beings, that we are not just flesh and blood. It stirs our emotions and reveals our soul.

May these songs bring you peace, love, and happiness.

Your comments are welcome!
Enjoy listening.

Benoit


La musique nous fait vibrer, elle nous rappelle que nous sommes des êtres sensibles, que nous ne sommes pas fait que de viande de sang et d'os. Elle titille nos émotions et révèle notre âme.

Que celles-ci vous procurent paix, amour et bonheur.

Vos commentaires sont les bienvenus !
Bonne écoute.

 Benoit

PS: Pour les voix, je me suis fait assister parL’IA qui agit comme un “studio vocal intelligent” : elle modifie, améliore ou adapte les voix pour enrichir les chansons.

Perched on a tree

BenH