watch on youtube incl pictures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRbe8ThCK4w

An anti war song about the American civil war. Drums: Fernando Cano Alvarez, bass: Juan Pablo Cano, harmonica: Naresh Bhana, lyrics, composition and video: Cornelia Metzig

The Master Needs A Slave

Seven minutes o the platform, turn the phone on, scroll the news down
wonder where this world is bound
yellow lawn that looks so wrong and read of Putin's latest fight 
when someone asks to your delight

if you see something that doesn't look right
if it wasn't sad  would laugh
she goes, speak to a member of staff
are you sure that you hired enough


Homeless man is ramblin', finds value in the trash
man in suit is gambling until the markets crash
no on thought of human fate, how we relate in love and hate
and what one sentence stirs in everyone

if you see something that doesn't look right
I see misery of men sleepin' rough
she goes, speak to a member of staff
come on you don't mean it, not even half


Hurry, traffics biggest danger, heeding horns are venting anger
jump the queue, ignore priority
cameras that serve no purpose in this pecking order circus
coffee spilled and no one there feels guilt

If you see someone who doesn't look right
well overseas the drive the wrong side
might look left and forget the right
or another reason could be impaired sight


Seven minutes on the train, driver's waitin' toddler smilin'
ray of hope this world is kind
offered seats and help and greeting, may all kind souls find a seating
til again they stir my peace of mind

if you see something that doesn't look right
shoot the speaker, for all people's sake
sort and silence this member of staff
for they've asked for it more than enough

If You See Something That Doesn't Look Right

yesterday, a random day
I pick up work and yet my thoughts won't stay
a matrass full of blood seen on a screen
and now on my mind, hard to erase that scene
hard to erase the scene

they say don't let it in, pick a fight you can win
call it pragmatism or a cardinal sin
well not everyone can, they are real in that film, 
in that war they are in, where it's men against men, 
men fighting against men


whatever they have seen that made them loose your faith
what made them doubt that war and world are turning
what kind of place is human race
why face it with the sun in the morning


war, you monster, go away
takes a single wave to flood a quay
takes another sunrise for the day
til Russian soldiers disobey
they disobey

someday seeds all start to flower
and the young birds learn to fly
Putin then no more in power
and Selensky seen in suit and tie
in suit and tie


whatever you have seen that made you loose your faith
what made them numb to hope and numb to warning
that made you stay awake so late
someday those will be news in the morning

Selenski Seen in Suit and Tie

Based on a thought of Stefan Zweig in his autobiography 'The World of Yesterday' about the outbreak of the first world war, and on Gill's 'When the World is Safe'.

Poor and rich men struggling on their own
takes them a war to feel the bond
that they should feel in times of peace
in times of peace, how sad that is
in times of peace, how sad that is

A bond to those who share their fate
born n the wrong time and wrong state
and told to hate but soon see through
their enemy looks just like you
their enemy, a man like you

It takes a bond to feel at peace
a welcome part, a missing piece
that makes their problems matter less
that turns the loud me's into us
that turns the loud me's into us

And it takes peace to shine and thrive
lean back or add your bit to life
enjoy each other look for more
as if there s never been a war
so that there never comes a war


In Times Of Peace

A song about learning, written on a wonderful sailing holiday in Turkey. Lyrics:

Good and bad and black and white and light and dark
happy sad and sea and sky and man and shark
prince and dragon witch and fairy frog and knight
any child can tell what's wrong and what is right

So sure that they would write their wisdom, show the world the sight they're missing
paint a proof of young age on the wall
starting out they think not even of the missing link between them 
starting life they think they understand it all

I remember when I thought that numbers end at 10
dwarfs come out the cable when the TV's on
the world lives in a shoe box, within an endless row
and not a single thing my parents would not know

But time it flew and numbers grew and in between the gaps
certainty a memory that's full of holes and cracks
in all that wisdom learn to swim where you are bound
there's only so much water where you touch the ground

Then entered uni smart with goals not yet so far apart
but over time I saw I really am that small
now maths go til infinity, we can describe but never see
what a pitfall to ever think to understand it all

Can't sail a boat, can't ride a horse, can't shoot a gun
can't forgive everyone, don't know where I am wrong
the endless game may be the reason we are here
is learning for tomorrow be a pioneer

Plain sailing an adventure not so long ago
stranger and I take our turns each place we go

You meet some further down the road and some behind
some I took for hopeless fools and some for kind
some treat me like a child maybe they comprehend (how all)
depends, my Turkish numbers they still end at 10


Where Numbers End

In a time where battles still could be won
and treaties signed that never last for long
in a nation hungry for someone to command
came a hero hungry for victory over land
a self made man a parvenu
the beast the Corsican, Napoleon

Today his accusation would say war of aggression
his medical record, an addict of some sort
his drug of choice is power and his gift to seize the hour
his coup a quick affair and his hat à travers

Takes the bull by the horns, talks in bullets and arms
what in soldiers he lacks, he makes up with more steps
and for a while his army strikes victory after victory
each one a dose of glory, a slice of territory,
each one a dose of pride, more soldiers on his side
but victory bears the seed of defeat


Suffered from the common conqueror's creed
that occupied people would feel they got freed
had his high in Prussia, his kick of success
and now wants Russia in his game of chess
where he gets conquered by his own conquest
his army perished, and he brew their tempest



Now Napoleon feels resistance form
now they plot revenge, now the pendulum swings.
And Metternich, whose gun is politics
that Austrian duellist before the Antichrist
tells him to drop his territory claim
sit at the monarchs' table, count the same

There is room for one more emperor
of France, but no other empire
should he fatefully comply, or loose his last ally
on a par with old might, no he must keep the fight

He's not born on the throne, he can get overthrown
he is Fortuna's child, he ll be killed or exiled
that's why he needs to win, it is all about him
long the days where he'd care about blood he could spare


Sitting on his prison rock
lamenting his fate
the price of years of war
all worse off than before

Four millions on his conscience
of names he never heard
had they not dies for his nonsense
they could have changed the world

Blood He Could Spare

A hommage to the author Stefan Zweig whose collection 'Stellar moments of Humankind' and his biography 'Yesterday's world' inspired many of my songs. Of Jewish origin he had to flee Austria and his books were banned and burnt by the Nazis. Lyrics:


A passport you wear like others their coat
on a clear new years night when no one goes without
it suits you well but so would any other
your starry mind that no fabric can cover

Your masterpieces you write and set free
like horses that served off their captivity
men stop for their beauty, some try to kill them
waste flames on immortals, how Europe was ill then

Saint of the artist mind, star over humankind
had and lost all and your lesson
freedom, your only possession
your only possession

I wish I could send you hope to the past
see how Europe healed from what it was
one century on, the trains take half as long
and that burden of passports, it's also gone

Star over Humankind

A tribute to Leonard Cohen who inspired me to start writing songs. He died one day before Trump got elected. lyrics:

We heard with our childrens' first belief
your poetry and magic and relief
we met your women and we heard the clear              
and soothing open E on your guitar

The lonely and the free all hear your singing
of meaning and of beauty in the longing
of all the pain of wanting more
we know the place, we all have been before

I know some in this room who learnt to write from you
heard you say something they felt they knew
you ancient master of the art of song 
and chords and metaphors and all we long

Yes you who knows so well to say goodbye
you re gracious even in the day you die
you who can feel so forlorn  
you leave it now to us to fear and mourn

cornelia

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