Take each step one by one.  Use both hands, that's how it's done.  Take them all, until there's none, building the broad stair.
Travel ten times across the floor:  each step is lighter than the one before.  You can feel your spirit lift and soar, building the broad stair.
The thickest stair is the heaviest stair.  The thinnest stair seems light as air....


Building the Broad Stair

Road's been here since Caesar.  I've been here since mid-morning, burning leaves for a better understanding.  What can I do to please her?
Colosseum's ruins are in ruins.  I'm a wreck myself.  I'm roamin' Rome, I'm roamin' Rome; I'm roamin' Rome, then I'm going home:
Italian spring to American winter.

Italian Spring to American Winter

Trees give us shelter from the winter wind.  Trees make the air we breathe.   They feed us fruit, and then--  Trees give us cover from the summer sun.  Trees live for centuries.  They're beautiful, each one.  Trees, trees--trees!  Maple, oak, and pine, redwood, dogwood, cottonwood, yew, teak and turpentine--

Trees, Trees-- Trees!

Old MacDonald had a dog, and Bingo was his name, oh, row, row, row your boat, row, row, row your boat, row, row, row your boat, his fleas were white as snow.
And everywhere MacDonald went, MacDonald went, MacDonald went, the itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the spout again....

Old MacDonald's Dog

Cube, cone, cylinder and sphere, they're everywhere, just look around, my dear.  You will find them over there, you will find them over here!  
Cube, cone, cylinder and sphere--

Cube, Cone, Cylinder & Sphere

"We shall walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the Universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity."
Dr. Maria Montessori .   Vocals:  Tom Knight, Burchie Green

We Shall Walk  (Tom Knight, Burchie Green, vocals)

The Trinomial Cube is a Montessori classroom material introduced first as a puzzle and in elementary years as a 3D representation of the sentence (a+b+c)cubed.   Try the trinomial cube:  once you know how, it's such great fun to do--try the trinomial cube.  27 wooden blocks stacked up in their box, yellow, black, red and blue...

A Trinomial Waltz

Fourth planet out, we might go there.  
There might be water, but not much air.  
We might stand to watch the stars,
on the red, red sands of Mars.
Mars, you call to me, a strange new world I'd like to see.  
I love the Earth, won't say goodbye, but imagine Earth in the Martian sky....

The Red Red Sands Of Mars

Everyday living is practice for life, everything to do to be neat and precise; spreading jam, or grinding spice, I'm glad I've got meaningful work, glad I've got meaningful work.

(I'm Glad I've Got) Meaningful Work  (all vocals:  Tom Knight)

Blue gas giants, way, way out in space--
Uranus and Neptune, both with amazing things--

Blue Gas Giants  (Uranus & Neptune)

Out near the edge of our system of planets,
there's a gas giant called Saturn there, and it's
got sixty-two moons to our one, sixty-two moons to our one--
as Saturn wheels rings round the sun!

Saturn's Day

Where in the world is the biggest river, where in the world is the highest water fall, where in the world, oh where--South America.
Where in the world is the driest place on earth, where in the world is the highest mountain range, where in the world, oh where--South America!

Oh, the river's the Amazon.  Oh, the falls are the Angel Falls.  The Atacama's the desert plain; the Andes the mountain range....

In South America

Mostly, it's water, but -we- live on land, and so, we call the place "Earth".
It's a complicated planet, but we understand exactly what the planet is worth--
it's the only planet we're likely to find that has all our lives really need:
an atmosphere of gases precisely combined to blend the finest air we can breathe--

Don't You Like Livin' on Earth?

Yellow clouds of sulpher in a deep orange sky,
bare rock and rubble, it's hard and desert dry--
Venus is hotter than any world in its sky,
and it turns, and it turns so slow...ly.
Venus turns so slowly on its short trip 'round the sun
it hasn't had one full day before its year is done,
'cause it turns, yes it turns so slow...ly.

Venus Turns So Slow...ly

Jupiter is big, really, really big:  the biggest gas giant of them all.
Jupiter is big, but so very far away, at night we might look up and think it's small.
But Jupiter's so big, it has more than sixty moons-- some moons almost as big as planet Mars.
There are often many moons in the skies of Jupiter--our sun is just it's biggest brightest star....

Jupiter Is Big

Mercury is hot.
Mercury is not
a very pretty spot to play.

It's very near the sun.
It's planet number one.
But it isn't any fun to stay.

Mercury Is Hot

We call Pluto a dwarf planet, because it's small and 'cause it's round--
You may feel small and all alone, like Pluto, farthest planet from our sun.
But like Pluto-undiscovered, you're a whole world on your own.
Your discovery has only just begun.

Pluto The Dwarf

If I were a bird up tree-top high, I'd look down and with my own bird's eye, I'd spy forty-five golden beads, forty-five unit beads, and wooden cards, one through nine...one bead by the card labelled "one", two by the card numbered "two".
----And I will build all the numbers, one to nine thousand, a nine-thousand cubes tower almost taller than I.  I'll look down at my work, as if it were a city, and I were a bird in the sky--

My Bird's-eye View

I'm the hero
of a thousand
imaginary conversations--

The Hero

Paper covers stone.  Dirt buries bone.  And friends are not alone.
Paper covers stone.
Stone dulls the shears.  Comfort quiets fears.  Friends will share friends' tears.  Stone dulls the shears.
And the shears will cut paper.  And sadness changes laughter.  And friends are stitches sewn.  Paper covers stone....

Paper Lullabye

World’s on fire— It was a slow burn, now the heat is higher.	
World’s on fire—the Amazon is burning down,
Oceans are rising up, tundra’s ancient secrets, rising, too. 
Bye, bye, Miami;     gone the golden keys.
Farewell, Charleston, surging storms, flooding seas. 
      World’s on fire—  It was a slow burn, now the heat is higher.
World’s on fire--  Goodbye fresh apple pie—
Gone are the busy bees.  Bye, bye blackbirds, bye-bye.
      World’s on fire— It’s been a slow burn, now the heat is higher.
North Pole’s melting down, Disney World’s all submarines,
Tundra’s ancient secrets in the air.	
Bye, bye-bye Mumbai, Shenzhen, and New York’s Queens,
Ta-ta, London, adieu to New Orleans.
      Where’s there fresh water? --There’s our next war.  And the heat is higher.
Yes, time is running out—time’s always running out,
Yet, right now, the time is here at hand.
      Increase carbon capture.  Start planting more trees.   Work with wind and solar.
Time to drive electric cars; take high-speed trains to travel far.
Buy local foods, and learn to grow your own.
     World’s on fire—  It was a slow burn, now the heat is higher.
World’s on fire—      World’s on fire—     World’s on fire--!

For Greta
[w&m:  Matt Levin; vocals, bass, engineering:  Tom Knight!]

World On Fire

Let me tell you a story,
let me fill your ears.
Let me tell you a story--
could be heartbreak, could be tears.
Could be allegory--it doesn't have to be.
Let me tell you a story, lend your ears to me!
Let me tell you a tale or two:
something made up can be something true.
Let me tell you a story...

Let Me Tell You a Story

Atlas shrugged, and Jesus wept/   While all of    humankind/ness slept.
And I’ve  found   myself   unduly inept,  
 But I’m doing the the best that I can—  I am doing the best that I can.
Tangled up in a twist of fate/    At the corner of Church and State, /  A lot already on my plate
But I’m doing the best that I can—   I am doing the best that I can.

They tried to teach me religion.  / Contradictions hard to   understand.
I just never could    see the vision,   /   nor feel the touch  of Godly hand.
I knew right from wrong,      But I didn’t belong.
And some there said I was damned.    But I’m doing the best that I can--

They taught what they thought was important.  /  They taught as if they   understood.
The lessons I gathered in boredom
Were less learned than poorly withstood.
And while I knew right from wrong,    I still didn’t belong
Though some there said that I could.    Just keep doing the best that I can.   	
	Casandra cries her warning; no one hears—“it’s the wind.”
	What rough beast toward Bedlam comes round again?
Moses supposes, and God only knows 
His Gospels are lost like the bloom off the roses
And I’m a song sung as it decomposes
But I’m doing the best that I can.  I am doing the best that I can.
Atlas shrugged and Jesus wept     While all of human kindness slept
And I find myself unkempt and unkept,   but I’m doing the best that I can—
I am doing the best that I can --   I’m doing whatever I can…..

Mrs. Porter (Atlas, Jesus, & Cassandra) [vocal/bass:  Tom Knight)

At the end of the day, 
the earth turns us away from the sun.
All through the night, other stars burn brightly
And the earth, still, is turning, and a new day begun.
And we turn and we turn,
and we turn with the earth toward the sun.

When some push, when some tease, 
when you can’t seem to please anyone,
when you hear what they say,
and you just can’t turn away,
 use strong words against darkness
 and speak for the dawn
		 
‘cause we turn and we turn, and we 
turn with the earth toward the sun.

When you’re tired, when you’re sad, 
when you’ve lost all you had, nothing’s fun.
Turn your back to the wind, then turn back again,
As stubborn as sunrise, get up and get on, 
‘cause we turn and we turn,
and we turn with the earth toward the sun.

Toward The Sun,  w/m:  Matt;  Tom Knight, vocals

Sue the hunch-back cripple sits
In the park, alone,
Just as she’s sat forall of the years she’s
Been on her own.  She does as well
As you; and better than I.
Susan, the hunch-back cripple sits in the park, alone,
Just as she’s sat for all of the years she’s
Taken her photographs of all of the people who
Happen to catch her eye,
People who pass her by.  She smiled at me,
But I was too shy.
	
Sue the Hunchback sells her work
    To the galleries.
She earns enough from her photographs to live
At her ease.  
She does as well as you; much better than I.

David the taxi driver sits and he watches as
The ]world walks by.
Business is better when the weather is cold and wet.
He watches the sky.
He drives the cripple home.
She’s his regular fare.

Sue sells pictures of David driving, “At the Wheel,”
A taxi-driver in black and white that
Shows you that he feels
He’ll take you there, Whoever you are.

At The Wheel

Everybody blue, everybody blue, everybody blue this time, everybody blue.
Everybody blue, may be hard, it's true, what we have to do, this time,
everybody blue.
If your faith will abide, we can turn the tide voting side by side, this one time, everybody blue.
Not just me and you, everybody blue,yes no matter who, just this once, everybody blue.
Yeah, might make ya blue, turn your head askew.  think what we could do, this time, everybody blue.

Everybody Blue

w/m: Matt; vocals: Tom Knight
Live
like we've still got
tomorrow.
Could be our best hope for today.
Take
whatever time's left to borrow
to change
what there's still time to change.

Live
like we still breathe
freely
and drink
where tap water still runs clean
Live
like we'll still see a sunrise
although
ev’ry night it’s the darkest we’ve seen.
Call: demand our tomorrow.
Call: demand it today.
Call—say ‘elections are coming,
live green, before the whole world turns gray.’

Live
like we've still got
tomorrow.
we share
the same sad, angry despair.
Live
like today is
tomorrow
and fix
what there's time to repair.

Call: demand our tomorrow.
Call: demand it today.
Call—say ‘elections are coming,
turn green, before the whole world turns gray.
There’s no planet B.
There’s no planet B.
no planet, no planet B.
There’s no planet B.
There’s no planet B.
no planet, no planet B.

Live Like We've Still Got Tomorrow

Given the garden
We live in:  the garden:
Our one job:  to see it stays clean.
If you’re looking for meaning, looking for purpose:
Genesis two: fifteen: 
To dress it and to keep it,
To tend and to care;
To till it and keep it,
To cultivate, and care!

From The Beginning,
Right at the start,
We’re told we were put here
To each do our part.

Given the garden
We live in:  the garden:
Our one job:   to see it stays green.
If you’re looking for meaning, looking for purpose:
Genesis two: fifteen:

To dress it and keep it, 
To tend and to care;
To till it and keep it,
To cultivate and care!

From The Beginning,
Right at the start,
We’re told to tend the garden
Before we depart—

Given the garden,
we live in, the garden:
Our one job:   to see it stays green.
Genesis two—Genesis two-fifteen.

Genesis 2 - 15

songwriter
photographer
gardener, Montessori CH guide

MattLevin-WalkingManSongs

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