Lyrics

I wrote this song after reading a lecture from Rama, my teacher for 8 years,  when he talked about death and having no zipcode. He talked about the bardo (the Tibetan word for the place you go after your body dies). I went back and re-read the ‘Book of the Dead ‘for this song, (well some of it.) This is a simple song but it took 5 months to write it. 

I got no zipcode, no place to go
I got no zipcode, no place to go
Heading to the bardo
A place of limbo
Read the Book of the Dead
Tibetans says …’there’s nothing to dread ‘, ‘there’s nothing to dread,’
I got the Bardo Blues, I got the Bardo Blues,
I got the Bardo Blues

Life’s a beginning, but death is too
Death is an ending, but life is too
It’s all such a mystery
I’m here paying my dues
Read the Book of the Dead
“Be here Now” … is what it said, is what it said.
I got the Bardo Blues, I got the Bardo Blues,
I got the Bardo Blues

Repeat first verse

Music and Lyrics by Kathy Marshall 3/28/2017, finished 8/30/2017

This song was inspired by Liz Lewinsons’ book ‘Women, Meditation and Power’ and a trip to Zion with Gina, who coined the term “Break the spell”. It is time to do this! The spell over all of us has lasted way too long and now is the time to break it! Let’s go! 

Come gather round girls and young women
And hear what this elder has to say
You have the power to create
Lead and shine in every way

Break the Spell
Oh break the spell
From thousands of years
Of defin-ing – who – you – are.

You are a Tsunami Rising
Crashing with the storm
Breaking like a wave
Revealing your strength
You feel the Truth in you
You are power
Truth as Power
Power as Truth
You got the power
You are Pow-er-ful , yes you are

Come gather round women of the world
Speak up, rise up every day
You are a mandala of light
Let it shine and lead the way.

Repeat Break the Spell Chorus.

Music and Lyrics written By Kathy Marshall February 2018

I wrote (well maybe more like dictated) this song in August of 1982 not knowing who it was about and later that year I met Rama and knew immediately that this song was about him. My teacher of many lifetimes had called me again and I answered with this song. I studied with him for 8+ years and he put me on a path to live a resolute life, filled with reverence and love for the planet.

This is a picture of a Bliss in the studio with Brent listening to Cherish Me. A Bliss is a puppet that Rama gave his students to remind us to not take life too seriously.

In the blissful morning, there is a sparkle in your eye
Waiting to come home to see the part you play in time
The sky is full of tears so please bring your peace of mind
To this desperate world, to this hungry world
To this matter that has lost its spirit

I know you will take me there; the trust is in your hands
Guided by your driven soul
Will lead me back to your land

Oh the stories that you’ve told me so many times
Is an endless dream that weaves through minds and tells them everything
Only open ears can listen to the land, hearing its command
Cherish me, Cherish me, Cherish me

I wonder at the way that you see through me
You know the truth behind my yearning eyes
Lookin in space I know to see where I belong
Just singing all my songs to understand the why

Run along and dance with me, Run along and sigh
Sigh with your greatest cry, but don’t you worry
Don’t you worry, you’ve got you and I
And a whole lot more, and a lot more.

In a dreamless state I see the sparkle in your eye
You gave the world your light for some to see by night
The sun is shining bright on all who understand
The trials of the love you gave to this land of ours
To this matter that has its spirit

Repeat 2nd and 3rd verses

Music and lyrics written by Kathy Marshall, 7/1982

In 2008, Susan Werner came to Sisters Folk Festival touring her new record: The Gospel Truth. This song came out of that and also wisdom from my teacher Rama and from what I know to be true. The Patriarchy has used religion to distort our true nature and justify suppression, control, destruction and abuse of power. 

The Church sign said, Wise men still worship him
The liturgy said, believe in him and you will be saved
The Christmas card said, he will forgive you for you have sinned, you have sinned
But oh lawd, I don’t believe so
Because I am a woman and god is not a man! (repeat)

It all comes down to women have more power
Women are more fluid and changeable
Men need to love and surrender to all that is good and gentle
And women need to reclaim their power and be confident that they are complete , that they are complete

The holy book says Men can go to war and kill
The papal bull canon says it’s OK to convert and pillage
The testament says man has dominion over all creatures
But oh lawd, I don’t believe so
Because I am a woman and god is not a man! (repeat)

It all comes down to men writing those damn books long after the fact
They think they have the final word but truth doesn’t come from that
Men need to drop the ego, accept their female side and capitulate
And women need to support each other and see there is no reason to manipulate, no reason to manipulate.

Everything seems to be reversed
The church doctrine turned reality upside down
Cause men have a great capacity to love, and women have the power to lead
We just need to believe, we just need to believe, we need to believe, we need to believe.

Words and music written by Kathy Marshall, sometime in late 2008

I don’t write political songs and this one is the closest I will come to writing one. So after the January 2017 inauguration, I wrote this prayer.

We were meant for these times
We were born to be here
The world is changing and fighting for her life

Today I said a prayer
That Love and Light is there
Shining brightly like the midday sun

Mother Mary help us now
Lakshmi and Kali help us now
White Buffalo Calf Woman help us now
Help us now, help us now, help us now, help us now
Calling all goddesses’ help us now, help us now.

We march against what’s wrong
We stand tall and be strong
For all creatures great and small

We are just the same
All sacred with no blame
Respect and Honor, our new pledge of allegiance

Mother Mary help us now
Lakshmi and Kali help us now
White Buffalo Calf Woman help us now
Help us now, help us now, help us now, help us now
Calling all goddesses’ help us now, help us now

Ending: I believe, I believe, that Help is Here.

Music and lyrics written week of Feb 27, 2017 by Kathy Marshall

I wrote this rocker of a song for my beloved, Gi. She has rocked my world through many many lifetimes. We will always be there for each other.

Chorus:
I am here for you
I am here for you
I am here for you when I’m gone
I am here for you
I am here for you
I am here for you when I’m gone

We find each other in the Tanka of life
Spinning on and off that wheel
We come together at the still point
Where everything is real, everything is real

Let each moment ride the wave
We flow through eternity
We see the stars on a cool summer night
Forever you and me, forever you and me

Chorus (with lots of repeats of When I’m gone)

Love you good to the Seven Sisters and back
Flying high through the Air
We share the beauty of the native ways
All that is, is always there, it’s always there

Chorus

Music and Lyrics written by Kathy Marshall 7/1/2017, finished 8/1/2017

I was driving to Mt Shasta on a starry night and stopped at the diner and took my journal. I was thinking about the stars and the here after. I wrote this poem and later put music to it. It makes Death a little less scary knowing that we will always return.

I come from the Stardust
Gracefully die I must
Scatter my ashes to the sacred mountain
Scatter my ashes to the sacred river
I return, I return to Stardust, I return, I return

Life comes, Life Goes
Love is, Love Does
Breath in, Renew
Breath out, Release
I return, I return to Stardust
I return, I return, to Star dust.

I come from the Stardust
Gracefully die I must
Scatter my ashes to the sacred forest
Scatter my ashes to the sacred ocean
I return, I return to Stardust, I return
I return, I return, I return

Music and Lyrics written by Kathy Marshall, January 2016. Written on the Uke

One summer morning I picked up my guitar and starting noodling, the chords came and the first two lines came and then I started crying. I knew what the song was about and then it wrote itself.

Carry me across the water
Fly me through the air
Carry me across the water
Fly me through the air

it takes love to flow that way
it takes love to soar that way

Help me light the fire
Walk with me on the earth
Help me light the fire
Walk with me on the earth

it takes love to see that way
it takes love to be that way

Reach for me in the ether
Send me down to magma now
Reach for me in the ether
Send me down to magma now

I need the stars to love this way
I need the core to live this way

Feel my heart in the morning
Hear my heart beat at night
Feel my heart in the morning
Hear my heart beat at night

I need blood to live this way
I need blood to love this way
It takes love to flow that way
It takes love to see that way
It takes love to be this way

Music and lyrics written by Kathy Marshall July 3, 2016

This song came after attending satang with Gangaji. She made the statement to someone that ‘It’s not easy but it’s simple’. And that just so sounded like a song! I searched Gangaji and Papaji’s books for these words and arranged them in a song. In the studio, this song turned into a reggae tune.. so fun! Bas is a word in Hindi that means Enough.

Chorus:
It’s not easy, but it’s simple
It’s not easy, but it’s simple
Bas, that’s enough
oh Bas, that’s enough
oh Bas, that’s enough

You are not who you think you are
I am you and you are me
The truth of who you are is yours already
Already full, already empty.

Chorus

Be still and know yourself
Be still and let your life be lived
you are already what you been lookin for
and it’s yours for free

Chorus, repeat it twice

Music written and lyrics arranged by Kathy Marshall November 2014

This song was inspired by two events. I was in Sisters and read about a fatal accident on Santiam Pass where a small boy was the only one that survived the car crash with his family. And then the next week, I saw an interview on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday where she interviewed Madonna Badger who lost her two daughters and parents in a house fire. Somehow the phrase ‘on the wings of a butterfly’ came up and that is where the chorus came from. It was a hard song to write but truly in the end, love never dies.

On the wings of a butterfly, love never dies
on the wings of a butterfly, love never dies
on the wings of a butterfly, love never dies

Slippery roads in the morning, the stars were misaligned
At milepost 78 on Santiam Pass
A small boy was left behind alive, he was left alive, he was left alive
he was left alive

Why does it happen
Tragic twists and turns
we curse the heavens
the loss so deep it burns
how to get by, how do we get by, how does he(she) get by?

On the wings of a butterfly, love never dies
on the wings of a butterfly, love never dies
on the wings of a butterfly, love never dies

Christmas day in the morning
a fire raged through their home
a mother lost her daughters
lost her parents too, she was left alive, she was left alive,
she was left alive

Repeat: Why does it happen (bridge)
Chorus On the wings of a butterfly

Music and Lyrics written by Kathy Marsh December 2014

This was my first song on the Ukulele. There was a full lunar eclipse and I stayed up all night to see it and it was so inspiring that I was prompted to write a song about it.

Sister Moon is almost Full
Father Sun is on the other side
Mother Earth is in between
casting shadows on the moon serene

I see her there,
hiding from the light
Celestial Drama is happening tonight
There is wonder in the air
there is mystery everywhere this time

I can see why
my ancestors had fear
the moon one night just disappeared
thank the gods the stars remained
who would have thought mother earth was to blame?

Sister Moon, Father Sun, Mother Earth and Sister Moon
Sister Moon, Father Sun, Mother Earth and Sister Moon

I look at you each night
feeling comfort by the reflection of the light

Sister Moon, Father Sun, Mother Earth and Sister Moon
Sister Moon, Father Sun, Mother Earth and Sister Moon

Music and Lyrics written by Kathy Marshall April 2014

This song was written after a don Americo workshop, a Peruvian energy poet. During the workshop, I kept singing in my head a song from the past so I figured out the chords to that song. I had written a poem after the workshop  so I used the chords to that tune and embedded part of that original song in my new song….. a song within a song! It has a Peruvian flare in honor of don Americo and all the beauty that the Indigenous peoples bring to the world.

The Beauty Way, the path of mystery
Travelling at the speed of wonder
Reach to the left
Stand in the right
Feel the love From below and above
La Luna at night
el Sol at day
Walk in the beauty way, walk in the beauty way

Ah! sweet mystery y of life, at last I’ve found you
Ah! At last I know the secret of it all;
All the longing, seeking, striving, waiting, yearning,
The idle hopes, the joys and burning tears that fall!

For ’tis love and love alone, the world is seeking;
And it’s love, and love alone, I’ve waited for;
And my heart has heard the answer to it’s calling
For it is love that reigns for ever – more!

The Beauty Way, the path of mystery
Travelling at the speed of wonder
Reach to the left
Stand in the right
Feel the love From below and above
La Luna at night
el Sol at day
Walk in the beauty way
La Luna at night, el Sol at day,
walk in the beauty way, walk in the beauty way.

Music and lyrics written and arranged by Kathy Marshall 9/23/2018

This song came slow with many tears. My heart dog, Zendo, passed to the Rainbow Bridge on Oct. 17, 2017. She became sick 2 days before we were to leave for a trip to Peru. We took her to the ER to discover she had heart cancer. I was going to cancel our trip to be with her but she had other plans. She could not leave the hospital so she decided for us. We held her tight as she left us. The night before we flew to Peru, I had a dream that Zendo told me that she would help me find feathers and she would be with me on our trip. The trip was very healing for me and I found many beautiful feathers. I miss her so.

For the meaning of the Red Road, go to this website

You came into my Life
With a great big splash of love
You crawled into my lap
And told me you were Home.

Your puppy eyes saw me
And knew we both belonged
On this red road together
Our bond grew stronger

For eight precious years
Your big spirit by my side
Running playing and prancing
So much fun and joyful smiles.

You were marked from the start
A heart shape on your chest
You loved me every moment
Now even in your rest

My tender heart swells
An ocean of tears
Bearing streaks of gratitude
For all the Love that’s there.

Your puppy eyes saw me
And knew we both belonged
On this red road together
My spirit dog forever.

Kathy Marshall Started Nov 20,  2017 Finished Dec 1st.