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Soul Train

from Dennis Cleveland by Mikel Rouse

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lyrics

SOUL TRAIN

Chorus (Guests):

Soul train unchained
All set: U-bet
In frame I claim sunset
We’ve met

Dennis Cleveland:

I was walkin’ on the earth.
The planet earth was blue.
I was sittin’ by the road.
By the road’s where I met you.

Your ideas were kinda strange-
‘made me think of flying trees
I declared my love for you;
I got down on my knees.

We set out for destiny:
The place where all ends meet.
We were gassing up the car,
we were caught up in the heat

And down the road appeared a light.
It was a blinding sort of thing
and both our hearts began to swell.
I thought I heard the angels sing:

Guests:

I’m glad if you’re glad
I’m sad if you’re sad
I’m glad if you’re glad
I’m sad if you’re sad

Guest #1:

It was a simple kind of verse,
not profound in any way.
But as I tried to catch your eye
your mirage began to sway.

And I thought: How can it be
that a mindless sort of phrase
could encourage this response…
could put this woman in a daze?

She said, “Baby can’t you see
that our meeting wasn’t chance?
That by sitting by the road
you were waiting for this dance.

“And the power of suggestion
in this moment, on this day,
is the way we make religion:
how we make up what to pray.”

Who’d’ve thought I’d find a meaning
on the road and all alone.
Think: A group of lonely people
create a King, create a Throne.

I live, I live for the moment
Uptight, uptight for the moment
Lonely, lonely for the moment
Only, only for the moment

Audience member #1:

This time last year
I was into a twenty year old experience
and I often think about her.
Now, this girl was really beautiful
and also very bright
and I swear to God
I thought she was at least as old
as the current girl I was being unfaithful to.
(26)

We get to talking and I find out
she’s just turned twenty
and some type of alarm should be going off
but it isn’t.
We make a date for breakfast.
This is my favorite time to meet people.

When I show up her legs are so long
that they pour out of the booth
and onto the floor
and an alarm should be going off
but it isn’t.
The mornings I’ve spent at this coffee shop meeting people.

We chat and make a date for that evening
and as we say goodbye
I tell her that she’s fun to look at.
I take her to my favorite bar

which is a slightly redone version
of the original bar.She mistakes the Rolling Stones for
a more recent aberration
and an alarm…

We end up at my place after a brief stop.
Back at home I don’t even know how
this topic comes up
but somehow it surfaces that she’s a virgin
and we have a great laugh about it
until I realize she’s not joking.

Like most great American myths I haven’t bought into,
this virgin idea is no great shake.
But now I’m starting to feel anxious
and I couldn’t have known why
but what happened later is remarkable.

Her parents want to meet me.
Well, I never even did something like that
when I was her age,
but it’s clear that this isn’t
an unreasonable idea.
Besides, her folks are really progressive.
They’re also really loaded.
They own their own building.
I think they made their fortune
from being in on the ground floor
of some fossil fuel development.

Anyway, like I said,
they’re very liberal in that New York way
that you can’t totally trust.
It’s only on the day that we’re supposed to meet
that I find out that they’re leaving town for the weekend
and are expecting that the de-flowering of their daughter
will take place on the premises.
All they expect is to meet me and make sure
I’m not some madman from Missouri.
All in all, pretty progressive.

Guests:

I claim sunset Audience members:
We’ve met
Soul train unchained We’ve met
All set: U-bet Soul train unchained
In frame I claim All set: U-bet
Sunset we’ve met In frame I claim
Soul train unchained Sunset we’ve met Sunset we’ve met
All set: U-bet Soul train unchained Soul train unchained

credits

from Dennis Cleveland, released September 20, 1996

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Mikel Rouse New York, New York

Mikel Rouse is a New York-based composer, director, performer and recording artist hailed as “a composer many believe to be the best of his generation.” (NY Times 2002) His works include 25 records, 7 films (including Funding and Music For Minorities), and a trilogy of media operas: Failing Kansas, Dennis Cleveland and The End Of Cinematics. ... more

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