10. A Synthesis

Neverland

goes like this:

A1 B C

A2 B C

A3 B C

A4 B C

A5 B2

A1

Sitting on my father’s knees,

I turned the wheel and fumbled with the keys

Couldn’t tell if they were Black or White or blue

He told me of his Glory Days

He showed me how a record plays

And sighed: “But son, there’s still work left to do.”

All because one cold September morning

Freedom, borne away, was born again

But I still got one song up my sleeve

You say the magic is gone, but I still want to believe

No matter what the Weatherpeople say

B

But if I had just one day to crawl out of the darkness. . .

It’s so hard to see the stars, but oh! the sunset is so grand

And good old boys have lost their bearings, so they’ll turn and ask the band:

“Do you recall the way to Neverland?”

C

F#Maj7 BMaj9

F#Maj7 E13/D

F#Maj7 BMaj9

d# min9

A2

November, Hope was running high

We brandished banners in the sky

We found a lucky penny and we called it in the air

Heads: we dig a deeper well

Tails: we wire thermostats in Hell

Am I a fool to wonder if the coin is fair?

With all the Change in all our pockets,

could we send a rocket to the moon?

But if the universe is shaped exactly like a scroll

We could shoot for the edge and never reach our goal

By the time we get to Pluto, we’ll be lightyears from the Milky Way

B

C

A3

Then we were all in different places

Too far flung to feel embraces

Until the Angler caught us in her knotty, tangled Net

The Angler, she had all the answers

Spun her silky legs like dancers

And wrote a book of names and faces never to forget

Though cameras capture every block

They'll never catch a rolling rock, you'll see

And if it weren't for hits and heights

We'd be reduced to bits and bytes

Parading down a big blue glass display

B

C

A4

The river was rising and the moon was dimming

But the Koi and the Catfish never went nightswimming

Just floated down the stream about a mile

So all things flow and all things grow

and who knows where the snow geese go?

It hasn’t been white in winter for a while

So we damned our sons and daughters

When we bottled up the water in a bank

Then the bubble burst cos the figures were fudged

Tried to jump my Chevy, but it wouldn’t budge

So I’m stranded by the fuming, blooming Bay

B

C

A5

But the King of Pop is dead and the Joker’s lost the beat

And they’re lying side-by-side in bed in silence, obsolete

and I am shouting in the street

without rhythm or melody

passion or jealousy

meaning or memory

spouting treasures and lies in equal measure.

Do these cries betray pleasure or pain?

No middle ground between Heaven & Earth

From the womb to the tomb, we’ve been dying since birth

No point in sticking around, you’re heading straight to the ground anyway

B2

But if I had just one day to crawl out of the darkness,

feel the sun on my skin,

Breathe intoxicant oxygen in. . .

If I had one day to shake away the soot and silt and sand

I would take you by the hand

I would take you somewhere soft and sacred

Somewhere secret, free from regret

Far from spies and satellites and sleeper cells and city blights

Free of cables, free of strings,

Free of gods and laws and kings

and words and notes and names for things

and gold and oil and diamond rings