Sam Glaser - Lyrics

lyrics

1. Inside of Yerushalayim
Words and Music by Sam Glaser
©2012 Glaser Musicworks
www.samglaser.com

I wrote this thinking of my many all nighters hanging out on the rooftops of the Old City of Jerusalem. I can feel that eternal breeze, see the clouds flying by and the moon and stars shining above. So much action and yet time stands still.

Standing alone
I am connected
On the power grid
I am home

The night is alive
Moonlight caressing me
Source of miracles
Calls my name

With a chisel that’s poised
Like the blade of a knife
Ready to carve
This blank slate of my life

I welcome the world
Inside of Yerushalayim

Standing alone
At this altitude
Where the air is clear
It makes me wise

There’s only One
And One is surrounding me
There’s no out there
Just You and I

And I’m falling in love
Every minute of the day
For my outlook’s so bright
As I walk on the way

My heart’s open wide
Inside of Yerushalayim

2. Eicha
Words and Music by Sam Glaser
©2012 Glaser Musicworks
www.samglaser.com

Midsummer, on the Ninth of Av, in Jewish communities around the world, we fast for twenty-five hours, sit on the floor, do not greet one another, sing dirges and mourn. Annually we are personally witnessing the destruction of the First and Second Temple. This song speaks of the horrors that have afflicted the Promised Land and the Jewish People over the millennia as well as our eternal hope for redemption.

Like a widow
The city sits alone
No more children
No more pilgrims on the road

Could this be the place called
The “joy of all the earth”
Perfect in her beauty
She lies now
In ashes and dust

Eicha

No more laughter
No more cheer, no more song
We are strangers
With no place to belong

Driven into darkness
Of senseless slavery
Crying in the night
For her people

Eicha

Yerushalayim, Ir Hakodesh
I can hear you weep
When you’re broken I am incomplete

How much longer will we wander
Chased by rustling leaves
God in heaven
Lay me down to sleep

Like a widow
The city shines no more
Still we fast
Still we sit on the floor

Waiting for the day
That all people live in peace
Praying for the light of the dawn, Eicha

Shifchi kamayim libech
Nochach p’nei Hashem

Eicha is the Hebrew name of the Book of Lamentations. It represents an anguished cry.
“Jerusalem, the holy city”
“Pour out your heart like water before the Countenance of God." –Lamentations

3. The Promise
Words and Music by Sam Glaser
©2012 Glaser Musicworks
www.samglaser.com

I am fascinated with the idea that the land of Israel lay barren for millennia until the Jewish People came back home. The liner notes of The Promise detail the quotes from history describing this phenomena and I am delirious with excitement that it is my generation that gets to see these epic prophecies realized.

They returned to a wilderness
Scorching heat and frost
As if the stones were waiting
For a savior

Wandering through the valleys
Could these bones live again
And then a miraculous sound
When the first shovel hit the ground

When you’re home you know
No one has to tell you so

Now we walk through our land
With our destiny in hand
With each step we’re fulfilling a promise

That the time would arrive
When the stones would come alive
With each step we are living
The promise

At the crossroads of continents
Where countless armies tread
Over hillsides of dust and desolation

She lay waiting for her people
Barren and forlorn
Until the fateful day
That her children came to stay

When you’re home it’s clear
You feel joy replace your fear

Now we walk through our land
With our destiny in hand
With each step we’re fulfilling a promise

That the time would arrive
When the stones would come alive
With each step we are living
The promise

For the first time in my life
I feel so certain I belong
It’s like I’ve walked these sacred hills forever

Joining with my people
In a thousand-year-old song
The walls around my hardened heart are falling

Now we walk through our land…

4. Mezuzah
Words and Music by Sam Glaser
©2012 Glaser Musicworks
www.samglaser.com

It’s easy to take for granted that small scroll in every doorpost. I wrote this song to share my profound awe for the enduring power of this seemingly simple mitzvah (commandment.)

Passover in Egypt
Not a sound could be heard
At the stroke of midnight
God fulfilled His word

Blood on the doorpost
Soon parchment would replace
Making clear
This home’s a holy space

Mezuzah, mezuzah
I hear your silent call
Waiting patiently for the next time I reach for you

Mezuzah, mezuzah…

Armies of our enemies
Marching door to door
Knew the simple symbol
They were looking for

But unafraid and undeterred
We set that holy scroll
On the doorpost
We reveal our soul

I reach for you in times of joy
When my cup is full
When laughter fills my soul

I reach for you when I can’t go on
You give me hope, help me cope
When all my strength is gone

In every Jewish doorway
Suspended on a nail
The awesome words of Oneness
Sh’ma Yisrael

Letters etched so carefully
By a sofer’s holy hand
So we remember before Whom we stand

Mezuzah, mezuzah
Greets me on the wall
Protecting and connecting all the family

Mezuzah, mezuzah…

5. Dancing in Jerusalem
Words and Music by Sam Glaser
©2012 Glaser Musicworks
www.samglaser.com

This was the last song written for the album. I needed that groovy, let’s all make aliyah theme song that would describe the various major redemption moments of the past century. The opening line quotes the Ethiopian Crown Prince Ahmad when he finally gave permission for the Jews to leave. My heart is Dancing in Jerusalem. Now I just got to get my whole body there!

“God will fulfill your heart’s desire
Take you to the place you want to go”
Keep dreaming of the land of your history
And you’re walking the streets before you know

On wings of eagles they took to the sky
Not sure how this magic carpet would fly
Then cries of joy at the first Shalom
50,000 Yemenites coming home

My heart is dancing in Jerusalem

Next came Ezra and Nechemia
Redeeming our brothers of Babylon
2000 years in the shuq of Bagdad
Soon every last soul would come along

Though it seemed impossible to achieve
Morocco’s Jews were the next to leave
They’re a pillar of the temple of Solomon
Hear the sound of French ringing through Zion

My heart is dancing in Jerusalem

Soon we’ll be dancing in Jerusalem
The whole world dancing in Jerusalem

V’lirushalayim ir’cha
B’rachamim tashuv
V’tishkon b’tocha
Ka’asher dibarta

Beta Israel watched in awe
From the tribe of Dan in Ethiopia
Slipping through the border of the Sudan
They crossed the desert to reach their land

We marched for the rights of refusnikim
To help them realize their aliyah dream
After 70 years of a living hell
See the celebration when that curtain fell

My heart is dancing in Jerusalem

Soon we’ll be dancing in Jerusalem
The whole world dancing in Jerusalem
Your heart is dancing in Jerusalem
Time to come home to Jerusalem

Verse 1 depicts aliyah from Yemen, verse 2 from Iraq and Morocco, verse 3 Ethiopia and the former USSR.
“And to Jerusalem, Your city, may You return in compassion, and may You rest within it, as you have spoken.”
–Liturgy

6. Im Eshkachech
Words and Music by Sam Glaser
©2012 Glaser Musicworks
www.samglaser.com

This song was written on Tisha B’Av, 5772.

Tidbak l'shoni l'chiki
Im lo ezkereychi
Im lo a'aleh et Yerushalayim
Al rosh simchati

Zechor Hashem livnei Edom
Et yom Yerushalayim
Ha'omerim aru aru
Ad hay'sod ba.

Im eshkacheych Yerushalayim
tishkach yemini
Im eshkacheych Yerushalayim

Let my tongue stick to my palate
If I cease to think of you
If I do not keep Jerusalem in memory even
At my happiest hour

Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
The day of Jerusalem’s fall
How they cried, "Strip her, strip her
To her very foundations"

If I forget you, O Jerusalem
Let my right hand wither
–Tehilim (Psalm) 137

7. Horeyni
Words and Music by Sam Glaser
©2012 Glaser Musicworks
www.samglaser.com

Forty days a year we add the L’david prayer at the end of services, from Rosh Chodesh Elul through Shmini Atzeret. I wrote this the first day after this period elapsed, missing having it in my daily routine. These words are our guide through the period of return, kingship, forgiveness and rejoicing during the High Holidays and beyond. When the times get tough, the tough turn to God.

Give me strength should I start to stumble
Oh, my loving God
Keep me safe, keep me humble
And don’t leave me alone

Horeyni Hashem darkecha
Un’cheyni b’orach mishor
Horeyni Hashem darkecha
L’ma’an shor’rai

Al titsheyni v’al ta’azveyni
Elokey yishi
Ki avi v’imi azavuni
Va’shem ya’asfeyni

Horeyni Hashem darkecha
Un’cheyni b’orach mishor
Horeyni Hashem darkecha
L’ma’an shor’rai

Abandon me not, forsake me not, oh God of my salvation. Though my mother and father have forsaken me, Hashem will gather me in. Teach me Your way, Hashem, and lead me on the path of integrity, because of my watchful foes.
–Tehilim (Psalms) 27

8. Ahava Raba
Words and Music by Sam Glaser
©2012 Glaser Musicworks
www.samglaser.com

A simple love song based on the words from the morning prayer service.

With an infinite love
You love all of creation
With endless compassion
Our prayers you hear

Place your words on our hearts
Share your light with all nations
Father in heaven have mercy upon us
And keep us near

Ahava raba ahavtanu
Hashem Elokeynu
Chemla g’dola viteyra
Chamalta aleynu

Avinu Malkeynu
Ba’avur avoteynu
Shebat’chu v’cha
Vat’lam’deym chukei chayim

Keyn t’chaneynu utlam’deynu
Avinu ha’av harachaman
Ham’racheym
Racheym aleynu

Ahava raba ahavtanu
Hashem Elokeynu
Chemla g’dola viteyra
Chamalta aleynu

V’teyn b’libeynu
L’havin, ul’haskel, lilmod ul’lamed
Lishmor v’la’asot

Ul’kayem
Et kol divrei Talmud toratecha
B’ahava

With an infinite love…

With abundant love have you loved us, Hashem, our G-d; with exceedingly great pity have you pitied us. Our Father, our King, for the sake of our forefathers who trusted in You and whom You taught the decrees of life, may You be equally gracious to us and teach us. Our Father, the merciful Father, Who acts mercifully, have mercy upon us, instill in our hearts to understand and elucidate, to listen, learn, teach, safeguard, perform, and fulfill all the words of Your Torah's teaching with love.
–Liturgy

I was profoundly affected upon hearing about the effort by the Houston Museum of the Holocaust to collect over a million crafted butterflies from children around the US. Each painted creation represents one of the 1.5 million children murdered by the Nazis during WWII. Sometimes we need these quaint programs to remind us of the potential of human brutality and the gravity of the loss to the Jewish People. 1.5 million children murdered…
Shortly after writing it I had the great opportunity to perform this song at the San Diego Jewish Academy for their butterfly project.

I never saw a butterfly
Until today
I mean, I saw them flying ‘round
But nothing quite like what I saw today

These butterflies were different
Made of paper, paint and glue
Telling us a story
A story sad and true

The butterfly upon the wall
Can’t fly away
Colored orange and lavender
It’s here to stay

But paint more than a million
You’ve got something to say
Oh butterfly, please fly away

Children are unlimited
Ready to surprise
Children are impossible
The smile of mischief hiding in their eyes

These children were different
And they’re looking at you
Will you tell the story
Of all that they went through

The butterfly upon the wall
Can’t fly away
Colored orange and lavender
It’s here to stay

But paint more than a million
You’ve got something to say
Oh butterfly, please fly away

Butterfly, fly away, fly away
Butterfly, fly away, fly away, butterfly

I never saw a butterfly
Until today
The voices of the holocaust
Sounded like an ocean far away

Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
Against a white stone…

The butterfly upon the wall
Can’t fly away
Colored orange and lavender
It’s here to stay

But paint more than a million
You’ve got something to say
Oh butterfly, please fly away

10. Simple Song for Israel
To the tune of “A Simple Song of Freedom” Music by Bobby Darin
Lyrics by Mitch Julis and Sam Glaser

This parody was written to Bobby Darin’s 60’s protest song, Simple Song of Freedom. My friend Mitch Julis initiated the effort, thinking it might make a great viral video to counter the harmful publicity directed towards Israel in the media.

Come and sing a simple song for Israel
Sing it like you've never sung before
Let it fill the air, tell the people everywhere
Israel stands for peace, and not for war

Hey there, dearest neighbors, can you hear me
We just want to live here proud and free
If you lay down your arms you will never come to harm
We don’t plan to push you in the sea

Come and sing a simple song for Israel…

No doubt some folks enjoy doing battle
But there’s not many Jews on that list
Just let them fade away, it don’t matter what they say
I’m sure their words of hatred won’t be missed

Come and sing a simple song for Israel…

Friends of Israel living all around the world
Come and say a prayer at the Western Wall
From Haifa to Eilat, your presence means a lot
The message: all for one and one for all

Come and sing a simple song for Israel…

I say let it fill the air
Tellin’ people everywhere
Israel stands for peace, and not for war

The aforementioned fast day, Tisha B’av, concludes with the reading of this verse of the hope of redemption. We may feel like we are sinners, in exile, out of favor. But these words remind us that return to our glory days is always so close.

Help me find the words to this song
To say how I long for You
You give me the light in my eyes
And I turn away from you
I turn from you

Hashiveynu
Hashem, Hashem eylecha
V’nashuva, v’nashuva
Chadesh yameynu k’kedem

Open arms are welcoming me
But my heart has turned to stone
Gently now you whisper my name
And I’m too ashamed to respond
How can I carry on

Hashiveynu
Hashem, Hashem eylecha
V’nashuva, v’nashuva
Chadesh yameynu k’kedem

“Bring us back to you, God, and we shall return. Renew our days as of old.”
–Eicha (Lamentations) 5:21

This song was inspired by the seniors of Menorah Park, Cleveland. One of the goals of my weeklong Artist in Residence program was to discuss their perceptions of Israel and incorporate those themes into a song. We performed it together at the final concert with 500 in attendance, a band and a local children’s choir.

A triumph of courage and persistence
A long road of tears and broken hearts
The flame that wouldn’t die
The hope in our children’s eyes

The taste of the land of milk and honey
Lingers in the words on our lips
Sh’ma Yisrael
Our G-d is alive and well

It’s a dream come true in our lifetime
A supernatural miracle of birth
Confidently flying high upon the wings of eagles
To Jerusalem, to Jerusalem, my home

Turning the desert into fields of green
Forests stretching proudly to the sky
From Eilat to the Hermon
To the city of golden stone

A future of endless opportunity
Fulfilling the promise of the land
Where wonders never cease
Her ways are ways of peace

It’s a dream come true in our lifetime
A supernatural miracle of birth
Confidently flying high upon the wings of eagles
To Jerusalem, to Jerusalem, my home

13. Hatikvah
Music by Samuel Cohen, Lyrics by Naftali Imber

This arrangement was conceived and recorded in its entirety in a single night. It was commissioned by Babaganews Magazine and was featured on my Inspired: Best of Sam Glaser CD.

Kol od balevav P'nima
Nefesh Yehudi homiyah
Ulfa'atey mizrach kadimah 
Ayin l'tzion tzofiyah

Ode lo avdah tikvatenu 
Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim

L'hiyot am chofshi b'artzenu
Eretz Tzion v'Yerushalayim
L'hiyot am chofshi b'artzenu
Eretz Tzion v'Yerushalayim

As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart, with eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion, then our hope - the two-thousand-year-old hope will not be lost: To be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem