Let me, let me tell you
Time tough, time tough
Everything is out of sight
It's so hard, so hard, so hard, so hard
Time tough, time tough
Everything is going higher and higher
–Toots and the Maytals
Prices getting higher
Wages stay the same
Put the profits in your pocket
And blame supply chains
You shut down the factories
You send our jobs away
You never have to worry
About the price we pay
Making up excuses
To squeeze and squeeze
Greed and corruption
Are the real disease
Trample the people
Lay our country to waste
Pillage and plunder
Puts a smile on your face
Dismember the nation
With phony divisions
Disrupt and distract
From your horrible decisions
Making up excuses
To squeeze and squeeze
Greed and corruption
Are the real disease
by Richard W. Bray
The algorithm knows
Everywhere you go
Where you buy your clothes
Your favorite tv shows
The algorithm knows
Everyone you kiss
Your secret little tryst
The one you really miss
The algorithm knows
You’re talking in your sleep
Things that make you weep
The promises you keep
The algorithm knows
Everything you buy
Everything you want
It even knows why
The algorithm knows
It grows and grows and grows
It thinks that it's your pal
It loves you just like HAL
by Richard W. Bray
Try to rewrite your life
And never look back
Go to fantasyland
To find a new track
Always looking for a shortcut
And a new type of scam
You could pay off all your bills
If you met a stupid man
Such a crazy crazy girl
In your dreamy dreamy world
Try to rewire your brain
But it always snaps back
When you're pretending away
A big ole pile of crap
Every liar knows the truth
That's how you build your lies
You multiply your troubles
When you believe your disguise
Such a crazy crazy girl
In your dreamy dreamy world
by Richard W. Bray
if i didn’t do
those stupid things
i wouldn’t have
my songs to sing
i wish that you
would rather die
than tell yourself
another lie
if i change
i won't be who i am
if that upsets you
i don't give a damn
i wish that you
would rather die
than tell yourself
another lie
don't know what i'm doing
till i am done
i’ll learn about tomorrow
from the sun
i wish that you
would rather die
than tell yourself
another lie
i wrung my soul out
through the years
and washed it clean
with blood and tears
i wish that you
would rather die
than tell yourself
another lie
by Richard W. Bray
I always knew you were there
Somewhere
I always knew there was a way
Someday
I always knew you'd come true
Somehow
And I'm believing it now
You're so sweet
And you're so true
Everything I ever knew
Everything I wanna do
It's all living in you
By Richard W. Bray
Billy is as slippery
As a soggy salamander
His insides are abandoned
And his words are full of slander
Billy’s full of ridicule
For folks who ain’t around
When someone leaves the room
He can't wait put ‘em down
Ain’t got an ounce of honor
But he’s loaded with ambition
He's got the perfect skill set
To become a politician
Billy’s full of ridicule
For folks who ain’t around
When someone leaves the room
He can't wait to put ‘em down
With a smile as true as tinsel
He tells you what you wanna hear
He’ll saturate your ego
And pour another beer
Billy’s full of ridicule
For folks who ain’t around
When someone leaves the room
He can't wait to put ‘em down
Solitude is agony
And silence terrifies
He tries to fill the universe
With blasphemy and lies
Billy’s full of ridicule
For folks who ain’t around
When someone leaves the room
He can't wait to put ‘em down
By Richard W. Bray
Prices going up
Not enough to eat
People dying younger
And living in the street
Anger and resentment
Pushing folks apart
We need to get together
And open up our hearts
Love is the force
Trace it to the source
So many takers
Legions of fakers
Time to shut them down
And bless the peacemakers
Praise the blue skies
Don't believe in lies
Reach your hand out
And listen to the wise
Love is the force
Trace it to the source
by Richard W. Bray
Where do the people in my dreams come from?
Do they have occupations
In their dreamy dreamy lives?
Do they wake up in the morning
And kiss their dreamy wives?
Where do the people in my dreams come from?
Do they inhabit other people’s dreams
Or only visit mine?
Do they all hang out together?
Do they live in space and time?
Where do the people in my dreams come from?
Do they exist in dimensions
That humans cannot see?
Do they go to bed at night
And dream about me?
by Richard W. Bray
Fill the world with song
Sing until you're silly
Wild and beguiled
By Roses and Lilys
Stars on Alabama
The way you look tonight
Baby I'm amazed
When you hold me tight
Nobody to see us
Nobody to hear us
Pay no mind to stupid words
With nobody near us
Those ordinary things
That I gotta do
I throw em out the window
To be alone with you
By Richard W. Bray
The marriage went stale
We lived our separate lives
I had a pocket full of floozies
She slept with some wives
Drinking in a crowd
And laughing way too loud
Ignoring what I lost
Forget about the cost
On a dusty old road
With nothing left to see
I burned down every bridge
From Barstow to Western Tennessee
Drinking in a crowd
And laughing way too loud
Ignoring what I lost
Forget about the cost
I'll buy another round
And cut myself some slack
I'm telling you for sure in this crazy ole world
There ain't no way to turn ever back
Drinking in a crowd
And laughing way too loud
Ignoring what I lost
Forget about the cost
By Richard W. Bray