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Falling Free

from Plugged by Tom Smith

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about

A hand is a remarkable work of engineering. A palm, four fingers, and an opposable thumb can perform acts sufficient to distinguish one as an individual, a complete and unique being. Two hands, working together, can accomplish a far vaster range of tasks than any one could achieve. Three hands is the minimum number to represent a family unit... unless one being, genetically reconstructed from human stock, could have four hands. Which was the dream built in the novel of the same name by Lois McMaster Bujold. While I love all of her work, this one is particularly special to me. And a gospel song, of people dreaming of freedom, seemed exactly right.

lyrics

One to be a person, two to be a team,
Three to be a family and four to build a dream,
Got to find the future 'cause that's where we want to be,
Don't know when we'll get there but we'll get there falling free.

Mother, won't you hold me in your shiny walls of glass?
Father, won't you guide me 'cause I'm learning things too fast?
And comfort me with wisdom in the night (long endless night),
Help me find a way to see the light.

Brother, won't you play with me before we lose the years,
Sister, won't you stay with me and kiss away my tears,
As we climb hand over hand, hand over hand (hand over hand),
Help me find a way that I can stand.

But O my Mother, O Father dear,
Why did you make me? Why am I here?
Why am I so different from the foremen and the crew?
Is something wrong with me, or is something wrong with you?

I got one to meet the darkness, one to greet the dawn,
One to hold you close to me and one for hanging on,
Got to find the future 'cause the present's all I see,
And I won't last without a past, I'm out here falling free.

Father, tell me what I'm feeling for her in my heart,
Why do regulations keep the two of us apart?
Mother, tell me why we cannot share
The child that grows within me -- don't they care?

O my Mother, O Father dear,
Can't you release us? Can you not hear?
We are just the tools of the ones who run the show,
There's so much they're not telling us we simply have to know.

We've got one to seize the moment, one to follow through,
One to let go of the old and one to grasp the new,
Got to go where we don't know how hard the way will be,
Don't look behind, just cut the line and leave us falling free.

Can't you, don't you, won't you believe it?
Can't you, won't you, don't you understand?
We... we are the children
Of the gravity of man.

You made us in your image, you left us in your wake,
You made us with your hearts and minds and you cannot make us break,
Those who came before you sought the freedom we will win,
And those who follow after will accept us as their kin.

We've got one to be a person, two to be a team,
Three to be a family and four to build a dream,
Got to find the future 'cause that's where we want to be,
Don't know when we'll get there but we'll get there falling free.

One to meet the darkness, one to greet the dawn,
One to hold you close to me and one for hanging on,
Got to find the future 'cause the present's all I see,
And I won't last without a past, I'm out here falling free.

One to seize the moment, one to follow through,
One to let go of the old and one to grasp the new,
Got to go where we don't know how hard the way will be,
Don't look behind, just cut the line and leave us falling free.

One to be a person, two to be a team,
Three to be a family and four to build a dream,
Got to find the future 'cause that's where we want to be,
Don't know when we'll get there but we'll get there falling free.

credits

from Plugged, released May 24, 1997
Additional Vocals: Mark Bernstein, Sharon Brevoort, Karen Foran Underwood, Anne Schneider

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Tom Smith Ann Arbor

Weird Al with more books, JoCo with more jokes, Carlin with more Cthulhu. Since 1985, Tom Smith has been breaking hearts, minds, and laws of propriety and physics with his insane blend of sf/fantasy, Life With Computers, pop culture, politics, and puns. More than twenty albums later, he maintains the best is yet to come. ... more

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