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So Long Ago The Garden

by Larry Norman

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1.
Took a plane to Minnesota to see my lady love The cloud was far below me and the sky was high above And when the captain called the flight time Well my heart cried out this song It's still an hour till arrival And that's an hour much too long Fly fly fly My baby gets me high I spend too much time in taxicab Please don't ask me why Fly fly fly Like an eagle in the sky And with a lot of love, a little help from above We'll be together till we die We'll honeymoon in Haifa and have lunch in Galilee We'll hitchhike up through Switzerland and drop in at L'Abri We'll spend our winters in Laguna And our summers on the farm Spend the rest of life in heaven Locked in each other's arm Fly fly fly You know my baby gets me high I spend too much time in taxicabs Please don't ask me why I can't tell you Fly fly fly Like an eagle in the sky And with a lot of love, a little help from above We'll be together till we die And then after Fly fly fly My baby gets me high Fly fly fly Like an eagle in the sky [x2] Fly fly fly You know my baby gets me high I spend too much time just hanging round the airport Please don't ask me why Fly fly fly Seven forty seven, halfway to heaven A lot of love, a little help from above We'll be together till we die Fly fly fly You know my baby gets me high I spend too much time in taxicabs Please don't ask me why Fly fly fly Like an eagle in the sky And with a lot of love, a little help from above We'll be together till we die Fly fly fly You know my baby gets me high I spend too much time just hanging round the airports Please don't ask me why Fly fly fly Seven forty seven, halfway to heaven A lot of love, a little help from above We'll be together till we die Fly fly fly You know my baby gets me high I spend too much time in taxicabs Please don't ask me why Fly fly fly Like an eagle in the sky And with a lot of love, a little help from above We'll be together till we die
2.
Now it's the same old story And the same old stage Though the cast is different And you're looking at a different page All the lines seem familiar As you try to memorize your part And when you finally meet the lady You know she's gonna break your heart Now it's the same old story Though you approach it from a different place And the lady is lovely She wears such a beautiful face And though you try hard to stop it You feel the hopeless situation start You're in love with the lady And you know she's gonna break your heart It's the same old story Just read between the lines Your heart will end up broken And you'll tell yourself that love is just a state of mind (Ah ah ah) Well it's the same old story And you know just how it's gonna end You're gonna wind up losing So there's no reason to pretend But you go through the motions And you tell her that you'll never part You say your love will last forever But you know she's gonna break your heart And though you try hard to stop it You feel the hopeless situation start You're in love with the lady And you know she's gonna break your heart Well you know she's gonna break your heart You know she's gonna break your heart You know she's gonna break your heart It's the same old story You tell her that you'll never never part You're in love with the lady But you know she's gonna break your heart It's the same old story I do, I do, I do remember all those lonely nights Sitting and thinking on a cold and empty stage It's the same old story And the same old stage
3.
If I could find someone who really cared for me Someone to share my love and keep me company If I could find someone, I'd let them take control And in exchange for love I'd give my very soul It's such a lonely life, I almost cry each night 'Cause fate has put me on the shelf I get so lonely, so lonely by myself If I could find someone who really loved me right They'd make my life complete, they'd make my soul shine bright I've looked around the world, I've walked down every street Still I can't find no one to give me what I need It's such a lonely life, I almost cry each night 'Cause fate has put me, fate has put me on the shelf I get so lonely, so lonely by myself I get so lonely, so lonely So lonely by myself Who can I turn to, is there anybody there Doesn't anybody care Oo-ooh, doesn't anybody listen Doesn't anybody care
4.
​I was walking down the road when I bumped into you I was walking down the road when I bumped into you Mmm you stopped me, you touched me, you looked me in the eye I had a feeling that you knew me, I decided you must die I pulled out my Thornton special, I shot you in the head I threw you in the alley way and I left you for dead ​Uh Then a man with a hat came up from behind The sky went black and I thought I was blind He put his hand inside my jacket and left a million dollar bills He slipped his hand into my pocket and gave me women and thrills And when I turned around to thank him, there was no one there but me And both my hands were filled with sand, I was standing by the sea We had dinner at eight and women at nine The party was great till we ran out of wine There was a knock upon the bedroom door, my knees began to shake And this man came in and melted all the candles on my cake He said I, I've come here to escort you, it's time for you to go He opened up my body and he took away my soul I was running down the road I was running down the road, I was trying to leave An' I saw you all alone in between the thieves And when the lightning flashed I saw somebody hanging from a tree As I turned to walk away I realized it was me I pulled out my Thornton special, I shot me in the head I threw me in the alleyway and I left me for dead Ah down the road Down the road [x3]
5.
Waiting around since last night sitting in your garden chair When you decide to come home I suppose I'll still be there (Ooh ooh ooh) Everything comes to the man who waits for everything to come But what (Ah ah ah) can he do when the thing he wants the most he's farthest from Yes I guess I see your point Patience growing thin How can you respect a man Who needs you more than you need him Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say (Ah ah ah ah ah ah) Give me your love or let go but don't play with my affairs (Ah ah ah) Kiss me goodbye or hello but don't take lightly what we share Yes I guess I see your point Patience growing thin How can you respect a man Who needs you more than you need him Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say Baroquen spirits do you love me (oh baby do you love me) Baroquen spirits I can't say ​All right Baroquen spirits (ah ah ha) do you love me Baroquen spirits (ah ha ha) I can't say (I can't say) Baroquen spirits (ah ah ha) do you love me (do you love me) ​Baroquen​
6.
​Santa Claus is coming and the kids are getting greedy It's Christmas time They know it's in the store because they've seen it on the TV It's Christmas time, it's Christmas time It used to be the birthday of the man who saved our necks Oh it's Christmas time But now it stands for Santa Claus you spell it with an x It's Christmas time, yeah I said it's Christmas time Wo wo wo it's a Christmas time Wo wo baby [x2] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Break Ow You go into the forest and you cut down all the trees It's Christmas time I know you got a power saw but who plants the seeds It's Christmas time, it's Christmas time I gotta buy a present, can't remember who it's for It's Christmas time, ow I said it's Christmas time Well I'll see you in an hour when I get back from the store It's Christmas time, yeah (all right) it's Christmas time Wo wo wo it's a Christmas time Wo wo baby [x2] Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah [x3] Yeh-ow Christmas time (It's Christmas time) Christmas time (What about last year baby) Christmas time (What did you give me baby) Christmas time (It's Christmas time) Christmas time (Christmas time) (It's Christmas time) [x3] Christmas time aah (Christmas time) Christmas time (It's Christmas time ya) Christmas time (It's Christmas time yeah) Christmas time (It's Christmas time yeah)
7.
She's a dancer in the garden And she dances with the flowers In the early morning hours When the wind shifts and the fog drifts She's a dancer She's a dancer and she knows it Everywhere she goes she shows it Condescending not pretending No regretting Nor forgetting She's a dancer And on my early morning walks I often find her I sit pretending that I'm looking at the paper And when people stop to watch her She pretends she doesn't see them Doesn't need them, and where she goes There the wind blows Though it's only with the flowers that she dances And on my early morning walk I often find her I sit pretending (I sit pretending) that I'm looking at the paper
8.
I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone don't let me be The soul survivor of this tragedy My life was good when she was hanging round My love was flying so high and free But when she left my dreams came tumbling down Now I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone don't let me be The soul survivor of this tragedy I'm trying so hard to forget my pain And leave my past behind But when your life is suddenly filled with rain You keep remembering how the sun used to shine And I can't stand the loneliness the constant emptiness Why has unhappiness come into my life I spend my mornings waking and thinking And cry my evenings late into the night I never knew that things could go so wrong Until this happened to me (and I'm telling you) If you're in love you better hold on strong Or be the soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone don't let me be The soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy (Soul survivor soul survivor) Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy (Ooh ooh ooh ooh) Don't leave me here alone don't let me be (Soul survivor soul survivor) The soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy (Soul survivor soul survivor) Yes I am, oh yes, I need somebody's sympathy (Ooh ooh ooh ooh) (sympathy) Don't leave me here alone don't (let me) let me be (Soul survivor soul survivor) The soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy (Ah yeah yeah yeah) (Soul survivor soul survivor) Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy (Ooh ooh ooh ooh)
9.
Nightmare 06:21
Aaaaah Last night I had that same old dream it rocked me in my sleep And left me the impression that the sandman plays for keeps I dreamed I was in concert on the middle of a cloud John Wayne and Billy Graham were giving breath mints to the crowd I fell through a hole in heaven I left the stage for good And when I landed on the earth I was back in Hollywood The California earthquake it tore the land in half While San Andreas cleared her throat I heard Psunami laugh The ground began to tremble, the land began to sway And people in the other states they were glad they'd moved away But suddenly California just floated in a breeze While everything that wasn't sank down into the seas And soon I saw Atlantis rumble and rise high And the great egg of Euphrates came down out of the sky Out stepped Shirley Temple with Guy Kibbee who was dead And that communist Bill Robinson whom Shirley called black red They had a marionette of Harpo Marx, they said it was a inside joke But when I honked his horn he came alive and these were the words he spoke With the continents adrift and the sun about to shift Will the ice caps drown us all or will we burn We've polluted what we own, will we reap what we have sown Are we headed for the end or can we turn We've paved the forest, killed the streams Burned the bridges to our dreams The earth is bursting at the seams And in pain of childbirth screams As it gives life to what seems To either be an age that gleams Or simply lays there dying If this goes on will life survive, how can it Out of the grave oh who will save our planet I said I'm pleased to meet you, I always thought you were a scream He said have you ever thought of having Helen Keller in your dream I said Errol Flynn dropped by but he tried to steal my girl Then she ran off with Ronald Colman, said something about a new world Now I'm stuck with my own cooking, hell I'm lonely can't you see Well he grabbed my leg, he said exactly eighty nine words to me Count 'em Let the proud but dying nation kiss the last generation It's the year of the pill, age of the gland We have landed on the moon but we'll clutter that up soon Our sense of freedom's gotten out of hand We kill our children, swap our wives We've learned to greet a man with knives We swallow pills in fours and fives Our cities look like crumbling hives Man does not live, he just survives Love is a corpse, we sit and watch it harden We left it oh so long ago the garden The strings snapped briskly then went slack, the marionette lay dead While Hoover played with the motorcade the body slumped and bled The man who held the camera disappeared into the crowd I said the hope of youth, fictitious truth lays covered in a shroud Then up walked Elmo Lincoln and he said I beg your pardon But we left it oh so long ago the garden We left it oh so long ago the garden
10.
​Hey it could be a lot lower Yeah. It could be a little louder [Larry] Ah louder louder [Larry] One two three Ma ma [Larry] [Spoken] If God is my father And you are my brother Then why can't we bother To really reach out and love one another Why do we keep on acting the way we do The way we treat each other It must break his heart in two Once we were happy Oh yes once in the garden And then a lie broke the stillness And our hearts began to harden And hoping to be wiser man has reached too far Sometimes I think that we've advanced But then I look at where we are And oh I cry yeah-eh-eh Wo-oh-ah-eh-eh-eh-eh-oh-oh Why do we argue Why are there so many churches With half of them empty And some represent a million dollar purchase What's happened to the message given by our Lord To take his gospel to the streets Share our money with the poor Learn to love Love is the greatest thing You've got to learn to love Love is the greatest thing oh-oh-oh-oh Own dom na na na na Ah na na na If God is my father And you are my brother Then why can't we bother
11.
Up In Canada 02:48
When I was up in Canada I didn't have much money You know my toes were cold And my clothes had holes My nose was kind of runny I met a long-hair on the street He said look you look like you'd like to eat I said a glass of coke and a hotdog's fine He said well how 'bout some bread and a glass of wine I said lead me on, lead me on, lead me on Lead me on where you're going I said my body's tired but my heart's inspired My hunger's growing Lead me on, lead me on, lead me on Lead me on where you're going I said my body's tired but my heart's inspired My hunger's growing He took a loaf of Wonder bread Then he bowed his head Then he filled my cup drink it up my friend It tasted better than the health food blend He looked straight in to my eyes I was quite surprised He said you're locked inside but I can set you free You will live forever if you follow me I said lead me on, lead me on, lead me on Lead me on where you're going wo-oh I said my body's tired but my heart's inspired My hunger's growing wo-oh Lead me on, lead me on, lead me on Lead me on where you're going oh I said my body's tired and my heart's inspired My hunger's growing Ah when I was up in Canada I didn't have much money You know my toes were cold And my clothes had holes And my nose was kinda runny It wasn't funny I met a long-hair on the street He said look you look like you'd like to eat I said a glass of coke and a hotdog's fine He said well how 'bout some bread and a glass of wine I said lead me on, lead me on, lead me on Lead me on where you're going wo-oh I said my body's tired but my heart's inspired My hunger's growing wo-oh Lead me on, lead me on, lead me on Lead me on where you're going wo-oh I said my body's tired but my heart's inspired My hunger's growing I said break Lead me on Ah lead me on, lead me on, lead me on (Ah ha) Lead me on where you're going wo-oh (Ah ha) I said my body's tired but my heart's inspired (Ah ha) My hunger's growing, was it showing (Ah ha) Lead me on, lead me on, lead me on (Ah ha) Lead me on where you're going wo-oh (Ah ha) I said my body's tired but my heart's inspired (Ah ha) My hunger's growing (Ah ha) Hope it don't start snowing Lead me on, lead me on, lead me on (Ah ha) Lead me on where you're going wo-oh (Ah ha) I said my body's tired but my heart's inspired (Ah ha) My hunger's growing (Ah ha) Wo-oh-oh Lead me on, lead me on, lead me on (Ah ha)
12.
Butterfly 02:33
​Saw you underneath a leaf And that's when I decided to be a thief I said honey you're a pretty cocoon I just know you're gonna come out soon You're a butterfly And yes I know and I love you You gotta let it show pretty butterfly Won't you come out just for me ye-eh You're a butterfly You're beautiful but you do not know it You're a butterfly You need love but you never show it You need warmth You need love You need nature to give you a shove You want to start living you gotta start flying Spread your wings and fill the sky You're a butterfly And yes I know and you're a butterfly You gotta let it show pretty butterfly Won't you come out just for me yeah Oh won't you come out just for me Now look at you You're a butterfly And yes I know and I love you But it's time to go pretty butterfly Well it's time for me to set you free ye-eh Well it's time for me to set you free One more thing before you go Something I never let anyone know I am lonely, so confused But I never will forget the day I ??? As I passed along your way ​I saw you underneath a leaf And that's when I decided to be a thief I said honey you're a pretty cocoon I just know you're gonna come out soon You're a butterfly Yes I know and I love you But it's time to go pretty butterfly Well it's time for me to set you free yeah It's time for me to set you Bye bye baby
13.
Kulderachna 02:12
I found an old man on the beach Looking for his shoes I said look for the footprints There's a path, but you must choose Kulderachna om a la na [x4] Nan na la la la ly ly La la la la la ly ly La la la la la ly ly ly ly La la la la la la la la Kulderachna Kulderachna You will gain what you are lacking You will find what you have lost If you're looking for the footprints The will lead you to the cross Kulderachna om a la na [x2] La la la la la ly la La la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la Kulderachna, oh Kulderachna, oh [Etcetera]
14.
Soul Survivor take six, do it a little bit faster this time Six One two three [Spoken] Uh I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy (Oh oh) Don't leave me here alone, don't let me be The soul survivor of this tragedy My life was good, I had my feet on the ground My love was flying so high and free But then my dreams they come a tumbling down Now I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone, don't let me be (Aah-ah) Soul survivor of this tragedy I'm trying so hard to forget my pain And leave my past behind But when your life is suddenly filled with rain You keep remembering how the sun used to shine And I can't stand it, no I can't stand the loneliness The constant emptiness Why has unhappiness come into my life I spend my mornings waking and thinking And cry my evenings late into the night My life was good when she was hanging round My love was flying so high and free But then my dreams they all come tumbling down I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone, don't let me be Soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone, don't let me be Soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy (Ah ya-ah ah ah aah aah) (Sing it Randy) Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy (Ah-ah ah) Don't leave me here alone, don't let me be Soul survivor of this tragedy Aw all all all alright (Soul survivor) (Ye-he-he-be) Soul survivor of this tragedy Soul survivor of this tragedy I say this record don't become a hit Well I think, I think it's time for me to quit
15.
​Two, one, two, one, two, three cha [Spoken] Dear Malcolm, dear Alwyn You're my favorite singers in England But I love you so much You've got the holy spirit's touch You're much more than just a two man band I got a memo from Turner He's a poet, I'm a learner He said you're coming back to L.A. Well I'll see you when you land Hope your schedule's not too crammed Know you can't, but I wish you could stay I miss you my friend, oh yes I think about you all the time You're so far away Well I hope you're feeling fine, alright uh Got a message from Turner [Mumble] I'm a learner Said you're coming back to L.A., oh yeah Do-na-nad du-nu-du-na-na La la la la la la la Go cha cha cha Woo-ooh ooh Well I miss you my friend, oh yes I think about you all the time You're so far away And I hope you're feeling fine Duh duh La la la la na la and you're la la la la la You're my favorite singers in England And your songs are so simple But they take me to the temple I guess I'm just your number one fan Oh oh ho ho oh oh oh oh oh Oh oh oh ho oh wo woh Ho oh wo woh Aah ah na nana Um na wa ooh ooh woo ooh ooh Woo hoo da na la la la Dagga dagga Ah da da da da da

about

So Long Ago The Garden, part two of a trilogy that included Only Visiting This Planet and In Another Land, was attacked by the Christian press when it came out in 1973. Controversial at the time for both its lyrical content and "provocative" album cover, it has gone on to become one of the most respected releases in Larry Norman's career. Many people call it their favorite.

Note: This Bandcamp release reflects the CD versions of the album and so differs from the original vinyl in some ways. One of the CD issues featured I Hope I'll See You In Heaven as a bonus track - it was taken from the live album Wounded Lion, and is here replaced with the song Kulderachna.

credits

released November 1, 1973

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Larry Norman Los Angeles, California

American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. Norman had a major influence on artists as diverse as The Pixies, Guns n' Roses, and U2. After his death in 2008 his most well-known album, 1972's Only Visiting This Planet, was selected for inclusion in The United States Library of Congress for its cultural significance and impact on American culture. ... more

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