Tokyo Rose

Lyrics taken from the Warner Bros. Records album release # 925 968-1. All selections by Van Dyke Parks © 1989 Shibui Music BMI admin. by Bug, 6777 Hollywood Blvd., 9th Floor, Hollywood, CA 90028 except "America" (Public Domain), Arr/Adapted by Van Dyke Parks

America

My country, 'tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing
Land where my fathers died
Land of the Pilgrims' pride
From every mountainside let freedom ring

Tokyo Rose

In sight of the lights of Roppongi    the night life of To ki yo goes
And out on the street with a beat from Tahiti a neon moon lollipop glows
A woman in silken pajamas is seen on the screen of a door
She slips on a ricepaper dress by Dior less the price of the ice on her clothes
The girl I call To ki yo Rose

Tokyo rose is blue
Tokyo knows it's true
What the night says we might like to do
We're in Tokyo time
When that moon turns lime
And the sky is a lavender brew

She trips through a door for hot sake
Unzips as her hips hit the floor
Her pearls were strung in the harbor below in a bar where I asked her for more

Down on a Cajun veranda   a Barbajian band in a stew
Was playing a soca when I reawoke we were back at her penthouse us two
I spoke of my love for MacArthur   the man not the park in L.A.
"But you're so much older!" she covered her shoulder
And I heard her say with a sigh
"A soldier may never say die!"

Yankee Go Home

Four ships have sailed the ocean to the bay
         A chop on the water o'er waves of gray
         The Commodore a notion in the spray
Where in emotion    We hear him say
         "Boy that sea is vast!
         What joy we're here at last!
         This has to be the island of Japan!
         Open up that door!
         We are ship to shore!
         We represent the President the sentiment of Uncle Sam!"
The Commodore steps forward with a sneeze
With "as you were then and men at ease
To raise this once great nation from her knees
To teach her 'Thank you!' 'Pardon Me Please!'
         Might as well be Mars!
         Thank your stripes and stars!
         Show me to the bars of old Japan!
         Get down off this barge! Tell the man in charge!
         We're unafraid we come to trade   a corporation for a nation
         Every man back to his station
         I can hear the native call
Yankee go home
Yankee go home
You must not forget   you have self-respect
I will tell you confidential
I feel downright sentimential
Like a good Yank go home
Self-respect is so essential
I say let tomorrow come
Maybe bring heartache or sonno joi
Tell your son you're a homesick boy
Don't you pick up a gun it's not a toy
Now from Rio to Rome   I hear Yankee go home"

Yankee go home   "Parting is so sweet a sorrow"
Yankee go home   "May bring happiness tomorrow
One thing I have learned   now that I've been burned
Is that if you should find that your hand's in the fire
You pull it back quickly and you retire like
Any good Yank go home   you may have to beg and borrow
I say let tomorrow come
On the level I'm telling you   to the devil you give his due
But remember that China will answer true
I say Yankee go home
Ai yai yai yai I say Yankee go home

Yankee go home
Yankee go home
What resembled mirth   on a trembling earth
Now just feels so economic
I feel tragic you want comic
Like a good Yank go home   live in love for every neighbor
Though they're bound to disagree
That you're some kind of V.I.P.   with your gunboat democracy
You can shoot off your mouth in your own country
I say Yankee go home   I say Yankee go home

Like a good Yank go home
Self-respect is so essential
I say let tomorrow come
'Til the dollar meets with the yen
And the good times return again
You recall how the dollar has fallen men
That's why we gotta go
We're Amerikano

Ai yai yai yai"

Cowboy

Paniolo cowboy in a field of sugar cane
Once there was a forest where they hid there in the rain
Cowboy bowboy cowboy
Wanderin' Wahini under locks of raven hair
Beads of inspiration  Hopin' he would not forget just where
Heyup cowboy!

Up above the canopy in the highest branches of a tree
He would take her longingly and say "One day you'll belong to me"

I forgot to mention it was nineteen forty-one
Zeros kept a-comin' like to blanket out the sun
Cowboy   cowboy

So they lay suspended dreaming of some kind of god
With their limbs akimbo and extended to the mind of God
Cowboy

And the night without regret says it's time to let your hair down low
There they lay in silhouette he would say I'd stay yet have to go

King Kamehameha met with Captain Cook uopn the shore
Lookin' at all the cattle asked him "What the hell are these for?"
Cowboy cowboy cowboy
Gone now is the forest and the lovers of the trees
Now there is a chorus playing golf who say in Japanese
Kau-boi

Manzanar

Noone can forget the place where she has gone away
Funny how regret can taste like honey in L.A. anyway
All the trees ornamental
Every breeze downright sentimental
No one can forget her face when she has gone away

Let a bungalow and yard fulfill your every need
Get a Romeo and garden all but gone to seed as they say
Every swallow returning
Just to follow a natural yearning
It is just a paper chase when she has gone away

What the heck I've hit the deck and checked romance on holiday
Drawn a breath and danced with death
Until the dawn had held it at bay
Watched the palms by the sea sway
In the arms of beautiful Nissei
Now I can't forget her face since she has gone away

Manzanar    not the kind of girl to hit the street
Manzanar    she is dancin to a brand new beat

Don't know me from Ansel Adams 'cause I'm from Los Angeles
Would've called her but was at a loss
For what to say just to please
When it gets right down there to the wire
When you're reeling and feel her desire
Tell her she is All-American in Japanese

This is a dump   without a doubt
You gotta jump   you wanna shout
And it is sump   thin you got out
Manzanar

You are not warm   a desert storm
And where the High Sierra hits the flyway
You are alone   you will explode
To Arizone   you hit the road
Next sound you hear is pounding down the highway

Like a man without a nation
In a camp of concentration
With a stamp of degredation and shame
To a place they call it Manzanar by name

You are awake   an evening star
All you can take is makin out just where you are
There's a name to explore there
And a story of shame and war there
In Manzanar   in Manzanar
Manzanar!

Calypso

This is like no island you have seen
It is not Argentine nor Tangerine
Maybe you are navy or marine
It is not African nor Caribbean

Take the missionary position   yes the missionary position
For a man who is on a mission   other matters should come to mind
Take the missionary position   makes me faint & I ain't gonna listen
But a good man to my own disposition is a man who is hard to find

Hey sailor come from the sea   you talk to me
You're a tar   You're a far cry from home
While you are at liberty to talk to me
People stare   I'm aware   is it fair?
On a dare   I don't care
What they say   Give us only today

Hey sailor come from the sea   It's you and me
Call it fate   Call it great destiny
Since we are at liberty   and speaking free
I won't grieve   if you find   you must leave
   me behind   I won't mind
I have heard of push and shove
You bring me that word called love

Calypso  if my heart could only speak
               we'd take a week in Martinique and just go crazy neh?
Calypso  he is speaking Greek to me
               it is hide and seek you see
               this can be our fantasy today
               como dice
Calypso

White Chrysanthemum

Somewhat overwhelmed by the enormous dimensions of her lovely breast
The rector turned his face from Mother Nature back to God
"Therefore, in the shadow of the valley we are truly truly blessed-
We now return our brother to the sod!"

Poor old Ned!-who worked the line six days a week
Yes poor old Ned!-words come to mind you start to speak
And when it's said-the rain is falling you recall how
Poor old Ned! is surely dead!

Then they brought him home to that old bosky dell
he knew so very well
And laid him down for succor simply in a box of Southern pine
This was past the oxbow of the river where we
Used to fish a spell
And wish that rising sun would ever shine

And sing Crying time  and sing Crying Time  and sing Crying Time
And sing Crying Time  and sing Crying Time  and sing Crying Time

Old Ned was a veteran and better an the best in forty-one
When blue Hawaii glistened like a diamond lights the sun
That said, when teh Nissan plant was built down by the run
He knew his life had only just begun

Poor old Ned!-a child tugs on a tattered sleeve
Yes poor old Ned!-and piled back in they start to leave
And poor old Ned!-will bring into that night one white
Chrysanthemum-His kingdom come!

And sing Crying time  and sing Crying Time  and sing Crying Time
And sing Crying Time  and sing Crying Time  and sing Crying Time

Trade War

Mister Ford sez to Mister Firestone
When they meet at the old campground
"We will send out the news by wire and
Tell all the people what we have found
We can ask Thomas Alva Edison
Telephone Alexander Graham Bell
And if someone comes here with something to sell
Just make yourself clear and tell him to go straight to hell
Trade war!
For your peace and our protection
Give us speed and new direction
Someone needs to mind the store
Trade war!
As is mentioned in the Bible
Nations tend to what is tribal
Across the ocean white with foam
Spend your dollars here at home"

Mister Ford turns to MisterFirestone
"Well the nation has gotta roll
Time has come for the Yanks to load up the tanks
If a victory is our goal
To show the world all about free enterprize
Cut the competition down to size
We must make it a date to participate in cooperation
We are a nation at war
Trade war!
We are thinking of survival
At the brink with each new rival
Here to even up the score
Trade war!
Competition now is global
Give your country what is noble
If you're an eagle you must soar
We are a nation as at war!

There's a bomber up in the sky tonight
'Cause the two brothers Wright took flight
Man has gone to the air to keep the world fair
Show the others where might makes right
When you look up in the wild blue yonder now
And see a star or a satellite
On a Yankee's invention it may depend
So lend us your spirit bright!
Trade war!
Don't sell land to the invader
Tell him come back maybe later
We don't do that anymore
Trade war!
Thanks to our man Ronald Reagan
He is gone and we are begging
For just the interest on the loan
And calamity unknown
Trade war!
For our lands and independence
For our children and descendants
We must hold them at the door
Trade war!
And the sparks have started flying
Though your heart says you're denying
Our love for all humanity
It's what keeps us breathing free
Trade war!
Make it legal make it tender
May our nation not surrender oh no!
For just one race to rule the world
Keep that battle flag unfurled!"

Out Of Love

The moon in all its splendor swings into sight
Puts up a fight   puts out a porch light
And soon we both just surrender to its might
Part out of fright   part out of love light
Part out of love
Soon you and I are just a memory
Caught up in some cicadae symphony
And you and I a thought that came to me
A mason jar a star out in the night
Bug in a jug   huggin the love light
Just you and I to chase a Milky Way
What can I say   we're out of love light
We're out of love
The moon in all its splendor swings out of sight
Put up a fight   put out a porch light
And soon we both just surrender to its might
Part out of fright   part out of love light
Part out of love

One Home Run

Words by Van Dyke Parks and Amy Furumoto

We want just one home run
That's all that we are after
My son I been around the diamond
But not for many a year
And I have lost and won
The cost in tears and laughter
You just step up and face that pitcher
When these two words you hear

Batter up!   batter up!
With His eye on the sparrow you'll fly like an arrow on high
Batter up!   batter up!
Whether losing or winning in only beginning
You'll make it on home by and by

You take a bat of pine
From some denuded forest
The glove was made by Mr.Spaulding
From a cow in Salvador
And by some power divine
The crowd joins in the chorus
It is a case of now or never
And you can hear them roar

Ko ko lo to ki me ku to ki
Ka ze wa to ma li
To mo ni su su mi yu ko
Mi la i bo ku la no

Ao zo la hi lo ga lu no ha la ni yu ko
Kyo o wa ta no shi i ku sa ya kyu u sa
Bo ku no ne ga i wa ta ta hi to tsu no
Ho o mu la no i pa tsu u tsu da ke sa
Ta da bo lu ni mu ka i o mo i ki i li pu le i su ru da ke