Country Joe & the Fish

[C. J. Fish Cover]Order

C. J. Fish

Side 1:
  1. Sing Sing Sing (3:01)
  2. She's a Bird (4:33
  3. Mara (2:57)
  4. Hang on (4:08)
  5. The Baby Song (2:50)
  6. Hey Bobby (2:06)
 Side 2:
  1. Silver and Gold (2:47)
  2. Rockin' Round the World (4:54)
  3. The Love Machine (5:48)
  4. The Return of Sweet Lorraine (3:46)
  5. Hand of Man (2:50)

Sing Sing Sing

Open my eyes I've been dreaming,
Open my eyes I've been dreaming,
After all this time it seems so strange;
I woke up today and changed my way of living.

Sing, sing, sing,
Sing, sing, sing,
Sing me a love song,
Sing me a love song.

Last night while lying in our bed
Was you who turned to me and said:
"Is it really me you love ?
Tell me what you're thinking of!
Are you thinking thoughts of loving me ?"

My love for you is something warm,
Like silver drops of laughter
Giving life and taking form
Dreaming dreams of unborn
Children by our side.

Open my mind I've been sleeping
Open my mind I've been sleeping
After all this time it seems so strange;
I woke up today and changed my way of living.

Sing, sing, sing  Sing, sing, sing
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song

Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song

Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song

Sing, sing, sing  Sing me a love song
Sing, sing, sing...

She's a Bird

She's a bird that whistles, a bird that sings
She's a bird that whistles, a bird that sings
She'll fly off into the morning rain
She'll fly off into the morning rain.

Yonder comes my darling after me
Yonder comes my darling after me
And for one of her smiles I'd promise the mountains and the sea,
For one of her smiles I'd promise the mountains and the sea.

She's a bird that whistles, a bird that sings
She's a bird that whistles, a bird that sings
She'll fly off into the morning rain
She'll fly off into the morning rain.

Mara

Flocks of geese in Paris skies
They come to me with open eyes
Dreaming of her and other lives
To pass the time waiting for Mara.

And I alone beside her sit
There's just a lonely candle lit
It casts a glowing over it, Mara.

Green is ember blue is gold
A not so different story told
Please take my arms
They're growing cold, Mara.

Green and silver, they're off to the moon
I've lost my way — she's lost hers too
Now that I love what shall I do
To pass the time waiting for Mara.

And I alone beside her sit
There's just a lonely candle lit
It casts a glowing over it, Mara.

Green is ember blue is gold
A not so different story told
Please take my arms
They're growing cold, Mara.

I alone beside her sit
There's just a lonely candle lit
It casts a glowing over it, Mara.

I alone beside her sit
   Beautiful
There's just a lonely candle lit
   Beautiful
It casts a glowing over it, Mara.
   Beautiful

Green is ember blue is gold
   Beautiful
A not so different story told
   Beautiful
Please take my arms they're growing cold, Mara.
   Beautiful

Flocks of geese in Paris skies
   Beautiful
They come to me with open eyes
   Beautiful
They dream of her and other lives, Mara.
   Beautiful

Green is ember blue is gold
   Beautiful
A not so different story told
   Beautiful
Please take my arms they're growing cold, Mara.
   Beautiful

Flocks of geese in Paris skies
   Beautiful
They come to me with open eyes
   Beautiful
They dream of her and other lives, Mara.
   Beautiful

Hang On

I've got a cobalt friend now he spends his time
Looking for people to feed him lines.
Feeling up his head then reaching for mine
I ask him how he's doing and he says "Just fine".
He calls it learning, but we know that he's dying.
That seems to be the price when you're walking on ice
It ain't so nice, but it helps to pass the time.
You got to hang on, you got to hang on, you got to hang on
Before you fall, hey, before you fall.

At social functions of the marching band
He takes his routine up on the stand,
And trying to get the lay of the land
You know he sings and dances in the burning sand
Until someone puts a microphone in his hand.
And then he will say as he slowly backs away
"Another day perhaps you'll understand.
You got to hang on, you got to hang on, you got to hang on
Before you fall, before you fall."

With maps and charts now he plots the skies
Surrounds himself with mystic eyes
Dwells on deeds of other lives,
Sings secret chants and lullabies
Then he'll come to sit and hypothesize
Again and again about the shape that he's in.
Well now he's my friend but I know that they're mostly sighs
You got to hang on, you got to hang on, you got to hang on
Before you fall, before you fall.

And running behind the Hit Parade
He yells out songs that others have made
Unable to see his own masquerade
You know he waves his sword with the gilt edge blade
And I'd love to send him to Travelers' Aid
For when he hears the sound of the stuff he's putting down
He might drown in his own cascade.
You got to hang on, you got to hang on, you got to hang on
Before you fall, before you fall,
Before you fall, fall, fall, before you fall,
You got to hang on, Sloopy, hang on,
Hang on before you fall, all right.

The Baby Song

Never before
Never again
Inside of her
All life begins
Far more than we can ever
Hope to comprehend

Some part from her
Some part from me
Life from our love
Eternally
Now from the one of us
One more shall be.

Come with me
Come with me
And we shall make a baby

Come with me
Come with me
And we shall make a baby.

La la la la...

Come with me
Come with me
And we shall make a baby.

Hey Bobby

I had a dream the other night
Everybody was there
Laughing and singing,
Smoke filled the air.
Everybody was rapping on the way it used to be,
I searched my mind for the good old days
They're coming up you know.

Hey Bobby, where you been ?
We missed you out on the streets.
I hear you've got yourself another scene,
It's called a retreat.
I can still remember days when men were men.
I know it's difficult for you to remember way back then.
Hey!

Screamin' Jay can't put no spell on me
I ain't afraid of no bones
Tell them guys in Washington, D.C.
To leave my friends alone —
I'm sick and tired of hearing your lies
Takes nothin' less than the truth
To get me high.

Hey! I had a dream the other night
Everybody was there
Laughing and singing,
Smoke filled the air.
Everybody was rappin' on the way it used to be,
I searched my mind for the good old days
Are comin' up you know.

Silver and Gold

Dress my baby in silver and
Dress my baby in silver and
Dress my baby in silver and gold
Now, now, now, now, now.

Rubies, sapphires and diamonds
Rubies, sapphires and diamonds
Rubies, sapphires and diamonds on her hands
Now, now, now, now, now.

She don't never tell me lies
She don't go with other guys
She just wants to keep me high
Oh my baby drives me crazy.

Oh my baby drives me crazy.

Rockin' Round the World

Rock and roll music it sure sounds sweet
Makes you wanna get up and stomp your feet
Clap your hands and scream and shout
You know that rock and roll just knocks me out.

Rockin' all around the world,
Rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world,
Rockin' all around the world
Come on boys now haven't you heard ?
Come on girls did you get the word ?
They're rockin' all around the world,
Rockin' round the world.

Some people say country music is fine
Psychedelic music will blow your mind
Blues got soul and so does jazz
But nothing's got the something Charlie rock and roll has.

Hey rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Come on boys now haven't you heard ?
Come on girls did you get the word ?
They're rockin' all around the world,
Hey, rockin' round the world.

Old folks don't know, they can't understand
The words and the music of a rock and roll band
But the kids in the schools and the hippies in the streets
Are doing their thing to a rock and roll beat.

Hey rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Come on boys now haven't you heard ?
Come on girls did you get the word ?
They're rockin' all around the world
Rockin' round the world.

Rock and roll music it sure sounds sweet
Makes you wanna get up and stomp your feet
Clap your hands and scream and shout
You know that rock and roll just knocks me out.

Rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Rockin' all around the world
Come on boys now haven't you heard ?
Come on girls did you get the word ?
They're rocking all around the world
Rocking rocking round the world you know

They're rocking round the world yeah
They're rocking round the world yeah
They're rocking round the world yeah
They're rocking round the world yeah

Rocking round, round, round
Rocking round, round, round
Rocking round, round, round
Rocking round, round, round
Rocking round, round, round
Rocking round, round, round

Rocking round, round the world yeah
Round the world, round

You know everybody's rocking
You know everybody's rocking
You know everybody's rocking
You know everybody's rocking

Rocking round, rocking round
Rocking round, rocking round.

The Love Machine

In the middle of the daytime, in the middle of the night
Comes a new kind of engine from way out of sight.
She's good looking, and her lines are mighty clean
The name of that engine is the Love Machine.

Put some fuel in her tender and turn up the steam,
You can hear, you can hear that whistle scream.
You can see her coming on down the track,
She'll send little shivers up and down your back.

I know you've heard of old ninety-nine
Perhaps the red caboose
But they will all be left behind
When the Love Machine gets loose.

In the middle of the daytime, in the middle of the night
Comes a new kind of engine from way out of sight.
Now she's good-looking and her lines are mighty clean,
And the name of that engine is the Love Machine
And the name of that engine is the Love Machine.

I know you've heard of old ninety-nine
Perhaps the red caboose
But they will all be left behind
When the Love Machine gets loose
When the Love Machine gets loose.

Now people I'm talking about love
And I'm talking about a machine yeah, huh!
It's a clean machine and a fine machine
When that Love Machine gets loose
When that Love Machine gets loose
I'm gonna get loose too, yeah.

The Return of Sweet Lorraine

Sweet lady, won't you come beside me and make me feel all right ?
Sweet lady, won't you come beside me and make me feel all right ?
The hours without you seem too long to bear.
Gray witch goddess, I suspect that you don't care,
But it's simply a matter of wanting you here by me,
Here by me.

And off into the silent night she creeps from her bed
Beaming gleaming crystal screams surrounding her in red
If she can't have your heart then she'll have your soul instead.
Remember her name, it's sweet Lorraine.
Now, nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah.

A million years, a trillion stars away from me
Fluorescent spheres and diamond studded galaxies
Swirling spinning soft and swift.
At last our love has come to this;
The silver circle returned to energy,
Returned to energy.

I've closed the curtains now we're all alone all by ourselves.
I can see your eyes aglow I can feel all the things you've felt.
I watch you slowly turning screaming into someone else
And I remember your name, it's sweet Lorraine.

The Hand of Man

It's many an hour I've been thinking of our fate
Doomed it seemed to live in a world of fear and hate.
I thought about the good and the love there could be,
How fear can blind a man, how people are not free.

Hey, take my hand and come walk with me,
Brothers and sisters we all can be
From a spark in the dark from the hand of man
Peace and understanding spread through our land.

Take my hand and come walk with me,
Brothers and sisters we all can be
From a spark in the dark from the hand of man
Peace and understanding spread through our land.

I gazed into the sky and saw the rains come down
I saw the deadly poisons flowing to the ground.
The rivers and the oceans turned into a grave
All years of effort wasted there was nothing left to save.

Hey, take my hand and come walk with me,
Brothers and sisters we all can be;
From a spark in the dark from the hand of man
Peace and understanding spread through our land.

Take my hand and come walk with me,
Brothers and sisters we all can be;
From a spark in the dark from the hand of man
Peace and understanding spread through our land.

It's many an hour I've been thinking of our fate
Doomed it seemed to live in a world of fear and hate.
I thought about the good and the love there should be,
How fear can blind a man, how people are not free.

Hey, take my hand and come walk with me
Brothers and sisters we all can be;
From a spark in the dark from the hand of man
Peace and understanding spread through our land.

Take my hand and come walk with me
Brothers and sisters we all can be
From a spark in the dark from the hand of man
Peace and understanding spread through our land.

Hey, take my hand and come walk with me
Brothers and sisters we all can be
From a spark in the dark from the hand of man
Peace and understanding spread through our land.
Hey...

[_____________________]

Recorded at Record Plant Studios, 8456 West 3rd St, Los Angeles, January 1970
Producer: Tom Wilson

Joe McDonald: vocals, guitar
Barry Melton: vocals, guitar
Mark Kapner: keyboards
Doug Metzner: bass
Greg Dewey: drums

Cover art: David Edward Byrd

Original vinyl release: Vanguard VSD.6555 [May 1970]
Original CD release:  Vanguard 6555-2 [May 10, 1994]

"Sing Sing Sing" and "The Love Machine" copyright © Seafood Music Inc., BMI, 1970
All other songs copyright © 1970 renewed 1996 by McDonald Music Inc., BMI

This page made possible through the kind assistance of Serge Mironneau.

______________________

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