The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library’s TEDxSomerville #TEDxVille Songs (including lyrics and demos)

Photo by Jenee Halstead http://instagr.am/p/HwV7Xmlp0u/

https://mjeml.michaeljepstein.com/ had the pleasure of being the house band for TEDxSomerville yesterday. In honor of the event, we wrote 25 songs about the talks presented and performed them in blocks during the breaks between sessions.

As we were performing during breaks, we didn’t expect much of a captive audience. Still, many of the attendees caught on to the references and a lot of the speakers themselves started tuning in to hear their songs. We originally had not planned to record the songs at all, but we ended up getting a lot of requests for recordings.

For the moment, we just wanted to share the lyrics to the songs (below) and recordings of all of the songs from our rehearsals at the library. These aren’t at all polished (or well performed) recordings, but just give a decent idea what the songs are all about. We’re now considering most likely recording a portion of this set of songs in a more proper form. If you are a speaker (or anyone else really) and have a request for a particular song to be recorded, we’d certainly consider it.

(Thanks to Sam Sommers and Georgy Cohen for the idea to use the image below as artwork. Photo courtesy Don Bergquist)

Completed songs:
Demos:


Lyrics

Joe Curtatone 
G                                                   D
We all need a hero who can listen to our views
G                                                  D
integrate our needs and walk in all our shoes
C                                                  G
Someone who can lead us, making Somerville so great
C                                                   G
Someone who represents us, to whom we can relate

G                C                 D                                           C                            D
Curtatone, Curtatone, when it comes to Cambridge, he won’t take their baloney
G
Curtatone

G                                       D
He fights against obesity, he supports the arts
he helps out local business, on cold days warms our hearts
He improved recycling and sustainability
working hard to help us since 2003

Dan Rothstein

G                                               C
Dan Rothstein, Dan Rothstein, he asks the right question
G                                                           D
Dan Rothstein, Dan Rothstein, he’ll teach you how
G                                                C
Dan Rothstein, Dan Rothstein, he asks the right question
G                                      D                      G
you want the answers, they’re here right now

with Luz Santana, he wrote a book
teaching young students to take a look
examine their worlds with inquisitive minds
and search their surroundings for what they might find. Chorus, (Solo), chorus

 

Photos from TEDxSomerville by tvanhoosear

Georgy Cohen
G
Nobody likes you when you’re 23, there’s no one out there just like you or just like me
C                                                   D
Then one day you hear him say, we’ve got the same DNA

Nobody likes you when you’re 23, unless it’s someone just like you or just like me
Georgy Cohen Georgy Cohen, You’ve got a t-win, you’ve got a t-win

My corniness cannot be stopped!

Lenni Armstrong
G                                                     Em
Lenni Armstrong wants to right our wrongs
C                                                      D
and return to green

Interactively, with Informmotion she,
makes learning neat

She creates the visuals that make us understand
our footprint and our place in the context of our land
We can depave the way to help us make things grand
and clean and green and naturally, and carefully planned

Ray Matsumiya
G G C D
Ray Matsumiya wants peace in the Middle East
G G D G
Ray Matsumiya wants peee–eace
From Morocco to Somerville, let the boundaries decrease
Ray Matsumiya wants peee-eace

GG CD
Educational and cultural programs abound
uniting across countries these cities and towns
intermingling cultures, breaking barriers down
GG D  G
Ray Matsumiya wants peee-eace

spreading learning all across the land
through all our differences, we can understand
that there is so much commonality across all man
Ray Matsumiya wants peee-eace  Chorus

Kelly Creedon
G                                        Em
Kelly Creedon tells stories in various forms
G                            Am    D
Powerful tales that do transform
G                                     Em
Fighting foreclosure and unjust bank storms
C                  D    G
We shall not be displaced

The media has a powerful hold
it’s important that the just stories are told
of those who are struggling to break the mold
and make the world a better place

Schuyler Towne
G                                          C                 D
Schulyer Towne finds beauty in mechanical things
pin tumblers and levers and magnetic springs
opening doors togetherness brings
G                          D         G
Schuyler’s a champion of locks

time locks and pad locks and deadbolts alike
with torque wrenches, half diamonds, and ball picks he’ll strike
he even knows how you can secure your bike
Schuyler’s a champion of locks

Grooversity/Marcus Santos
G                                                    D       G
Marcus Santos brings polyrhythms from Brazil
Marcus Santos and Grooversity most certainly will
rock your face while showing how traditions can combine
showing synergistic gains far greater than those implied

G           C
Marcus, Marcus Santos
G                        D
and grooversity too
G                     C
Marcus, Marcus Santos
G                          D      G
will share their music soon

Joe Grafton
D, G, A
joe grafton joe grafton puts somerville first
had a change of heart left the corprate universe
to build a community that’s thriving and diverse
DAD joe grafton joe grafton puts somerville first

DGAD
Look Back Reach Forward
Communeconomy
purchase with purpose, shift your money locally
Look Back Reach Forward
Communeconomy
purchase with purpose, shift your money locally

Ross Lohr
D G D G
ross lohr ross lohr went to tanzania
left his drums and band behind said I’ll see ya
ross lohr went to tanzania
DG A
he saw all the tshirts and had an idea

GD verse: Ross Lohr makes recycling global
turns cast-away tshirts into jobs that are noble
start with mindful consumption here at home
G clothes are upcycled A across the world they D roam

Jessie Banhazl and Brendan Shea 
DA
Jessie and Brendan think you should grow your own
creating greenspace starts at A home
G GG D
reclaim your rooftop with vegetable beds
AAA planting your own produce it will keep you D fed

A D Jessie and Brendan think you should grow your own (food)

Clarence Smith, Jr.
D – A – D
CLAPS!!
Do you know Clarence
GAD do do do do da do
D he adds the extra G to the A ordinary
think you can’t learn from barbershops
but to the contrary

Brian Whitman
Bm D A  Bm
Brian Whitman wants to know the meaning of song
D A Bm
to teach the machines to sing along
G A
how to read and write, make and listen
G A  Bm
the robots are coming thanks to Mr. Whitman

Brian Whitman, the Echonest is lair
they do their work in Davis Square
teaching computer how to rhyme
changing music one listener at a time, Mr. Whitman

Daniel Hadley
Am Em
can a city make you happy?
F C
can a city make you smile?
Am Em
Mr. Daniel Hadley
F C
has thought  about it for a while

F      C
he really cares about the city of squares
F C
Honkfest and the green line too (eventually)
F C
he’ll take a survey of your happiness
F D
He’ll analyze the data too

can a city make you happy?
can a city make you smile?
Mr. Daniel Hadley
has thought  about it for a while

Ezra Glenn
G A G D
Ezra Haber Glenn
He digs empowerment
Shape your neighborhood and plan your city
Oh and then

E E E G
Think about the places and the spaces time is spent

G A G D
Ezra Haber Glenn
He digs empowerment
There’s unity in community and where you pay your rent
E E E G
Think about the places and the spaces time is spent
G A G D
Ezra Haber Glenn
He digs empowerment

Michael Norton

D (downstokes with open Am7 chords)
Michael Norton knows what’s important
And he’s certain you know it too
He studies labor and folks behavior
Hey what’s your flavor? And attitude?

(Pause) D
He had an idea
D
About building a shelf

You bought at Ikea D

Yeah, you do it yourself! D

D (downstokes with open Am7 chords)
Michael Norton knows what’s important
And he’s certain you know it too
He studies labor and folks behavior
Hey what’s your flavor? And attitude?

Alex Feldman

Percussion only and improvised statements

Sam Sommers
F       C           G       C
Hang around with the right crowd
Hang around in the right town

You are what you eat You are who you meet
F                    G           C
says Sam Sommers, context is everything
says Sam Sommers, context is everything

You can change what surrounds you
You can build a better place
You can have your cake and it
says Sam Sommers, context x 2

Ruth Allen
A
I’m in the kitchen thinking about the Government
E
How it serves, and how it’s separate
A
From my life and from my influence
D                            A
Ruth Allen says it’s not

A
South African people looking for leadership
E
Ruth Allen says the people should be giving it
A
Make it fair and just and legitimate
D                        A
Mercy Corps is tops

Monica Poole
Am    
The beginning
Am   C 
is near
C G 
(but you) you can’t evict an
G Am 
an idea
Am Am   
(You can) use weapons
Am   C  
deploy fear
C G 
you can’t evict an
G Am 
an idea

Am
Monica, Monica, Monica Poole
She and the people, they broke the rules
She’s helping build a new solution
Occupy Boston
Viva, Evolution!

They dug up all flowers
But they couldn’t stop the spring
They shut up all our voices
But the word traveling

Lis Pardi
G                             Cm
Miss Liz Pardi took a look into her crystal ball
and she told us there was nothing left to fear at all
we librarians have job security this fall
E-book readers changed the game, but we won’t take the fall

F                          Em
In the library of the future (the future)
you can check out anything (anything)
Oh the library of the future
you can take it anywhere you want to bring it

G                             Cm
Miss Liz Pardi said the future it is here today
and librarians and libraries are here to stay
we might have to change the way we think, and that’s okay
Brick and mortar is so overrated anyway

F                          Em
In the library of the future (the future)
you can check out anything (anything)
Oh the library of the future
you can take it anywhere you want to bring it

Wig Zamore
E intro E A E B B A E
All aboard! (the Brain Train!)
All aboard! (the Brain Train!)
All aboard! (the Brain Train!)

Take a ride, take a ride on the Brain Train
the next stop is Somerville
Take a ride, take a ride on the Brain Train
it’s an innovative light rail

If anyone can think of a local solution
to boosting public jobs and cutting pollution
better public health and economic inclusion
Wig Zamore can and will

Take a ride, take a ride on the Brain Train
the next stop is Somerville
Take a ride, take a ride on the Brain Train
it’s an innovative light rail

Chris Templeman
A
Made in Somerville, is it possible
D                                E
Hometown fabricate, locals participate

Made in Somerville, is it possible
Hometown celebrate, Chris Templeman will illustrate

Made in Somerville, is it possible
design, prototype, and release
Made in Somerville, it is possible
can our workers compete

Aatish Salvi
C                            Am
Aatish Salvi breaks poverty
F                                           G
by providing resourceful equality

Aatish Salvi fights poverty
restoring rights and dignity

C
and there’s nothing
Am
Impossible
F
about incentivizing
G
economic growth
No reason, to stay trapped in, a welfare cycle, that’s growth discouraging

Seth Itzkan
Am                                       C
Seth Itzkan, Seth Itzkan     fights global warming with grasslands
Seth Itzkan, Seth Itzkan     fights global warming, says we can
G                                              F
take the cows out of the barn, rethink the structure of our farms

Seth Itzkan, Seth Itzkan     fights global warming with grasslands
Seth Itzkan, Seth Itzkan     fights global warming, says we can
stop climate change if we rearrange, put grazing animals on the range

Seth Itzkan, Seth Itzkan     fights global warming with grasslands
Seth Itzkan, Seth Itzkan     fights global warming, says we can
take the cows out of the barn, rethink the structure of our farms
stop climate change if we rearrange, put grazing animals on the range