The Singing Man

The Singing Man
by Si Kahn & Tom Chapin
© 1992 Joe Hill Music & The Last Music Co. (ASCAP)

Back before the beginning
When the rock was younger than young,
The only sound was the wind on the ocean
And the song the volcano sung.
Darkness on the face of the waters
And the waters were all around.
In this new world of waves and wonder
There was no living sound
Yet a song took wing and a song took hold
In the land and sea and the newborn air,
It was always there, back before the world began.
I am the singing woman. I am the singing man.

Then life began in the ocean
And started its torturous climb.
Birth and death and procreation
Down the long tunnel of time.
And joining the wind on the mountain
Was the sound of a living tune,
The eagle in flight
And the wolf in the night howling at the moon
And the song took wing and the song took hold
In the land and sea and the newborn air,
It was always there, back before the world began.
I am the singing woman. I am the singing man.

And somewhere on the great grasslands
By a fire's tenuous light
A human voice rises to challenge
The tiger that lurks in the night
The song is a thin thread of courage
That binds up their hopes and fears.
It cuts through the dark like the moonlight
And echoes on through the years.
And a song took wing and a song took hold
In the land and sea and the newborn air,
It was always there, back before the world began.
I am the singing woman. I am the singing man.
I am the singing woman. I am the singing man.

These days when our lives are so crowded
Yet our spirits and hearts are so bare.
And noise and talk and words by the million
Fly by like dust through the air.
And just when our troubles seem darkest
And there is no hope or choice,
This world can still be recreated
By the song from a single voice.
And the song takes wing and the song takes hold
In the land and sea and the newborn air,
It was always there, back before the world began.
I am the singing woman. I am the singing man.
I am the singing woman. I am the singing man.
I am the singing woman. I am the singing man.

This song appears on Tom Chapin's So Nice To Come Home CD.

Return to Home Page

Send comments to info@tomchapin.com