Here are the lyrics to the songs on the Our Bright Future album, as printed in the CD or cassette booklet:
1. Sing For You
2. I Did It All
3. Save Us All
4. Our Bright Future
5. For A Dream
6. Thinking of You
7. A Theory
8. Conditional
9. Something to See (No War)
10. The First Person On Earth
11. Spring
“SING FOR YOU” LYRICS
Sweet and high
At the break of dawn
A simple tune that you can hum along to
I remember
There was a time
When I used to sing for you
Knew all the words to the popular songs
With the radio on full volume
I remember
There was a time
When I used to sing for you
Forget the chorus
You’re the bridge
The words and music
To every day I’ve lived
There’s nothing that I wouldn’t give
For one more time
When I can sing for you
Soft and low
When the evening comes
Holding you sleeping in my arms
I remember
There was a time
When I used to sing for you
© 2006 – Tracy Chapman
Drums: Joey Waronker
Electric Bass: Larry Klein
Pump Organ: Rob Burger
Acoustic Guitar: Joe Gore
Acoustic Guitar: Tracy Chapman
Piano: Rob Burger
Keyboard: Joe Gore
Organ: Larry Klein
Percussions: Joey Waronker
“I DID IT ALL” LYRICS
A Cosmopolitan a Manhattan
Call me one
Pour a round for me and my friends
Cape Cod Sea Breeze
Long Island Ice Teas
I won’t go there or drink it if you paid me
When they come to waylay me
When the close in for the capture
I did it all
I did it all
For the love and the laughter
I did it all
I did it all
I did it all
Slept in late
Stayed up for days
Partied hard
Lived my twenties in haze
Smoked second-hand in crowded bars
With the A-list of B-list movie stars
When they come to arrest me
Pat me down and undress me
I’ll confess without Miranda
Strike a pose for the tabloid cameras
I did it all
I did it all
I did it all
I did it all
I didn’t ask permission
I did it all
What kind of life
Is not an exhibition
I did it all
Crash and burn
And then you know you’re living
I did it all
Some pain a few tears but after
I did it all
To the last line of the final chapter
I did it all
I did it all
My heart is a wound that festers
Seduced my share in silk and polyester
Oh my great loves
And my few losses
I’ll tell it all
When my little black book is published
When they come to interview me
For my made-for-tv movie
Say I’m the bitch who was a bastard
Who did it all for the love and laughter
I did it all
I did it all
I did it all
© 2007 – Tracy Chapman
Drums: Steve Gadd
Electric Bass: Larry Klein
Piano: Larry Goldings
Electric Guitar: Dean Parks
Electric Guitar: Tracy Chapman
Clarinet: Dean Parks
“SAVE US ALL” LYRICS
I know Jesus loves me
In my heart I know it’s true
I know Mary’s little baby
Came in the world
Just to save me
But I don’t know about you
My God’s a mighty big God
My God can shake the world up
Plagues and famines
Frogs and locusts
Walking on water
Burning bushes
Rolling the thunder
And parting the waters too
My God is good in the kitchen
Make a god meal from bread and fishes
Feed the hungry pour the wine
Everybody’s welcome to have a good time
Sit at his table enjoy the food
I know that Jesus loves me
He says I should love you
My neighbor not his wife
Don’t covet steal kill or lie
My God’s got a lot of rules
My God made creation
Six days work one day vacation
Made a garden
Filled it with apples
Adam and Eve walked around natural
Until they ate that one piece of bad fruit
I’ve heard that your God’s older
Buddha Allah Krishna
Manifest with many faces
Worshipped the world over in foreign places
I assume your God must love you
I know Jesus loves me
And my God is good and great and true
But it pride goeth before the fall
I hope someone’s God will save us all
Save us all
And love the sinners too
© 2007 – Tracy Chapman
Drums: Steve Gadd
Acoustic Bass: Larry Klein
Pump Organ: Larry Goldings
Acoustic Guitar: Tracy Chapman
Slide Guitar: Dean Parks
Nyckeltharpa: Carla Kihistedt
“OUR BRIGHT FUTURE” LYRICS
To my father what of your sons?
All of your children
Even the ones
Sent out to martyr
To face the gun
Precious bodies opposed to bombs
Led on led on
To take the path
Where our bright future
Is in our past
To our father what of reason?
Say what you will
Believe what you want
The record shows what we are not
Our true desires
Not our good thoughts
Led on let on
To take the path
Where our bright future
Is in our past
To my father what have you done?
To the children
Born innocent
But come to harm
For dreams of glory
And just a line in history
Led on led on
To take the path
Where our bright future
Is in our past
To our father what good may come?
To let the children
Walk alone
To fear to fail
And need no savior
To be at peace in our true nature
Lead on lead on
Clear the path
So our bright future
May come to pass
May come to pass
May come to pass
© 2007 – Tracy Chapman
Drums: Steve Gadd
Electric Bass: Larry Klein
Organ: Larry Goldings
Electric Guitar: Dean Parks
Acoustic Guitar: Tracy Chapman
Mandolins: Dean Parks
Percussion: Joey Waronker
Pedal Steel: Dean Parks
“FOR A DREAM” LYRICS
I picture us together
Framed in gold neat
On the mantle with the others
One big happy family
But that snapshot can’t be found
And I don’t trust my memory
But it’s alright, it’s alright
For a dream
I imagine we are gathered
But this time no dressed in black
There’s laughing and smiling
Not stabbing in the back
But it’s too good to be true
And too bad I still recall the screams
But it’s alright, it’s alright
For a dream
I keep half the picture
Mostly in my mind
Mama dressed in white
Ripped where she held your hand
Showing no signs of age
Just slightly frayed along the seam
But it’s alright, it’s alright
For a dream
It’s alright
And that I can claim
It’s alright
And it will have to do
It’s alright
Better than the pain
It’s alright
Better than the truth
It’s alright
Alright for a dream
It’s alright
Better that fate and the grand scheme
It’s alright
It’s alright
For Christmas and for New Year
I wish and I resolve
But I’m disappointed by myself
Jesus and Santa Claus
I want to believe
She’s been saved
And he’s been redeemed
But it’s alright, it’s alright
For a dream
© 2007 – Tracy Chapman
Drums: Joey Waronker
Electric Bass: Larry Klein
Wurlitzer: Rob Burger
Electric Guitar: Joe Gore
Acoustic Guitar: Tracy Chapman
Organ: Rob Burger
Piano: Rob Burger
“THINKING OF YOU” LYRICS
About what’s real and true
What can not be proven
What can be assumed
Once when I was younger
In the bloom of youth
I received an honest answer
When a lie would do
And now all I do is sit
In my darkened room
And on accasion break my silence
To howl at the moon
To curse every nerve
And neuron in my brain
That won’t stop the pain I’m feeling
And let me stop thinking
I used to think
Galileo would agree
That the world was round
And you’d come round to me
But I have looked for you
And you’re nowhere in sight
The world must be flat
The Babylonians were right
I used to think
Consider gravity
If I placed you on a pedestal
You’d slip and fall for me
But you floated on the air
Far away at light speed
I guess some objects do defy
The laws that we conceive
I used to think
It took all my time
Analysing you
Your mind on my mind
Your name my mantra
Repeated on my lips
That once tried to kiss you
A memory unrepressed
Stop thinking of you
Stop thinking of you
Stop thinking of you
“A THEORY” LYRICS
It’s just a theory
There’s a possibility I am wrong
It’s just a theory
But I would stake my life
Lay my money down
That you were meant for me
And for you I’m the one
It’s just a theory
A particular set of assumptions
It’s just a theory
An educated guess
A conclusion not forgone
That you were meant for me
And for you I’m the one
Oh nothing’s new under the sun
I will postulate
Ask for your consideration
Ask you out on a date
Although it can’t be sure
Why not act on a hunch
Oh why not search for proof
Why not go out for lunch
And in theory, I could propose
And in theory you could affirm
Oh that you were meant for me
And for you I’m the one
Oh that you were meant for me
And for you I’m the one
It’s just a theory
A series of tests should be run.
It’s just a theory although not fully assessed
An idea whose time has come
That you were meant for me
And for you I’m the one
That you were meant for me
And for you I’m the one
“CONDITIONAL” LYRICS
It’s conditional
Not for free
There are strings attached
Tied to me
I’ll want something back
If you agree
To be in love with me
Hold me hold me in your arms
Hold me in your memory
Perfect perfect in your gaze
Far as my eye can see
It’s conditional
Not for free
There are strings attached
Tied to me
I’ll want something back
If you agree
To be in love with me
Try to try to try to forget
To change the things about me
You can not accept
Any day that you have regret
Just let it recede
It’s conditional
Not for free
There are strings attached
Tied to me
I’ll want something back
If you agree
To be in love with me
There are vows that must be made
There are terms that can’t expire
There are words that must be said
And there are qualifiers
I’ll love you but I’ll count the ways
The things that I admire
And anyone who says they won’t
You can call a liar
It’s conditional
Not for free
There are strings attached
Tied to me
I’ll want something back
If you agree
To be in love with me
Stay with me stay with me
Right or wrong
Pledge your loyalty
Have faith have faith
That we do belong
Together for eternity
It’s conditional
Not for free
There are strings attached
Tied to me
I’ll want something back
If you agree
To be in love with me
“SOMETHING TO SEE” LYRICS
No war no greed
That would be something to see
I hope I live that long
No blood in the streets
Just a distant memory
The history books recount
Now we’re all free
Now we’re all free
No war no greed
That would be something to see
I hope I live that long
No want no need
The struggle to end poverty
Finally has been won
Now we’re all free
Now we’re all free
No war no greed
That would be something to see
I hope I live that long
Hold my consitution
And have the courage of heard and mind
To right what is wrong
Now we’re all free
Now we’re all free
But now you can’t believe
What you’re told
You can’t believe what you hear
The speeches of the politicians
Ring untrue and insincere
You can’t believe what you read
You can’t believe what’s said
They count the targets and the bombs
But do not count the dead
They do not count the dead
No war no greed
That would be something to see
I hope I live that long
Not lose my faith
In every word on the page
In the face of freedom
No war no greed
No war no greed
No war no greed
© 2008 Tracy Chapman
Drums: Steve Gadd
Electric Bass: Larry Klein
Wurlitzer: Larry Goldrings
Electruc Guitar: Dean Parks
Acoustic Guitar: Tracy Chapman
Organ: Larry Goldings
Percussion: Joey Waronker
Backing Vocals: Rock Deadrick & Tracy Chapman
“THE FIRST PERSON ON EARTH” LYRICS
From the water
From the rock and the dirt
You were
The first person on earth
Oh the mountains
And the oceans
Witnessed your birth
The first person on earth
By a river
On the banks of a sandy shore
Untouched clean fresh and pure
The first person on earth
In the light of the sun
You emerged
To see the good in the world
Before the pain and the scourge
The first person on earth
In the quiet in the calm
Before the storm
You heard the dream for a love
That never dies in a poem
The first person on earth
And I’m in love with you
I’m in love with a dream
That can not be realized
Held or seen
By the last person on earth
After the earthquakes the hurricanes
The fires and floods
I’m jaded cynical angry and glum
The world’s too absurd and obscene
For true love
And more than happy to let me become
The last person on earth
To let me stand on a rock
The muddy waters surround
Abandoned alone
The end soon to come
As the last person on earth
As the waters rise
At the end of the world
Though I bear the weight
Of the rock and the dirt
I know I’m worthy of your love
As the last person on earth
As the waters rise
At the end of the world
Though I bear the weight
Of the rock and the dirt
I know I’m worthy of your love
As the last person on earth
© 2008 Tracy Chapman
Drums: Joey Waronker
Electric Bass: Larry Klein
Acoustic Guitar: Tracy Chapman
Acoustic Guitar: Joe Gore
Pump Organ: Rob Burger
Vibraphone: Rob Burger
Keyboard: Joe Gore
Percussion: Joey Waronker
Violin: Carla Kihlstedt
“SPRING” LYRICS
There’s a cloud
There’s a cloud
A blue sky darkening
That veils the light of the sun
And foretells the rain
But there’s a bird
There are birds
And some are singing
To great every new day that may come
Like the first of spring
It is cold
It is cold
I’ve had the feeling
At the heart and in the core
The root of all things
But there’s a bud there’s a bulb
It will be blooming
To greet every new day that may come
Like the first of spring
It is late
It is late
As I watch waiting
It will go come turn away
The cycle cycling
There’s a face with new eyes
A baby crying
Who’ll greet every new day that may come
Like the first of spring
Like the first of spring
© 2007 – Tracy Chapman
Acoustic Bass: Larry Klein
Piano: Michael Webster
Acoustic Guitar: Tracy Chapman
