Blind Man's Vision
After noting what would have been the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie the day before (July 14, 2012), and feeling strongly about Woody Guthrie and his song, "This Land is Your Land, I decided to do an ad hoc solo version of the Bentley-Thomas song, "Blind Man's Vision," copyright 2010 from the Out of Time album. The lyrics to the song came from poetic lines my late wife, Cheri, wrote in March of 2009, when we had been talking to each other a lot about the destruction of the middle class in America that had been accelerating over the last few decades. In that context, Cheri wrote of the transcendent power of love to pull the good folk through these times of injustice. Chas (Thomas) also frequently commented that in these times all one could do is to circle the wagons and hold close to those you hold dear. Chas and I sat down in the Broken Arrow Indie Studio in 2009 and wrote the music and sculpted the rough Cheri lyrics to conform to the meter of the composition. Below the video are the lyrics and chords (which I transposed to A from D so as to be within my vocal range). You can find the studio version on the Out of Time album for a free listen in the "albums with chas thomas" link above right.
Blind Man’s Vision
Music and lyrics © Dalton Bentley & Chas Thomas 2009;
Lyrics from 2009 poem by Cherí Ann Bentley
Transposed to E 2012-07-15
Intro:
E D A E D A …
Verses I and II:
E D A
The deaf man hears the sunrise
E D A
The blind man sees the truth
E D A E D A
I wander through my life in search of you
E D A E D A
The challenge of survival makes me face simplicity
E D A
As the fear looms in the distance I wonder…
E D A
Are we losing the game?
Chorus/Refrain:
B
Thieves’ bloody corpses
Dbm A
They can’t fill that damned black hole
B Dbm A
People live on hope… while they put aside their dreams
B
Find life in each other…
Dbm A B
just walk away from all the fights…from all the fights
[Repeat Intro]
Verse III:
E D A
I find you in the mist
E D A
I leave the rest behind
E D A
I find my life renewed again each day
Repeat Chorus
Music and lyrics © Dalton Bentley & Chas Thomas 2009;
Lyrics from 2009 poem by Cherí Ann Bentley
Transposed to E 2012-07-15
Intro:
E D A E D A …
Verses I and II:
E D A
The deaf man hears the sunrise
E D A
The blind man sees the truth
E D A E D A
I wander through my life in search of you
E D A E D A
The challenge of survival makes me face simplicity
E D A
As the fear looms in the distance I wonder…
E D A
Are we losing the game?
Chorus/Refrain:
B
Thieves’ bloody corpses
Dbm A
They can’t fill that damned black hole
B Dbm A
People live on hope… while they put aside their dreams
B
Find life in each other…
Dbm A B
just walk away from all the fights…from all the fights
[Repeat Intro]
Verse III:
E D A
I find you in the mist
E D A
I leave the rest behind
E D A
I find my life renewed again each day
Repeat Chorus