THE GREAT MANDALA - Peter Yarrow & Richie Havens

THE GREAT MANDALA (The Wheel of Life) - Peter Yarrow

So I told him that he'd better shut his mouth
And do his job like a man.
And he answered "Listen, Father,
I will never kill another."
He thinks he's better
than his brother that died
What the hell does he think he's doing
To his father who brought him up right?

Chorus:
Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you're only losing your life.

Tell the jailer not to bother
With his meal of bread and water today.
He is fasting 'til the killing's over
He's a martyr, he thinks he's a prophet.
But he's a coward, he's just playing a game
He can't do it, he can't change it
It's been going on for ten thousand years

(Chorus)

Tell the people they are safe now
Hunger stopped him, he lies still in his cell.
Death has gagged his accusations

We are free now, we can kill now,
We can hate now, now we can end the world
We're not guilty, he was crazy
And it's been going on for ten thousand years!

Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you've only wasted your life.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• folk music
• acoustic

[puckdiv]

Probably one of the best "covers" of this song ever performed.....PP&M's was amazing...but Ritchie Havens has an amazing voice....!

[LowellV100]

@Scottwilkie18 Wonder if you might write back if found. I haven't had much luck getting a copy.

[allenshepard]

@LowellV100 and fred hellerman!

[tatootim]

@LowellV100 not sure if anyone got back to you, but the album is lifelines by Peter, Paul and Mary. It was a concert they did with other great folk artists as well. Odetta, Ritchie Havens, Ronnie Gilbert. Really great stuff.

[stcrzyaatyrs]

As Dyer says, we have 2 choices in life, LOVE OR FEAR! All we do will revolve around these 2 emotional actions.True words of wisdom---"Dr. Wayne W. Dyer Anything that is love cannot be fear, and anything that is fear cannot be love. If we can find our way to stay in a space of love, then fear is an impossibility. " Always choose LOVE, with all the incredible beauty that goes with it! . The human ego is our great barrier to waking up!

[themaka1977]

Woooow... goosebumps all over... it's even better than the original.... and that loooot to much! Really appreciate this cover, big thanks!

[jeffreydebra1]

I really like this song, very powerful, thanks for sharing!!

[allenshepard]

Great concert

[iguanadans]

Such a beautiful and haunting song. It gives me goosebumps everytime I hear it.

[weedouthate]

Weed Out Hate is an inititative that can give peace a chance by asking each of us to take responsibiliity to symbolically remove our inner weeds, so that that humandkind can begin to perceive the possibilities of the future. The moral dilemmas that peace activists of the 60s faced, begin to resolve themselves once you begin to implode the desire to hate others into the noble intention of symbolically rooting out hatred itself.

[weedouthate]

The Weed Out Hate is an inititative that can give peace a chance by asking each of us to take responsibiliity to symbolically remove our inner weeds, so that that humandkind can begin to perceive the possibilities of the future. The moral dilemmas that peace activists of the 60s faced, begin to resolve themselves once you begin to implode the desire to hate others into the noble intention of symbolically rooting out hatred itself.

[nutleyguitar1968]

This song gives me chills......Greatly written by Yarrow, and Richie Havens feels this song perfectly.