Text and Music: PINKZEBRA

Pinkzebra is the pseudonym of a music producer and composer known for his uplifting and inspiring songs that have been performed by choirs around the world. His song “I See Colors” is about the vivid and colorful imprints our favorite memories leave in our minds.

What do you see when you look around? 

Are you looking for memories lost and found? 

What do you see when you close your eyes, 

and remember the best days of our lives? 

I see colors. 

I see colors everywhere.

Taking the pictures in my mind, 

so there’s never a moment left behind. 

Singing a song along the way.

Making the most of every day. 

And I’ll see colors. 

I’ll see colors everywhere.

Chasing the rainbows through the clouds, 

streaming their colors all around. 

Follow your heart where it will lead, 

giving you always what you need. 

Stand in the moment where you are, 

wishing upon a shooting star!

Changing the world now day by day. 

We’re looking to find a better way. 

There’s gotta be more than we can see. 

It’s gonna be up to you and me. 

And we’ll see colors. 

We’ll see colors everywhere. 

Text: from “The Human Touch” by Spencer Michael Free | Music: Marques L. A. Garrett (ASCAP)

The text for this song comes from the poem “The Human Touch” by Spencer Michael Free, a poet who graduated from Johns Hopkins and later on became a physician and surgeon. He had a passion for arts and letters that led him to write hundreds of medical papers in addition to poems. One of his life’s desires was to enlist in the army to protect our country abroad. Because he never did, he instead wrote poetry to give people a sense of hope. “The Human Touch” was published in 1925, shortly after World War I ended. Marques L. A. Garrett who set this poem to music is an active conductor, composer, vocalist, clinician, and educator. He currently serves as an Associate Professor of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas.

Your hand and mine.  
’Tis the human touch
in this world that counts,
The touch of your hand and mine,
Which means far more
to the fainting heart
Than shelter and bread and wine.
For shelter is gone
when the night is o’er,
And bread lasts only a day.
But the touch of the hand
And the sound of the voice
Sing on in the soul always.

Text and Music: John Lennon and Paul McCartney; arr. Bob Chilcott; ad. Jacob Narverud

One of the most covered songs in the history of music, “Yesterday” was originally recorded by the Beatles for the album Help!. With multiple interpretations and arrangements since the original string quartet & guitar recording, this choral version was created by British composer, conductor and singer Bob Chilcott for the King’s Singers. This arrangement by Chilcott was then adapted for mixed choir by American choral composer and arranger Jacob Narverud.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they're here to stay,
oh I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,
there's a shadow hanging over me,
oh yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go  
I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
oh I believe in yesterday.

Why she had to go 
I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
oh I believe in yesterday.

Text and Music: Joni Mitchell; arr. Vince Peterson 

Tenor soli (in order of appearance): Mark Fisher, Liz Rivera, Paul Stubbs

Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell wrote the song “Both Sides Now” in 1967 after reading the book “Henderson the Rain King” by Saul Bellow on an airplane while looking at clouds. Mitchell recorded the song in 1969, only after Judy Collins released her version the previous year. In 2000, Mitchell re-recorded the work with a lush orchestra arrangement by Vince Mendoza. This choral arrangement was written by award-winning New York City-based choral conductor, composer, and arranger Vince Peterson as a commission by the multi-Grammy® award-winning ensemble, Chanticleer.

Rows and flows of angel hair
and ice cream castles in the air
and feather canyons everywhere.
I've looked at clouds that way.

But now they only block the sun.
They rain and they snow on everyone.
So many things I would have done
but clouds got in my way.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
from up and down, and still somehow
it's cloud illusions, I recall.
I really don't know clouds at all.

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels,
the dizzy dancing way that you feel.
as every fairy tale comes real,
I've looked at love that way.

But now, it's just another show.
You leave 'em laughing when you go.
And if you care, don't let them know.
Don't give yourself away.

I've looked at love from both sides now,
from give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall.
I really don't know love at all.

Tears and fears and feeling proud,
to say "I love you" right out loud,
dreams and schemes and circus crowds,
I've looked at life that way.

But now, old friends, are acting strange.
They shake their heads, they say I've changed,
something's lost and something's gained
in living ev’ry day.

I've looked at life from both sides now,
from win and lose and still somehow
it's life's illusions, I recall.
I really don't know life at all. 

Text and Music: Jennifer Lucy Cook

“Time, like money or borders between one country and another, is one of those funny human-made concepts that dictate our lives but are fundamentally meaningless if we didn’t all agree to go along with it. And yet, we experience aging, the changing of seasons, and growth, undeniably. The line between time’s reality and its invention is blurry, and there was no better way I could think of to depict that than by writing a repeating lyric that erodes as the piece unfolds. As lyrics disappear, phrases take on new meaning, like the way a 30th birthday differs from a fifth birthday, or how old memories can appear sharper than yesterday’s. We lose time when we try to keep it, we spend time as we try to save it – and since it insists upon eluding us, we can only notice the fact that time has been winking at us all along. This wit, this relentlessness, and this freedom is the spirit behind Time, and this piece is my way of winking back.”
— Jennifer Lucy Cook

Time
You can spend iit
When you spend it
Then you’re running out of 
Time
You can save it
But to save it is to take a little
Time 
In a minute
When you’re in it
Can you feel the passing 
Time
Is an illusion
There’s confusion
When  they tell you now it’s 
Time 
To get older
Time 
To work and
Time to waste and there’s no
Time
Left to hold her
Time 
To tell him 
How you feel
While there’s still
Time
Three two one, eleven thirty
Two AM, then dinner
Time
Now to kill
I said I will, and still
It flies and flies, oh
Time