From the recording Passion Play
Winds of Change hits me as something Steely Dan might have done had they gone the spiritual route. A cool mid-tempo groove with some interesting chord changes based on F minor. For several years this song was just music and a title until last year (2004) when a book I'd been reading, "Buddhism Without Beliefs" helped to shed some light on the subject of living in the moment, which is something that doesn't always come easily to me.
Lyrics
Winds Of Change
I’m riding on the winds of change
where nothing ever stays the same
an endless grand parade of trading places
as mountains someday seas become
as planets crash back into suns
I too shall die
so, laugh or cry,
I live with knowing all we have is Now
I’m riding on the winds
the winds of change
riding, riding on the winds
the winds of change
I’m living in an angry world
dancing with a royal girl
there’s no one who could match the Queen who crowns me
am I supposed to be ok
with knowing there will come a day
she goes away
this all goes away…
tell me brother,
would that work for you?
I’m riding on the winds
the winds of change
riding, riding on the winds
where nothing stays the same
we change, we change, we change…
be still…
if your birth doesn’t show you your death will
your gift is this moment waiting for you
listen, boy, for your sadness
it’s part of your joy
and it’s all the same, anyway
riding, riding…
we’re riding on the winds of change
where nothing of itself remains
so desperately we cling to our forevers
but only through the day-by-day
we know that nothing’s here to stay
there’s no clinging to
this passion play
just breathing out and breathing in again…
we’re riding on the winds
the winds of change
riding, riding on the winds
and nothing stays the same
we change, we change, we change
nothing stays
no nothing stays
nothing stays the same
we change, we change, we change
21 March 2004 Music & Lyrics by George Wallace © 2005 Celestial Songs (ASCAP)