Tag Archives: Immigrants

Peace Is Where You Make It

I wrote this one on the occasion of my parents’ 75th birthdays. That was a long time ago, and they’re gone, but the song still works.

K & A Bergel's Schweitzer BookPeace Is Where You Make It

 Copyright Peter Bergel 2015

From the album “Peace Is Where You Make It

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see a video of Peter Bergel singing this song by himself.

Click here to see Peter Bergel leading a participating audience in singing this song.

G                                                                 C                                     G
My parents were not born here, they came from across the sea
C                                 G                                      D
It wasn’t what they planned on, it was the Nazi tyranny
G                                               G7               C                               G
They lost some of the their loved ones when they had to flee
C                     E                  A                             D           G
But while I was a-growin’ up, here’s what they said to me:

Chorus

G                                      E                           A      D                     G
Be as kind as you can manage as you travel through this life
G                         E                            A                                      D
Your family is larger than your husband kids and your wife
G                                                G7
You can praise the Lord without an exhibition
C                                                  C7
We don’t carry guns so don’t pass no ammunition
G                                          E                             A            D          G
And peace is where you make it ‘mid the struggle and the strife.

 

Times were hard for refugees, my folks were mighty poor
But in spite of that they had a son in 1944.
When I was five we all took off one bright hot summer day
We drove just about a thousand miles to hear Albert Schweitzer say:

Chorus

They were always teachers that’s what they love to do
And I wouldn’t have wanted to be the one to try to tell them they were through
How to conjugate a verb, when the Punic Wars were fought…
But right along with all of that, here’s what their students were taught:

Chorus

Now they’re getting older with mighty few regrets
But they’ve still got a lot to do and they aren’t stopping yet
I hope that I’ll be just the same if I make seventy-five
But meanwhile here’s a thought we all can use to help us to survive:

Chorus, repeat last line

Peter Bergel – Solo version