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.

Peace 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

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