Hack CD Lyrics and Information

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Produced by Chris Moore

Engineered by Arnie van Bussell

Recorded at Nightshift Studios Christchurch New Zealand

All songs written by Chris Moore

except Higher Trails by John Hanlon

Chris Moore; vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, rhythm programming, percussion

Arnie van Bussell; engineer, guitar, bass, backing vocals, computer programming, percussion,

Dean Hetherington; lead guitar

James Daniels; backing vocals

Larry Tanchek; trumpet

Todd Jones; bass guitar

Tony Wassell; harmonica

Graeme Conmee; keyboards

Simon Bird; backing vocals

Rosalita Moore; vocals,

Whitney Moore; vocals

Phillip van Bussell; vocals

Kylie van Bussell; percussion

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THE RETURN OF THE MOA / WILD ROSES - We turned up at the historic Bealey Hotel, just after Paddy, Rochelle & Sam saw the supposedly extinct Moa. Paddy would not tell us what they had seen, but they seemed clearly affected by something & did not seem sneaky. We live on a beautiful island with incredible wild scenery, yet people would sacrifice this beauty for money to buy happiness. Anyone can receive real energy by just admiring natural beauty, but no one can find true happiness in material possessions. Let’s Go Wild.

I'd like to take you out to the big smoke but I'm totally broke and it's been getting me down'cause I'd like to get you something so you'd know but lately I've been on the bones of my asking I'm trying get the car started and she's picking the flowers beside the road saying if we had all could we still go out where the wild roses grow out where wild Rivers flow out in the wild just down the road Got to go I'd like to go all around the world with you show you everything and see if it's true I'd like to get you something anything that you could choose I wonder how we're ever gonna make it and you lean against my shoulder and say if we had it all could we still go if we had it all could we possibly know we've got it all oh my friend I will love you till the end out where the wild roses grow out where the wild the rivers flow out in the wild just down the road south where the pylon towers go down with the sky touches the snow mountains so high valleys so low I will be there we'll go flying I will take you back to the wild I will be there got to go got to go

HIGHER TRAILS WRITTEN BY JOHN HANLON - This song sends shivers as the anthem of my youth. We did a lot of mountain climbing and ski-ing & this song captures that image of New Zealand. John Hanlon is a Hero. His "Damn the Dam" song did so well that the NZ Government had to stop the raising of one of our most beautiful lakes to make power for the Comalco aluminum smelter. Higher Trails was the theme song for the movie "Off The Edge", where two guys hang-glide off Aoraki (Mt Cook).

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INTENSITY - Written in Japan. On the island of Greenstone, which is half as big as Japan, there are only 800,000 people. Osaka is a city of business & I longed for a day's ski-ing. Cities are places of convenience. People can switch off the night, & shut out nature, but they cannot shut down the restless earth.

Send in the wind from heaven storm the walls put up in fear and blow away this heavy mist I'm in I need to breathe so clear the air Send in the rain like the tears of Jesus let it cool this heart of stone and wash clean all the thoughts that built this place of concrete skin and steel bone

Living in this intense city day after day just another concentrated people's space got to leave this intensity got to escape 'cause the people here know no other way

Send in the saints send in the angels if there's a spirit let it be found 'cause at this moment we're in mortal danger he might raze this place to the ground Living in this intense city day after day just another concentrated people's space got to leave this intensity got to escape 'cause the people here know no other way

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY / LOST PARADISE - For years we have sold basic products like timber, meat & coal to countries who have added value by making sophisticated products like cars, TV’s & stereo’s. Now many of those countries are polluted & people want to escape to Greenstone Island. A house in Osaka buys a farm in N.Z. The Treacherous Treasury thought they could run the country on investment & immigration. The dollar shot up, crippling the EXPORTERS & the Tourist business dried up. The Treasury, ignorant of creativity, don’t realize we can EXPORT NZ quality because the energy is in the goods

This is my beautiful country for this I would give my life this is my beautiful land you can lease it but don't sell it one day this will be the lost paradise

THE ILMENITE SONG - written with Dan Crone a few days before the avalanche took his life. Barrytown is a very beautiful place on the west coast. The rugged peaks give way to a strip of flat land by the wild Tasman sea. Everything is green. It’s a lot to ask to expect to live in the most beautiful part of the island & have a good job as well. Many people in the cities have little regard for the impact of their desires upon the land & small communities.

HACK - Hacky Sack the game where people try to keep the small sack of rice in the air without using their hands or lower arms. This sport is a better metaphor for life than competitive sport; no one wins unless everybody touches the ball, before it hits the ground. The victory cry is "HACK". The competent players still show their stuff but their efforts are useless if the inexperienced players are not helped. An active, meditative game for common unity. Three rules; no hands, serve somebody else, never say sorry.

THE GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT TREE SONG - this contentious issue on the island of Greenstone has divided communities. Some people see trees as money, but more people have become aware of the free energy available from old living trees. We EXPORT wood too cheaply, N.Z. wood direct from Gondwanaland. Planted & grown for 12 generations. Incredible energy or incredibly expensive.

PEANUTS FOR MONKEYS - The well-paid idiots in the treacherous treasury would like the rest of us to be cheap labour while the Business Roundtable & their C.E.O.s retain enormous wealth. If my income is static, that keeps growth below 3% enabling big companies to loan money at lower interest rates. If I am too cheap people are happy but my equipment gets run down & I cannot work to the same standard. If I am too expensive, some cheap fool will get the job. I have made a musical living for 20 years & helped bring up a family.

THE PRIVILEGE OF LIVING WITH THE POOR - the Government had a theory called the "trickle down effect". Promoted by the Roundtable who between them control most of the wealth, the Government was to free up taxes on big business, who would then employ lots more people, and wealth would be distributed through communities. How could it hurt for wealthy people to pay a bit more tax. Why not change the rules on big companies, who are fortunate to be operating on these beautiful islands. Only EXPORTERS deserve tax breaks. Bridge the widening gap between rich & poor knowing that the money, as always, will "trickle up".

but that money bitch just hangs out with the rich 'cause that's the privilege of living with the poor And we've got to get that old deficit down think about our children many years from now or is it a conspiracy of power 'cause no one knows what goes on behind closed doors

WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID - written for Christiana. The people on the island of Greenstone sometimes get pissed and yell abuse at their entertainer, and an entertainer develops a smart mouth. Its all part of the fun but the poor heckler may not realize what they’re in for. I had just written this & was sitting outside the Ohau lodge playing this to Christiana when the helicopter came over & the police car came around the corner, lights flashing. The office was a whirl of concern. Avalanche!

BETWEEN US HEAVENS SONG - All advertising is just protest, PRO you TESTing the product. The Roundtable and the Treasury managed to convince the Government to sell our dams to their companies & that instead of us getting the profit we had to pay for the dams again in our power bills. By advertising products on TV the big companies paid the wages of the media. The media was soft on them & helped promote their imagery. These people will criticize protesters as "too passionate" while their commercials passionately CONvince you to buy. ONLY LOVE CAN PASS THE TEST

I heated my water up with my little fire then I saw the smoke rising up in the sky I thought about the lakes and I thought about the dams and I looked at all the bills I've got my hands Its only love that could pass the test its only love they haven't got to us yet

I look at my family I look at my life and I really want to get a lot closer to my wife now it seems I made it up to the shelf guess I'll have to take a good look at myself Its only love that could pass the test its only love they haven't got to us yet Between us heavens song goes on and on and on

THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS - Give em hope. The way co-incidences happen, the way the world reflects whatever expectations we have, and the knowing that we continue to have wide ranging effects on our communities, country & world even from the remotest place like Greenstone island. Just a few people at first, then a seemingly endless slow increase until the critical mass is reached & at last a SNOWBALL which changes the world.

OHAU I WANT TO GO HOME - written for the staff of 85 & their replacements. It was going to be a tough song about small valley fever, but I sat on the hill & nothing came to mind. The sun was setting under an arch of cloud and water was being whipped up from the lake in rainbows. The colours were incredibly vibrant. Ohau is a truly KIWI lodge and the field is rarely crowded. Some extreme slopes an awe-inspiring view and a friendly lodge down by the lake. Miracles, Spirit & Peace are waiting.

RISE AGAIN - written for Colleen walking down the road where years later, after the final HACK recording session, I saw the FULL MOON RAINBOW. Barry Crump said "that’s your best song boy, people are burning up, they need to be cooled down". Crumpy told me about the Bahai faith, about detachment, joy unconditional love & the need to "quicken things up a bit". Later I found a book that said Elijah & Isaiah were John & Jesus were the Bab & the Bahai again & again.

ONE TWO FREE FOR ALL - we work things out through work. It is our path to freedom & , like everything in life, it is only our attitude that makes work hard. If we work just for money we become greedy, & admiring only the rich, we become hardened & cynical. An old busker told me that every time he performed thinking only of the money, he would give a bad show, whereas the shows he put love out, were the shows he loved. By enjoying himself he had more money.

No one ever told me and I could never see so I worked for the money and in turned into greed One head two hands free life for man