One of the first songs I ever wrote, back when I was 16 in the summer of ’63. I was at the beach in Goldensbridge watching two of my favorite kids, Jeremy Schneider and Diane Brown, playing in the sand and this song happened. It reflects the social protest sentiments of the time, the music I was brought up listening to, but it’s had enough appeal to last over the years. People responded well when I performed it and that, more than anything else, gave me the confidence to continue on writing. The song is played on a 12-string channeling the style of Pete Seeger, the slight accelerando at the end mimicking Seeger’s playing on The Bells of Rhymney.
Lyrics
Little Boy, Little Girl
Little boy, little girl
Building castles in the sand
Little boy, little girl
Proud of the power of your hands
Beneath the seagulls’ scattered cries you stand and watch the water’s rise
The sea again with threatening haste comes back to claim its sandy waste
But in your heart no hope has died you know you can hold back the tide
Little boy, little girl
You will succeed you cannot fail
Little boy, little girl
Playing with your bright balloons
Little boy, little girl
Faces beaming beneath the moon
Balloon, oh fly a way up high, help brighten up a dreary sky
Though you be lost to evening’s gray by clouds that threaten to hide the day
The morning sun will sweep the skies and you’ll be there to see it rise
Little boy, little girl
There’s no cloud of doubt in your eyes
Little boy, little girl
Playing with your toys of war
Little boy, little girl
Come walk with me beside the shore
While the water sweetly runs, lay down here your bombs and guns
Wash your hands and cleanse your soul, do not let your youth grow old
Hand in hand you’re on your own, hand in hand you’re never alone
Little boy, little girl
Come build a world you’ve never been shown.