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Mark Shepard Sings

A Life In Song: 4 Decades of Original Music

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163 Rise Up And Dance

January 16, 2015 · Empowerment Songs, Life In Song 1990's, Love Songs, Songs of Transformation, Spiritual Songs

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About this song:
This is one of my most popular songs. It has high energy. A cool guitar solo, a catchy refrain and honest, authentic DEPTH. It basically records the moment of my own transformational journey’s beginning. “Thoughts are things, like falcon’s wings! BELIEVE in them.”

Rise Up and Dance Home Page

Rise Up and Dance

 Song # 163   |   4/13/1991 |   CD: Visions and Voices

Refrain:
Rise up and dance to the light in your lover’s eyes

I have been walking down streets of impossibilities
For so long that I forgot just why I came
I have seen visions I have heard voices
I have done my time in prisons that do not have bars or walls or chains
I have crossed rivers, I have climbed mountains
I have burned my face in deserts where the sun knew me by my name
I have heard music that was drifting on spring breezes
10,000 years ago and I have never been the same

Refrain:

You have been created not by God but by your self
To live the dream that you have chosen to call reality
You might be surprised to find that we are all just actors
We write all our own lines and choose to be or not to be

Refrain:

Tie your shoes tightly and then stretch out your thoughts
Remember thoughts are things like falcon’s wings believe in them
Leave all your doubts behind you, burn all your bridges
I said burn them, burn them, burn them!

Refrain

Tuning: DADGAD

© Mark Shepard 1993, 1998, 2007, All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Empowerment Songs, Life In Song 1990's, Love Songs, Songs of Transformation, Spiritual Songs

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Some reviews & testimonials

You write some great songs!

Hi Mark, You write some great songs! I really enjoyed listening to all of them on Spark and Flame. Thank you for all that you do. Keep up the good work! All the best.

Susan

Enjoying your songs so much…

Hello Mark. I am enjoying your songs so much! I’d love to see you play live somewhere.

Marianne

Total awesomeness!!!

‘Let’s Run’ is MY FAVORITE so far.. I LOVE THIS ONE.. great job.. total awesomeness!!! I thank Jana Stanfield for introducing me to your gifts. I am grateful.

Merril

Just awesome…

Your music is taking over my life and it’s awesome!

Eric

Brilliant!

Brilliant! I LOVE seeing the words to all these beloved songs, thanks!

Mary F.

I loved the song and listened to it 3 times….

Hi Mark, I just had to tell you this. I emailed my 3 granddaughters the song you wrote who are sisters with the youngest being 11 years old, has cerebral palsy and is very smart, is able to talk, very funny, uses a computer, is able to write, now is learning to play drums, emails me ‘Thanks. I do.’ I loved the song and listened to it 3 times.

Gail Russ

Love the “Key To Your Cage” album…

Love the “Key To Your Cage” album. I hear so many different influences and styles woven throughout the songs, really keeps it interesting from start to finish!

Dan Z

Your song was just perfect to start my day…

Mark, your song ‘Freedom (It’s Been  Long Road)’ was just perfect to start my day. I LOVE IT!  Thank you, Thank you.  Blessings to you and much gratitude for your musical gift.

Judy

You have put a grown man in tears…

Mark, this song and message really hit home for me today. You have put a grown man in tears. Thank You for what you do. Sometimes I think you sound kind of cheesy, and then others, I think you are a genius, and I’m beginning to realize that you actually care about helping people. So hard to “get out of your own way” sometimes…thanks for the reminder.

Jeremy

Love your lyrics!

Love your music! Love your lyrics!

Robin Bridgeford

They love (your song) and ask to listen to it, ALWAYS.

My name is Cecile. I teach kindergarten at OMSD. I had the pleasure of using your song Together We Can Change The World to help my students make a difference in this wonderful world! They love it and ask to listen to it, ALWAYS.

Cecile Arvizo

Your lyrics embody everything we hold sacred…

Your lyrics embody everything we hold sacred and dear as a faith community.

Gina Sullivan, Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph

Never fails to move me…

Your incredible music never fails to move me. Thank you, Mark.

Paula

I Love listening to all your songs…

Mark, you really are an amazing songwriter! I Love listening to all your songs and sitting in the creative aura they create!

Cheri

Been singing the chorus since the first day I heard it…

I sh*t you not when I say I’ve been singing the chorus to Honest Rock since the first day I heard it. I sing this every single day. Many times a day. Seriously. It’s like a mantra to me. It soothes me:-)

Gene Moore

For me these songs are transformational lessons in self-love…

Dear Mark, THANK YOU for sending *Spark & Flame*!!!! This CD certainly is a compilation of Conscious Love Songs! As I listen I am transported to memory after memory past, present and future, fulfilled and unfulfilled. I was flooded with many different emotions. I cried, laughed, held my breath and also breathed deep heart-centered breaths of connection to the Divine. I feel joy, grief, sadness, compassion, love, awe, freedom, kindness, gratitude and appreciation. For me these songs are transformational lessons in self-love, releasing, acceptance for what was, what is and who I am. Knowing that I am enough and that I am Divinely Loved.

J

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