Amazing lyrics that may never be matched

[lebouche]

All of Astral weeks...

" And I shall drive my chariot
Down your streets and cry
hey, its me, Im dynamite
And I dont know why"
.....thats the whole feel of the album, completely inspired

[lebouche]

Please delete this thread I am a moron...
Ref Favorite lyrics thread.

[Aardvark]

As always...I stand by this as the living, breathing definition of poetic fucking genius. Music or no music this is the muse of the gods...add the music and we are thermofuckin'nuclear.



The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me

You can hide 'neath your covers
And study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers
Throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a savior to rise from these streets
Well now I'm no hero
That's understood
All the redemption I can offer, girl
Is beneath this dirty hood
With a chance to make it good somehow
Hey what else can we do now
Except roll down the window
And let the wind blow back your hair
Well the night's busting open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back
Heaven's waiting on down the tracks
Oh oh come take my hand
Riding out tonight to case the promised land
Oh oh Thunder Road, oh Thunder Road
oh Thunder Road
Lying out there like a killer in the sun
Hey I know it's late we can make it if we run
Oh Thunder Road, sit tight take hold
Thunder Road

Well I got this guitar
And I learned how to make it talk
And my car's out back
If you're ready to take that long walk
>From your front porch to my front seat
The door's open but the ride it ain't free
And I know you're lonely
For words that I ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free
All the promises'll be broken
There were ghosts in the eyes
Of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets

They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
You hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers
And I'm pulling out of here to win.



It gets no better than this. Anywhere. Anytime. Any song.

[blackieC]

Maybe not as poetic, but a close second as an assumed sequal,

I come from down in the valley
where mister when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
when she was just seventeen
We'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride

Then I got Mary pregnant
and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don't remember
Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse
that sends me down to the river
though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
my baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride




Blackie

[mousdrvr]

I think you may be right. I was on the verge of posting several examples, form Joni, Lyle, and Declan, but naked on the page without the compelling melody and vocal delivery, they all paled in comparison. I'll keep trying but Bruce may well be the top of the heap.

Weren't ya supposed to END the thread with that one?:lol:
I mean just where DO you go from there?

[Aardvark]

Maybe not as poetic, but a close second as an assumed sequal,

*The River*



Spot on. Dead spot on.

Some day I will tell you about that song and we will play it.




Cheers,
Aardvark

[PRobb]

Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy's cover of "Thunder Road" is one the best covers ever. Takes a great song to an entirely new place. I think Bruce is underrated as a pure songwriter. And I'm with Blackie, "The River" is the one that makes the hair on my arms stand up.

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse
that sends me down to the river
though I know the river is dry

[blackieC]

Aardy, I'm looking forward to it.

I just pulled out my second favorite acoustic and "The River" songbook my mom bought me when I was thirteen, even though I need to be practicing bass right now.

If I run into a wall of suck on saturday crunch, can I blame it on Aardy?

PRob, that was the verse that killed me when I was thirteen and haunts me to this day.



By God, I love this place.

[jerryskid]

Oh yeah...BRUUUUUUUUCEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!


Thunder Road was one of the reasons I learned guitar.....I've been covering it for years........

another great one from "The River"


Point Blank

Do you still say your prayers little darlin' do you go to bed at night
Prayin' that tomorrow, everything will be alright
But tomorrow's fall in number in number one by one
You wake up and you're dying you don't even know what from

Well they shot you point blank you been shot in the back
Baby point blank you been fooled this time little girl that's a fact
Right between the eyes baby, point blank right between the pretty lies that they tell
Little girl you fell

You grew up where young girls they grow up fast
You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked
but what they asked baby wasn't right
you didn't have to live that life,
I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet
These days you don't wait on Romeo's you wait on that welfare check
and on all the pretty things that you can't ever have and on all the promises

That always end up point blank, shot between the eyes
Point blank like little white lies you tell to ease the pain
You're walkin' in the sights, girl of point blank
and it's one false move and baby the lights go out

Once I dreamed we were together again baby you and me
Back home in those old clubs the way we used to be
We were standin' at the bar it was hard to hear
The band was playin' loud and you were shoutin' somethin' in my ear
You pulled my jacket off and as the drummer counted four
You grabbed my hand and pulled me out on the floor
You just stood there and held me, then you started dancin' slow
And as I pulled you tighter I swore I'd never let you go

Well I saw you last night down on the avenue
Your face was in the shadows but I knew that it was you
You were standin' in the doorway out of the rain
You didn't answer when I called out your name
You just turned, and then you looked away like just another stranger waitin' to get blown away

Point blank, right between the eyes
Point blank, right between the pretty lies you fell
Point blank, shot straight through the heart,
Yea point blank, you've been twisted up till you've become just another part of it
Point blank, you're walkin' in the sights,
Point blank, livin' one false move just one false move away
Point blank, they caught you in their sights
Point blank, did you forget how to love, girl, did you forget how to fight.
Point blank they must have shot you in the head
Cause point blank, bang bang baby you're dead.

[blackieC]

Just keep quoting "The River" while I play along.


Maybe tommorow we can move on to Nebraska.

[MudCat]

'Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse...'




damn, that's good.

[PRobb]

Underrated+Great=Richard Thompson

Pharaoh he sits in his tower of steel
The dogs of money all at his heel
Magicians cry, Oh Truth! Oh Real!
We're all working for the Pharaoh

A thousand eyes, a thousand ears
He feeds us all, he feeds our fears
Don't stir in your sleep tonight, my dears
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Egypt Land, Egypt Land
We're all living in Egypt land
Tell me, brother, don't you understand
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Hidden from the eye of chance
The men of shadow dance a dance
And we're all struck into a trance
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Idols rise into the sky
Pyramids soar, Sphinxes lie
Head of dog, Osiris eye
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Chorus

I dig a ditch, I shape a stone
Another battlement for his throne
Another day on earth is flown
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Call it England, call it Spain
Egypt rules with the whip and chain
Moses free my people again!
We're all working for the Pharaoh

Chorus

Pharaoh he sits in his tower of steel
Around his feet the princes kneel
Far beneath we shoulder the wheel
We're all working for the Pharaoh

[mousdrvr]

"Wish You Were Here"


So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

[lebouche]

Actally Mous that tune is so cool and the melody so strong that I have always taken the words for granted.
I've been to Dave Gilmours studio a couple o times....so cool its on this beautiful old barge that was owned by Charlie Chaplins manager.

Which Joni song would you chose...I'd go with something off Ladies of the Canyon or perhaps Blue " I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be
Oh I hate you some, I hate you some
I love you some
Oh I love you when I forget about me
I want to be strong I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the living
Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive
I want to wreck my stockings in some juke box dive
Do you want - do you want - do you want
To dance with me baby
Do you want to take a chance
On maybe finding some sweet romance with me baby
Well, come on

All I really really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you too
All I really really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you
I want to talk to you, I want to shampoo you
I want to renew you again and again
Applause, applause - life is our cause
When I think of your kisses
My mind see-saws
Do you see - do you see - do you see
How you hurt me baby
So I hurt you too
Then we both get so blue

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Looking for the key to set me free
Oh the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling
Its the unraveling
And it undoes all the joy that could be
I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun
I want to be the one that you want to see
I want to knit you a sweater
Want to write you a love letter
I want to make you feel better
I want to make you feel free
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm,
Want to make you feel free
I want to make you feel free"

I think I'm going to have to expand my Springstein collections well.

[Aardvark]

*confession*

By ‘79, I was an official tramp. My fellow tramps know of what I speak. Wherever Bruce was playing tickets were purchased, travel arrangements were made and pilgrimage was realised.

When Bruce played the Forum...THE Montreal Forum, I managed to use my university press pass to get backstage in the middle afternoon and meet the tech crew and eventually Bruce for the first time.

That night I had free run of the front of the stage as well as being allowed to shoot as much film as I could. It was my first show being so close to the band and it was nuts.

Like any true tramp, I knew every song...or so I thought.

That night he debuted "Point Blank", "Independence Day" and "The River" (as well as a few others). I can still hear and see every moment of him singing that song and had you shot me dead the next day I would have died a happy man. It would be two more years for the "The River" to be released and I swear I counted each day in anticipation.


....shift forward one year...


I was In Toronto where my GF was going to Law school (in a strange twist of fate it is her birthday today) and we ventured down to a very ornate old theater that was showing the new "Musicians for Safe Energy" movie.

The movie featured a number of fine artists who were all listed at the top of the film. When they rolled Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band the place went berserk...it was filled with tramps.

When Bruce finally appeared on the screen, the crowd in the theater sang "Thunder Road" along with him...every single line... and when he played "The River”, it was as if God was saying Mass at the Vatican.


This was a frikken movie.


The song hadn't been even released yet.


Spinefuckingtingling.


If you saw Bruce on the '79 tour, you know the dictionary definition of Rock'n'Roll genius.




Cheers,
Aardvark

[jerryskid]

Which Joni song would you choose


How about this one:


No regrets Coyote
We just come from such different sets of circumstance
I'm up all night in the studios
And you're up early on your ranch
You'll be brushing out a brood mare's tail
While the sun is ascending
And I'll just be getting home with my reel to reel...
There's no comprehending
Just how close to the bone and the skin and the eyes
And the lips you can get
And still feel so alone
And still feel related
Like stations in some relay
You're not a hit and run driver, no, no
Racing away
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway

We saw a farmhouse burning down
In the middle of nowhere
In the middle of the night
And we rolled right past that tragedy
Till we turned into some road house lights
Where a local band was playing
Locals were up kicking and shaking on the floor
And the next thing I know
That Coyote's at my door
He pins me in a corner and he won't take "No!"
He drags me out on the dance floor
And we're dancing close and slow
Now he's got a woman at home
He's got another woman down the hall
He seems to want me anyway
Why'd you have to get so drunk
And lead me on that way
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines of the freeway


I looked a Coyote right in the face
On the road to Baljennie near my old home town
He went running thru the whisker wheat
Chasing some prize down
And a hawk was playing with him
Coyote was jumping straight up and making passes
He had those same eyes - just like yours
Under your dark glasses
Privately probing the public rooms
And peeking thru keyholes in numbered doors
Where the players lick their wounds
And take their temporary lovers
And their pills and powders to get them thru this passion play

No regrets, Coyote
I just get off up aways
You just picked up a hitcher
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway

Coyote's in the coffee shop
He's staring a hole in his scrambled eggs
He picks up my scent on his fingers
While he's watching the waitresses' legs
He's too fat from the Bay of Fundy
From Appaloosas and Eagles and tides
And the air conditioned cubicles
And the carbon ribbon rides
Are spelling it out so clear
Either he's going to have to stand and fight
Or take off out of here
I tried to run away myself
To run away and wrestle with my ego
And with this flame
You put here in this Eskimo
In this hitcher
In this prisoner
Of the fine white lines
Of the white lines on the free, free way

[PRobb]

Here's another underrated songwriter. When we think of Chuck Berry we think of the guy who invented Rock 'n' Roll guitar. But how bout them songs? Recite these lyric and tell me you don't hear the guitar chugging in the rhythm of the words, especially the second verse.
I got on a city bus and found a vacant seat,
I thought I saw my future bride walking up the street,
I shouted to the driver hey conductor, you must slow down.
I think I see her please let me off this bus

Nadine, honey is that you?
Oh, nadine. honey, is that you?
Seems like every time I see you darling you got something else to do


I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back
And started walkin toward a coffee colored cadillac
I was pushin through the crowd to get to where shes at
Campaign shouting like a southern diplomat

Downtown searching for her, looking all around.
Saw her getting in a yellow cab heading up town.
I caught a loaded taxi, paid up everybodys tab.
With a twenty dollar bill, told him catch that yellow cab.

She move around like a wave of summer breeze,
Go, driver, go, go, catch her balmy breeze.
Moving thru the traffic like a mounted cavalier.
Leaning out the taxi window trying to make her hear

[bunnerabb]

"Sometimes I feel like I can't even sing, I'm very scared for this world, I'm very scared for me Here's a scene, You're in the back seat, laying down the windows wrap around, To sound of the travel and the engine, All you hear is time stand still in travel
And feel such peace and absolute tranqulity, The stars are the greatest thing you've ever seen, And they are there for you, For you alone you are the everything" REM

"In your eyes, the light the heat, I am complete, I see the doorways to a thousand churches, the resolution of all my fruitless searches, Oh, I see the light and the heat, oh I want to be that complete, I want to touch the light... the heat i see in your eyes" - Peter Gabriel

"Substitute you for my mum, at least I'll get my washing done" - Pete Townshend

"When you gonna make up your mind, when you gonna love you as much as I do, when you gonna make up your mind, cause things are gonna change, so fast" - Tori Amos

"I can tell by the look in your eyes, you've been crying forever, and the stars in the sky don't mean nothing to you, no more, they're a mirror" - Danny Whitten

[Fulcrum]

Underrated+Great=Richard Thompson

Amen.

Put It There, Pal

Old friend, it's been so long, and it's been so real
And if I helped you once it was no big deal
Too bad I can't be there when they call your name
They're going to write you down in the hall of fame
You really got what you wanted, I'm thrilled as pie
It really couldn't happen to a nicer guy

Put it there pal, put it there
Now and then just throw me a crumb
Put it there pal, put it there
Thanks for the help when I needed it, chum
You saw me drowning, you said I was a fake and laughed
Then you jumped right in and used me for a raft
You shot me down with friendly fire
You were all dressed up to play Gun For Hire
The rope you threw me was made of barbed wire
But put it there pal, put it there, pal
Put it there

I know you mean well, call me a sentimental fool
I know sometimes you've got to be kind to be cruel
When you pat me on the back, that was quite some slap
That kind of compliment, it could kill a chap
So I'll drink your health, oh this emotion's given me a thirst
But maybe I'll have my food-taster drink it first

Put it there pal, put it there
You deserve everything you got coming
Put it there pal, put it there
Call me up if you want to come slumming
Some say you're a rattlesnake in the grass
But I say the sun shines out of your arse
So it's no hard feelings, live and let live
With a gift like yours, you're born to give
You're so full of love it leaks out like a sieve
So put it there pal, put it there pal
Put it there
Put it there
Put it there
Put it there, pal
Put it there, pal
Put it there, pal

And his guitar solo at the end is note-fucking-perfect.

[lebouche]

Jerry thats quite a different one from Joni...I'll have to listen to The last waltz again.

On the Chuck lyrics I was a big fan growing up.
I've got this dirty live version of Reeling and a Rocking that he did..the crowd is going nuts. I cant find the lyrics online but heres a few lines from my memory.

"Looked at my watch it was quater to two she said she dont but I know she do.
looked at my watch it was a quater to four she made me turn it around and do it some more."

he does goes round the clock a few times.

"Looked at my watch it was quater to six...it took a little time but I finally got it fixed.

Looked at my watch it was quater to six I was standing there firm like a cement mix."
:lol: Thats my favorite line....genius!

I need to check out Richard Thompson....which album should I start with?

[bunnerabb]

It gets no better than this. Anywhere. Anytime. Any song.

Well.... um...


Well I woke up Sunday morning,
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes,
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
An' I shaved my face and combed my hair,
An' stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

I'd smoked my brain the night before,
On cigarettes and songs I'd been pickin'.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid,
Cussin' at a can that he was kicking.
Then I crossed the empty street,
'n caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin' chicken.
And it took me back to somethin',
That I'd lost somehow, somewhere along the way.

On the Sunday morning sidewalk,
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cos there's something in a Sunday,
Makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothin' short of dyin',
Half as lonesome as the sound,
On the sleepin' city sidewalks:
Sunday mornin' comin' down.

In the park I saw a daddy,
With a laughin' little girl who he was swingin'.
And I stopped beside a Sunday school,
And listened to the song they were singin'.
Then I headed back for home,
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringin'.
And it echoed through the canyons,
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday.

On the Sunday morning sidewalk,
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.
'Cos there's something in a Sunday,
Makes a body feel alone.
And there's nothin' short of dyin',
Half as lonesome as the sound,
On the sleepin' city sidewalks:
Sunday mornin' comin' down.

- Kris Kristofferson

[Fulcrum]

I've always been partial to this from Joni.

Amelia

I was driving across the burning desert when I spotted six jet planes
Leaving six white vapor trails across the bleak terrain
It was the hexagram of the heavens, it was the strings of my guitar
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

The drone of flying engines is a song so wild and blue
It scrambles time and seasons if it gets through to you
Then your life becomes a travelogue of picture postcard charms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

People will tell you where theyve gone, they'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise, others just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I wish that he was here tonight, it's so hard to obey
His sad request of me to kindly stay away
So this is how I hide the hurt as the road leads cursed and charmed
I tell Amelia, it was just a false alarm

A ghost of aviation, she was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly
Like Icarus ascending on beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

Maybe I've never really loved-- I guess that is the truth
I've spent my whole life in clouds at icy altitude
And looking down on everything I crashed into his arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

I pulled into the Cactus Tree Motel to shower off the dust
And I slept on the strange pillows of my wanderlust
I dreamed of 747s over geometric farms
Dreams, Amelia, dreams and false alarms

[jerryskid]

Well.... um...

Sunday mornin' comin' down.

- Kris Kristofferson




Oh Hell Yes, Bunner.....With Johnny singing it......

[PRobb]

Jerry thats quite a different one from Joni...I'll have to listen to The last waltz again.


The definitive version of Coyote is on the live "Shadows and Light". The band is awesome and features Jaco at his best. The Band (and I'm a HUGE Band fan) has trouble with the fact that it's really a jazz song.
And speaking of The Band

Standin by your window in pain, a pistol in your
Hand, and i beg you, dear molly, girl,
Try and understand your man the best you can.

Across the great divide, just grab your hat, and take that ride
Get yourself a bride, and bring your children down to the river side.

I had a goal in my younger days, i nearly wrote my will
But i changed my mind for the better, i'm at the still, had my fill and i'm fit to kill


Pinball machine, and a queen, i nearly took a bust
Tried to keep my hands to myself, ya say it's a must, but who can ya trust?
Harvest moon shinin' down from the sky, a weary sign for all
I'm gonna leave this one horse town, had t' stall till the fall, now i'm gonna crawl!

Now molly dear, don't ya shed a tear
Your time will surely come, you'll feed your man
Chicken ev'ry sunday, now tell me, hon, what-cha done with the gun

Across the great divide, just grab your hat, and take that ride
Get yourself a bride, and bring your children down to the river side.

[orbb]

The Litebrite's now black and white
'Cos you took apart a picture that wasn't right
Pitch burning on a shining sheet
The only maker that you'd want to meet
A dying man in a living room
Whose shadow paces the floor
He’ll take you out any open door

[Chorus]
This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
It's not what i'm like
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
Who couldn't get things right
Fond farewell to a friend

He said really I just wanna dance
Good and evil match perfect it's a great romance
I can deal with some psychic pain
If it'll slow down my higher brain
Veins full of disappearing ink
Vomiting in the kitchen sink
Disconnecting from the missing link

[Chorus]
This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
It's not what i'm like
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
Who couldn't get things right
Fond farewell to a friend

I see you're leaving me and taking up with the enemy
The cold comfort of the in between
A little less than a human being
A little less than a happy high
A little less than a suicide
The only things that you really tried

Ch
This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
It's not what i'm like
It's just a fond farewell to a friend
Who couldn't get things right
Fond farewell to a friend
This is not my life
It's just a fond farewell to a friend

[magicchord]

I wish I was in Tijuana
Eating barbecued iguana -- Stan Ridgeway

[GeeWhoLeeo]

this one always gives me goosebumps:

-----------------

Back in the old folky days
The air was magic when we played.
The riverboat was rockin'
in the rain
Midnight was the time
for the raid.

Oh, Isabela, proud Isabela,
They tore you down and
plowed you under.
You're only real
with your make-up on
How could I see you
and stay too long?

All along the Navajo Trail,
Burn-outs stub their toes
on garbage pails.
Waitresses are cryin'
in the rain
Will their boyfriends
pass this way again?

Oh, Mother Goose,
she's on the skids
Shoe ain't happy,
neither are the kids.
She needs someone
that she can scream at
And I'm such a heel
for makin' her feel so bad.

I guess I'll call it
sickness gone
It's hard to say
the meaning of this song.
An ambulance can only
go so fast
It's easy to get buried
in the past
When you try to make
a good thing last.

I saw today
in the entertainment section
There's room at the top
for private detection.
To Mom and Dad
this just doesn't matter,
But it's either that
or pay off the kidnapper.

So all you critics sit alone
You're no better than me
for what you've shown.
With your stomach pump and
your hook and ladder dreams
We could get together
for some scenes.

I never knew a man
could tell so many lies
He had a different story
for every set of eyes.
How can he remember
who he's talkin' to?
'Cause I know it ain't me,
and I hope it isn't you.

Well, I'm up in T.O.
keepin' jive alive,
And out on the corner
it's half past five.
But the subways are empty
And so are the cafes.

Except for the Farmer's Market
And I still can hear him say:
You're all just pissin'
in the wind
You don't know it but you are.

And there ain't nothin'
like a friend
Who can tell you
you're just pissin'
in the wind.

I never knew a man
could tell so many lies
He had a different story
for every set of eyes
How can he remember
who he's talking to?
Cause I know it ain't me,
and hope it isn't you.

[jerryskid]

The definitive version of Coyote is on the live "Shadows and Light". The band is awesome and features Jaco at his best.


I heard that version before I heard "The Last Waltz"...I just always thought it was a groovin tune....and Jaco absolutely nails it....

[chall]

"Someone's knocking at the door
Somebody's ringing the bell
Someone's knocking at the door
Somebody's ringing the bell
Do me a favor, open the door and let 'em in"

Gold.

[Bryson]

David Bowie - Young Americans

They pulled in just behind the bridge
He lays her down, he frowns
"Gee my life's a funny thing, am I still too young?"
He kissed her then and there
She took his ring, took his babies
It took him minutes, took her nowhere
Heaven knows, she'd have taken anything, but

CHORUS (SHE)
All night
She wants the young American
Young American, young American, she wants the young American
All right
She wants the young American

Scanning life through the picture window
She finds the slinky vagabond
He coughs as he passes her Ford Mustang, but
Heaven forbid, she'll take anything
But the freak, and his type, all for nothing
He misses a step and cuts his hand, but
Showing nothing, he swoops like a song
She cries "Where have all Papa's heroes gone?"

CHORUS (SHE)

All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
"We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?"

CHORUS (HE)
All night
He wants the young American
Young American, young American, he wants the young American
All right
He wants the young American

Do you remember, your President Nixon?
Do you remember, the bills you have to pay
Or even yesterday?

Have you have been an un-American?
Just you and your idol singing falsetto 'bout
Leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression?
Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors
Blushing at all the afro-Sheeners
Ain't that close to love?
Well, ain't that poster love?
Well, it ain't that Barbie doll
Her heart's been broken just like you have

CHORUS (YOU)
All night
You want the young American
Young American, young American, you want the young American
All right
You want the young American

You ain't a pimp and you ain't a hustler
A pimp's got a Cadi and a lady got a Chrysler
Black's got respect, and white's got his soul train
Mama's got cramps, and look at your hands ache
(I heard the news today, oh boy)
I got a suite and you got defeat
Ain't there a man you can say no more?
And, ain't there a woman I can sock on the jaw?
And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging?
Ain't there a pen that will write before they die?
Ain't you proud that you've still got faces?
Ain't there one damn song that can make me
break down and cry?

[Bryson]

John Lennon - Across The Universe



Words are flowing out like
Endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
Are drifting thorough my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which
Dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a
Restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as
They make their way across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter shades of life
Are ringing through my opened ears
Exciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which
Shines around me like a million suns
And calls me on and on across the universe

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Jai guru deva
Jai guru dev

[Bryson]

John Lennon - Because

Ah...
Because the world is round, it turns me on...
Because the world is round...

Ah...
Because the wind is high, it blows my mind...
Because the wind is high...

Ah, love is old, love is new,
Love is all, love is you

Ah...
Because the sky is blue, it makes me cry...
Because the sky is blue...

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

[Bryson]

Jimi Hendrix - Axis Bold As Love

Anger, he smiles,

towering in shiny metallic purple armour

Queen Jealousy, envy waits behind him

Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground



Blue are the life-giving waters taken for granted,

They quietly understand

Once happy turquoise armies lay opposite ready,

But wonder why the fight is on

But they're all bold as love, yeah, they're all bold as
love

Yeah, they're all bold as love

Just ask the axis



My red is so confident that he flashes trophies of war,

and ribbons of euphoria

Orange is young, full of daring,

But very unsteady for the first go round

My yellow in this case is not so mellow

In fact I'm trying to say it's frigthened like me

And all these emotions of mine keep holding me from, eh,

Giving my life to a rainbow like you

But, I'm eh , yeah, I'm bold as love

Yeah, yeah

Well I'm bold, bold as love (hear me talking, girl)

I'm bold as love

Just ask the axis (he knows everything)

Yeah,

yeah,

yeah!

[Bryson]

Jimi Hendrix - The Wind Cries Mary

After all the jacks are in their boxes
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
Footsteps dressed in red
And the wind whispers mary
A broom is drearily sweeping
Up the broken pieces of yesterdays life
Somewhere a queen is weeping
Somewhere a king has no wife
And the wind, it cries mary
The traffic lights, they turn, uh, blue tomorrow
And shine their emptiness down on my bed
The tiny island sags down stream
cause the life that lived is,
Is dead
And the wind screams mary
Uh-will the wind ever remember
The names it has blow in the past?
And with this crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
It whispers no, this will be the last
And the wind cries mary

[Bryson]

Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone


Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

[Bryson]

And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love
You make

[Bryson]

Neil Young - Southern Man

Southern man

better keep your head

Don't forget

what your good book said

Southern change

gonna come at last

Now your crosses

are burning fast

Southern man



I saw cotton

and I saw black

Tall white mansions

and little shacks.

Southern man

when will you

pay them back?

I heard screamin'

and bullwhips cracking

How long? How long?



Southern man

better keep your head

Don't forget

what your good book said

Southern change

gonna come at last

Now your crosses

are burning fast

Southern man



Lily Belle,

your hair is golden brown

I've seen your black man

comin' round

Swear by God

I'm gonna cut him down!

I heard screamin'

and bullwhips cracking

How long? How long?

[Bryson]

Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide,

No escape from reality.

Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see,

I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,

Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little low,

Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.



Mama just killed a man,

Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead.

Mama, life had just begun,

But now I've gone and thrown it all away.

Mama, ooh, Didn't mean to make you cry,

If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,

Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters.



Too late, my time has come,

Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time.

Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go,

Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth.

Mama, ooh, I don't want to die,

I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all.



I see a little silhouetto of a man,

Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango.

Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very fright'ning me.

(Galileo.) Galileo. (Galileo.) Galileo, Galileo figaro

Magnifico. I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me.

He's just a poor boy from a poor family,

Spare him his life from this monstrosity.

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go.

Bismillah! No, we will not let you go.

(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go.

(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go.

(Let me go.) Will not let you go.

(Let me go.) Will not let you go. (Let me go.) Ah.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

(Oh mama mia, mama mia.) Mama mia, let me go.

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me.



So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye.

So you think you can love me and leave me to die.

Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby,

Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here.



Nothing really matters, Anyone can see,

Nothing really matters,

Nothing really matters to me.



Any way the wind blows.

[Bryson]

-

[bunnerabb]

young American


I was on the lighting crew for Serious Moonlight and I put my ass in a folding chair smack in the middle of the rehearsal hall at the DCC and Dave was doing this song and paging through the lyric sheet, and had forgotten the words, and I sat there singing it, in the middle of the floor, at the top of my lungs and he looked at me and laughed like "you motherFUCKER!" and we had lunch later and laughed.

Brilliant cat.

[Bryson]

I was on the lighting crew for Serious Moonlight I saw that show at the LA Forum. Earl Slick back in the line up.....rockin'.

[Scratchy Potts]

As soon as your born they make you feel small,
By giving you no time instead of it all,
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school,
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool,
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years,
Then they expect you to pick a career,
When you can't really function you're so full of fear,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you're so clever and classless and free,
But you're still fucking peasents as far as I can see,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
There's room at the top they are telling you still,
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill,
A working class hero is something to be.
A working class hero is something to be.
If you want to be a hero well just follow me,
If you want to be a hero well just follow me.

:Coolio:

[Fulcrum]

What A Shame About Me

I was grinding through my day gig stackin' cutouts at the Strand
When in walks Franny from NYU, we were quite an item back then
We talked about her films and shows and CDs and I don't know what else
She said, yeah, Hollywood's been good to me, but tell me - how about yourself

I'm still working on that novel but I'm just about to quit
'Cause I'm worrying about the future now, or maybe this is it
It's not all that I thought it would be
What a shame about me

She said, talk to me, do you ever see anybody else from our old crew
Bobby Dakine won the Bunsen Prize, now he's coming out with something new
Alan owns a chain of Steamer Heavens and Barry is the software king
And somebody told me in the early 80's you were gonna be the Next Big Thing

Well now that was just a rumor but I guess I'm doin' fine
Three weeks out of the rehab living one day at a time
Sneaking up on the new century
What a shame about me, what a shame about me

I'm thinking of a major Jane Street sunrise
And the goddess on the fire escape was you

We both ran out of small talk, the connection seemed to go dead
I was about to say, hey, have a nice life when she touched my hand and said
You know I just had this great idea , this could be very cool
Why don't we grab a cab to my hotel and make believe we're back at our old school

I said babe you look delicious and you're standing very close
But like this is Lower Broadway and you're talking to a ghost
Take a good look it's easy to see
What a shame about me, what a shame about me

-- Walter Becker & Donald Fagen

[nobby]

Beat me to it. Bryson, attribution, please! Do not assume that everyone here knows who authored which works.

I'd add that Bob Dylan really was the one artist who, along with the social upheaval of the era, ushered in the divergence of the lyric from tin pan alley.

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

[nobby]

I think Jimi Hendrix wrote this one under the influence of Dylan:

My Friend

Well, I'm looking through Harlem
my stomach squeal just a little more
A stagecoach full of feathers and footprints,
pulls up to soap box door
Now a lady with a pearl handled necktie
Tied to the driver's fence
breathes in my face,
bourbon and coke possessed words
& "Haven't I seen you somewhere in hell,
or was it just an accident?"
(You know how I felt then, and so:)

Before I could ask "was it the East or West side?"
my feet they howled in pain
The wheels of a bandwagon cut very deep,
but not as deep in my mind as the rain
And as they pulled away I could see her words
Stagger and fall on my muddy tent
Well I picked them up, brushed them off,
to see what they say,
and you wouldn't believe:
`Come around to my room, with the tooth in the middle,
and bring along the bottle and a president'

And eh sometimes it's not so easy, baby
Especially when your only friend,
talks, sees, looks and feels like you,
and you do just the same as him
(Gets very lonely up this road, baby)
(Yeah, hmmm, yeah)
(Got more to say!)

Well I'm riding through LA (huh),
on a bicycle built for fools
And I seen one of my old buddies
And he say, "you don't look the way you usually do"
I say, "well, some people look like a coin-box"
He say, "look like you ain't got no coins to spare"
And I laid back and I thought to myself, and I said this:
I just picked up my pride from underneath the pay phone,
and combed this breath right out of my hair
And sometimes it's not so easy
Especially when your only friend
talk, sees, looks and feels like you,
and you do just the same as him

just got out of a Scandinavian jail,
and I'm on my way straight home to you
But I feel so dizzy I take a quick look in the mirror,
to make sure my friend's here with me too
And you know good well I don't drink coffee,
so you fill my cup full of sand
And the frozen tea leaves on the bottom
Sharing lipstick around the broken edge
And my coat that you let your dog lay by the fire on
And your cat he attacked me from his pill-box ledge
And I thought you were my friend too
Man, my shadow comes in line before you
I'm finding out that it's eh not so easy
Specially when your only friend
Talks, looks, sees and feels like you,
and you do the same just like him

[nobby]

Crossing Muddy Waters - John Hiatt


My baby's gone and I don't know why
She let out this morning
Like a rusty shot in a hollow sky
She left me without warning
Sooner than the dogs could bark
and faster than the sun rose
Down to the banks on an old mule cart
she took a flatboat across the shallow

CHORUS:
Left me in my tears to drown
she left a baby daughter
Now the water's wide and deep and brown
She's crossing muddy waters

Tobacco standing in the fields
be rotten come November
And a bitter heart will not reveal
a spring that love remembers
When that sweet brown girl of mine
her hair black as a raven
We broke the bread and drank the wine
from a jug that she'd been saving

CHORUS

Baby's crying and the daylight's gone
That big oak tree is groaning
In rush of wind and a river of song
I can hear my true love moaning
Crying for a baby child
oh crying for her husband
Crying for that river's wild
to take her from her loved ones

CHORUS TWICE

[nobby]

Dangling Conversation - Paul Simon

It's a still life water color,
Of a now late afternoon,
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room.
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference,
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In The Dangling Conversation
And the superficial sighs,
The borders of our lives.

And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we've lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
And The Dangling Conversation
And the superficial sighs
Are the borders of our lives.

Yes we speak of things that matter,
With words that must be said,
"Can analysis be worthwhile?"
"Is the theater really dead?"
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow,
I cannot feel your hand,
You're a stranger now unto me
Lost in The Dangling Conversation
And the superficial sighs
In the borders of our lives

[nobby]

Eleanor Rigby - Paul McCartney

Ah ----- look at all the lonely people
Ah ----- look at all the lonely people

Eleanor rigby, picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people where do they all belong?

Father mckenzie, writing the words to a sermon that no-one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when nobodys there
What does he care
All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people where do they all belong?

Ah ----- look at all the lonely people
Ah ----- look at all the lonely people

Eleanor rigby, died in the church and was buried along with her name,
Nobody came
Father mckenzie, wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people, where do they all come from?
All the lonely people where do they all belong?

[nobby]

A Day in the Life - Lennon/ McCartney

read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, i just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure if he was from the house of lords

I saw a film today oh, boy
The english army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But i just had to look
Having read the book
I love to turn you on.

Woke up, got out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, i noticed i was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
Somebody spoke and i went into a dream
Ah

I read the news today oh, boy
Four thousand holes in blackburn, lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the albert hall
I'd love to turn you on

[nobby]

The Lady Came from Baltimore - Tim Hardin

Lady came from Baltimore,
All she wore was lace.
She didn't know that I was poor,
She never saw my place.
I was there to steal her money,
Take her rings and run.
Then I fell in love with the lady,
Got away with none.

The lady's name was Susan Moore,
Her daddy read the law.
She didn't know that I was poor,
And lived outside the law.

Her daddy said, I was a thief
And didn't marry her for love.
I was Susan's true belief,
Married her for love.

I was there to steal her money,
To take her rings and run.
Then I fell in love with the lady
, Got away with none.

The house she lived in had a wall
To keep the robbers out.
She'd never stop to think at all
If that's what I'm about.

I was there to steal her money
, Take her rings and run.
Then I fell in love with the lady,
Got away with none.

[SaltyDog]

The piano has been drinking,
my necktie is asleep
And the combo went back to New York,
the jukebox has to take a leak
And the carpet needs a haircut,
and the spotlight looks like a prison break
And the telephone's out of cigarettes,
and the balcony is on the make
And the piano has been drinking,
the piano has been drinking...

And the menus are all freezing,
and the light man's blind in one eye
And he can't see out of the other
And the piano-tuner's got a hearing aid,
and he showed up with his mother
And the piano has been drinking,
the piano has been drinking
As the bouncer is a Sumo wrestler
cream-puff casper milk toast
And the owner is a mental midget
with the I.Q. of a fence post
'Cause the piano has been drinking,
the piano has been drinking...

And you can't find your waitress
with a Geiger counter
And she hates you and your friends and you
just can't get served without her
And the box-office is drooling,
and the bar stools are on fire
And the newspapers were fooling,
and the ash-trays have retired
'Cause the piano has been drinking,
the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking,
not me, not me, not me, not me, not me

Tom Waits

[PRobb]

Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide,

No escape from reality.

Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see,

I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,

Because I'm easy come, easy go, Little high, little low,

Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me.

The most elaborately told joke in music history. That's one of those you think you know, but I recently gave it a close listen for the first time in a long time. Wow. That's it. Just wow.

[PRobb]

Jeff Tweedy from Wilco's brilliant "Yankee hotel foxtrot"
Jesus, dont cry
You can rely on me honey
You combine anything you want
Ill be around
You were right about the stars
Each one is a setting sun

(chorus)
Tall buildings shake
Voices are scared
Singing sad sad songs
Two two chords
Strung down your cheeks
Bitter melodies
Turning your orbit around

Dont cry
You can rely on me honey
You can come by any time you want
Ill be around
You were right about the stars
Each one is a setting sun

(chorus)

Voices whine
Skyscrapers are scraping together your voice
Its smoking
Last cigarettes
Are all you can get
Turning your orbit around
Our love
Our love
Our love
Is all we have
Our love
Our love
Is all got is money
Everyone is a burning sun

chorus

Voices whine
Skyscrapers are scraping together your voice
Its smoking
Last cigarettes
Are all you can get
Turning your orbit around
Last cigarettes
Are all you can get
Turning your orbit around
Last cigarettes
Are all you can get

[nobby]

King of the Road - Roger Miller

Trailer for sale or rent
Rooms to let...fifty cents.
No phone, no pool, no pets
I ain't got no cigarettes
Ah, but..two hours of pushin' broom
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room
I'm a man of means by no means
King of the road.

Third boxcar, midnight train
Destination...Bangor, Maine.
Old worn out suit and shoes,
I don't pay no union dues,
I smoke old stogies I have found
Short, but not too big around
I'm a man of means by no means
King of the road.

I know every engineer on every train
All of their children, and all of their names
And every handout in every town
And every lock that ain't locked
When no one's around.

I sing,
Trailers for sale or rent
Rooms to let, fifty cents
No phone, no pool, no pets
I ain't got no cigarettes
Ah, but, two hours of pushin' broom
Buys an eight by twelve four-bit room
I'm a man of means by no means
King of the road.

[nobby]

This isn't one of Springsteen's more elaborate lyrics... this one grabs you with it's stark imagery.


My Hometown

was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around this is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown

In '65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown
My hometown
My hometown

Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back to your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around
This is your hometown

[nobby]

A classic from one of Long Isand's favorite sons

Taxi - Harry Chapin


It was raining hard in 'Frisco,
I needed one more fare to make my night.
A lady up ahead waved to flag me down,
She got in at the light.

Oh, where you going to, my lady blue,
It's a shame you ruined your gown in the rain.
She just looked out the window, and said
"Sixteen Parkside Lane".

Something about her was familiar
I could swear I'd seen her face before,
But she said, "I'm sure you're mistaken"
And she didn't say anything more.

It took a while, but she looked in the mirror,
And she glanced at the license for my name.
A smile seemed to come to her slowly,
It was a sad smile, just the same.
And she said, "How are you Harry?"
I said, "How are you Sue?
Through the too many miles
and the too little smiles
I still remember you."

It was somewhere in a fairy tale,
I used to take her home in my car.
We learned about love in the back of the Dodge,
The lesson hadn't gone too far.
You see, she was gonna be an actress,
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off to find the sky.

Oh, I've got something inside me,
To drive a princess blind.
There's a wild man, wizard,
He's hiding in me, illuminating my mind.
Oh, I've got something inside me,
Not what my life's about,
Cause I've been letting my outside tide me,
Over 'till my time, runs out.

Baby's so high that she's skying,
Yes she's flying, afraid to fall.
I'll tell you why baby's crying,
Cause she's dying, aren't we all.

There was not much more for us to talk about,
Whatever we had once was gone.
So I turned my cab into the driveway,
Past the gate and the fine trimmed lawns.
And she said we must get together,
But I knew it'd never be arranged.
And she handed me twenty dollars,
For a two fifty fare, she said
"Harry, keep the change."
Well another man might have been angry,
And another man might have been hurt,
But another man never would have let her go...
I stashed the bill in my shirt.

And she walked away in silence,
It's strange, how you never know,
But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for,
Such a long, long time ago.

You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off for the sky.
And here, she's acting happy,
Inside her handsome home.
And me, I'm flying in my taxi,
Taking tips, and getting stoned,
I go flying so high, when I'm stoned.

[mousdrvr]

Nightswimming

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
Still, it's so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
The moon is low tonight

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday

Nightswimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon
I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me,
This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
Nightswimming

The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night





.

[Fulcrum]

I need to check out Richard Thompson....which album should I start with?

I don't have an exhaustive list of his records but I can recommend I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (with his ex-wife Linda), the "follow-up" Shoot Out The Lights, and You? Me? Us? of more recent vintage. Then of course there's his late 60s-early 70s work with Fairport Convention.

Some of his stuff is achingly pretty and some of it snarls like a caged tiger, but all of it is worth your while.

[bunnerabb]

Thanks, John

I was dreaming of the past
And my heart was beating fast
I began to lose control
I began to lose control
I didnt mean to hurt you
Im sorry that I made you cry
Oh no, I didnt want to hurt you
Im just a jealous guy

I was feeling insecure
You might not love me anymore
I was shivering inside
I was shivering inside

I didnt mean to hurt you
Im sorry that I made you cry
Oh no, I didnt want to hurt you
Im just a jealous guy

I didnt mean to hurt you
Im sorry that I made you cry
Oh no, I didnt want to hurt you
Im just a jealous guy

I was trying to catch your eyes
Thought that you was trying to hide
I was swallowing my pain
I was swallowing my pain

I didnt mean to hurt you
Im sorry that I made you cry
Oh no, I didnt want to hurt you
Im just a jealous guy, watch out
Im just a jealous guy, look out babe
Im just a jealous guy

[PRobb]

I don't have an exhaustive list of his records but I can recommend I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (with his ex-wife Linda), the "follow-up" Shoot Out The Lights, and You? Me? Us? of more recent vintage. Then of course there's his late 60s-early 70s work with Fairport Convention.

Some of his stuff is achingly pretty and some of it snarls like a caged tiger, but all of it is worth your while.

Richard Thompson is easily the best artist nobody has ever heard of. I have never been able to figure out why. "Amnesia" and "Rumor and Sigh" are good starting points. Incredible songs and brilliant Mitchell Froom/Tchad Blake productions. Also, slightly earlier, "Across a Crowded Room".

[PRobb]

Another Richard Thompson, from the "Mirror Blue" album. Oh yeah, he is also an absolute virtuoso guitarist.
I was nineteen when I came to town
They called in the Summer of Love
They were burning babies, burning flags
The Hawks against the Doves

I took a job in the Steamie
Down on Cauldrum Street
I fell in love with a laundry girl
Was working next to me

CHORUS
She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
She was a lost child
She was running wild, she said
As long as there's no price on love, I'll stay
And you wouldn't want me any other way

Brown hair zig-zag round her face
And a look of half-surprise
Like a fox caught in the headlights
There was an animal in her eyes

She said, young man, O can't you see
I'm not the factory kind
If you don't take me out of here
I'll surely lose my mind

CHORUS

We busked around the market towns
And picked fruit down in Kent
And we could tinker lamps and pots
And knives wherever we went

And I said that we might settle down
Get a few acres dug
Fire burning in the hearth
And babies on the rug

She said O man, you foolish man
It surely sounds like hell
You might be lord of half the world
You'll not own me as well

CHORUS

We was camping down the Gower one time
The work was pretty good
She thought we shouldn't wait for frost
And I thought maybe we should

We were drinking more in those days
And tempers reached a pitch
Like a fool I let her run
With the rambling itch

Last I hear she's sleeping out
Back on Derby beat
White Horse in her hip pocket
And a wolfhound at her feet

And they say she even married once
A man named Romany Brown
But even a Gypsy caravan
Was too much settling down

And they say her flower is faded now
Hard weather and hard booze
But maybe that's just the price you pay
For the chains that you refuse

She was a rare thing
Fine as a beeswing
And I miss her more than ever words could say
If I could just taste
All of her wildness now
If I could hold her in my arms today
Then I wouldn't want her any other way

[Fulcrum]

That's the other Thompson record I have and forgot the name of. Beeswing is a standout track on that-- and I think it's just him and his gat on that one. Spellbinding.

[PRobb]

That's the other Thompson record I have and forgot the name of. Beeswing is a standout track on that-- and I think it's just him and his gat on that one. Spellbinding.

Accoustic guitar(!), fiddle, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy. That one gives me goose bumps every time.

[nobby]

Richard Thompson is easily the best artist nobody has ever heard of.

Ohhhhhh I wouldn't say nobody has ever heard of him.

True he ain't exactly Madonna... in oh so many ways...

He seems to get an article about him printed in Newsday (second biggest paper in NY after the New York Times) about once a year, coinciding with his local gigs. Rated 19th in Rolling Stone's best hundred guitarists of the year, 2003.

Fairport Convention was fairly well known albeit many years ago. Still a good start. He gets around. :Thumbsup:

http://www.richardthompson-music.com/pasttour.asp

[PRobb]

Ohhhhhh I wouldn't say nobody has ever heard of him.

He seems to get an article about him printed in Newsday (second biggest paper in NY after the New York Times) about once a year, coinciding with his local gigs. Rated 19th in Rolling Stone's best hundred guitarists of the year, 2003.

http://www.richardthompson-music.com/pasttour.asp
Yeah, but the article is always about how he's the best artist nobody has ever heard of:Roll eyes:

Here's one from Steve Earle
I was fresh out of the service
It was back in ‘82
I raised some Cain when I come back to town
I left to be all I could be
Come home without a clue
Now, I married Dawn and had to settle down

So I hired on at the prison
Guess I always knew I would
Just like my dad and both my uncles done
And I worked on every cell block
Now, things're goin' good
But then they transferred me to Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home

Well, my daddy used to talk about them long nights at the walls
And how they used to strap ‘em in the chair
The kids down from the college and they'd bring their beer ‘n all
‘N when the lights went out, a cheer rose in the air

Well, folks just got too civilized
Sparky's gatherin' dust
‘Cause no one wants to touch a smokin' gun
And since they got the injection
They don't mind as much, I guess
They just put ‘em down at Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home

Well, I've seen ‘em fight like lions, boys
I've seen 'em go like lambs
And I've helped to drag ‘em when they could not stand
And I've heard their mamas cryin' when they heard that big door slam
And I've seen the victim's family holdin' hands

Last night I dreamed that I woke up with straps across my chest
And something cold and black pullin' through my lungs
‘N even Jesus couldn't save me though I know he did his best
But he don't live on Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home
Swing low
Don't let go
Swing low and carry me home

[lebouche]

Thanks, John
jealous guy
Yo Bunner...evreybody is going to think I am full of shit but I've had an amazingly jammy charmed life...
I played the piano he wrote imagine and jealous guy on. I was 16 and buying a serious keyboard in Denmark street World of Pianos. The sales guy told me he had it and there it was...he said they had been a charity auction the night before and people had payed £100 per minuite to play it. I argued that as I was about to spend all the money I had in the world maybe he should let me have a go...he said knock yourself out and left me to it for 20mins or so. I have a witness btw :lol: my mum was there. It was a brown upright steinway...he didnt actually write those songs on that white grand. Quite an ok piano but cool cos he played it. I also played a piano a few times after the macca and one of GH's guitars at other times.
George Michael saved the piano from being bought by the Japanese...payed silly money and then gave it to a museam in liverpool.
Unfortunatly none of the talent seems to be contagious!

I think I might have to tally up the score soon....who's winning...Lennon? Bruce, Jimi...maybe Bob its close!

[lebouche]

I don't have an exhaustive list of his records but I can recommend I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (with his ex-wife Linda), the "follow-up" Shoot Out The Lights, and You? Me? Us? of more recent vintage. Then of course there's his late 60s-early 70s work with Fairport Convention.

Some of his stuff is achingly pretty and some of it snarls like a caged tiger, but all of it is worth your while.

Thanks Fulcrum I'll check it out....shit you guys are making me busy with all this knowledge! I better make a list of all this things I have to check out!

[jerryskid]

From the great Robert Hunter and the Grateful Dead:

Bird Song (for Janis)

All I know is something like a bird within her sang,
All I know she sang a little while and then flew on,
Tell me all that you know, I'll show you snow and rain.

If you hear that same sweet song again, will you know why?
Anyone who sings a tune so sweet is passin' by,
Laugh in the sunshine, sing, cry in the dark, fly through the night.

Don't cry now, don't you cry, don't you cry anymore.
Sleep in the stars, don't you cry, dry your eyes on the wind.

All I know is something like a bird within her sang,
All I know she sang a little while and then flew off,
Tell me all that you know, I'll show you snow and rain.

[idylldon]

One by Mr. Lennon:

"Imagine"

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

And one by Steve Earle:

"Copperhead Road"

Well my name's John Lee Pettimore
Same as my daddy and his daddy before
You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here
He only came to town about twice a year
He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
Everybody knew that he made moonshine
Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad
He headed up the holler with everything he had
It's before my time but I've been told
He never came back from Copperhead Road

Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big block Dodge
Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge
Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side
Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside
Well him and my uncle tore that engine down
I still remember that rumblin' sound
Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night
Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right
He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load
You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road

I volunteered for the Army on my birthday
They draft the white trash first,'round here anyway
I done two tours of duty in Vietnam
And I came home with a brand new plan
I take the seed from Colombia and Mexico
I plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road
Well the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air
I wake up screaming like I'm back over there
I learned a thing or two from ol' Charlie don't you know
You better stay away from Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road
Copperhead Road
Copperhead Road

Cheers,
--
Don

[otek]

About Thunder Road:

Aardy's own version of this one is pretty spine-tingling too. The man truly feels it. Not kidding.


Lots of good stuff in this thread, folks - thanks to all who posted so far, I needed to read some good lyrics right about now! :D



I'd like to offer up a couple of personal faves:





There are places i'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends i still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life i've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When i think of love as something new
Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more

Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more
In my life i love you more

The Beatles, In My Life







Strange face, with your eyes
So pale and sincere.
Underneath you know well
You have nothing to fear.
For the dreams that came to you when so young
Told of a life
Where spring is sprung.

You would seem so frail
In the cold of the night
When the armies of emotion
Go out to fight.
But while the earth sinks to its grave
You sail to the sky
On the crest of a wave.

So forget this cruel world
Where I belong
I'll just sit and wait
And sing my song.
And if one day you should see me in the crowd
Lend a hand and lift me
To your place in the cloud.

Nick Drake, Cello Song

[lebouche]

About Thunder Road:



Nick Drake, Cello Song
Oh my god that song is amazing...


'And time has told me
Not to ask for more
For someday our ocean
Will find its shore'

Nick Drake Time has Told me

[PRobb]

Ryan Adams is one of the best singer/songwriters today. This is from "Heartbreaker".

Well nighttime let her through
Yeah I’m talking to you
I wanna see her
Precious little thing
With eyes that dance around without their clothes

So buy a pretty dress
Wear it out tonight
For anyone you think
could out do me
Or better still
be my winding wheel

Cause I feel just like a map
Without a single place to go of interest
And I’m further north than south
If I could shut my mouth she’d probably like this

So buy a pretty dress
And wear it out tonight
For all the boys you think could out do me
Or better still
Be my winding wheel


Well the children laugh and sing
A song that ushers in her driving rain
And I’m standing in the station
Like some old record waiting on a train

So buy a pretty dress
Wear it out tonight
For anyone you think could out do me
Or better still be my winding wheel

Be my winding
wheel

[blackieC]

Heartbreaker...

truly.


Now, a couple of my favorite broken heart songs.

Drank Like a River

Well, he was nearly died when he returned to the town hed come from
Hes brown bagging it tonight behind some tavern.
Somebody wrecked his life, and Ill bet you it was his darlin
Somebody wrecked his life, and Ill bet you it was his darlin
So he drank like a river when the wedding bells rang
Watched from the steeple as the choir girls sang
Died in a gutter on his feet and his hands...
The same hands that had once touched her face

Well, he was nearly died when he returned to the town hed come from
Hes hanging out drinking beer with his brother-in-law
He was a drinker at night, and in the morning he was unnerving
He was a drinker full time, the day that he lost his darlin

So he drank like a river when the wedding bells rang
Watched from the steeple as the choir girls sang
Died in a gutter on his feet and his hands...
The same hands that had once touched her face

So he drank like a river when the wedding bells rang
Watched from the steeple as the choir girls sang
Died in a gutter on his feet and his hands...
The same hands that had once touched her face

So he drank like a river when the wedding bells rang
Watched from the steeple as the choir girls sang
Died in a gutter on his feet and his hands...
The same hands that had once touched her face

Ryan Adams



and

The Long Honeymoon

All the bedroom lights go out
As the neighbourhood gets quiet
Everything in heaven and earth is almost right
But there's a wife whos wondering where her husband could be tonight
And when the phone rang only once she took a dreadful fright

Little things just seem to undermine her confidence in him
He was late this time last week
Who can she turn to when the chance of coincidence is slim
'Cause the baby isn't old enought to speak

There's been a long honeymoon
She thought too late and spoke too soon
There's no money back guarantee on future happiness
There's been a long honeymoon
If he's out on a date then her life's in ruins
She never thought her love could ever be as strong as this

All the movies and the papers
Feature the murders of lonely women
If he isn't in by ten she'll call up her best friend
Why doesn't he come home
Why does her friends phone keep on ringing
Maybe she should just pretend

There's been a long honeymoon
She thought too late and spoke too soon
There's no money back guarantee on future happiness
There's been a long honeymoon
If he's out on a date then her life's in ruins
She never thought her love could ever be as strong as this

Elvis Costello

[Grapestomper]

The Beatles, In My Life










yes









M

[lebouche]

Heartbreaker...

truly.


Hes brown bagging it tonight behind some tavern.
The same hands that had once touched her face

So he drank a river from the choir girls.
gutt on his feet and his hands...
The same hands that had once touched her bells
Ryan Adams




Sorry v immature but Ryan! Brown bagging it tonight behind some tavern sounds like a sick ephemism:lol: :lol:

[Fulcrum]

Chris Difford wrote most if not all of the lyrics Squeeze, but it turns out Glenn Tilbrook can turn a phrase or two as well.

G.S.O.H. Essential

Considering the experience I'm pushing out the boat
Calling every favour in to help keep it afloat
I don't know if it will sink or sail majestically
Whether you will buy a ticket or stow away for free

I know it's a new world
With exciting possibilities
Hooked up and downloaded
And it's loud and clear on MP3

Considering the experience remembering when I was ten
The Monkees weren't a real band but I still loved them
Now I flick on the remote and it's happening again
I suppose it's not such a big leap from them to S Club Seven

I know it's a changed world
And that these things are not meant for me
Now fame's the intention
You just have to really wanna be

I'm back again ready or not?
I know I've slung some hooks around these parts before
Should I dance around a lot?
If I did that you might show me the door

I know it's an odd world
Make it even now for me
Although I'm still barking
I don't think that's it up the wrong tree

Considering the experience there's not much to regret
Though I've picked up a few knocks the games not over yet
My heart is intact and here it is for you to see
And I won't give up at least not yet so don't give up on me

I know it's a tough world
I've just found another door
I'm running a small shop
In the age of the global superstore

I live in the real world
What d'ya think I'm laughing for?
I'm ready and waiting
You can take me now I'm yours

[Fulcrum]

Joe Jackson's career did not end with Night And Day either...

Blaze of Glory

Johnny was a young boy
with nothing much except a certain kind of look in his eye
He was discovered one day - you see he had a certain kind of appeal
for a certain kind of guy
Who gave him some advice on what to wear
and sent him out to make the young girls cry
And all the young boys who'd just been dumb and restless
now they could identify
So tell me who'll take the blame
for the way things turned out


Well six long months passed and Johnny was the biggest thing alive
And we loved Johnny and we owned Johnny
and no one knew how Johnny felt inside
And Johnny was so beautiful, he was like a god
and we all went along for the ride
And the ride started to go too fast
and Johnny just conveniently died
And he went up in flames
He did what he had to do
And they say it's a tragic story
he just wasn't there one day
but he went out in a Blaze of Glory
and you and I - you and I just fade away
Well nowadays there's a lot of guys like Johnny
they got it all worked out - like working 9 to 5
But they're all just cartoons - all think they're Superman
but they can't even fly
And they say that Johnny's ghost walks 'round in Memphis
when the moon is full and high
And I wonder if he sees these jokers
and I wonder if he laughs or if he cries
Now he's an angel in flames
But what about you and me
And they say it's a tragic story
he just wasn't there one day
but he went out in a Blaze of Glory
and you and I - you and I just fade away

[graveleye]

Oh man I could go on for hours with Joe Jackson lyrics.


I dont know what it is about these lyrics though... perhaps with age, growing older... Elfman doesnt always write the best lyrics in an epic poetic sense, but he gets his point across. These are some of my favorite Boingo lyrics, but I admit after the song is over (and its a long one too) I feel washed out and sad.


CHANGE

Don't you ever wonder why, nothing ever seems to change
If it does it's for the worse, seems it's just a modern curse
Sometimes when I take a peek outside of my little cage,
Everyone looks so asleep, will they die before they wake

And, hey. . . Don't you know? We're just products of our time and Hey . . .
What d'ya say? Show me yours, I'll show you mine

Better dumb and happy than smart and without any friends
Better cute and better loud, better join up with the crowd
Keep up or be left behind, there's a dust storm in my mind
Seems I can't see straight these days, doesn't matter anyway
Hey . . . Don't you know? We're just products of our times and
Hey, what d'ya say? Show me yours, I'll show you mine

Hey, what d'ya say? Hey, what d'ya say? Please don't ever -
Oh God, here's that question now. The one that makes me go insane
I'd gladly tear my heart out if you never, never, never, never change

Do you want to change? Do you want to change right now?
Do you want to change . . . I like my stupid life, just the way it is
And I wouldn't even change it for a thousand flying pigs

And I like you just the way you are, I like your face just the way it is
And I wouldn't even change it for a herd of screaming kids
And I like you just the way you are, I like you though you may not like me back
I would dazzle you with brilliance, if I only had the knack (???!!!)

'Cause I like you just the way you are, I like this life just the way it is
And the castles all around me, have been melting now for years
And it kills my brain to think of all the time I wasted here
All the efforts, sweat, and broken hearts, the screaming and the tears

And I'm dreaming again . . . Floating in a pool of mud
Try to get back where I was and I don't really care

Got a little talking to, by the mirror in my room, and I don't really care . . .
Whispering voices from the dead, come from underneath my bed
And I don't really care . . .

I like my stupid life just the way it is
And the chaos that surrounds me like a flock of screaming pigs
And it hurts my brain to think of all the stupid things I've said
And if I could change the future I would change the past instead
And I'm dreaming again . . . and I'm dreaming again . . .

Baby - sometimes I worry about you
Sometimes you're so far away, tell me what to do
I say, Baby . . . sometimes I worry about you
Sometimes I just can't believe everything you do
I say, Baby . . . sometimes I worry about you
Every day I feel the same, don't you feel it too
I say, Baby . . . sometimes I worry about me
Seems I'm falling down a lot, in between the scenes
I say, Baby . . . sometimes I worry about me
Getting harder all the time, harder now to see
I say, Baby . . . sometimes I worry about me
Light another cigarette, have another dream

It's the same thing every day, nothing ever seems to change and I . . .

Do you really want to change?
Testaments and growing pains. Tranquilizers for the soul.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained - evolution's cruelest joke
Why is everyone upset? I once knew but I forget. Something happened,
Something strange, something it appears has changed

Hey . . . Don't you know? We're just products of our times
And hey, what d'ya say? Show me yours, I'll show you mine

Hey, what d'ya say? Hey, what d'ya say? Please don't ever -
Oh God, here's that question now, the one that makes me go insane
I'd gladly tear my heart out if you never, never, never, never change

[lebouche]

Dont be sad....listen to something happy post Joe.
:grin:

[bunnerabb]

Speaking of Difford and Tillbrook

"Vanity Fair"

(this is an amzing song, btw, musically)

She left her school for the factory
From pocket money to a salary,
From a pac-a-mac to a compact case
And every morning she inspects her face.
She discovers pulling pints in pubs
That the good looks will never cover up for
Her dullness in taking the stock
Sees her reflection in a butcher’s shop.
She finds it all quite rare
That her meat’s all vanity fair.

She has her eyes on medallion men
Who get her home on the dot at ten,
She combs her hair when she gets excused
The deal she wants always ends up screwed.
Paints her nails on the bathroom scales
Gargles her breath like a landed whale,
Her beauty is as deep as her skin
Keeps her eyebrows in a tobacco tin.
She poses foot on the chair
Coconut shy but vanity fair.

In her vanity case her compact case
In her compact case her eyes,
Not bad for a sister
But her vanity’s fair and her sense of humour’s dry.
She comes home late with another screw loose
She swears to have had just a pineapple juice,
Falls asleep fully clothed in her bed
With her makeup remover by her head.
And she might not be all there
But her dream’s all vanity fair.

[Slipperman]

You guys are digging too deep.

All the great stuff is way closer to the surface.

Case in point:

Trashmen - Surfin' Bird

See, here's the thing...

When you FORCE yourself to endure this song, front to back, top volume, day after day for 30+ years like I have... You will BECOME the pain and anguish and angst and schism and hubris and hemlock and whatnot you're only BORROWING from Bruce or Joni or onnadoze udder minor artists you guys are rattling on about.

Put on Surfin' Bird at 118dB.

See...?

You ARE the river where Bruce knocked Mary up and they gave him the tuxedo.

You ARE the engine under the dirty hood with the Hurst 4 speed and the Thrush pipes.

You ARE the vapor trails and the naked chick dancing on the beach with a rose and the parking lots.

With the Trashmen, you don't just FEEL these emotions.... You ACTUALLY BECOME THEM.

Then... the song ends... and the universe loses it's perfect order.

No matter.

PLAY IT AGAIN.

WORKS EVERY FUCKING TIME

No other song in the history of music(with the noted exception of "Wooley Bully") can lay claim to this.

Now. To lay this horrible and misguided thread to rest, and because I am the caring type, I shall post the entire lyric to Surfin' Bird.

I hope and expect this will be the last post in this thread.

The Trashmen - Surfin' Bird


A-well-a, everybody's heard about the bird
Bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, well, the bird is the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, well, the bird is the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, well, the bird is the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, don't you know about the bird
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a

A-well-a, everybody's heard about the bird
Bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, don't you know about the bird
Well, everybody's talking about the bird
A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a, bird

Surfin' bird
Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb, aaah

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow

Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-oom-oom-oom
Oom-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-a-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Well, don't you know about the bird
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word
A-well-a, bird, bird, b-bird's the word

Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow...


SM.

PS. Also best mix of all time.

[lebouche]

deep man...deep like a two week old puddle!:lol:
sadly not the last post.

"I'm a lonely frog"

Clarence "frogman" Henry.

[Zoesch]

No one will ever touch this beauty...

"Where there's no one around
To steer my rickety boat"

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[rockdart]

Sadly... something soon lost:

When I think back on all the crap I've learned in high school
It's a wonder I can think at all
Though my lack of education hasn't hurt me much
I can read the writings on the walls

Chorus:
Kodachrome, they give us those nice bright colours
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away

If you took all the girls I knew when I was single
Brought 'em all together for one night
I know they'd never match my sweet imagination
Everything looks worse in black and white

chorus

Mama don't take my Kodachrome away, mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away

Mama don't take my Kodachrome, mama don't take my Kodachrome
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome and leave your boy so far from home
Mama don't take my Kodachrome away
Mama don't take my Kodachrome, whew whew, mama don't take my Kodachrome away

[Fulcrum]

This thread was fun so I thought I'd resurrect it with a bit of Tull.

Baker Street Muse

Windy bus-stop. Click. Shop-window. Heel.
Shady gentleman. Fly-button. Feel.
In the underpass, the blind man stands.
With cold flute hands.
Symphony match-seller, breath out of time.
You can call me on another line.
Indian restaurants that curry my brain.
Newspaper warriors changing the names they advertise from the station stand.
With cold print hands.
Symphony word-player, I'll be your headline.
If you catch me another time.

Didn't make her
with my Baker Street Ruse.
Couldn't shake her
with my Baker Street Bruise.
Like to take her
but I'm just a Baker Street Muse.

Ale-spew, puddle-brew
boys, throw it up clean.
Coke and Bacardi colours them green.
From the typing pool goes the mini-skirted princess with great finesse.
Fertile earth-mother, your burial mound is fifty feet down in the Baker Street underground. (What the hell!)
Walking down the gutter thinking,
"How the hell am I today?"
Well, I didn't really ask you but thanks all the same.

"Big bottled Fraulein, put your weight on me," said the pig-me to the whore,
desperate for more in his assault upon the mountain.
Little man, his youth a fountain.
Overdrafted and still counting.
Vernacular, verbose; an attempt at getting close to where he came from.
In the doorway of the stars, between Blandford Street and Mars;
Proposition, deal. Flying button feel. Testicle testing.
Wallet ever-bulging. Dressed to the left, divulging the wrinkles of his years.
Wedding-bell induced fears.
Shedding bell-end tears in the pocket of her resistance.
International assistance flowing generous and full to his never-ready tool.
Pulls his eyes over her wool.
And he shudders as he comes.
And my rudder slowly turns me into the Marylebone Road.

And here slip I
dragging one foot in the gutter
in the midnight echo of the shop that sells cheap radios.
And there sits she
no bed, no bread, no butter
on a double yellow line
where she can park anytime.
Old Lady Grey; crash-barrier waltzer
some only son's mother. Baker Street casualty.
Oh, Mr. Policeman
blue shirt ballet master.
Feet in sticking plaster
move the old lady on.
Strange pas-de-deux
his Romeo to her Juliet.
Her sleeping draught, his poisoned regret.
No drunken bums allowed to sleep here in the crowded emptiness.
Oh officer, let me send her to a cheap hotel
I'll pay the bill and make her well - like hell you bloody will!
No do-good over kill. We must teach them to be still more independent.

I have no time for Time Magazine or Rolling Stone.
I have no wish for wishing wells or wishing bones.
I have no house in the country I have no motor car.
And if you think I'm joking, then I'm just a one-line joker in a public bar.
And it seems there's no-body left for tennis; and I'm a one-band-man.
And I want no Top Twenty funeral or a hundred grand.
There was a little boy stood on a burning log,
rubbing his hands with glee. He said, "Oh Mother England,
did you light my smile; or did you light this fire under me?
One day I'll be a minstrel in the gallery.
And paint you a picture of the queen.
And if sometimes I sing to a cynical degree
it's just the nonsense that it seems."

So I drift down through the Baker Street valley,
in my steep-sided un-reality.
And when all is said and all is done
I couldn't wish for a better one.
It's a real-life ripe dead certainty
that I'm just a Baker Street Muse.

Talking to the gutter-stinking, winking in the same old way.
I tried to catch my eye but I looked the other way.

Indian restaurants that curry my brain
newspaper warriors changing the names they advertise from the station stand.
Circumcised with cold print hands.

Windy bus-stop. Click. Shop-window. Heel.
Shady gentleman. Fly-button. Feel.
In the underpass, the blind man stands.
With cold flute hands.
Symphony match-seller, breath out of time
you can call me on another line.

Didn't make her
with my Baker Street Ruse.
Couldn't shake her
with my Baker Street Bruise.
Like to take her
but I'm just a Baker Street Muse.

(I can't get out!)

[PRobb]

Best line from an otherwise maudlin bit of tripe-


I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.

-Bob Seegar "Against the Wind"

[CloseToTheEdge]

I rather like this one, especially since this genre is not always known for exceptional lyrics.

Subdivisions
Words by N. Peart

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown

Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone

Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone

Subdivisions ---
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions ---
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth

Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night

Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight

Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights...

[jerryskid]

I rather like this one, especially since this genre is not always known for exceptional lyrics.


Except for Rush of course....:D

[jerryskid]

This was written by Terry Kath of Chicago..The recording sounds like he's right in the room singing...a pretty good description of a band that worked to make it big:



Alma Mater

Looking back a few short years
When we made our plans and played the cards
The way they fell

Clinging to our confidence
We stood on the threshold of the goal
That we knew, dear

And though we had our fights
Had our short tempered nights
It couldn’t pull our dreams apart
All our needs and all our wants
Drawn together in our heart
We felt it from the very start

It’s all happened recently
Now we’re living in that dream
We had not long ago

Everything is going fine
And now we just have to keep in mind
We must set brand new goals
We must not lose control
Of the possiblity of the discovery
That would let everybody see
That we were just meant to be