You may know this and know it well. Bully for you. Just in case you don’t though, this is a song that just made me weep in the bath. Wine helps, but still. Read it first:
I wanna be better than oxygen, so you can breathe when you're drowning and weak in the knees. I wanna speak louder than Ritalin, for all the children who think that they've got a disease. I wanna be cooler than TV, for all the kids that are wondering what they're going to be. We can be stronger than bombs if you're singing along and you know that you really believe. We can be richer than industry, as long as we know that there's things that we don't really need. We can speak louder than ignorance, ‘cause we speak in silence every time our eyes meet.
On and on, and on it goes. The world it just keeps spinning, until I’m dizzy, time to breathe... so close my eyes and start again anew.
I wanna see through all the lies of society, to the reality... happiness is at stake. I wanna hold up my head with dignity, proud of a life where to give means more than to take. I wanna live beyond the modern mentality where paper is all that you're really taught to create. Do you remember the forgotten America? Justice, equality, freedom to every race? Just need to get past all the lies and hypocrisy, make up and hair to the truth behind every face, that look around to all the people you see... how many of them are happy and free? I know it sounds like a dream, but it's the only thing that can get me to sleep at night. I know it's hard to believe, but it's easy to see that something here isn't right. I know the future looks dark, but it's there that the kids of today must carry the light.
On and on, and on it goes. The world it just keeps spinning, until I’m dizzy, time to breathe... so close my eyes and start again anew.
If I’m afraid to catch a dream, I weave your baskets and I’ll float them down the river stream. Each one I weave with words I speak, to carry love to your relief.
Then I go and spoil it all by watching the video and realising that Willy Mason is actually about 11 years old. How depressing. Another young person with far too much talent.
Fucker.
Now listen:
Don't know why the last bit isn't on the video. The coda. Is it a coda? I don't know. I'm drunk. There's quite a bit missing though, including the first verse all over again. Probably 'cause the video was shot for $20. Good for him.
Fucker.
Comment Whoring :: Can you recommend a song with lyrics as good as that one? Preferably one I haven’t heard before. I know you don’t know what I’ve heard before, so you’ll just have to take a chance. Oh, go on. I'll give you a fiver if you come up trumps. And head. Glorious head.
Thanks.
23 comments:
First! Song? Um..
If you're happy and you know it clap your hands x 2, If you're happy and you know it and you really wanna show it - If you're happy and you know it clap your hands.
i do know this song .. really well .. but i couldn't work out *why*, 'cos i usually only listen to my itunes 'fave' list, and most of it is Australian. It is from 'waiting for the weekend', and is quite old now, so he is no longer 11 anymore (if that makes you feel any better).
this is not a better song .. but it makes me feel better. And i bet Good Head that you don't know it.
I’m gonna fuck her right outta my head
I’m gonna jump from bed to bed
Sally, Sonia, Sophie, Sue
I aint met ‘em all yet but I’m planning to
I’m gonna fuck her right outta my head
I’m gonna lay down a new set of memories
With Tanyas and Julies, Lindas and Emilies
And the way we moved in the mirror on the wall
I won’t remember that at all
I’m gonna lay down a new set of memories
Ah, I’m a-gonna be ok
Ah, ah – once these visions go away
I’m gonna drink this whole town dry
No sad tear’s gonna wet my eye
Maggie, Mary, Mona, Bill
Are gonna do me right – did I say Bill?!
I’m gonna drink this whole town dry
Ah, I’m a-gonna be just fine
Ah, ah – once these visions get offa my mind
I’m gonna fuck her right outta my head
I’m gonna jump from bed to bed
I’m gonna lay down a new set of memories
I’m gonna drink this whole town dry
You always look so disappointed
When I take my stockings off
Don't you know the facts of life boy?
Don't you know how much these things cost?
Sunshine- Atmosphere
And aint no way, to explain or say
How painful the hang over was today
In front of the toilet, hands and knees
Trying to breathe in-between the dry-heaves
My baby made me some coffee,
Afraid that if I drink some it's probably comin right back out me
Couple of Advil, relax and chill
At a stand still with how bad I feel
I think I need to smell fresh air
So I stepped out the back door and fell down the stairs
The sunlight hit me dead in the eye like
It's mad that I gave half the day to last night
My bad sight made me trip on my ass right
Into that patch of grass like that's life
All of the sudden, I realize somethin
The weather is amazing, even the birds are bumpin
Stood up and took a look and a breathe
And there's that light that I forgot that I possessed
Never really seen exercise this friendly
But I think something's tellin me to ride that Case B
The brakes are broken, that's alright
The tires got air and the chain seems tight
Hopped on, and felt the summertime
It reminds me of one of them moosob lines
Like
Sunshine, sunshine, its fine
I feel it in my skin, warmin up my mind
Sometimes you gotta give in to win
I love the days that it shines
Whoa let it shine
A womans work- Kate Bush
I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.
I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.
I should be crying, but I just can't let it show.
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking
Of all the things I should've said,
That I never said.
All the things we should've done,
That we never did.
All the things I should've given,
But I didn't.
Oh, darling, make it go,
Make it go away.
Give me these moments back.
Give them back to me.
Give me that little kiss.
Give me your hand.
These Arms of Mine- Otis Redding
These arms of mine
They are lonely
Lonely and feeling blue
These arms of mine
They are yearning
Yearning from wanting you
And if you would let them hold you
Oh how grateful I will be
These arms of mine
They are burning
Burning from wanting you
These arms of mine
They are wanting
Wanting to hold you
And if you would let them hold you
Oh how greateful I will be
Come on, come on, baby
Just be my little woman
Just be my lover, oh
I need me somebody
Somebody to treat me right
I need your arms, loving arms
To hold me tight
And I need, I need your
I need your tender lips...
Actually Any Otis Redding is amazing.
ok- one more:
Beautiful like you- Joydrop
If I was beautiful like you
Oh the things I would do
Those not so blessed would be crying out murder
And I'd just laugh and get away with it too
Like you do
If I was beautiful like you
I would never be at fault
I'd walk in the rain between the rain drops
Bringing traffic to a halt
But that will never be
That will never never be
Cause I'm not beautiful like you
I'm beautiful like me
Beautiful like me
If I was beautiful like you
I'd be quick to assume
They'd do anything to please me
I know I see the reaction when you walk into a room
But that will never be
That will never, never be
Cause I'm not beautiful like you
I'm beautiful like me
Beautiful like me
Beautiful, Beautiful like me
Like me, like me
If I was beautiful like you
I'd have so many friends
Always fighting for my time to be next in line
So if I hurt one
I wouldn't have to make amends
That will never be
That will never never be
Cause I'm not beautiful like you
I'm not beautiful like you
I'm not beautiful like you
I'm beautiful like me...
I know... but it was the 90's and I was all angsty and besides it still makes me happy to this day- Cause it's true.
That song you posted is too much for me to absorb. WTF is that? Kids are too complicated these days, pain in the arse annoying. Simple is best INHO. I'm more into Cat Stevens simplicity like Peace Train or Where Do the Children Play. These emo kids need to take a leaf out of the older lyricists.
Though I'm more of a music than a lyrics person, this has been one of my favorites for a long time.
Horseshoes- Moxy Fruvous
My sister Sue and me were doing stunts with electric trains
She said she'd do my dishes, so I handed her the reins
And she engineered a collision steered by a hand-eye protege
Before my train set started burning I heard my sister say
Look straight at the coming disaster
Realize what you've lost
You keep handing out horseshoes
Horseshoes have gotta be tossed.
I dreamed I went to heaven 'cause I told my lover lies
When I woke up I went to her and looked her in the eyes
I said "help me cry, 'cause I can't deny this union's feeling wrong"
Then a flshback to the dream and angels singing songs
Look straight at the coming disaster
Realize what you've lost
You keep handing out horseshoes
Horseshoes have gotta be tossed
Horseshoes have gotta be tossed.
Don't push the river; if you love it, set it free
I said "go on and see him, you can still come home to me"
I was satisfied, God was on our side
'Cause we're freer than the birds.
Sent me a letter. I didn't read it.
I already knew the words
Look straight at the coming disaster
Realize what you've lost
You keep handing out horseshoes
Horseshoes have gotta be tossed.
Horseshoes have gotta be tossed...
I've always been rather fond of "Cotton", by the Mountain Goats:
This song is for the rats
Who hurled themselves into the ocean
When they saw that the explosives in the cargo hold
Were just about to blow
This song is for the soil
That's toxic clear down to the bedrock
Where no thing of consequence can grow
Drop your seeds there, let them go
Let them go
Let them all go
Let 'em all go
This song is for the people
Who tell their families that they're sorry
For things they can't and won't feel sorry for
And once there was a desk
And now it's in a storage locker somewhere
And this song is for the stick pins and the cottons
I left in the top drawer
Let 'em all go
Let 'em all go
I wanna sing one for the cars
That are right now headed silent down the highway
And it's dark and there is nobody driving
And something has got to give
I saw you waiting by the roadside
You didn't know that I was watching
Now you know
Let it all go
Let 'em all go
Let it all go
Joanna Newsom has her moments. Sometimes her lyrics are unecessarily long-winded, but sometimes she comes out with verses like:
"And the signifieds butts heads with the signifiers
And we all fall down slack-jawed to marvel at words
When across the sky sheet the impossible birds
In a steady, illiterate movement homewards"
She's a bit of an acquired taste, and she does go on a bit, but if you've not heard her I recommend that you watch her in action.
I like Willy Mason very much.
Did you know Where The Humans Eat is about his cats?
I love the words Spencer Krug of Sunset Rubdown writes.
Top songs of his are Shut, I am Dreaming and this glorious song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4AwWs1U0Rc
Whenever I'm in a down-and-out kind of mood, I will listen to this tune over and over...
Nice to be Here - The Moody Blues
Nice to be here hope you agree
Lying in the sun
Lovely weather must climb a tree
The show has just begun
And the leaves start swaying
To the breeze that's playing
On a thousand violins
And the bees are humming
To a frog sat strumming
On a guitar with only one string
(Chorus)
I can see them
They can't see me
I feel out of sight
I can see them
They can't see me
Much to my delight
And it seems worth noting
Water rats were boating
As a lark began to sing
The sounds kept coming
With Jack Rabbit loudly drumming
On the side of a biscuit tin
(chorus)
Silver minnows were divising
Water ballet so surprising
A mouse played a daffodil
A mole came up blinking
Underneath an owl who's thinking
How he came to be sat on a hill
(chorus)
I know you won't believe me
But I'm certain that I did see
A mouse playing daffodil
All the band was really jumping
With Jack Rabbit in there thumping
I found that I couldn't sit still
I just had to make it with them
Cause they played my kind of rhythm
And the bees hummed in harmony
And the owl played his oboe
Then the frog's guitar solo
It was all too much for me
Accordion Girl
(Music & Lyrics: Ezio Lunedei)
She's an accordion girl
Built with an accordion swirl
She'll let you squeeze
And stretch her right over your chest
And I've heard some people say
She can be so hard to play
That whoever succeds
Will be bound to impress
And I suspect that she once had a lover
Who's memory haunts her still
And he's unaware of the girl he's created
And that his memory always will
He's made an accordion girl
Decked in mother of pearl
She's got a look
And a tone that just mellows
She's got buttons, that you can press
Still got her makers' address
And she'll groan with a heave of her bellows
And I suspect that she once had a lover
A lover that made her give in
And he's unaware that he's left her suspended
Like a chord in a ballad that won't ever begin
She wasn't put on this world to be happy
She wasn't put on this world to be with you
She wasn't put here to find out the hard way
The permanent harm that a song can do
She wasn't put on this world to be happy
She wasn't put on this world to be with you
She wasn't put here to find out the hard way
Just how cold some keys can feel
Just how cold in your hand some keys can feel
You might not get this one, cos of not having any kids. Then again, what am I saying? You have parents, that's enough. Personally I think it should be drummed into every parent's skull:
Your children
Are not your children
They are the sons and the daughters
Of life's longing for itself.
They come through you
But they are not from you
And though they are with you
They belong not to you.
You can house their bodies
But not their souls
For their souls dwell in a place
Of tomorrow
Which you can not visit
Not even in your dreams
You can strive to be like them
But you can not make them just like you.
Strive to be like them
But you can not make them just like you.
The version I have is acapella, by Sweet Honey in the Rock (US all-female gospel group), but I believe the lyrics are from an old poem, by anonymous.
There's also this, from Peace In the Valley by the Alabama 3, but again I think it's not original to them. Indeed I suspect it was originally spouted by the Reverend Jim Jones, the one who started a cult and then got them all to kill themselves in Guyana with poisoned Kool-Aid... scary.
But anything by the Alabama 3 tends to be both scary and genius.
“For whatever reason you refuse to feel this space we’re in. To know its insanity, really know it. Whatever your particular anaesthetic is, that you hold onto so desperately. The thing I mean that makes you think you know who you are. Whatever that thing is, you allow to keep you sane. Your ace in the hole. The psyche that keeps you from trying to guess at what your pimp has in store for you. Whatever keeps you from screaming out at this very moment in absolute and sheer horror, whatever you fuck your brain with, whatever that is, whatever that is... it’s a lie. It’s a lie!”
I missed a bit.
You can give them your love
But not your thoughts
They have their own thoughts.
You can house their bodies
But not their souls...
Have you heard Eric Bogle's song "Rosie"?
I wrote this song for Rosie, songs are all I have to give
I've no pocket full of miracles, no magic wand to wave
Perhaps love itself is a miracle and faith a magic wand
And these two will give Rosie the best life that they can
She may not walk like she should do
She may not talk like she ought to
Sometimes the anger and the pain show through in her frustrated cries
But when she smiles at me, I can see
The little girl that lives in Rosie's eyes
A tough road ahead for Rosie, blind corners everywhere
Samaritans and strangers who'll whisper, point and stare
And some of them will understand, some of them will not
On her brave and lonely journey she'll need all the strength she's got
She may not walk like she should do
She may not talk like she ought to
Sometimes the anger and the pain show through in her frustrated cries
But when she smiles at me, I can see
The little girl that lives in Rosie's eyes
I once knew a barren, crippled man who stood strong and straight and tall
A bitter, heartless, loveless man with no pity and no soul
But because his limbs were strong and clean no one turned aside their face
He was a perfect shining mirror to a perfect human race
She may not walk like she should do
She may not talk like she ought to
Sometimes the anger and the pain show through in her frustrated cries
But when she smiles at me, I can see
The little girl that lives in Rosie's eyes
The Likes Of You And Me by my favorite band ever, Songdog
I'm on a frosty bench, reading the obituaries, there's the heart of a ghost beating in me,
A woman sits down at the other end, I said "Move along, lady, I don't need a new friend".
" You're such a prick," she says and I know what she means.
Her iPod's playing that old hit by the Nashville Teens. I said "But sometimes people change".
"Not us," she said, " the likes of you and me. It's like we're damned," she said. I said "Could be".
So we're sweating in her bath over a salon somewhere and I'm watching her body as she's towelling her hair,
She said she'd been to the cop-shop on St Anselm's Row to report herself missing a long time ago,
She said "I'll see other men, you got a problem with that?"
I tore away the towel and we made love on the mat. I said "Maybe we'll fall in love?".
"Not us," she said, "not you and me. It's different for us," she said," don't you agree?"
So we'd break into office-blocks late at night and just float round the rooms by computer light,
Just goofing around, we'd never steal shit. My eyes grow all watery now just thinking 'bout it.
They bulldozed most of the places we'd gone. My calendar still shows the month she moved on.
I said "Maybe we'll meet again?"
"Not us," she said, "not you and me. For us it just don't happen like that, no siree".
"Not us," she said, "the likes of you and me. It's different for us," she said, "always will be".
Foo Fighters "Walking After You"
Looking out the door
I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners
Parading in a wake of sad relations
As their shoes fill up with water
Maybe I'm too young
To keep good love from going wrong
But tonight, you're on my mind so
You never know
Broken down and hungry for your love
With no way to feed it
Where are you tonight?
Child, you know how much I need it.
Too young to hold on
And too old to just break free and run
Sometimes a man gets carried away,
When he feels like he should be having his fun
Much too blind to see the damage he's done
Sometimes a man must awake to find that, really,
He has no-one...
So I'll wait for you... And I'll burn
Will I ever see your sweet return?
Oh, will I ever learn?
Oh, Lover, you should've come over
Cause it's not too late.
Lonely is the room the bed is made
The open window lets the rain in
Burning in the corner is the only one
Who dreams he had you with him
My body turns and yearns for a sleep
That won't ever come
It's never over,
My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder
It's never over,
all my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her...
It's never over,
All my blood for the sweetness of her laughter...
It's never over,
She's a tear that hangs inside my soul forever...
But maybe I'm just too young to keep good love
From going wrong
Oh... lover you should've come over...
Yes, and I feel too young to hold on
I'm much too old to break free and run
Too deaf, dumb, and blind
To see the damage I've done
Sweet lover, you should've come over
Oh, love, well I'll wait for you
Lover, you should've come over
'Cause it's not too late.
Vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
Listen to me
Just hear me out
If I could have your attention
Just quieten down for a voice in the crowd
I get so confused and I don't understand
I know you feel the same way you've always wanted to say
But you don't get the chance
Just a voice in the crowd
I don't know the score anymore
It's not clear anymore
I can't tell right from wrong anymore
I just don't understand
I was sitting here thinking of exchanging a new world for old
Like changing the channels on TV
Or the dirt that we stand in to gold
When I was young
My father told me just bad guys die
At the time just a little white lie
It was one of the first but it hurt me the most
And the truth stung like tears in my eyes
That even the good guys must die
There's no reasoning no crimes and I never knew why
Even now it still makes me cry
If there's somebody up there, could they throw me down a line
Just a little helping hand, just a little understanding
Just some answers to the questions that surround me now
If there's somebody up there, could they throw me down a line
Just a little guiding light to tell wrong from right
Just some answers to the questions that I'm asking you
I keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
Where nothing here is ever what it seems
You stand so close but you never understand it
For all that we see is not all that it seems, am I blind?
And you sit there and talk revolution
But can you tell me just who's in command?
When you tell me the forces we're fighting
Then I'll join you and gladly make plans
But for now only our t-shirts cry freedom
And our voices are gagged by our greed
Our minds are harnessed by knowledge
By the hill and the will to succeed
And if that's not what you believe
Would you just let me know
I'm not standing alone
That I'm not just a voice in the crowd
If there's somebody up there, could they throw me down a line
Just a little helping hand, just a little understanding
Just some answers to the questions that I'm asking you
If there's somebody up there, just throw me down a line
Just a little guiding light to tell wrong from right
Just some answers to the questions that I'm asking you
I'll keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
Where nothing is exactly how it seems
You're reaching out, you're so close you can touch it
But it all disappears when it's always so near
But one day we will find that we stand in the light
Until then I'll keep a vigil in a wilderness of mirrors
Nothing here is ever what it seems
I'm scared to shout in case I draw attention from the powers
That preside over our minds and our lives
When they find what I want is the deadliest weapon, that istruth
Day by day it's getting louder
And day by day it's getting stronger
But when I can't scream no more and I need reassurance,
I listen to the crowd
I hope no one's mentioned this one yet. I See A Darkness by Bonnie "Prince" Billy. Perfect song.
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