Mr. UncleRaveDave (URD) to all who know and love him recently said “So, LD, here’s a thought for a new Discussion: your favourite lyrics, and why ? I’m sure that, like me, everyone has some lyrics that mean something special to them, or that just somehow keep cropping up on their own mental Soundtrack To Life … ?”. A grand idea my friend
URD highlights the following from Floyd (Southampton Dock) as one of his favs
“… but now
she stands upon Southampton dock
with her handkerchief
and her summer frock clings
to her wet body in the rain …”
The reason – Any political and contextual allusions aside, I find the imagery incredibly poignant, romantic (as in emotional and sentimental), melancholic, yada yada yada. Maybe it has something to do with being able to relate to the many, MANY, times that the Aunty (Mrs URD) had to watch me sail off into the sunset, or wait for my ship to come alongside (often, yes, in the cold and wet).
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Me – I like songs to tell stories, to paint pictures or to use words that simply jump out the speakers – like Nick Cave does with “Into My Arms”. Just love the way he has used some quite unusual words and phrases to demonstrate his feelings.
I don’t believe in an interventionist God
But I know, darling, that you do
But if I did I would kneel down and ask Him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Not to touch a hair on your head
To leave you as you are
And if He felt He had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
And I don’t believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you I wonder if that’s true
But if I did I would summon them together
And ask them to watch over you
To each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk, like Christ, in grace and love
And guide you into my arms
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
And I believe in Love
And I know that you do too
And I believe in some kind of path
That we can walk down, me and you
So keep your candle burning
And make her journey bright and pure
That she will keep returning
Always and evermore
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms, O Lord
Into my arms
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So…what lyrics do it for you, and why
Hurricane by Bob Dylan – written after the false imprisonment of the boxer Rubin Carter. The splendid lyrics are below…. One reviewer called it a ‘movie in 8 minutes’. I know what he means.
Pistols shots ring out in the bar room night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out “My God they killed them all”
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Three bodies lying there does Patty see
And another man named Bello moving around mysteriously
“I didn’t do it” he says and he throws up his hands
“I was only robbing the register I hope you understand
I saw them leaving” he says and he stops
“One of us had better call up the cops”
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashing
In the hot New Jersey night.
Meanwhile far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Patterson that’s just the way things go
If you’re black you might as well not shown up on the street
‘Less you wanna draw the heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the corps
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowling around
He said “I saw two men running out they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates”
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
Cop said “Wait a minute boys this one’s not dead”
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men.
Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
Says “Wha’d you bring him in here for ? He ain’t the guy !”
Yes here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Four months later the ghettos are in flame
Rubin’s in South America fighting for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley’s still in the robbery game
And the cops are putting the screws to him looking for somebody to blame
“Remember that murder that happened in a bar ?”
“Remember you said you saw the getaway car?”
“You think you’d like to play ball with the law ?”
“Think it might-a been that fighter you saw running that night ?”
“Don’t forget that you are white”.
Arthur Dexter Bradley said “I’m really not sure”
Cops said “A boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we’re talking to your friend Bello
Now you don’t wanta have to go back to jail be a nice fellow
You’ll be doing society a favor
That sonofabitch is brave and getting braver
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain’t no Gentleman Jim”.
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
It’s my work he’d say and I do it for pay
And when it’s over I’d just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.
All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin’s witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The DA said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder ‘one’ guess who testified
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers they all went along for the ride
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool’s hand ?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell
That’s the story of the Hurricane
But it won’t be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he’s done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
The first thing that popped into my head was Je voulais te dire que je t’attends because it’s such a simple love song beautifully told. I wanted to link to the Manhattan Transfer version but can’t find it anywhere on YouTube so this recording by Michel Jonasz will have to do. It’s miles better than the creepy Jonatan Cerrada video…
Am delighted/disturbed to find that I can remember every single word from start to finish without looking up the lyrics – my little brother will shudder in horror remembering his teen years when he had to endure this song being played over and over and over again on the old blue record player in my room. Sorry dear.
Wait! Found the Laurel Massé/Manhattan Transfer version.
There are some really bad autotranslations out there so I’ve made a note to do a proper translation of it some time over the next month or so. Seems a shame that such a beautiful lyric is only available in French.
Other contenders:
For cheering me up every time I hear it:
Charles Trenet – Boum!
Malvina Reynolds – Little Boxes
Velvet Underground – I’m sticking with you
Oh! Just remembered Patricia the Striper by Chris de Burgh. Yeah I know, very uncool but it’s a great story! In fact – I loved the whole Spanish Train & Other Stories album. So there.
These lyrics are from another favourite and very apt for this thread
The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path
The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon
The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me ’till I’m sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There’s someone in my head but it’s not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon
“I can’t think of anything to say except…
I think it’s marvellous! HaHaHa!”
i realy had to think about this one and i have to say there is only one sone for me that allways lifts my soul when im feeling down the lyrics are perfect
it has to be Three Little Birds Bob Marley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIjkW6iyXNo
Me? I like a song that tells a story as much as the next guy. But that story has to be interesting and if it can teach me something so much the better. Now, being a spacepig and all that, you may be surprised to discover that one of my main areas of interest is history of the human sort. As you all know, I like my music to be somewhat out there. But just occasionally I do like to sit down and get told a good old yarn of the olden days.
And in my own humble opinion, there is no better band at this than Fairport Convention. So many of their songs have sent me scurrying off to the history books to find out just exactly what they were getting at, then I usually find that they have managed to tell the story better than any history book could manage it.
It’s not that easy to pick just one song that demonstrates what I am waffling about, so I have chosen two. The first one really kick started my interest in the English Civil War:
Red and Gold:
Red and Gold are royal colours.
Peasant colours are green and brown.
Green is the corn in the brown earth when it’s growing,
Red and gold when the harvest is cut down.
Through Cropredy in Oxfordshire the Cherwell takes its course
And the willows weep into its waters clear.
My name it is Will Tims and it’s here that I was born
And raised in faith my King and God to fear.
In 1644 the King in Oxford Town did dwell,
Though we’d heard that Cromwell’s army was nearby.
It did not occur to me that little Cropredy
Could be witness to the meeting of both sides.
On June the 29th that year I was about my work,
Cutting hedges in the meadow by the stream.
My blade slipped. I cut my hand, and my own dear blood did flow
Upon the brown earth and the corn still green.
Now it did distress me so to watch my own blood flow
And quickly soak into the greedy ground.
In red and gold my colours swam and sweat broke on my brow
And faint I knew that I must lay me down.
At first I thought the thundering was just inside my head,
So I raised myself above the hedge to see,
And I watched as in a dream as the armies fought downstream
The Battle for the Bridge at Cropredy.
Now the King’s men fought in red and gold though Cromwell’s men were plainer.
The blood they spilled was coloured just the same.
Through the hedgerow’s fragile cover, I saw brother killing brother,
And all of this was done in Jesus’ name.
All that day and all the next the battle it was raging,
Though when darkness came I slipped away;
But the crying of the dying kept me wakeful and just lying
In my bed until the dawning of the day.
And the dreams I had were red and gold,
And the little stream became a flood,
From all my brothers killing one another,
Till waking I realised it was all my own dear blood.
Some were buried in the church and some just where they fell,
With no markers to declare their place of rest;
But the poppies they do grow where they were never sown,
And to my mind, they do declare it best.
And each year when the green corn once again turns into gold,
And the poppies in the field again remind me,
Like the scar upon my hand and the blood spilled on this land,
And the hungry earth so eager to confine me.
For read and gold they are the colours:
One is blood and one is power.
Though I may find my rest in Cropredy Church,
In golden fields forever will spring the poppy flower.
By Cropredy the Cherwell is still bidden to keep flowing,
And the willows by its side still gently weep;
But still in restless dreams by this most peaceful stream,
The poppies wake me from my rightful sleep.
And the dreams I have are red and gold,
And the little stream becomes a flood,
From all my brothers killing one another,
Till waking I realise it’s all my own dear blood.
The Cropredy in the song is a tiny village where Fairport hold their annual festival. It’s only when you are there that the deep history of the place really sinks in and this song really does bring it all home.
When I first heard the next song, I got the mistaken impression that this was Fairport somehow boasting about the past exploits of the British Empire. It was only when I really listened to the lyrics that I realised that this isn’t the case at all. In fact it is a total piss take:
Jewel In The Crown
We are a proud land, we stand for freedom
we’ve got the franchise, on how to lead them
we’ve got the history, and books to prove it
give us the mountain, and we will move it
we rule the waves, and, the seven seas, we
bring the mighty, to their knees
we offer hope, and inspiration
a fine example, to lesser nations
we are Britannia, jewel in the crown
we brought a system, to the masses
divide a nation, into classes
it’s in our breeding, and on our faces,
at least we’re all born, knowing our places
we stay within our, social borders
we only take what, our class affords us
it doesn’t matter, that it’s not even
this is the nature, of the demon
we are Britannia, jewel in the crown
we are Britannia
we crowned an empire
we came and conquered
we tore their borders down
we need no conscience
god is on our side
we are Britannia
jewel in the crown
we are your friendly, liberators
we’ll free you countries, from your dictators
for a small slice, of your oil wells
we’ll send our boys in, with their bombshells
we are a refuge, for the needy
always caring, never greedy
whatever gesture, could be finer
we’ve given Hong Kong, back to China
we are Britannia, jewel in the crown
As far as I know, both songs were written by or with one of the greatest ever song-writers, Ralph McTell. If you don’t know airport Convention or even if you don’t know these songs, just let me know and I will see what I can do for you.
Al Stewart-Roads To Moscow
An epic anti war song,told by a Russian soldier, on the eastern front in WW2
Powerful stuff!
On You Tube.
Powerful stuff indeed Cheezy. First time I have heard this song and it really sends shivers down the spine doesn’t it. I don’t really know much more of Al Stewart other than Year of the Cat, looks like I might have to dig a bit deeper.
As far as antiwar songs go, I had thought that Marillion’s Forgotten Sons took some beating, I may have to have a re-think.
As I was writing my post for the Fairport ones earlier, I had put on some of their CD’s just to get in the mood, and because I hadn’t listened to them for ages. Then, once I was finished, Wat Tyler came on and I thought, curses, I should have listed that one too. That was quite possibly the first Fairport track I really got to grips with. Looks like I am going to have to do a post on them sometime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HApy-Xoix-g&feature=related
Richard Thompson-Beeswing
lovely.
You’ve probably all realised by now that spacepiggy never done that last post there. We’re really going to have to explain to her that she should log out when she’s finished aren’t we?
Thanks Cheezy for reminding us of Richard Thompson – I’m looking forward to his new album http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dream-Attic-Deluxe-Richard-Thompson/dp/B003R7JOJ6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1281689172&sr=1-1 apparently recorded live
Hi Spacey – great lyrics from Fairport Convention – yes please to a post on these. I have one of their tracks ‘You Never Wanted Me’ on our BBC Two mix which should be with on the Sunday (15th). But grateful for any other gems you have.
Hi Bert – you are so right about 3 Little Birds – perfect pick me up lyrics. Need that at moment as my son has just left home to go back to Uni in UK plus my other pups are away from home at moment and all are being missed.
Hi Techy – please explain HaHaHa why a song with the word lunatic HaHaHa is apt for this thread?
Was listening to Dark Side of Moon at 1:00am this morning in middle of desert watching meteorite showers – nice
Ahh – purely because this thread is called ‘Your Own Mental Soundtrack To Life..’ twas just a play on words….
I reckon that album could’ve been made for moments like your desert meteor shower. If you took photos, it could be a great artwork cover for one of your next threads…
LD you were so lucky to see the metior shower i had cloud cover the whole night GRRRR!
Hi Bert – it was a good night and Techy is right Dark Side of Moon is made for nights like that. Even my wife was chilling out to it.
For clarity the ‘HaHaHa….’ quote at the end of the song is actually one of the several spoken samples from the album, which were recordings of various staff working around the recording studio when the album was being made…….
Here’s a question to all.
How important are lyrics to you?
I’ve just finished a first draft of Septembers Mix and I have included 6 instrumental songs with even my album of the month being an album where all the songs are instrumentals. These songs are good good songs that are no worse off for not having any lyrics – in fact in a strange way their better as one can lose oneself in the music.
So….. what do you think?
I’ve always believed that good music is good music. Sometimes no lyrics are required, as the instrumentation is such a pleasure to listen to on its own, but on other occasions, the lyrics make the song.
Examples?
- The Journey Of The Sorcerer By The Eagles – entirely instrumental composition which just build and builds. Was going to play it on the last show, but ran out of time…
- Nothing Compares 2U By Sinead O’Connor – a pretty enough song, but her voice is so incredibly powerful and so effortless, that it makes it something of beauty.
(Is this where I get a barrage of abuse for liking Sinead O’Connor?)
Here are a few lines that i like.
The Who-Quadrophenia- I’ve Had Enough
you were under the impression
that when you were walking fowards
you’d end up further onward
but things ain’t quite that simple
Nick Drake-Pink Moon-Things Behind The Sun
look around you find the ground
is not so far from where you are
don’t be too wise
Beth Nielson Chapman-Deeper Still-Every December Sky
every december sky must lose it’s faith in leaves
and dream of the spring inside the trees
how heavy the empty heart
how light the heart that’s full
Mr D, many bands are very good at producing songs without lyrics: think Tangerine Dream, Cluster, Ozric Tentacles, Siena Root, John McLaughlin, the artists that spacepiggy mentioned in her piano rant, why not also include Miles Davis in that list.
But and this is a big but, these bands/performers are all true artists. They somehow manage to get their meaning and feelings across in their music.
Now, I don’t know what bands you are thinking of with your September Mix, but I would really hope (and I do trust in your judgment) that whatever it is, it’s up to the standard of the aforementioned bands.
Techy: No stone throwing from me, she really does have a unique voice. I have to concede that I don’t like all her output, but when she’s good, ooh, sends shivers down the spine.
Don’t know The Eagles one, not in a great hurry to find it.
Spacey – did you ever see ‘The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’? The Eagles Journey Of The Sorcerer id the theme tune….
I take it we’re talking the rubbishy Hollywood remake here and not the brilliant original TV series?
Yup, I seen it. The song/tune was probably the best bit of the whole movie if I remember correctly.
Why oh why did they bother making that movie? Totally spoiled the whole concept for me that did. And I was so looking forward to it when it first came out.
Me,me, me… Haven’t commented on this one yet. Well, my favourite lyrics are actually the ones of the Doom song by Gir, it goes something like:
Doom doom doo doom doom,
doom doom do DOOM,
DOOOM doom do-doom,
DOOM do-doom doom doooom,
doom doom dooom, do-do-DOOOM!
(3 months later)
Doom doom doo doom doom,
DOOMY-DOOMY-DOOM,
doom do do DOOM,
Do do DOOM,
doomy-doomy-doomy,
Doom doom doom
My 2nd favourite are the words to Insanity by Oingo Boingo:
I’m so sorry, please forgive me
Who do I pray to to straighten out this problem?
Straighten out this problem, straighten out my mind.
Straighten out this crooked toungue…
My mind has wandered, from the straight and narrow.
My mind has wandered from the flock you see.
My mind has wandered, the man just said so.
My mind has wandered, I heard it on TV.
And the flock has wandered away from me.
-CHORUS-
All around the world now
Like a big bright cherry cloud
Traveling from home to home
TV sets and telephones
Here it comes just like a storm
Bathe in it and be reborn
Time to let the world know
Welcome madness, say hello
Like a wave we cannot see
Washing over you and me
Hiding here and hiding there
Madness hiding everywhere
Such a curiosity
Here it comes to set us free
Plenty left for you and me
Say hello insanity
I am the virus, are you the cure?
I am morally, I’m morally impure
I am a disease and I am unclean
I am not part of God’s well oiled machine
Christian nation, assimilate me
Take me in your arms and set me free
I am part of a degenerate elite
Dragging our society into the streeet
Into the abyss and to the sewer don’t you see
The man just told me, he told me on TV
Do you think you’re better than me
Do you want to kill me or befriend me
And the alchoholic bastard waved his finger at me
His voice was filled with evanglical glee
Sipping down his gin and tonics
While preaching about the evils of narcotics
And the evils of sex, and the wages of sin
While he mental fondles his next of kin
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
And the flock has wandered away from me
And he waved his hypnotizing finger at me
Let’s imitate reality
Let’s strive for mediocrity
Let’s make believe we’re all the same
Let’s sanitize our little brains
I’d love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I’d love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I’d love to hear you laugh tonight, I’d love to hear you weep
I’d love to listen to you while you’re screaming in your sleep
Christian sons, christian daughters
Lead me along like a lamb to the slaughter
Purify my brain and hose down my soul
White perfection, perfection is my goal
Do you think you’re better than me
Do you want to kill me or befriend me
Christian nation, make us alright
Put us through the filter and make us pure and white
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
And the flock has wandered away from me
Let’s talk of family falues while we sit and watch the slaughter
Hypothetical abortions on imaginary daughters
The white folks think they’re on the top ask any proud white male
A million years of evolution, we get Danny Quayle
(chorus)
I’d love to take you home with me, I’d love to tuck you in
I wish I could protect you from the wages of our sin
I’d love to hear you scream tonight, I’d love to hear you cry
Protect you from the madness that is raining from the sky
(chorus)
I’d love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I’d love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I wish that I could keep you in a precious Chinese box
On Sundays I would pray for you so it would never stop
I’d love to hear you laugh tonight, I’d love to hear you weep
I’d love to listen to you while you’re screaming in your sleep
I’d love to soothe you with my voice and take your hand in mine
I’d love to take you past the stars and out of reach of time
I’d love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart
To cut you open with a knife and find your sacred heart
I’d love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds
I’d love to mess your pretty hair, I’d love to see you dead.
More lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/o/oingo+boingo/#share
LZ, love the lyrics to Je voulais te dire que je t’attends. Never heard it before. Must say I like the lyrics much more than the song, but I’ve never been a great lover of the French language. Maybe in it’s written form (as long as it’s not passe simple deux). Love Jean-Paul Sartre. The only French kind of music I really like (apart from Gong and the likes) would be Edith Piaf and Jaques Brel, my favourite song being Padam Padam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4b8985k-4Q
No- they used a re-working of it on the original TV series…slightly trippy instrumental…..
Ah right then Tecky, I know exactly the tune you are talking about. But you say that the one they used on the TV series is a slight re-working? Just might have to go and dig out the original after all.
Been playing this song lately and just couldn’t resist posting the lyrics. Must be some of the best/simplest/kinda says it all in spades words you’re ever likely to hear.
Oh woh wohooh, ow
There she stood in the street
Smiling from her head to her feet
I said: “Hey, what is this now baby”
Maybe, maybe she’s in need of a kiss
I said: “Hey, what’s your name, baby
Maybe we can see things the same
Now don’t you wait or hesitate
Let’s move before they raise the parking rate”, ow
All right now, baby it’sa all right now
All right now, baby it’s a all right now, oh my wow
Let me tell you now, uh,
I took her home to my place
Watching every move on her face
She said: “Look, what’s your game, baby
Are you tryin’ to put in shame”
I said: “Slow, don’t go so fast
Don’t you think that love can last”
She said: “Love, Lord above, eh
Now you’re tryin’ to trick me in love”, ow
All right now, baby it’sa all right now
All right now, baby it’s a all right now, oh my I said
Ooh
Yeh
come on come up
Let me tell ya what is about now
Right now
Took her home yeh to my place
Watching every move on her face
She said: “Look, uh what’s your name, baby
Are you tryin’ t`put me in shame”
I said: “Slow, don’t go so fast
Don’t you think that love can last”
She said: “Love, Lord above,
Now you’re tryin’ to trick me in love”, ow
All right now, baby it’sa all right now yeh
All right now, baby it’s a all right now,
All right now, baby it’s a all right (now), yeah
All right now (baby it’s all right now) baby baby baby, it’s all right
All (right now), yeh
It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right, yeah,
All right now, baby it’s a all right now
Yeah, we’re so happy together, ow
(Baby Baby Baby it’s all right
It’s all right, now yeah alright
One word LD – classic.
I loooove this track. Still goes down really well at parties too. Free – what a band.