The debut of The Weekend Music Thread kicks off with a focus on songs with your favorite lyrics. The songs you can’t help but sing along with, the songs that talk to who you are or how you feel, the songs that have the most insightful, romantic or poignant poetry.
I’m going old school with my picks and I can’t help but begin with one of my all time favorites, I’m sure regulars can already guess the artists but let me begin by posting the first set of lyrics:
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the wayTired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gunAnd you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to deathEvery year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say
Time – Pink Floyd
“There must be some way out of here” said the joker to the thief
“There’s too much confusion”, I can’t get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.“No reason to get excited”, the thief he kindly spoke
“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late”.All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
All Along the Watchtower – Bob Dylan
My child arrived just the other day,
He came through the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking ‘fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He’d say, “I’m gonna be like you, dad.
You know I’m gonna be like you.”And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you coming home, dad?” “I don’t know when,
But we’ll get together then.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, “Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let’s play.
Can you teach me to throw?” I said, “Not today,
I got a lot to do.” He said, “That’s ok.”
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,and
Said, “I’m gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I’m gonna be like him.”And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you coming home, dad?” “I don’t know when,
But we’ll get together then.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
“Son, I’m proud of you. Can you sit for a while?”
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
“What I’d really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?”And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you coming home, son?” “I don’t know when,
But we’ll get together then, dad.
You know we’ll have a good time then.”I’ve long since retired and my son’s moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, “I’d like to see you if you don’t mind.”
He said, “I’d love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job’s a hassle, and the kid’s have the flu,
But it’s sure nice talking to you, dad.
It’s been sure nice talking to you.”
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He’d grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man on the moon.
“When you coming home, son?” “I don’t know when,
But we’ll get together then, dad.
you know we’ll have a good time then.
Cats in the Cradle – Harry Chapin
I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
HallelujahYour faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the HallelujahBaby I have been here before
I know this room, I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, HallelujahThere was a time you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in with you
The holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, HallelujahMaybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, HallelujahYou say I took the name in vain
I don’t even know the name
But if I did, well really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light in every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, HallelujahI did my best, it wasn’t much
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you
And even though it all went wrong
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen
Now it’s your turn to share the songs that speak to you or for you.
Gitane Demone – Living on Velvet
I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president…
Carter Power will soon go away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school
Your kids will meditate in school!
[Chorus:]
California Uber Alles
California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California
Uber Alles California
Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face
Close your eyes, can’t happen here
Big Bro’ on white horse is near
The hippies won’t come back you say
Mellow out or you will pay
Mellow out or you will pay!
[Chorus]
Now it is 1984
Knock-knock at your front door
It’s the suede/denim secret police
They have come for your uncool niece
Come quietly to the camp
You’d look nice as a drawstring lamp
Don’t you worry, it’s only a shower
For your clothes here’s a pretty flower.
DIE on organic poison gas
Serpent’s egg’s already hatched
You will croak, you little clown
When you mess with President Brown
When you mess with President Brown
[img]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KTsXHXMkJA[/img][img]
This song captures the gang I grew up with perfectly.
Tenacious D – The Government Totally Sucks
The government totally sucks
You motherfucker
The government totally sucks
Ben Franklin was a rebel indeed
He liked to get naked while he smoked on the weed
He was a genius but if he was here today
The government would fuck him up his righteous aayyy
Now let me tell you something about the government (uh huh)
They’re fucking up the environment (say what?)
They’re taking all the fucking beautiful animals (yeah?)
And making them fucking extinct (oh no!)
The government totally sucks
You motherfucker
The government totally sucks
The government totally sucks
Cos the land of love and freedom,
Is just a baby’s breath away
And if we hold hands together
We can bring back the USA
The USAAAAAA YEAAHHH
Bring back the USAAAA YEAAHH
The fucking USAAAA YEAHHHH
Bring back the US….
Government totally sucks!
Don McClean’s “Vincent(Starry Starry Night)”
Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer’s day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they’ll listen now.
Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand.
Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they’ll listen now.
For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.
Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless head on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget.
Like the strangers that you’ve met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they’re not listening still.
Perhaps they never will…
(‘Lyrics, with a smattering of van Gogh’s transcendent and splendid works 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk&feature=related
[img]http://students.cis.uab.edu/archived/reenap/Starry_Night.jpg[/img]
Nice Glenmore. I have a print of Starry Night in my living room. Also Cafe de Nuit. Van Gogh is my favorite painter.
Hi KT! van Gogh’s works, as they say, ‘speak to me’! His fusion of form and content is amazingly powerful, dramatic, rhythmic, imaginative, and emotional.
His was a breathtaking passion of the artist who was completely absorbed in the effort to explain either his struggle against madness or his comprehension of the spiritual essence of man and nature. In either case, his legacy is remarkable and remarkably moving.
I have seen several exhibits of his work in my life, and each time I am moved more than the last time…and I always lingered so long at each piece my family would invariably begin to give me the ‘eye’ to come along. 😉
Van Gogh is proof that being paid is not a test for a master of his craft. He only sold one painting, if I recall correctly. I think he got 400 Francs from a French women.
I would love to see the real paintings and not just prints. Maybe sometime in the future, I can go to Holland and visit the Van Gogh museum.
Yep! No doubt.
One of the best pieces of modern poetry out there.
Sympathy For The Devil;
Please allow me to introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
Ive been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
cause Im in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, whats my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, whats my name
I tell you one time, youre to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Whats me name
Tell me, baby, whats my name
Tell me, sweetie, whats my name
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Heaven is in your mind ~ Traffic
You ride on the swing in and out of the bars
Capturing moments of life in a jar
Playing with children, acting as stars
Guiding your visions to heaven and heaven is in your mind
Take extra care not to lose what you feel
The apple you’re eating is simple and real
Water the flowers that grow at your heel
Guiding your visions to heaven and heaven is in your mind
httpsh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoNtj27a6Rk&feature=related
What’s is all about Alfie?
Is it just for the moment we live?
What’s it all about when you sort it our, Alfie?
Are we meant to take more then we give
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if only fools are kind, Alfie,
Then I guess it is wise to be cruel.
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie,
What will you lend on and old golden rule?
As sure as I believe there’s a heaven above, Alfie,
I know there’s something much more,
Something even non-believers
can believe in.
I believe in love, Alfie.
Without true love we just exist, Alfie,
Until you find the love you’ve missed you’re nothing, Alfie.
When you walk let your heart lead the way
And you’ll find love any day, Alfie, Alfie.
Dead Can Dance – Enigma of the Absolute
Dead Can Dance – Xavier
Khirad: I simply read these. I haven’t even watched or listened so that I could single task and enjoy the poetry.
And fine, fine poetry it turns out to be!
Thanks! A great entry! (No. Two great entries!)
It’s my favorite group, all pretentious and literary and stuff.
Bowie has had more than a few too!
Letter to Hermione ~ David Bowie
The hand that wrote this letter sweeps the pillow clean
So rest your head and dream a treasured dream
I care for no one else but you. I tear my soul to cease the pain
I think maybe you feel the same
What can we do?
I’m not quite sure what we’re supposed to do
So I’ve been writing just for you
They say your life is going very well
They say you sparkle like a different girl
But something tells me that you hide
When all the world is warm and tired
You cry a little in the dark
Well so do I
I’m not quite sure what you’re supposed to say
But I can see it’s not okay
He makes you laugh. He brings you out in style.
He treats you well and makes you up real fine.
And when he’s strong, he’s strong for you.
And when you kiss it’s something new
But did you ever call my name just by mistake?
I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to do.
So I’ll just write some love to you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC0RSXOemQs
8 Line Poem ~ David Bowie
The tactful cactus by your window
Surveys the prairie of your room
The mobile spins to its collision
Clara puts her head between her paws
They’ve opened shops down West side
Will all the cacti find a home
But the key to the city
Is in the sun that pins the branches to the sky
The Doors–Alabama Song;
Oh show me the way
To the next whiskey bar
Oh, don’t ask why
Oh, don’t ask why
Show me the way
To the next whiskey bar
Oh, don’t ask why
Oh, don’t ask why
For if we don’t find
The next whiskey bar
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you, I tell you
I tell you we must die
Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We’ve lost our good old mama
And must have whiskey, oh, you know why
Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We’ve lost our good old mama
And must have whiskey, oh, you know why
Well, show me the way
To the next little girl
Oh, don’t ask why
Oh, don’t ask why
Show me the way
To the next little girl
Oh, don’t ask why
Oh, don’t ask why
For if we don’t find
The next little girl
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you, I tell you
I tell you we must die
Oh, moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We’ve lost our good old mama
And must have whiskey, oh, you know why
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJLlIYAKsLs
I only know the Brecht reference because of liner notes (one of the true losses with MP3s, though I’m no troglodyte). 🙂
Great find K.
Van the Man–Into The Mystic;
We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when the fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don’t have to fear it
And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And magnificently we will flow into the mystic
When that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home
And when that fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it
I don’t have to fear it
And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will flow into the mystic
Come on girl…
Dead Can Dance – How Fortunate the Man With None
(words by Bertolt Brecht)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJm3PLi9o-A
Gotta love Berthold Brecht.
Killgore–You’ll need some psilocybin wine for this–LOVE these lyrics.
Bless you chase. This song is the ultimate relaxer. Life as it is, if you choose to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg73MRomwSA
Chase reminded me of the special songs the Byrds have done/ Turn Turn Turn
Harry Nilsson–Think About Your troubles;