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Jeffrey S. Lange
Intermediate Member
Username: runatyr

Post Number: 523
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 1:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Hi all! Another opportunity to contribute your favorites for others to enjoy, if you care to. :-)

I had a Jim Croce song in my head, and I kept thinking about what a wonderful poet he was. Of course music and poetry have a long shared history, and songs lyrics, for better or worse, are poetry. Let's just list the "better" though. ;)

Who are your favorite songwriters?

Here's my favorite Jim Croce song... one of his most well-known. :-) I couldn't find a clean copy of the lyrics online, so I made these up myself listening to the song and working with what I could find.

It's interesting to note that good lyrics stand on their own as good poems, but they're still very different... not simply as a result of the repeated chorus many song have, but the way the music is so much a part of the song. There's no way to show that on the page, of course. If I had never seen this song and it showed in Biofeedback, I might nit about "just" being in two consecutive lines... but it works "just" fine in the song. ;)

Anyway, here it is. Definitely one of my all-time favorite songs.

Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)

Operator - well could you help me place this call?
See the number on the matchbook is old and faded.
She's living in L.A.
With my best old ex-friend Ray.
The guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated.

Isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that.
And give me the number if you can find it,
So I can call, just to tell 'em I'm fine,
And to show
I've overcome the blow,
I've learned to take it well,
I only wish my words
Could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real.
But that's not the way it feels.

Operator - well could you help me place this call?
'Cause I can't read the number that you just gave me.
There's something in my eyes;
You know it happens every time
I think about a love
That I thought would save me.

Isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that.
And give me the number if you can find it,
So I can call, just to tell 'em I'm fine,
And to show
I've overcome the blow,
I've learned to take it well,
I only wish my words
Could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real.
But that's not the way it feels.

No, no no no.
That's not the way it feels...

Operator - Oh, let's forget about this call.
There's no one there I really wanted to talk to.
Thank you for your time.
Ah, you've been so much more than kind -
And you can keep the dime.

Isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that.
And give me the number if you can find it,
So I can call, just to tell 'em I'm fine,
And to show
I've overcome the blow,
I've learned to take it well,
I only wish my words
Could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real.
But that's not the way it feels.
"I had a lover's quarrel with the world." ~Robert Frost
penny
Advanced Member
Username: funnyoldlady

Post Number: 2363
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 2:36 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

I believe this is true for all kinds of art...


Flowers are Red
by Harry Chapin

The little boy went first day of school
He got some crayons and started to draw
He put colors all over the paper
For colors was what he saw
And the teacher said.. What you doin' young man
I'm paintin' flowers he said
She said... It's not the time for art young man
And anyway flowers are green and red
There's a time for everything young man
And a way it should be done
You've got to show concern for everyone else
For you're not the only one

And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one

Well the teacher said.. You're sassy
There's ways that things should be
And you'll paint flowers the way they are
So repeat after me.....

And she said...
Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen

But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun
So many colors in the flower and I see every one

The teacher put him in a corner
She said.. It's for your own good..
And you won't come out 'til you get it right
And are responding like you should
Well finally he got lonely
Frightened thoughts filled his head
And he went up to the teacher
And this is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen

Time went by like it always does
And they moved to another town
And the little boy went to another school
And this is what he found
The teacher there was smilin'
She said...Painting should be fun
And there are so many colors in a flower
So let's use every one

But that little boy painted flowers
In neat rows of green and red
And when the teacher asked him why
This is what he said.. and he said

Flowers are red, green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than the way they always have been seen.
Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain.

Jeffrey S. Lange
Intermediate Member
Username: runatyr

Post Number: 524
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 3:01 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Oh, I like that Penny... and I like Chapin, but I have to admit I don't know much of his stuff. I'll have to find that and listen to it. :-)

~Jeff
"I had a lover's quarrel with the world." ~Robert Frost
~M~
Board Administrator
Username: mjm

Post Number: 9324
Registered: 11-1998
Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 5:16 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

You dare to ask a woman with nearly 2,000 pieces of vinyl (yeah, record albums -- anybody remember those?) and almost as many CDs to name a favorite songwriter? Pardon me while I run around in circles till I pass out. *LOL*

I have dozens of favorites, but as a chronicler of her age and a poet in her own right, there are few that can match the power of Joni Mitchell.

Here are a few of her most famous songs/poems for any remaining hippies still alive out there. Peace, baby.

Love,
M

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

Big Yellow Taxi

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that D.D.T. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last night
I heard a screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

~*~

Woodstock

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, where are you going
And this he told me
I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm
I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land
And try an' get my soul free
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who I am
But life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation
We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

~*~

California

Sitting in a park in Paris, France
Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They won't give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had
Still a lot of lands to see
But I wouldn't want to stay here
It's too old and cold and settled in its ways here
Oh, but California
California I'm coming home
I'm going to see the folks I dig
I'll even kiss a Sunset pig
California I'm coming home

I met a redneck on a Grecian isle
Who did the goat dance very well
He gave me back my smile
But he kept my camera to sell
Oh, the rogue, the red red rogue
He cooked good omelets and stews
And I might have stayed on with him there
But my heart cried out for you, California
California I'm coming home
Oh make me feel good rock 'n' roll band
I'm your biggest fan
California I'm coming home

Oh, it gets so lonely
When you're walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
Just gives you the blues
Just gives you the blues

So I bought me a ticket
I caught a plane to Spain
Went to a party down a red dirt road
There were lots of pretty people there
Reading Rolling Stone, reading Vogue
They said, "How long can you hang around?"
I said, "A week, maybe two,
Just until my skin turns brown"
Then I'm going home to California
California I'm coming home
Will you take me as a I am
Strung out on another man
California I'm coming home

Oh, it gets so lonely
When you're walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
More about the war
And the bloody changes
Oh, will you take me as I am?
Will you take me as I am?
Will you?

~*~

The Last Time I Saw Richard

The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68,
and he told me all romantics meet the same fate someday
cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe
You laugh, he said, you think you're immune,
go look at your eyes
they're full of moon
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you
all those pretty lies, pretty lies,
When you gonna realize
They're only pretty lies, just pretty lies

He put a quarter in the Wurlitzer, and he pushed
three buttons and the thing began to whirr
And a bar maid came by in fishnet stockings and a bow-tie
and she said, "Drink up now it's gettin' on time to close"
"Richard, you haven't really changed," I said
It's just that now you're romanticizing some pain
that's in your head
You got tombs in your eyes, but the songs
you punched are dreaming
Listen they talk of love so sweet
When you gonna get yourself back on your feet?
Oh, and love can be so sweet, love so sweet

Richard got married to a figure skater,
and he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator
and he drinks at home now most nights with the TV on
and all the house lights left up bright
I'm gonna blow this damn candle out,
I don't want nobody comin' over to my table
I got nothing to talk to anyone about
All good dreamers pass this way some day
Hidin' behind bottles in dark cafes
dark cafes
Only a dark cocoon before I get my gorgeous wings
And fly away
Only a phase, these dark cafe days.
Gary Blankenship
Senior Member
Username: garyb

Post Number: 10355
Registered: 07-2001
Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 6:39 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

#1 with a bullet - Roy Orbinson - a poet.

Smiles.

Gary
A River Transformed

The Dawg House

July FireWeed more War/Peace
penny
Advanced Member
Username: funnyoldlady

Post Number: 2375
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 7:10 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Jeff - Thanks for this thread! Glad you liked the Harry Chapin. My husband and I felt like he was a friend. If you don't know his work, I recommend you check it out - his work was so wonderful, I really miss him.

M- I love The Last Time I Saw Richard - and for some reason this old hippie - wanna-be who thought she knew all the oldies doesn't remember this. Thank you for introducing me - now I have to go find it!

penny (-:=
Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain.

~M~
Board Administrator
Username: mjm

Post Number: 9327
Registered: 11-1998
Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 7:20 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Dearest penny -- "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock" are from the Ladies of the Canyon album, "California" and "The Last Time I Saw Richard" are from the Blue album. Blue is classic Joni. If you only want to buy one Joni album, that's the one to get!

Love,
M
penny
Advanced Member
Username: funnyoldlady

Post Number: 2378
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 8:10 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

M -Blue is now tops on my list. I am so looking forward to hearing it. Thanks again!

penny (-:=
Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain.

Jeffrey S. Lange
Intermediate Member
Username: runatyr

Post Number: 525
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 5:02 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Someone sent me the "The Last Time I Saw Richard" mp3 recently. Inimitable. Not that people haven't tried. :-)

And I'm down with Roy, too. I don't much listen to him - my pop loves him, though, and we tend to have similar taste in music.
"I had a lover's quarrel with the world." ~Robert Frost
"A-Bear"
Senior Member
Username: dane

Post Number: 1961
Registered: 11-1998
Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 6:24 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

I'd be copping out to say I love all genres but I do believe most (but not all) song lyrics to be poetry. Case in point: as much as I dislike Rap, I believe it gets a bad rap (pun intended) in most cases. In my mind, Rap is the epitome of rhyming poetry, and some of it is pretty good.

With that said, barring the Rolling Stones, Eagles, Moody Blues, and of course, The Beatles, my current favorite musical poet is Van Morrison. I have most, if not all, of his albums, and one of my favorites is "A Night In San Francisco." If you ever have a chance to listen to the track, "It's A Man's, Man's World," I promise you won't be disappointed, regardless of any musical or poetry bias. Then again, I think Van could read from a telephone book and turn it into a poetry slam if he cared to do that. *smile* He's that good.



(applause)
Thank you.

Van spoken:
I first heard this song by Bobby Bland in '64.
Then I heard by Junior Wells thereon.
So work it out for yourself.

Van:
I know you've been hurt
By somebody else
I can tell by the way
That you carry yourself
But if you'll let me-a
Here's what I wanna do
I wanna take care of you-a

I, I loved and lost
Just the same as you
That's how I know
That's how I know
That's how I know
What you must be goin' through
But if you let me
Here what I wanna do
I wanna take care of you, yeah

Junior Wells:
You-ooo-ooo
Never have to worry
You never have to cry-i-i-i
'Cause I'll be there beside you, yeah
Ooh, darlin' dry-i-i-i-i
And dry your weepin' eyes, Lord!

Van:
So won't you say
That you'll be true
There's no doubt in my mind
What I have to do
And if you'll let me
Let me, let me, let me
Let me, let me, let me
Lean on me
Lean on me

(Instrumental & vibes)

Van: 'One time for Miss Teena Lyle, Teena Lyle'

Junior Wells:
You-ooo-oooo
May never have to worry
I said, you-ooo-hoo
Never have to cry-i-i
Ooh, never goin' back to bein'
Now-now, alone, no
I'll dry your weepin' eyes
Ooh Lord!

Won't you say
That you'll be true
I have no doubt in my mind
What I have to do
You've gotta trust me
Trust me, trust me, trust me
It's so hard to do
I wanna take care a-you

Baby, I'm driftin'
I'm driftin' (yeah)
Driftin', I'm driftin'
I'm driftin', I'm driftin'
I'm driftin', I'm driftin'
I'm driftin', I'm driftin'
I'm driftin', I'm driftin'
I'm driftin', I'm driftin'
Like a ship out on the foam-a, yeah

(Instrumental & horns)

I'm driftin', I'm driftin'
Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Like a ship out on the foam

Driftin', I'm driftin'
I'm driftin'
Tell me what time it is
What time is it?

Van and Teena Lyle:
(It's a hustlin' time)
(Baby, it's a hustlin' time)
It's hustle' time

(Yeah, hustle time)
It's a hustle time

(Baby, it's a hustlin' time)
It's hustle time!

Early in the mornin'
(It's hustlin' time)
Hustle time!
(Hustlin' time) Ooh

Junior Wells:
This world would be nothin', baby
(It's hustlin' time)
This world would be nothin', darlin'
Ah, without a woman
(Woman)
Or a girl
(Or a girl)
Without a woman
(Without a woman)
Or a girl now, baby
(Or a girl)

Without a woman
(Without a woman)
Or a girl
(Or a girl)
Without a woman
(Without a woman)
Or a girl now, baby
(Or a girl)

Oooh!
Oooh-ho-oh!
(OW!)
Oooh-ho-oh!

This world would be nothing
(Nothing babe)
This world would be nothing, baby
(Nothing baby)
Oh, I said, without a woman
(Without a woman)
Or a girl
(Or a girl)
Without a woman
(Without a woman)
Or a girl, now baby

Without a woman
(Without a woman)
Or a girl
(Or a girl)
Without a woman
(Without a woman)
Or a girl, now baby
(Or a girl, now baby)

(applause)

Mmm-mmm

(Instrumental & sax)

Van: 'Let's hear it for Candy Dulfer, Candy Dulfer'

Van and Teena Lyle:
Man made the car
Take us over the road
Man made the train
To carry the heavy load

Man made the electric lights
(Mmm-mm)
Take us outta the dark
(Take us outta the dark, now baby)
Man made the boat for the water
(For the water)
Just like Noah made the Ark

This a man's world!
Would be nothing!
Nothing!
Without a woman or a girl

(Or a girl)
Woman or a girl

(Without a woman)
(Or a girl)

Lost!
In loneliness
He's lost
In bitterness
Bitterness

Help me sing the song
Help me song the song
Help me song the song
Help me song the song
Help me song the song
Help me song the song
Help me song the song
Help me song the song

Junior Wells:
Yeah, let me tell ya
I said-a
Man made the car!
To take us out on the road
Man made the train
To carry, carry, carry, the heavy load

Man made the 'lectric light
To take us out of the dark
Man made the boat for the water
Yeah, like Noah built the Ark

Oooh-oh!
This is a man's world
But it would mean nothing, yeah
Without a woman or a girl
(Or a girl)
Without a girl

(Without a woman)
Without a woman
(Or a girl)
Oooooh!

Van:
Man think about a little-bitty baby girl
(Little baby girl)
Little baby boy
(Baby boy)
Man make them happy, yeah
'Cause man bring them toys

After man make ev'rything-a
Ev'rything he can
(Ev'rything he can)
Man make more bull shit to sell
To other man

This a man's world!
Would be nothing
Without a woman or a girl

(Or a girl)
Without a woman
(Without a woman)
(Or a girl)

He's lost!
LOST!
Lost in lonliness
(Lost in lonliness)
LOST!
In bitterness
(Lost in bitterness)

Hey

(Instrumental & keyboard solo)

Van: 'That's John Savannah'

Yeah

Don't let me breakdown!
(Let me breakdown)
Don't let me breakdown!
(Don't let me breakdown)
Don't let me breakdown!
(Don't let me breakdown)
Don't let me breakdown!
(Don't let me breakdown)

It's too late to stop now
(It's too late to stop now, baby)
It's too late to stop now
(It's too late to stop now, darlin')
It's too late to stop now
(It's too late to stop now, baby, baby, baby)

Don't let me breakdown
(Don't let me breakdown)
Don't let me breakdown, baby
(Don't let me breakdown)

Don't let me breakdown
(Don't let me breakdown)
Don't let me breakdown
(Don't let me breakdown)

Don't let me breakdown
(Don't let me breakdown)
Don't let me breakdown
(Oooh, let's don't breakdown)

Don't let me breakdown
(Oooh)
Don't let me breakdown
(Don't let me breakdown)
Don't let me breakdown
(Don't let me breakdown)
Don't let me breakdown

Announcer:
'How 'bout it for Van Morrison!'

(Breakdown)
(Breakdown)

When there's no prima donna
When there's no prima donna
When there's no prima donna
(Don't let me breakdown)
When there's no prima donna

(This world would mean nothing, baby)
When there's no prima donna
(The world would mean nothing)
When there's no prima donna
(Oooh!)

Announcer:
'How 'bout it for Van Morrison'

(Oh!)
When there's no prima donna
When there's no prima donna

I know there's some of you there
Did get healed tonight?

When there's no prima donna
When there's no prima donna

'Let 'The Man' know you got it tested tonight'

When there's no prima donna
When there's no prima donna

Did you feel the spirit in the house tonight?

When there's no prima donna
When there's no prima donna

(Hey!)

(Yeah!)

Without a woman
(Or a girl)

Announcer:
'How bout it for Mr. Brian Kennedy'

Without a woman
(Without a woman)
Or a girl
(Without a woman)

'Also Mr. 'James Blues Brown' Hooker'

Or a girl
(Without a woman)

'Mr. Georgie Fame'

'Miss Candy Dulfer'

'How 'bout this band!'

Huh?

(inaudible)

(Loud applause to end)
Will Eastland
Member
Username: dwillo

Post Number: 77
Registered: 07-2006
Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 6:43 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Most of these work better as songs than poetry alone, but, in my opinion, are about as good as lyrics get.

Under African Skies
(Paul Simon)

Joseph's face was black as night;
the pale yellow moon shone in his eyes.
His path was marked by the stars in the southern hemisphere,
and he walked his days under African skies.

This is the story of how we begin to remember;
this is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein
after the dream of falling and calling your name out.
These are the roots of rhythm, and the roots of rhythm remain.

In early memory, mission music
was ringing round my nursery door.
I said take this child, Lord, from Tucson, Arizona,
give her the wings to fly through harmony,
and she won't bother you no more.

This is the story of how we begin to remember;
this is the powerful pulsing of love in the vein
after the dream of falling and calling your name out.
These are the roots of rhythm, and the roots of rhythm remain.

Joseph's face was black as night,
and the pale yellow moon shone in his eyes.
His path was marked by the stars in the southern hemisphere,
and he walked the length of his days
under African skies

***********

Wonderful
(Van Dyke Parks-recorded by the Beach Boys)

She belongs there, left with her liberty,
never known as a non-believer;
she laughs and stays in the
wonderful.

She knew how to gather the forest when
god reached softly and moved her body--
one golden locket quite young
and loving her mother and father.

Farther down the path was a mystery
through the recess the chalk and numbers
a boy bumped into her
wonderful.

She'll return in love with her liberty,
never known as a non-believer;
she'll smile and thank god for
wonderful.

***********

Helplessly Hoping
(Crosby, Stills, and Nash)

Helplessly hoping her harlequin hovers nearby, awaiting a word.
Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit he runs,
wishing he could fly
only to trip at the sound of good-bye.

Wordlessly watching he waits by the window
and wonders
at the empty place inside.
Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams he worries;
did he hear a good-bye, or even hello?

They are 1 person;
they are too alone;
They are 3 together:
They are for each other.

Stand by the stairway you'll see something certain to tell you
confusion has its cost.
Love isn't lying, it's loose in a lady who lingers
saying she is lost
And choking on hello.




(Message edited by dwillo on January 15, 2007)
Take these dreams and lay them to rest
in a quiet room in their Sunday best.
Danielle Stokes
Intermediate Member
Username: abornpoet

Post Number: 695
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 11:28 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Dan Fogelberg - The Innocent Age

Same Old Lang Syne



Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling christmas eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And i touched her on the sleeve

She didn't recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried.

We took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totalled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn't find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

She said she'd married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would have liked to say she loved the man
But she didn't like to lie.

I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes i wasn't sure if i saw
Doubt or gratitude.

She said she saw me in the record stores
And that i must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly
But the traveling was hell.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence
Another 'auld lang syne'...

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as i got out
And i watched her drive away.

Just for a moment i was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as i turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain --

(Message edited by abornpoet on January 15, 2007)
Jeffrey S. Lange
Intermediate Member
Username: runatyr

Post Number: 526
Registered: 10-2005
Posted on Monday, January 15, 2007 - 11:40 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Love Van Morrison, Paul Simon... dig most of the choices.

I agree that all song lyrics are poetry, but I think more bad poetry rises to the top if the music accompanying it is good. And there's nothing wrong with that; just seemed worth noting. Some music is played with dancing in mind, for instance, and the lyrics might be an afterthought at best.

I love the contributions and it's fun to see what other members listen to. :-)
"I had a lover's quarrel with the world." ~Robert Frost
Jim Doss
Senior Member
Username: jimdoss

Post Number: 2773
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 - 2:58 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Though his last CD was somewhat of a stinker..... I like the early Leonard Cohen:

The Story of Issac

The door it opened slowly,
my father he came in,
I was nine years old.
And he stood so tall above me,
his blue eyes they were shining
and his voice was very cold.
He said, "I've had a vision
and you know I'm strong and holy,
I must do what I've been told."
So he started up the mountain,
I was running, he was walking,
and his axe was made of gold.
Well, the trees they got much smaller,
the lake a lady's mirror,
we stopped to drink some wine.
Then he threw the bottle over.
Broke a minute later
and he put his hand on mine.
Thought I saw an eagle
but it might have been a vulture,
I never could decide.
Then my father built an altar,
he looked once behind his shoulder,
he knew I would not hide.

You who build these altars now
to sacrifice these children,
you must not do it anymore.
A scheme is not a vision
and you never have been tempted
by a demon or a god.
You who stand above them now,
your hatchets blunt and bloody,
you were not there before,
when I lay upon a mountain
and my father's hand was trembling
with the beauty of the word.

And if you call me brother now,
forgive me if I inquire,
"Just according to whose plan?"
When it all comes down to dust
I will kill you if I must,
I will help you if I can.
When it all comes down to dust
I will help you if I must,
I will kill you if I can.
And mercy on our uniform,
man of peace or man of war,
the peacock spreads his fan.

********************************

Famous Blue Raincoat


It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.
I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene

And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake --

She sends her regards.

And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
Your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.

Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear --

Sincerely, L. Cohen

*********************************

Joan Of Arc


Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc
as she came riding through the dark;
no moon to keep her armour bright,
no man to get her through this very smoky night.
She said, "I'm tired of the war,
I want the kind of work I had before,
a wedding dress or something white
to wear upon my swollen appetite."
Well, I'm glad to hear you talk this way,
you know I've watched you riding every day
and something in me yearns to win
such a cold and lonesome heroine.
"And who are you?" she sternly spoke
to the one beneath the smoke.
"Why, I'm fire," he replied,
"And I love your solitude, I love your pride."

"Then fire, make your body cold,
I'm going to give you mine to hold,"
saying this she climbed inside
to be his one, to be his only bride.
And deep into his fiery heart
he took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and high above the wedding guests
he hung the ashes of her wedding dress.

It was deep into his fiery heart
he took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and then she clearly understood
if he was fire, oh then she must be wood.
I saw her wince, I saw her cry,
I saw the glory in her eye.
Myself I long for love and light,
but must it come so cruel, and oh so bright?



(Message edited by jimdoss on January 17, 2007)
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Gary Blankenship
Senior Member
Username: garyb

Post Number: 10439
Registered: 07-2001
Posted on Thursday, January 18, 2007 - 3:00 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Then there is what might be the best song written in decades...

The Dixie Chicks' Top of the World

I wished I was smarter
I wished I was stronger
I wished I loved Jesus
The way my wife does
I wish it had been easier
Instead of any longer
I wished I could have stood where you would have been proud
But that won't happen now
That won't happen now


There's a whole lot of singing that's never gonna be heard
Disappearing everyday without so much as a word somehow
Think I broke the wings off that little song bird
She's never gonna fly to the top of the world right now
Top of the world


I don't have to answer any of these questions
Don't have no God to teach me no lessons
I come home in the evening
Sit in my chair
One night they called me for supper
But I never got up
I stayed right there in my chair


There's a whole lot of singing that's never gonna be heard
Disappearing everyday without so much as a word somehow


Think I broke the wings off that little song bird
She's never gonna fly to the top of the world right now


I wished I'd a known you
Wished I'd a shown you
All of the things I was on the inside
I'd pretend to be sleeping
When you come in in the morning
To whisper good-bye
Go to work in the rain
I don't know why
Don't know why


Cause everyone's singing
We just wanna be heard
Disappearing everyday without so much as a word somehow
Wanna grab a hold of that little song bird
Take her for a ride to the top of the world right now


(Instrumental)


Whoa, Whoa
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world
To the top of the world...
A River Transformed

The Dawg House

January 2007 and last FireWeed
Kathy Paupore
Moderator
Username: kathy

Post Number: 4491
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 7:37 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Okay, finally checking in here. I see noone's gone anywhere near the 80's although the Eagles come close. Two of my all time favorites of the 80's, and no it's not big hair or metal, LOL!

Don't Stop Believin'
Journey (S.Perry, N.Schon, J.Cain)

just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world
she took the midnight train goin' anywhere
just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit
he took the midnight train goin' anywhere

a singer in a smokey room
the smell of wine and cheap perfume
for a smile they can share the night
it goes on and on and on and on

chorus:
strangers waitng up and down the boulevard
their shadows searching in the night
streetlight people, living just to find emotion
hiding somewhere in the night

working hard to get my fill
everybody wants a thrill
payin' anything to roll the dice
just one more time
some will win, some will lose
some were born to sing the blues
oh the movie never ends
it goes on and on and on and on

repeat chorus

don't stop believin'
hold on to the feelin'
streetlight people

***


Jack and Diane
John (Cougar) Mellancamp

little ditty about Jack and Diane
two american kids growin' up in the heartland
Jackie gonna be a football star
Diane debutante backseat of Jackie's car

Suckin' on a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze
Daine's sittin' on Jackie's lap
He's got his hand between her knees
Jackie say,"Hey Diane let's run off
behind the shady tree
dribble off them Bobbie Brooks
let me do what I please."
And Jackie say

chorus:
Oh yeah life goes on
long after the thrill of livin' is gone
oh yeah they say life goes on
long after the thrill of livin' is gone, they walk on

Jackie sits back reflects his thoughts for the moment
scratches his head and does his best James Dean
Well there you know Diane we oughta run off to the city
Diane says "baby, youn ain't missin' nuth-in'
Jackie say-a

chorus:
gonna let it rock
let it roll
let the Bible belt come
and save my soul
hold on to sixteen as long as you can
changes come around real soon
make us women and men

little ditty about Jack and diane
two american kids done the best they can.

***

:-) K
You're invited to:

Wild Flowers

"A poem is made up of words and the spaces between them." WCWilliams
Barbara Martin
Member
Username: babs

Post Number: 75
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:23 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Well I'm chime in too. Yes M, I remember vinyl. We have a whole shelf full and listen to them often. There are some excellent choices here. As I've already stated, I feel about Jim Morrison they way A-Bear feels about Van Morrison. Every thing Jim did was poetry. He even has several books of poetry published. But for the purpose of this thread, I thought I would share something more radical. Not necessarily a favorite of mine, but something worht noting. Till Lindemann is the singer/frontman for the German Techno-metal band Rammstein. He is also the song writer and has a book of poetry published. Of course, something is always lost in translations:

[English Translation]
We were nameless
And without songs
Really wordless
We weren't any more
Without a good voice
We are still
But not soundless
People hear us, right
After a gust of wind
A storm broke
Simply without example
It was time!
GO

They were speechless
Really shocked
-Really desperate
About what has happened
Simply inconceivable
And guaranteed
Unbelievable

They said with no reason
The music is a pity
So shameless
That should be forbidden
It is useless
What you are trying
So tasteless
How you are composing
It is hopeless
senseless
helpless
You are God
...less

We were nameless
We have a name
We were wordless
The words came
Without a good voice
We are still
But not soundless
You can hear that
We aren't perfect
Only a bit uncontrolled
You went quiet
Don't (let) us go

We were nameless
And without songs
Really wordless
We weren't any more
Without a good voice
We are still
But not soundless
People hear us, right
After a gust of wind
A storm broke
Simply unmatched...
(We) Became Timeless!

We were the matter
Zefuyn
Valued Member
Username: zefuyn

Post Number: 118
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 - 8:30 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Hmm interesting post.

Favourite lyricists are Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits. One I'd like to share, who really inspires my writing:

The War Criminal Rises and Speaks

by. Will Sheff, Okkervil River.


The heart wants to feel.
The heart wants to hold.
The heart takes past Subway, past Stop and Shop,
past Beal’s, and calls it “coming home.”

The heart wants a trail
away from “alone,”
so the heart turns a sale
into a well-worn milestone towards
hard-won soft furniture,
fought-for fast food, defended end table that
holds paperbacks and back U.S. News.

The mind turns an itch
into a bruise,
and the hands start to twitch when they’re
feeling ill-used.

And you’re almost back now,
you can see by the signs;
from the bank you tell
the temperature and then the time,
and the billboard
reads some headlines.

The head wants to turn,
to avert both its eyes, but the mind
wants to learn of some truth that might be
inside reported crimes.

So they found a lieutenant
who killed a village of kids.
After finishing off the wives,
he wiped off his knife and
that’s what he did.
And they’re not claiming that
there’s any excusing it;
that was thirty years back,
and they just get paid for the facts
the way they got them in.

Now he’s rising and not denying.
His hands are shaking, but he’s not crying.
And he’s saying “How did I climb out of a life so
boring into that moment?
Please stop ignoring the heart inside,
oh you readers at home!
While you gasp at my bloody crimes,
please take the time to make
your heart my home: where I’m forgiven
by time, where I’m cushioned by hope,
where I’m numbed by long drives,
where I’m talked off or doped.

Does the heart wants to atone?
Oh, I believe that it’s so, because if I could
climb back through time, I’d restore their lives
and then give back my own:
tens of times now its size on a far distant
road in a far distant time where every night
I’m still crying, entirely alone.”

But the news today always fades away
as you drive by, until at dinnertime when
you look into her eyes, lit by evening sun
- that, as usual, comes from above that
straight, unbroken line, the horizon - its rising
is a given, just like your living.

Your heart’s warm and kind.
Your mind is your own.
Our blood-spattered criminal
is inscrutable; don’t worry, he won’t

rise up behind your eyes
and take wild control.
He’s not of this time,
he fell out of a hole.
'Poems are a garland of small freedoms' P D'Souza
Hephaestes
Member
Username: hephaestes

Post Number: 74
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - 9:48 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Here's John Hiat:

The Wreck of the Barbie Ferrari

Saturday night he comes home stinking
Sunday morning she wakes up thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking
Does she need to get the kids dressed to go to church
Hes pulled a shotgun out of the lurch
He heads for the tv room starts to search
His problems swollen like a river and his realitys shrinking
He finds them huddled by the toy box and splatters em all
The ken and the midge and the skipper doll
They look like a family but theyre really not at all

Well hes sad but he aint sorry
It aint the end of the world
Its just the wreck of the barbie ferrari

He wonders if he ever said I do
To that little blonde plastic voodoo
And his minds gone fishin
Well it started just as plain as the nose on your face
Now its in a thousand peices all over the place
He thought she was driving but its twisted beyond recognition
All the diapers and the tutus and the basketballs
She was givin them a lift to the promised mall
But somewhere by the tv that v-12 stalled
As he loaded the chamber her eyes got starry
It aint the end of the world
Its just wreck of the barbie ferrari
When they get home from church wont they be sorry
Hes cornered em all on his urban safari

It aint the end of the world...

Hes played with cars and guns since he could crawl
Now he wishes hed never met that doll with her face gone
There wasnt nothing he ever thought about
He couldnt drive through or shoot his way out
As he surveys the family room littered with dolls
He cant find one leg to stand on
He aims the gun at his head now hes starting to cry
Looking for the courage to let it fly
Cant live without his family now that something has died
Hes not sure whos hurt not sure whos sorry

It aint the end of the world...
"Then I went back into the house and wrote. It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining."
-- Samuel Beckett (Molloy)
Andrew Dufresne
Intermediate Member
Username: beachdreamer

Post Number: 774
Registered: 01-2006
Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 - 10:04 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Just learned this on guitar. One of my favorites of hers:

URGE FOR GOING
(Joni Mitchell)

I awoke today to find frost perched on the town
It hovered in a frozne sky and gobbled summer down
And when the wind turns traitor cold
and all the trees stand shivering in a naked row
I get the urge for going, but I never seem to go

Yes, I get the urge for going,
When meadow grass is turning brown,
Summertime is falling down
and winter closing in

I had a girl in summertime with summer colored skin
and not another man in town my darling's heart could win
But when the leaves fell trembling down and bully winds
pushed their faces in the snow
She got the urge for going
and I had to let her go

Yeah she got the urge for going...etc.

The warriors of winter give a cold triumphant shout
and all that stays is dying, all that lives is getting out
See the geese in chevron flight, flapping on and pushing off before the snow
They've got the urge for going, they've got the wings to go

Yeah, they get the urge for going...etc

I'll ply the fire with kindling, pull the blankets to my chin
I'll lock the vagrant winter out and bolt my wandering in
I'd like to call back summertime and have her stay for just another month or so
But she's got the urge for going, I guess she'll have to go

Yes, she gets the urge for going...etc

---
And this at the START of her career. Whew.

ad
__________________________________________________
When I try to put it all into a phrase, I say, Man can embody truth but he cannot know it. I must embody it in the completion of my life. The abstract is not life and everywhere draws out its contradictions. You can refute Hegel but not the Song of Sixpence.

W. B. Yeats, Letter of 4 January 1939
Vienna
Senior Member
Username: vienna

Post Number: 521
Registered: 11-1998
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 6:55 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Difficult, there's way too many...but here goes.

Maybe not just the lyrics on this, but Annie's Voice and the whole arrangement is gorgeous.


Stay By Me, Annie Lennox

Stay by me
And make the moment last
Please take these lips
Even if I have been kissed
A million times

And I don't care if there is no tomorrow
When I could die here in your arms
Even if the stars have made us blind
We're blind we're blind
So blind in love

Sweet darling
Don't you know that we're no different to anyone
We stumble
We falter
But we're no different than anyone

And all the winter snow has melted down
Into a pool of silver water
And we were standing in a thunder cloud
Dark as your hair
Dark as your hair


Mark Cohn, so many...what a poet! Cadillac, Strangers in a Car, but maybe this one just wins.?

Walk on Water

Lets go down to the sound tonight
Tide is low and we can walk on water
Reel me in under that starry light
Just like the fishermans daughter

Baby when the bands and the barkers go home
They say that venus she rises
From out of the foam
She dances on air and laughs at the moon
And watches young lovers in fiery dunes

So are you willing to wait for the miracle
Willing to wait it through
Are you willing to wait for the miracle
Or dont you believe theyre true?

Theres an old man sitting by the side of the pier
Hes got his cross and his camera
And his bottle of beer
He just sits all day and all through the night
Praying for a vision or a heavenly light

cause hes willing to wait for the miracle
Willing to wait it through
Hes willing to wait for the miracle
What else is he gonna do?
What else is he gonna do?

Now me I dont need no heavenly sign
cause I got the water and the wine
So baby please let your lovelight shine
cause were all gonna meet our maker
Sometime

Thats why Im willing to wait for the miracles
Im willing to wait them through
Im willing to wait for the miracles
But I just cant wait -- for you
Just cant wait for you
Lets go down to the sound tonight
And walk on water
Walk on water
Walk on water

And maybe the best for leaving a visual picture in my mind, Al Stewart's Year of the Cat.

On a morning from a Bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre
Contemplating a crime

She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running
Like a watercolour in the rain
Don't bother asking for explanations
She'll just tell you that she came
In the year of the cat

She doesn't give you time for questions
As she locks up your arm in hers
And you follow 'till your sense of which direction
Completely disappears

By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls
There's a hidden door she leads you to
These days, she says, I feel my life
Just like a river running through
The year of the cat

Well, she looks at you so cooly
And her eyes shine like the moon in the sea
She comes in incense and patchouli
So you take her, to find what's waiting inside
The year of the cat

Well, morning comes and you're still with her
And the bus and the tourists are gone
And you've thrown away the choice and lost your ticket
So you have to stay on

But the drum-beat strains of the night remain
In the rhythm of the new-born day
You know sometime you're bound to leave her
But for now you're going to stay
In the year of the cat


V
'It's incidental, not integral; if you know what I mean'
~ Maude.
Morgan Lafay
Senior Member
Username: morganlafay

Post Number: 2948
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 7:26 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Steamy Windows
(Tina Turner, CD "Simply the Best"

Steamy Windows

I was thinking about parking the other night
We was out on a back road
Me and my baby was just getting right
All our systems on overload
Radio blasting in the front seat
Turning out the music fine
And we was snuggled up in the back seat
Making up for lost time

Steamy windows
Zero visibility
Steamy windows
Coming from the body heat

You can wine and dine with a man all night
With good intent
But there is something about a confrontation on a back road
Breaks down the difference

Steamy windows
Zero visibility
Steamy windows
Coming from the body heat

Steamy windows
Ain't nobody can see
Steamy windows
Coming from the body heat
There's a sound outside the front door
And I know that's just the wind
And it makes him snuggle up just a little bit closer
And start things happening again

Steamy windows
Ain't nobody can see
Steamy windows
Coming from the body heat


(I dedicate this song to my first love and that white lacey apron)}
Laura Polley
New member
Username: lpolley

Post Number: 32
Registered: 06-2006
Posted on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 - 7:07 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Possibly an obscure favorite, but Marillion wins for me, hands down. Here are three of their most "poetic" songs.

BITTER SUITE

I. Brief Encounter
A spider wanders aimlessly within the warmth of a shadow
Not the regal creature of border caves
But the poor, misguided, directionless familiar
Of some obscure Scottish poet

The mist crawls from the canal
Like some primordial phantom of romance
To curl, under a cascade of neon pollen
While I sit tied to the phone like an expectant father
Your carnation will rot in a vase.

II. Lost Weekend
A train sleeps in a siding
The driver guzzles another can of lager
To wash away the memories of a Friday night down at the club

She was a wallflower at sixteen
She'll be a wallflower at thirty four
Her mother called her beautiful
Her daddy said, "A whore".

III. Blue Angel
The sky was Bible black in Lyon
When I met the Magdalene
She was paralysed in a streetlight
She refused to give her name

And a ring of violet bruises
They were pinned upon her arm.
Two hundred francs for sanctuary and she led me by the hand
To a room of dancing shadows where all the heartache disappears
And from glowing tongues of candles I heard her whisper in my ear
"'J'entend ton coeur"
I can hear your heart

IV. Misplaced Rendezvous
It's getting late, for scribbling and scratching on the paper
Something's gonna give under this pressure
And the cracks are already beginning to show
It's too late
The weekend career girl never boarded the plane
They said this could never happen again
So wrong, so wrong

This time it seems to be another misplaced rendezvous
This time, it's looking like another misplaced rendezvous
With you
The parallel of you, you

V. Windswept Thumb
On the outskirts of nowhere
On the ring road to somewhere
On the verge of indecision
I'll always take the roundabout way
Waiting on the rain
For I was born with a habit, from a sign
The habit of a windswept thumb
And the sign of the rain
It's started raining


WARM WET CIRCLES

On promenades where drunks propose to lonely arcade mannequins
Where ceremonies pause at the jeweler's shop display
Feigning casual silence in strained romantic interludes
Till they commit themselves to the muted journey home

And the pool player rests on another cue
Last nights hero picking up his dues
A honeymoon gambled on a ricochet
She's staring at the brochures at the holidays

Chalking up a name in your hometown
Standing all your mates to another round
Laughing at the world till the barman wipes away the warm wet circles
The warm wet circles

I saw teenage girls like gaudy moths
A classroom's shabby butterflies
Flirt in the glow of stranded telephone boxes
Planning white lace weddings from smeared hearts and token proclamations
Rolled from stolen lipsticks across the razored webs of glass
Sharing cigarettes with experience with her giggling jealous confidantes
She faithfully traces his name with quick bitten fingernails
Through the tears of condensation that'll cry through the night
As the glancing headlights of the last bus kiss adolescence goodbye
In a warm wet circle

Like a mothers kiss on your first broken heart, a warm wet circle
Like a bullet hole in Central Park, a warm wet circle
And I'll always surrender to the warm wet circles

She nervously undressed in the dancing beams of the Fidra lighthouse
Giving it all away before it's too late
She'll let a lovers tongue move in a warm wet circle
Giving it all away and showing no shame
She'll take a mother's kiss on her first broken heart a warm wet circle
She'll realise that she played her part in a warm wet circle

It was a wedding ring
Destined to be found in a cheap hotel
Lost in a kitchen sink or thrown in a wishing well


HOTEL HOBBIES

Hotel hobbies padding dawns hollow corridors
Bell boys checking out the hookers in the bar
Slug-like fingers trace the star-spangled clouds of cocaine on the mirror
The short straw took its bow
The tell tale tocking of the last cigarette
Marking time in the packet as the whisky sweat
Lies like discarded armour on an unmade bed
And a familiar craving is crawling in his head

And the only sign of life is the ticking of the pen
Introducing characters to memories like old friends
Frantic as a cardiograph scratching out the lines
A fever of confession a catalogue of crime in happy hour

Do you cry in happy hour, do you hide in happy hour
The pilgrimage to happy hour

New shadows tugging at the corner of his eye
Jostling for attention as the sunlight flares
Through a curtain's tear, shuffling its beams
As if in nervous anticipation of another day
Cornelius Vanvig
Intermediate Member
Username: corneliusvanvig

Post Number: 346
Registered: 08-2005
Posted on Friday, February 02, 2007 - 7:07 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Well, we obviously need some hillbilly music to round this selection out. So here's some John Prine:

Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.

Chorus:
But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

Repeat Chorus:

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."

===========================================

Spanish Pipedream (AKA Blow Up Your TV)

She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol
And I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal
Well she pressed her chest against me
About the time the juke box broke
Yeah, she gave me a peck on the back of the neck
And these are the words she spoke

Chorus:
Blow up your TV throw away your paper
Go to the country, build you a home
Plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches
Try an find Jesus on your own

Well, I sat there at the table and I acted real naive
For I knew that topless lady had something up her sleeve
Well, she danced around the bar room and she did the hoochy-coo
Yeah she sang her song all night long, tellin' me what to do

Repeat chorus:

Well, I was young and hungry and about to leave that place
When just as I was leavin', well she looked me in the face
I said "You must know the answer."
"She said, "No but I'll give it a try."
And to this very day we've been livin' our way
And here is the reason why

We blew up our TV threw away our paper
Went to the country, built us a home
Had a lot of children, fed 'em on peaches
They all found Jesus on their own

===========================================

Hello In There

We had an apartment in the city,
Me and Loretta liked living there.
Well, it'd been years since the kids had grown,
A life of their own left us alone.
John and Linda live in Omaha,
And Joe is somewhere on the road.
We lost Davy in the Korean war,
And I still don't know what for, don't matter anymore.

Chorus:
Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger,
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day.
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello."

Me and Loretta, we don't talk much more,
She sits and stares through the back door screen.
And all the news just repeats itself
Like some forgotten dream that we've both seen.
Someday I'll go and call up Rudy,
We worked together at the factory.
But what could I say if asks "What's new?"
"Nothing, what's with you? Nothing much to do."

Repeat Chorus:

So if you're walking down the street sometime
And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
Please don't just pass 'em by and stare
As if you didn't care, say, "Hello in there, hello."
Helen Margaret Rees
Member
Username: cinnamonbrandy

Post Number: 70
Registered: 09-2006
Posted on Saturday, February 03, 2007 - 8:08 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post

Oh, Vanya - it's summer now but all the trees are dying
They said there was no danger; they were lying.
What turns summer into winter we should fear.

Oh Vanya - the poison in the trees is in your body
When winter comes they say you will die quickly
They say that you won't see your fourteenth year.

I was there when you were born - I held you in my arms
The joy: the fear: the wonder I felt then and I feel still
You never will.

Oh, Vanya - if only I could take the sickness from you
And take it to myself you know, I would do
But how can I cure that which can't be cured?

Oh, Vanya - soon many more beloved sons and daughters
Will be mourned by their mothers and their fathers
Left to endure what cannot be endured.

Life will return again, they say! The trees will bloom again.
Though I may see their promises of brave new life fulfilled
You never will.









Okay - off to blow my nose and stop snivelling...

Anyone already know this? It's by quite a famous songwriter who's known for distinctly different stuff, on the whole.

Helen


Okay - for a while, I'm going to come here every time a song makes me cry uncontrollably.

I blame you for the moonlit sky
And the dreams that died with the eagle's flight
I blame you for the moonlit nights
When I wonder why are the seas still dry
Don't blame this sleeping satellite

Did we fly to the moon too soon
Did we squander the chance
the rush of the race
the reason we chase
Is lost in romance

And still we try! To justify the waste

for a taste of man's greatest adventure

repeat chorus

Have we lost what it takes to advance -
Did we peak too soon
If the world is so great
why does it scream under a blue moon

We wonder why is the earth sacrificed
For the price

its greatest treasure

repeat chorus

And when we shoot for the stars
What a giant step -
Have we got what it takes
to carry the weight
of this greatest concept
Or pass it by
Like a shot in the dark
With a

sense of adventure

Don't blame the sleeping satellite...

Tasmin Archer - shoot the moon, hon.



(Message edited by cinnamonbrandy on March 16, 2007)