It gets me every time...
I adore song lyrics. Amazing lyrics backed by great music gets me every time. Here's a list (undoubtedly incomplete) of some of my favorites. I challenge you, if you don't know them already, to listen to these songs and hear the words in context. I will accept the challenge in turn, so please respond with your own!
"And I won't sleep through this
I survive on the breath you are finished with"
~John Mayer "Come Back to Bed"
"But if you could...do you think you would
Trade it all, all the pain and suffering?
But then you'd miss
The beauty of the light upon this earth
And the sweetness of the leaving"
~Jane Sibbery "Calling All Angels"
"You tell me where to go and
Though I might leave to find it
I'll never let your head hit the bed
Without my hand behind it"
~John Mayer "Your Body is a Wonderland"
"Let me climb up you to the top
So I can see the view from up there
Tangled in your hair"
~Dave Matthews Band "Let You Down"
"I remember that time that you told me, you said
Love is touching souls
Surely you touched mine
Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet
Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
I would still be on my feet"
~Joni Mitchell "A Case of You"
"There's a girl in New York City,
Who calls herself the human trampoline,
And sometimes when I'm falling flying
Or tumbling in turmoil I say
Woah so this is what she means,
She means we're bouncing into Graceland,
And I see losing love
Is like a window in your heart,
Everybody sees you're blown apart,
Everybody feels the wind blow"
~Paul Simon "Graceland"
"Your coat was old, ragged and worn
And you wore it down through the ages
Ah, the sufferin' did show in your eyes as we spoke
And the gospel music
The voice of Mahalia Jackson came through the ether
Oh my common one with the coat so old
And the light in the head
Said, daddy, don't stroke me
Call me the common one.
I said, oh, common one, my illuminated one.
Oh my high in the art of sufferin' one.
Take a walk with me
Take a walk with me down by Avalon"
~Van Morrison "Summertime in England"
"Fat man sitting on a little stool
Takes the money from my hand while his eyes take a walk all over you
Hands me the ticket smiles and whispers good luck
Cuddle up angel cuddle up my little dove
We'll ride down baby into this tunnel of love"
~Bruce Springsteen "Tunnel of Love"
"The runway lies ahead like a great false dawn
Fat lady, big mama, Missy Bimbo sits in her chair and yawns
And the man-beast lies in his cage sniffin' popcorn
As the midget licks his fingers and suffers Missy Bimbo's scorn
Circus town's been born"
~Bruce Springsteen "Wild Billy's Circus Story"
"And I shall drive my chariot
Down your streets and cry
'Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite
And I don't know why'
And you shall take me strongly
In your arms again
And I will not remember
That I even felt the pain.
We shall walk and talk
In gardens all misty and wet with rain
And I will never, never, never
Grow so old again."
~Van Morrison "Sweet Thing"
"There's a dream where the contents are visible
Where the poetic champions compose
Will you breathe not a word of this secrecy, and
Will you still be my special rose"
~Van Morrison "Queen of the Slipstream"
"All along the watchtower,
Princess kept the view
While all the women came and went,
Barefoot servants too.
Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl"
~Jimi Hendrix/Bob Dylan "All Along the Watchtower"
"The rock candy's melted, only diamonds now remain"
~John Mayer "Clarity"
"Bartender, please
Fill my glass for me
With the wine you gave Jesus that set him free
After three days in the ground"
~Dave Matthews Band "Bartender"
"No guru, no method, no teacher
Just you and I and nature
And the Father in the garden"
~Van Morrison "In the Garden"
1 comment:
Great Post T, here's my "short" list:
And I like Shelly, you like Jane,
what was the girl with the snake skin's name
It's an early bird matinee'
come back any day
Getcha little somepin'
that cha can't get at home
Pasties and a g-string, beer and a shot
Portland threw a shot glass and a Buffalo squeeze
Popcorn, front row, higher than a kite
and I'll be back tomorrow night
and I'll be back tomorrow night
Tom Waits - Pasties and a G string
When the child was a child
It was the time of the following questions
Why am I me and why not you
Why am I here and why not there
Why did time begin and where does space end
Isn't what I see and hear and smell
Just the appearance of the world in front of the world
Isn't life under the sun just a dream
Does evil actually exist in people
Who really are evil
Why can't it be that I who am
Wasn't before I was
And that sometime I, the I, I am
No longer will be the I, I am
Van Morrison - The Philosopher's Stone
Best Love Song of all Time
It makes no diff'rence where I turn
I can't get over you and the flame still burns
It makes no diff'rence, night or day
The shadow never seems to fade away
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
Now there's no love
As true as the love
That dies untold
But the clouds never hung so low before
It makes no diff'rence how far I go
Like a scar the hurt will always show
It makes no diff'rence who I meet
They're just a face in the crowd
On a dead-end street
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
These old love letters
Well, I just can't keep
'Cause like the gambler says
Read 'em and weep
And the dawn don't rescue me no more
Without your love I'm nothing at all
Like an empty hall it's a lonely fall
Since you've gone it's a losing battle
Stampeding cattle
They rattle the walls
And the sun don't shine anymore
And the rains fall down on my door
Well, I love you so much
It's all I can do
Just to keep myself from telling you
That I never felt so alone before
It Makes No Difference - The Band
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.
Tangled up in Blue - Bob Dylan
She was there in the meadow where the creek used to rise.
Blinded by sleep and in need of a bed,
I came in from the East with the sun in my eyes.
I cursed her one time then I rode on ahead.
She said, "Where ya been?" I said, "No place special."
She said, "You look different." I said, "Well, I guess."
She said, "You been gone." I said, "That's only natural."
She said, "You gonna stay." I said, "If you want me to, yes."
Isis, oh, Isis, you mystical child.
What drives me to you is what drives me insane.
I still can remember the way that you smiled
On the fifth day of May in the drizzlin' rain.
Isis - Bob Dylan
What's the ugliest
part of your body?
what's the ugliest
part of your body?
Some say your nose.
Some say your toes,
but I think it's your mind.
Frank Zappa
As I approach the prime of my life
I find I have the time of my life
Learning to enjoy at my leasure
All the simple pleasure
And so I happily concede
This is all I ask
This is all I need
Beautiful girl, walk a little slower when you walk by me
Lingering sunset, stay a little longer with the lonely sea
Children everywhere, when you shoot at bad men, shoot at me
Take me to that strange enchanted land
Grownups seldom understand
Wandering rainbows, leave a bit of color for my heart to own
Stars in the sky, make my wish come true
Before the night has flown
And let the music play as long as there's a song to sing
Then I will stay younger than spring
This is all I Ask - Gordon Jenkins
And now the purple dust of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
Now the little stars, the little stars pine
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a love that cannot die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
That melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
Ah, but that was long ago
Now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song
Beside a garden wall
Where stars are bright
You are in my arms
That nightingale tells its fairy tale
of paradise where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
my stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
Ah, but that was long ago
Now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song
Beside a garden wall
Where stars are bright
You are in my arms
That nightingale tells its fairy tale
of paradise where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
my stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
Stardust - Hoagy Carmichael
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