Poetry and lyrics

[TheLyontamer]

I should post this to supplement the point I was making earlier about U2's lyrics. I'm so bored of all the dull, overdone love songs that are everywhere. This is how you do it, both lyrically and musically. What a beautiful song.



You've got a face not spoiled by beauty
I have some scars from where I've been
You've got eyes that can see right through me
You're not afraid of anything they've seen

I was told that I would feel
Nothing the first time
I don't know how these cuts heal
But in you I found a right

If there is a light
You can always see
And there is a world
We can always be
If there is a dark
That we shouldn't doubt
And there is a light
Don't let it go out

And this is a song
A song for someone
This is a song
A song for someone

You let me into a conversation
A conversation only we could make
You're breaking into my imagination
Whatever's in there is yours to take

I was told I'd feel
Nothing the first time
You were slow to heal
But this could be the night

Song For Someone
U2
Songs Of Innocence

[El Canuck]

Well, I have to admit, those lyrics are very nice. I may have to give this album a second listen.

[El Canuck]

This song's been in my head all damn day:

She never mentions the word addiction
In certain company
Yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan
After you meet her family

She paints her eyes as black as night now
Pulls those shades down tight
Yeah, she gives a smile when the pain come
The pain gonna make everything alright

She keeps a lock of hair in her pocket
She wears a cross around her neck
Yes, the hair is from a little boy
And the cross is someone she has not met
Not yet

Says she talks to angels
Says they all know her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels
Says they call her out by her name

She don't know no lover
None that I ever seen
Yeah, to her that ain't nothin'
But to me, yeah me
Means everything

She Talks to Angels
The Black Crowes
Shake Your Money Maker

[Greg_McNeish]

Love that whole album. So raw.

[El Canuck]

Also, yet another song Smith and Myers covered. It's perfectly suited to Brent Smith's voice, he nails it note for note as you'd expect.

[Greg_McNeish]

That is invariably what he do.

[El Canuck]

In the vein of that tremendous Black Crowes debut album, here's another raw track:

Action speaks louder than words
And I'm a man of great experience
I know you've got another man
But I can love you better than him

Take my hand don't be afraid
I'm gonna prove every word I say
I'm advertising love for free
So you can place your ad with me

Boys – they come along a dime by the dozen
That ain't nothing but ten cent lovin'
Hey little thing let me light your candle
'Cause mama I'm sure hard to handle now
Yes, I am

Hard To Handle
The Black Crowes
Shake Your Money Maker

[Greg_McNeish]

That being an Otis Redding cover, of course.

[El Canuck]

Indeed.

[El Canuck]

A song full of hope and despair, personal tragedy on the cusp of human triumph and the risks of reaching far:

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating
in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past
one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....

Space Oddity
David Bowie
Space Oddity

[El Canuck]

Been in my head all day:

Hopelessly lost at sea
The holes we dig to survive
Like rabbits we run

Gonna join the resistance
Gonna tighten that leash
Try and find some persistence
Temporarily
If it's home that you're missing
Better ramp up your speed

The light of day
The dark of night
We hide in our heads keeping our dreams alive

Rabbits
Our Lady Peace
Curve

[El Canuck]

I'm posting this song in full, it's one I listen to on this day every year. Despite the Australian subject and the central topic of the Battle of Gallipoli, I find it encapsulates the horrors of war experienced by each soldier no matter which war they've fought or which side they were on. It doesn't glorify or trivialize war, it shows it for the needless bloodshed it is.

When I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in 1915 my country said: Son,
It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When the ship pulled away from the quay
And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers
We sailed off for Gallipoli

It well I remember that terrible day
When our blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well
He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shell
And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell
He nearly blew us back home to Australia

And the band played Waltzing Matilda
When we stopped to bury our slain
Well we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then it started all over again

Oh those that were living just tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
While around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head
And when I awoke in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
I never knew there was worse things than dying

Oh no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind and the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where me legs used to be
And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the Band played Waltzing Matilda
When they carried us down the gangway
Oh nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared
Then they turned all their faces away

Now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
I see my old comrades, how proudly they march
Renewing their dreams of past glories
I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn
Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men still answer the call
But year after year, their numbers get fewer
Someday, no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong
So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Eric Bogle
Now I'm Easy

Also covered by such artists as Liam Clancy (my personal favourite), The Pogues, The Dubliners, John McDermott and Joan Baez among others.

[El Canuck]

A certain someone (not of the board) is bringing this song to my mind:

I will provide you
With a reason to believe
I will not desert you
In your time of need

And so sudden the winds change
And so sudden you lose your faith
I will provide you
With a reason to believe

Take Care
City & Colour
The Hurry and the Harm

[El Canuck]

Should I fall out of love, my fire in the light
To chase a feather in the wind
Within the glow that weaves a cloak of delight
There moves a thread that has no end.

For many hours and days that pass ever soon
the tides have caused the flame to dim
At last the arm is straight, the hand to the loom
Is this to end or just begin?

All Of My Love
Led Zeppelin
In Through The Out Door

[Greg_McNeish]

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
I'm a woman's man; no time o talk
Music's loud and woman's warm
Been kicked around since I was born
But that's all right; that's okay
You can look the other way
You can try to understand
New York Times; effect on man

Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Feel the city breakin' and everybody's shakin'
And you're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive

[El Canuck]

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
'Til the pain is so big you feel nothing at all

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
'Til you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules

When they've tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function, you're so full of fear

Keep you doped with religion, and sex, and T.V.
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill

A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero well just follow me
If you want to be a hero well just follow me

Working Class Hero
John Lennon
Plastic Ono Band

[Greg_McNeish]

Gov't Mule did an outstanding cover of that one. I'm too lazy to grab the link right now, but it's easily found on Youtube.

[El Canuck]

Haven't heard that one, it's been covered by a lot of different bands though, Green Day obviously, but outside of them there's been Ozzy, Marilyn Manson and my personal favourite: Screaming Trees. I'll give this Gov't Mule version a listen.

[El Canuck]

I thought that cover was just alright, nothing I'd get excited about.

Anyway, here's a tune that came up in my iTunes today, never fails to get to me:

But the memory still remains
All the past years not so strange
Our winter times are like a silent shroud
And the heartbeat of the day
Drives the mist away
And winter's not the only dream around

In your life you may choose desolation
And the shadows you build with your hands
If you turn to the light
That is burning in the night
Then the journeyman's day has begun

I know what I want
And I say what I want
And no one can take it away
I know what I want
And I say what I want
And no one can take it away

Journeyman
Iron Maiden
Dance of Death

[El Canuck]

After last night with the Muse, this is the song that keeps replaying in my head:

Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'll be the one, if you want me to
Anywhere I would've followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

And I am feeling so small
It was over my head
I know nothing at all

And I will stumble and fall
I'm still learning to love
Just starting to crawl

Say something, I'm giving up on you
I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
Anywhere I would've followed you
Say something, I'm giving up on you

And I will swallow my pride
You're the one that I love
And I'm saying goodbye

Say Something
A Great Big World
Is Anybody Out There