Post the most profound/touching lyrics you know....

[JimmyJazz]

I am amazed at these lines from "Washington Bullets"

"As every cell in Chile will tell
The cries of the tortured men
Remember Allende, and the days before,
Before the army came
Please remember Victor Jara,
In the Santiago Stadium,
Es verdad - those Washington Bullets again"

[AuntiBush]

1. Bob Dylan

Well, it's one, two, three... What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me I don't give a damn... Next stop is Viet nam.

And it's 5, 6, 7... Open up the pearly gates...

[jeff30997]

3. You could easily replace Vietnam by Iraq.

[Zomby Woof]

4. That's Country Joe & The Fish

:-)

[JimmyJazz]

7. Thank you - I didn't think that was Dylan, but I couldn't think of

who it really was. I'm too lazy to google tonite.

[Zomby Woof]

11. I started running the Woodstock movie in my head

It's a great sing-a-long. I think the movie provided the lyrics but I can't swear by that.

[JimmyJazz]

15. Now I have to go rent it, grainy footage and all -

Didn't Joe Cocker sing "with a little help from my friends" or have I had too much help from MY friends? If not, what did he sing? Sometimes, I like conversation, rather than google or askjeeves

[ironflange]

30. Yes, he did

I think that's what he sang with John Belushi on SNL a few years later, too.

[ET Awful]

Yes, the movie provided the lyrics and a bouncing ball

to keep the time :)

[Spinzonner]

8. Yep

http://www.countryjoe.com/feelmus.htm

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. BouncyBall posted some amazing love poetry a while ago

:loveya:

[JimmyJazz]

5. And???? Links, Capt Amerikkker....Please.

[Fenris]

6. "There are no truths outside the gates of Eden"

Best single Dylan line ever.

[flamingyouth]

9. "2+2=?" by the Bob Seger System

Yes it's true I am a young man
but I'm old enough to kill
I don't wanna kill nobody
but I must if you so will
And if I raise my hand in question
you just say that I'm a fool
Cause I got the gall to ask you
Can you maybe change the rules
can you stand and call me upstart
Ask what answer can I find, I ain't sayin' I'm a genius
2+2 is on my mind

Well I knew a guy in high school
just an average friendly guy
And he had himself a girlfriend
and you made them say goodbye
Now he's buried in the mud
over foreign jungle land
And his girl just sits and cries
she just doesn't understand
So you say he died for freedom
well if he died to save your lies
Go ahead and call me yellow
2+2 is on my mind

All I know is that I'm young and your rules they are old
If I've got to kill to live
then there's something left untold
I'm no statesman I'm no general
I'm no kid I'll never be
It's the rules not the soldier
that I find the real enemy

I'm no prophet I'm no rebel
I'm just asking you why
I just want a simple answer
why it is I 've got to die
I'm a simple minded guy
2+2 is on my mind

[Fenris]

17. It still freaks me out that Seeger wrote a song THAT good.

:scared:

[Zomby Woof]

32. He wrote LOTS of great songs

Any of his albums or singles from 1965 through 1975 are worth tracking down. His parody called "The Ballad of the Yellow Berets" from 1967 is HILARIOUS. And some of the tracks from 1970's 'Mongrel' album have some great commentary on the Vietnam era ("Leanin' On My Dream", "Teachin' Blues")

Seger is unfairly maligned because of his so-called 'heartland rock' after 1976, but really, he was (and is, when he applies himself) a gifted songwriter, and blessed with an amazing voice.

Talents such as Mike Bloomfield, J.J. Cale, most of Little Feat and many others lent their skills to his obscure early-70's work. That's a shame, because given a choice between him, Springsteen, or others of that era or ilk, I will take Bob Seger. Underrated because of his commercial success later on, I think.

[flamingyouth]

33. Amen

What you said. :thumbsup:

[McKenzie]

10. Now 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,
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done."
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well;
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell --
And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
When we stopped to bury our slain,
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.

And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead --
Never knew there was worse things than dying.

For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
All around the green bush far and free --
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.

So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
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,
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

[blackcatpgh]

14. pogues

i know the pogues didn't write that one, but their version is pretty good. anyway, this one is good for a drunken cry, but you've really gotta hear it with the music to hear the emotion:

the pogues -- "broad majestic shannon"


The last time I saw you was down at the greeks
There was whiskey on sunday and tears on our cheeks
You sang me a song as pure as the breeze
Blowing up the road to glenaveigh
I sat for a while at the cross at finnoe
Where young lovers would meet when the flowers were in bloom
Heard the men coming home from the fair at shinrone
Their hearts in tipperary wherever they go

Take my hand, and dry your tears babe
Take my hand, forget your fears babe
There’s no pain, there’s no more sorrow
They’re all gone, gone in the years babe

I sat for a while by the gap in the wall
Found a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball
Heard the cards being dealt, and the rosary called
And a fiddle playing sean dun na ngall
And the next time I see you we’ll be down at the greeks
There’ll be whiskey on sunday and tears on our cheeks
For it’s stupid to laugh and it’s useless to bawl
About a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball

So I walked as day was dawning
Where small birds sang and leaves were falling
Where we once watched the row boats landing
By the broad majestic shannon

[JimmyJazz]

16. I LOVE the pogues - small hours is my favorite!

[blackcatpgh]

22. i was lucky enough...

...to see shane perform a few times. one was here in pittsburgh, right after "the snake" came out. excellent show, and i was able to stand front row center (in a smallish-club).

got to see him play on st. patrick's day in NYC when i lived there too. that's the show that ended up on the latest live album (part of it anyway). that was a crazy night, to say the least.

hopefully his health is good enough for him to hang on. the last photos i saw of him were pretty grim.

[McKenzie]

21. the losers speak the words and all that

Simple men from farming communities killed, maimed and driven insane. For what? Nothing except their soulless masters' vanity.

These songs are about the common people. My grandfather told me stories of his comrades who were over the top on the first day of the Somme offensive. They walked over fields of dead men.

Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori.

[Fenris]

19. Eric Bogle is one hell of a writer.

Great lyrics.:thumbsup:

[JimmyJazz]

20. the Clash and the Pogues...Has anyone met my new best friend....

:toast: just kidding. ;)

[Fenris]

31. Cheers to that!

:toast:

[A-Schwarzenegger]

Strange Boat

We're sailing in a strange boat / Heading for a strange shore
We're sailing in a strange boat / Heading for a strange shore
Carrying the strangest cargo / That was ever hauled aboard
We're sailing on a strange sea / Blown by a strange wind
We're sailing on a strange sea / Blown by a strange wind
Carrying the strangest crew / That ever sailed

We're riding in a strange car / We're following the strange star
We're climbing on the strangest ladder / That was ever there to climb
We're living in a strange time / Working for a strange goal
We're living in a strange time / We're working for a strange goal
We're turning flesh and body / Into Soul

—The Waterboys

[sundog]

12. Dylan - Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

[JimmyJazz]

24. What do I know that as? "everybody must get stoned?"

That's not profound - that's a fact of life. :P

[sundog]

25. relatively profound

on days like this ;)

[JimmyJazz]

27. I love you, sundog

you are the mustard on my baloney sammich!

[mtnester]

13. Profound? If you have a soulmate....touching...absolutely...simply stated

yes:

Whenever I'm alone with you,
you make me feel
Like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you,
you make me feel like I am whole again

Whenever I'm alone with you,
you make me feel
Like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you,
you make me feel like I am fun again

However far away,
I will always love you,
However long I stay,
I will always love you,
Whatever words I say,
I will always love you,
I will always love you

Whenever I'm alone with you,
You make me feel like I am free again,
Whenever I'm alone with you,
You make me feel like I am clean again

However far away,
I will always love you,
However long I stay,
I will always love you,
Whatever words I say,
I will always love you,
I will always love you

Robert Smith, The Cure

[JimmyJazz]

18. I've never listened to the cure - but those are some awesome lyrics

sometimes, it's better to read the lyrics as poetry rather than hear the song...I think this might be one of those cases.

[mtnester]

29. I particularly like the "whatever words I say, I will always love you"

because simply, he says (and I believe he wrote these lyrics to his wife on their wedding night late after she was asleep) that even if we fight and say terrible things and are angry, I will always love you...but he said it so much simpler and better.

[livinginphotographs]

87. Good pick.

n/t

[ThorsHammer]

23. Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" has to be up there

[alittlelark]

112. Certainly in my top 5

[johnnie]

26. If we only have love

I like the war type songs too, and there are a lot of good ones here. I like this one and have for many years and it isn't a "macho" type song, but..oh well.

IF WE ONLY HAVE LOVE

If we only have love
Then tomorrow will dawn
And the days of our years
Will rise on that morn
If we only have love
To embrace without fears
We will kiss with our eyes
We will sleep without tears
If we only have love
With our arms open wide
Then the young and the old
Will stand at our side
If we only have love
Love that's falling like rain
Then the parched desert earth
Will grow green again
If we only have love
For the hymn that we shout
For the song that we sing
Then we'll have a way out
If we only have love
We can reach those in pain
We can heal all our wounds
We can use our own names
If we only have love
We can melt all the guns
And then give the new world
To our daughters and sons
If we only have love
Then Jerusalem stands
And then death has no shadow
There are no foreign lands
If we only have love
We will never bow down
We'll be tall as the pines
Neither heroes nor clowns
If we only have love
Then we'll only be men
And we'll drink from the Grail
To be born once again
Then with nothing at all
But the little we are
We'll have conquered all time
All space, the sun, and the stars.

[ET Awful]

28. 4 + 20 by CSN

Four and twenty years ago, I come into this life,
the son of a woman and a man who lived in strife.
He was tired of bein' poor,
and he wasn't into sellin' door to door,
and he worked like the devil to be more.

A different kind of poverty now upsets my soul;
night after sleepless night, I walk the floor and I want to know,
why am I so alone?
Where is my woman, can I bring her home?
Have I driven her away? Is she gone?

Morning comes the sunrise and I'm driven to my bed.
I see that it is empty and there's devils in my head.
I embrace the many-colored beast.
I grow weary of the torment can there be no peace?
And I find myself just wishing that my life would simply cease.

____________________________________


Or maybe Box of Rain by the Dead

Look out of any window
any morning, any evening, any day
Maybe the sun is shining
birds are winging or
rain is falling from a heavy sky -
What do you want me to do,
to do for you to see you through?
this is all a dream we dreamed
one afternoon long ago
Walk out of any doorway
feel your way, feel your way
like the day before
Maybe you'll find direction
around some corner
where it's been waiting to meet you -
What do you want me to do,
to watch for you while you're sleeping?
Well please don't be surprised
when you find me dreaming too

Look into any eyes
you find by you, you can see
clear through to another day
I know it's been seen before
through other eyes on other days
while going home --
What do you want me to do,
to do for you to see you through?
It's all a dream we dreamed
one afternoon long ago

Walk into splintered sunlight
Inch your way through dead dreams
to another land
Maybe you're tired and broken
Your tongue is twisted
with words half spoken
and thoughts unclear
What do you want me to do
to do for you to see you through
A box of rain will ease the pain
and love will see you through

Just a box of rain -
wind and water -
Believe it if you need it,
if you don't just pass it on
Sun and shower -
Wind and rain -
in and out the window
like a moth before a flame

It's just a box of rain
I don't know who put it there
Believe it if you need it
or leave it if you dare
But it's just a box of rain
or a ribbon for your hair
Such a long long time to be gone
and a short time to be there

[Earth_First]

34. Reba sink a boulder in the water

Reba tie a cable to a tree
Reba stuck in a game of lipstick perfume flypaper
Reba press a razor to a slide cross a needle with a prune

[Zomby Woof]

35. John Brown - more Dylan

John Brown went off to war to fight on a foreign shore.
His mama sure was proud of him!
He stood straight and tall in his uniform and all.
His mama's face broke out all in a grin.

"Oh son, you look so fine, I'm glad you're a son of mine,
You make me proud to know you hold a gun.
Do what the captain says, lots of medals you will get,
And we'll put them on the wall when you come home."

As that old train pulled out, John's ma began to shout,
Tellin' ev'ryone in the neighborhood:
"That's my son that's about to go, he's a soldier now, you know."
She made well sure her neighbors understood.

She got a letter once in a while and her face broke into a smile
As she showed them to the people from next door.
And she bragged about her son with his uniform and gun,
And these things you called a good old-fashioned war.

Oh! Good old-fashioned war!

Then the letters ceased to come, for a long time they did not come.
They ceased to come for about ten months or more.
Then a letter finally came saying, "Go down and meet the train.
Your son's a-coming home from the war."

She smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around
But she could not see her soldier son in sight.
But as all the people passed, she saw her son at last,
When she did she could hardly believe her eyes.

Oh his face was all shot up and his hand was all blown off
And he wore a metal brace around his waist.
He whispered kind of slow, in a voice she did not know,
While she couldn't even recognize his face!

Oh! Lord! Not even recognize his face.

"Oh tell me, my darling son, pray tell me what they done.
How is it you come to be this way?"
He tried his best to talk but his mouth could hardly move
And the mother had to turn her face away.

"Don't you remember, Ma, when I went off to war
You thought it was the best thing I could do?
I was on the battleground, you were home . . . acting proud.
You wasn't there standing in my shoes."

"Oh, and I thought when I was there, God, what am I doing here?
I'm a-tryin' to kill somebody or die tryin'.
But the thing that scared me most was when my enemy came close
And I saw that his face looked just like mine."

Oh! Lord! Just like mine!

"And I couldn't help but think, through the thunder rolling and stink,
That I was just a puppet in a play.
And through the roar and smoke, this string is finally broke,
And a cannon ball blew my eyes away."

As he turned away to walk, his Ma was still in shock
At seein' the metal brace that helped him stand.
But as he turned to go, he called his mother close
And he dropped his medals down into her hand.

[JimmyJazz]

37. Jeebus, ZW - why all the Dylan - Frank isn't profound enough for you????

:P Surely, he was....gimme some Frank.

[Zomby Woof]

41. Oh, twist my arm!

(yeah right!)

Here is one of my favorites... written about the Watts riots in LA, in 1965. Timeless slamming of the usual suspects in the media. I like to post these when reminding folks that the corporate media is nothing new.

"Trouble Every Day"

Well I'm about to get upset
From watchin' my TV
Been checkin' out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean they say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it's gonna change, my friends
Is anybody's guess

So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin' every day

Wednesday I watched the riot...
I seen the cops out on the street
Watched 'em throwin' rocks and stuff
And chokin' in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whiskey passin' 'round
Seen the smoke & fire
And the market burnin' down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust and burn

And I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin' every day

Well you can cool it,
You can heat it...
'Cause, baby, I don't need it...
Take your TV tube and eat it
'N all that phony stuff on sports
'N all those unconfirmed reports
You know I watched that rotten box
Until my head began to hurt
From checkin' out the way
The newsmen say they get the dirt
Before the guys on channel so-and-so
And further they assert
That any show they'll interrupt
To bring you news if it comes up
They say that if the place blows up
They'll be the first to tell
Because the boys they got downtown
Are workin' hard and doin' swell,
And if anybody gets the news
Before it hits the street,
They say that no one blabs it faster
Their coverage can't be beat
And if another woman driver
Gets machine-gunned from her seat
They'll send some joker with a Brownie
And you'll see it all complete

So I'm watchin' and I'm waitin'
Hopin' for the best
Even think I'll go to prayin'
Every time I hear 'em sayin'
That there's no way to delay
That trouble comin' every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin' every day

Hey you know something people?
I'm not black
But there's a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I'm not white!

Well, I seen the fires burnin'
And the local people turnin'
On the merchants and the shops
Who used to sell their brooms and mops
And every other household item
Watched the mob just turn and bite 'em
And they say it served 'em right
Because a few of them are white,
And it's the same across the nation
Black & white discrimination
They're yellin' You can't understand me!
And all the other crap they hand me
In the papers and TV
'N all that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
Because the color of your skin
Just don't appeal to him
(No matter if it's black or white)
Because he's out for blood tonight
You know we gotta sit around at home
And watch this thing begin
But I bet there won't be many left
To see it really end
'Cause the fire in the street
Ain't like the fire in my heart
And in the eyes of all these people
Don't you know that this could start
On any street in any town
In any state if any clown
Decides that now's the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree
There ain't no great society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn't free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Won't amount to nothin' more
Than watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor
Blow you harmonica son!

[JimmyJazz]

48. I never really listened to Frank that much - I think I was right on

the cusp, age-wise/maturity wise, with regard to him. Plus, since he had no peers, he didn't get radio play in my area - not even on the progressive stations.

I need to go back and revisit his songs. I know he was ahead of his time. Thanks.

[goodboy]

36. Dredg: "all you need is a modest house, in a modest neighborhood..

In a modest town where honest people dwell
Making the cleanest energy for the greenest plants to grow
Richest soil that is drenched with the freshest rain
Then you should sit in your backyard
Watch clouds peak over the tallest mountain tops
Cuz they unveil honest opinions about the stars


complete song lyrics follow:

Here we go down that same old road again
Sympathy unfolds the shell that holds all the beauty within
Here we go down that same old road again
A memory, a regret, a hope

Here we go down that same old road again
Empathy controls the wind that blows and tickles our skin
A memory, a regret, a hope, a stimulant

Recent it seems
We must push on, we must push on
Though we bleed
We must push on, we must push on

All you need is a modest house in a modest neighborhood
In a modest town where honest people dwell
Making the cleanest energy for the greenest plants to grow
Richest soil that is drenched with the freshest rain
Then you should sit in your backyard
Watch clouds peak over the tallest mountain tops
Cuz they unveil honest opinions about the stars

We must push on, we must push on
Recent it seems
We must push on, we must push on
Though we bleed
We must push on, we must push on

All you need is a modest house
In a modest neighborhood
All you need is a modest house
In a modest neighborhood
All you need is a modest house
In a modest neighborhood
All you need is a modest house
In a modest neighborhood
All you need is a modest house
In a modest neighborhood

[goodboy]

40. wow, goodboy, I'll bet they've never heard that before...good thinkin'

[greendog]

38. Leonard Cohen

"The Faith"

The sea so deep and blind
The sun, the wild regret
The club, the wheel, the mind,
O love, aren't you tired yet?
The club, the wheel, the mind
O love, aren't you tired yet?

The blood, the soil, the faith
These words you can't forget
Your vow, your holy place
O love, aren't you tired yet?
The blood, the soil, the faith
O love, aren't you tired yet?

A cross on every hill
A star, a minaret
So many graves to fill
O love, aren't you tired yet?
So many graves to fill
O love, aren't you tired yet?

The sea so deep and blind
Where still the sun must set
And time itself unwind
O love, aren't you tired yet?
And time itself unwind
O love, aren't you tired yet?

[madison2000]

39. Lennon and McCartney's In My Life

There are places I remember all my life,
Though some have changed,
Some forever, not for better,
Some have gone and some remain.

All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall.
Some are dead and some are living.
In my life I've loved them all.

But of all these friends and lovers,
There is no one compares with you,
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new.

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before,
I know I'll often stop and think about them,
In my life I'll love you more.

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before,
I know I'll often stop and think about them,
In my life I'll love you more.
In my life I'll love you more.

[JimmyJazz]

50. the song comes to mind immediately. I don't have to search for the tune.

[madison2000]

60. Rubber Soul was my first album

Lots of good songs, but that one is in a class of its own.

[St. Jarvitude]

120. Day in the Life is from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (nt)

[SmileyBoy]

42. I don't know if they're my favourite, but...

Papa Roach recently came out with a song called "Scars":

I tear my heart open,
I sew myself shut
And my weakness is
That I care too much
And the scars remind me
That the past is real,
I tear my heart open
Just to feel

[JimmyJazz]

51. .

:cry: to be human sucks sometimes.

[NightTrain]

43. Sam Cooke

I was born by the river in a little tent
And just like that river I've been running ever since
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die
'Cause I don't know what's out there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movies and I go dotown
Somebody keeps telling, "Don't come around"
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

BRIDGE:

And then I go to my brother
And I say, Brother, help me please."
But he winds up knockin' me
Back down on my knees

There were times when I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will

[JimmyJazz]

52. coming from you, this means a lot.

thanks for sharing, night train.

[Greyskye]

44. Another Eric Bogle song - Green Fields of France

I used to sing this when I was in a Celtic folk band. When we were really 'on', I had a hard time not choking up on the last two verses.

Green Fields Of France
Eric Bogle
Well, how do you do, Private William McBride,
Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only 19
When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down?
Did the bugles sound The Last Post in chorus?
Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined?
And, though you died back in 1916,
To that loyal heart are you forever 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;
The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.
The trenches have vanished long under the plow;
No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.
But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.
And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.

And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride,
Do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"
Did you really believe that this war would end wars?
Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.
© Eric Bogle

[Tom_Foolery]

45. Roy Clark's Yesterday When I Was Young ...

Yesterday When I Was Young

Herbert Kretzmer


Yesterday when I was young
the taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue.
I teased at life as if it were a foolish
game,
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame.
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned
I always built alas on weak and shifting sand.
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of the day
And only now I see how the years ran away.
Yesterday when I was young
So many drinking songs were waiting to be sung,
So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see.
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out,
I never stopped to think what life was all about
And every conversation I can now recall
concerned itself with me and nothing else at all.
Yesterday the moon was blue
and every crazy day brought something new to do.
I used my magic age as if itwere a wand
and never saw the waste and emptiness beyond.
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride
and every flame I lit too quickly quickly died.
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
and only I am left on stage to end the play.
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung,
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue.
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday when I was young.

[JimmyJazz]

53. Slap me silly and call me Reba - but is this Roy Clark, the country

singer? the guy who was on hee haw???

[Tom_Foolery]

63. Slap! Slap! You're Reba...

Yes, the very same Roy Clark. This song was a Top 40 hit back in its day.

[Red State Rebel]

71. Excellent Choice.... n/m

[iconoclastic cat]

46. Life on Mars?

Bowie:

It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling "No"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen

But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lenin's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns

But the film is a saddening bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

[jus_the_facts]

47. Killing Yourself To Live ~ Black Sabbath

Well people look and people stare
Well I don’t think that I even care
You work your life away and what do they give?
You’re only killing yourself to live
Killing yourself to live
Killing yourself to live

Just take a look around you what do you see
Pain, suffering, and misery
It’s not the way that the world was meant
It’s a pity you don’t understand
Killing yourself to live
Killing yourself to live

I’m telling you
Believe in me
Nobody else will tell you
Open your eyes
And see the lies, oh yeah

You think I’m crazy and baby
I know that it’s true
Before that you know it I think
That you’ll go crazy too

I don’t know if I’m up or down
Whether black is white or blue is brown
The colors of my life are all different somehow
Little boy blue’s a big girl now

So you think it’s me who’s strange
But you’ve never had to make the change
Never give your trust away
You’ll end up paying till your dying day

[koneko]

49. Maybe not profound

But to me, touching. Almost two years ago, I lost the absolute Love of my Life. He was only 36, and he was stolen from by a sudden, massive heart attack. He was, simply, the most beautiful soul I'd ever known, and I was devastated.

A couple of weeks before that, I had bought the first Evanescence album because I liked the song from Daredevil. The track My Immortal's lyrics captured the myriad emotions I was encountering. I felt like he was with me, still do actually, and I thought I would never be able to pick up the pieces of my shattered heart because he wasn't leaving me alone to grieve. :cry:

Needless to say, I choose this song, as it has helped me in so many ways. . .


I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me

You used to captivate me
By your resonating life
Now I'm bound by the life you've left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me
I've been alone all along

[JimmyJazz]

56. My "favorite" song about someone lost is this:

http://www.cantcryhardenough.com/

but - don't open this unless you have a box of kleenex handy and are in the mood for it. I am terribly sorry for your loss, btw. I lost someone I loved in a motorcycle accident when I was young. It's an indescribable pain. :hug:

[Red State Rebel]

76. I haven't cried over 9/11 in a long time, I am now.... n/m

[alittlelark]

107. That song did nothing for me....

... all white people, patriotism and b*sh.. I assume it came out right after 9-11? That kind of connection makes sense.

[JimmyJazz]

109. actually, no - that song was not written for 9/11 at all.

I admit the video is a little much, but I couldn't find just a regular download. I first heard the song in 1996 when the figure skaters did a tribute to Sergei Grinkov.

[alittlelark]

111. Should have closed my eyes...

[Red State Rebel]

82. Sand & Water by Beth Nielsen Chapman

She wrote this after her husband died.....

All alone I didn't like the feeling
All alone I sat and cried
All alone I had to find some meaning
In the center of the pain I felt inside

All alone I came into this world
All alone I will someday die
Solid stone is just sand and water, baby
Sand and water, and a million years gone by

I will see you in the light of a thousand suns
I will hear you in the sound of the waves
I will know you when I come, as we all will come
Through the doors beyond the grave

All alone I heal this heart of sorrow
All alone I raise this child
Flesh and bone, he's just
Bursting towards tomorrow
And his laughter fills my world and wears your smile

I will see you in the light of a thousand suns
I will hear you in the sound of the waves
I will know you when I come, as we all will come
Through the doors beyond the grave

All alone I came into this world
All alone I will someday die
Solid stone is just sand and water, baby
Sand and water and a million years gone by

[Amaya]

54. End of the Day, Beck

I’ve seen the end of the day come too soon
Not a lot to say, not a lot to do
You played the game, you owe nothing to yourself
Rest a day, for tomorrow you can’t tell
You can’t tell

I’ve seen the end of the day come too late
Seen the love you had turning into hate
Had to act like I didn’t even care
But I did so I got stranded standing there
Standing there

It’s nothing that I haven’t seen before
But it still kills me like it did before
No it’s nothing that I haven’t seen before
But it still kills me like it did before

I’ve seen the end of the day come too soon
Like the prison dogs they set out after you
You owe nothing to the past but wasted time
To serve a sentence that was only in your mind
In your mind

It’s nothing that I haven’t seen before
But it still kills me like it did before
No it’s nothing that I haven’t seen before
But it still kills me like it did before

[JimmyJazz]

58. How are you feeling?

[Amaya]

61. Getting better every day

Thanks for asking :)

[bigwillq]

55. From "underneath your clothes" by Shakira

"Because of you, I forgot the smart ways to lie
Because of you, I'm running out of reason to cry
When the friends are gone
When the party's over
We will still belong to each other"


Every line in "The Promise" by Tracy Chapman is also very profound to me

There are so many others, I'm just blanking

[4_Legs_Good]

57. Biko by Peter Gabriel

You can blow out a candle
but you can't blow out a fire
once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher

and the eyes of the world are watching now.

david

[Zenlitened]

70. Ooooh... incredible concert moment...

... seeing Gabriel perform that.

[RevolutionaryActs]

59. Somebody by Bonnie McKee.

I sit alone
In the dark theatre watchin' the people go by
Hand in hand
Everybody but me
Oh

I stay behind
Watchin' the credits roll by
Roll roll roll right by me

I know, I won't cry
Cause there is somebody somebody somebody waitin' for me
Out in the rain

Oh cry
Not tonight
Because there is somebody waitin' for me
Oh yeah

I take a walk
The streets are busy tonight
And I am searching for you
Waiting to brush your shoulder
But I'm alone
I watch the faces roll by
Roll roll roll right by me

But I know, I won't cry
Cause' there's somebody somebody somebody waitin' for me
Out in the rain

Oh cry
Not tonight
Because there is somebody waitin' for me

How many words will go unspoken
Not knockin' on my door
I'm not talkin' the night I spent heart broken
BUt tonight I know
I won't cry no more
Oh

I lie awake
I left the porch light on
I hope it helps you to find your way
Outside
I hear the thunder roll by
Roll roll roll right by me

But I know, I won't cry
Cause' there is somebody somebody somebody waitin' for me
Out in the rain
Not gonna cry tonight
No cause there is somebody waitin' for me
Not gonna cry tonight
No
No no no no
Oh
Not gonna cry
Not tonight cause there is somebody waitin' for me

I stay behind
Watchin' the credits roll by
Roll roll roll right by me

[-..__...]

62. All right! It's zee Wango, zee Tango...

1-2-3-4,
Come on boys
Time to Wango

.......

Yeahhhhhhhhhh!
Baby! Baby! Baby! Ooooh I like the way you look baby
You look like you're made for me honey
If you wanna take a little chance
I'm gonna show you a new dance
Baby I gotta Wango down one time with you honey
I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it
Well, it's a brand new dance
Yeah been sweepin' the nation
I said a brand new dance
A rock 'n' roll sensation
Yeah I like it baby, I do it every night
I got to do it 'cos I like it so much
Oh honey believe it baby
You see it's a crazed gyration of the rock generation
It's my motivation to avoid the nauseation, frustration
When I need some lubrication - Baby!
Kinda like, goes kinda like this
You take her right ankle out
You take her left ankle out
You get her belly propped down
You get her butt propped up
Yeah lookin' good now baby
I think you're in the right position now baby
Yeah but if you ain't quite ready I'll make sure everything is a little bit nicer 'cos
I'm gonna get a little talcum
I'm gonna borrow it from Malcolm
Yeah you look so good baby I'm startin to drool all over myself
I got the droolin', droolin', get all wet, salivate, salivate
I got salivate late, salivate late, salivate late
Got salivate, salivate, salivate, salivate, heh heh heh
Yeah you look so good baby, I like it, I like it, I like it
You know what I been talkin' about honey
It's a nice dance, we gotta a nice dance goin' here
Now what you gotta do, I'll tell you what you gotta do
You got to pretend your face is a Maserati
It's a Maserati
It's a Maserati
It's a gettin' hotty
It's a Maserati, Maserati, Maserati
It's a fast one too man, that thing's turbocharged
You feel like a little fuel injection honey?
I'll tell ya about it, I'll tell you about it
I'll check out the hood scoop
I gotta get that hood scoop off, shine and shine and buff
I gotta buff it up, buff it up, buff it up, buff it up, buff it up,
Yeah, shiny now baby, heh heh heh
You've been drivin' all night long
It's time to put the old Maserati away
So you look for a garage, you think you see a garage
Wait a minute, Hey!, there's one up ahead
And the damn thing's open
Hello! Get in there!

:headbang: :+

[latebloomer]

64. The River

I come from down in the valley
where mister when you're young
They bring you up to do like your daddy done
Me and Mary we met in high school
when she was just seventeen
We'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we'd ride

Then I got Mary pregnant
and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river
And into the river we'd dive
Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction for the Johnstown Company
But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy
Now all them things that seemed so important
Well mister they vanished right into the air
Now I just act like I don't remember
Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I'd lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
they haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true
Or is it something worse
that sends me down to the river
though I know the river is dry
That sends me down to the river tonight
Down to the river
my baby and I
Oh down to the river we ride





Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)

[Tom_Foolery]

65. John Denver 's Looking For Space...

 
John Denver

Looking For Space

On the road of experience, I'm trying to find my own way.
Sometimes I wish that I could fly away
When I think that I'm moving, suddently things stand still
I'm afraid 'cause I think they always will
And I'm looking for space
And I'm looking to know and understand
It's a sweet, sweet dream
Sometimes I'm almost there
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
And sometimes I'm deep in despair
All alone in the universe, sometimes that's how it seems
I get lost in the sadness and the screams
Then I look in the center, suddently everything's clear
I find myself in the sunshine and my dreams
And I'm looking for space
And I'm looking to know and understand
It's a sweet, sweet dream
Sometimes I'm almost there
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
And sometimes I'm deep in despair
On the road of experience, join in the living day
if there's an answer, it's just that it's just that way
When you're looking for space
And to find out who you are
When you're looking to try and reach the stars
It's a sweet, sweet sweet dream
Sometimes I'm almost there
Sometimes I fly like an eagle
But sometimes I'm deep in despair
Sometimes I fly like an eagle,
like an eagle
I go flying fly-ing

[saltpoint]

66. Wow, JimmyJazz. What great responses you've got on this one.

Can I throw in a couple?

Joni Mitchell's "Woman of Heart and Mind" :

"After the rush, when you come back down
You're always disappointed; nothing seems to keep you high
Drive your bargains, push your papers,
Win your medals, fuck your strangers...
Don't it leave you on the empty side?"

and Jackson Browne's "Farther On" :

"And the angels are older
They know not to wait up for the sun
They look over my shoulder
At the maps and the drawings
Of the journey I've begun

And they lay down beside me
To sleep beside the road
Til the morning has come
Where they know they will find me
With my maps and my faith in the distance,
Moving farther on."


edit: typos

[JimmyJazz]

110. I think I'm going to bookmark this one and go back and

download some of these songs.

[saltpoint]

119. You should. Good idea.

This thread is a humdinger by just about any standard.

[tanyev]

67. Trouble in the Fields Nanci Griffith

Trouble In The Fields
Words & Music By Nanci Griffith & Rick West

Baby I know that we've got trouble in the fields
When the bankers swarm like locust out there turning away our yield
The trains roll by our silos, silver in the rain
They leave our pockets full of nothing
But our dreams and the golden grain

Have you seen the folks in line downtown at the station
They're all buying their ticket out and talking the great depression
Our parents had their hard times fifty years ago
When they stood out in these empty fields in dust as deep as snow

Chorus:
And all this trouble in our fields
If this rain can fall, these wounds can heal
They'll never take our native soil
But if we sell that new John Deere
And then we'll work these crops with sweat and tears
You'll be the mule I'll be the plow
Come harvest time we'll work it out
There's still a lotta love, here in these troubled fields

There's a book up on the shelf about the dust bowl days
And there's a little bit of you and a little bit of me
In the photos on every page
Now our children live in the city and they rest upon our shoulders
They never want the rain to fall or the weather to get colder

(Repeat chorus)

You'll be the mule I'll be the plow
Come harvest time we'll work it out
There's still a lotta love, here in these troubled fields

[alarimer]

72. Several by Nanci that I love

It's a Hard Life Wherever you go.

I am a backseat driver from America
We drive to the left on Falls Road
And the man at the wheel's name is Seamus
We pass a child on the corner he knows
And Seamus says, now what chance has that kid got
And I say from the back, I don't know
He says there's barbed wire at all of these exits
And there ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go

'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they'll know

Cafeteria line in Chicago
The fat man in front of me
Is calling black people trash to his children
And he's the only trash here I see
And I am thinking this man wears a white hood
In the night when his children should sleep
But they'll slip to their windows and they'll see him
And they'll think that white hood's all they need

'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they'll know

I was a child in the Sixties
When dreams could be held through T.V
With Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther
And I believed, I believed, I believed
Now I am the backseat driver from America
And I am not at the wheel of control
And I am guilty, I am war, and I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can't drive on the left side of the road

'Cause it's a hard life, it's a hard life, it's a very hard life
It's a hard life wherever you go
And if we poison our children with hatred
Then the hard life is all that they'll know

And there ain't no place in this world for those kids to go
'Cause it's a hard life wherever you go


Also My personal favorite is Gulf Coast Highyway

Gulf coast highway, he worked the rails
He worked the rice fields with their cold dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico
The only thing we've owned is this old house here by the road
And when he dies he says he'll catch some blackbird's wing
And we will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring
She walked through springtime when I was home
The days were sweet, our nights were warm
The seasons changed, the jobs would come
The flowers fade, and this old house felt so alone
When the work took me away
And when she dies she says she'll catch some blackbird's wing
And she will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring
Highway 90, the jobs are gone
We kept our garden, we set the sun
This is the only place on Earth blue bonnets grow
And once a year they come and go
At this old house here by the road
And when we die we say we'll catch some blackbird's wing
And we will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring
Yes when we die we say we'll catch some blackbird's wing
And we will fly away together
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring

[tanyev]

77. Gulf Coast Highway always chokes me up.

Especially this part:

And when we die we say we'll catch some blackbird's wing
And we will fly away to heaven
Come some sweet blue bonnet spring

I grew up in a small town in Central Texas, so I have a picture in my mind of that old house by the highway. I'm a huge NG fan.

[leftofthedial]

68. these never fail to get me

you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around

that's what it's all about



that's what it's all about indeed

[Zenlitened]

69. "You'll never know the hurt I've suffered...

... nor the pain I rise above.
I'll never know the same about you,
your holiness, or your kind of love
and it makes me feel... so sorry"

Bob Dylan, Idiot Wind

(Don't know if that's the MOST profound, but it happens to be what's playing on my CD box right now! :) )

[ScreamingMeemie]

73. Six White Horses

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

performed by Waylon Jennings.



Come here and look through the window Marie
Open up the shutters,tell me what you see
Was that his knock that i heard at the door
Or is it six white horses coming down the road


Come here and touch me and say that it's alright
You know that to my eyes the days are as the nights
Read again the letter that tells me where he's gone
To hell with the fighting i want my son home



I taught him to fish and i taught him to be strong
I taught him that killing any man was wrong
But tommorrow in battle i'd run to where he stood
If the help of a blind man would do any good



Last night i went to his room for awhile
I've touched all the things that he used as a child
I rocked the cradle where he used to lay
I found his tin soldiers and threw them away



Come here and look through the window Marie
Open up the shutters,tell me what you see
Was that his knock that i heard at the door
Or is it six white horses coming up the road

[BigMcLargehuge]

74. Warm Wet Circles (Marillion)

On promenades where drunks propose to lonely arcade mannequins
Where ceremonies pause at the jeweller'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

That time of the night (the next song on the same album, also Marillion)

It was a wedding ring,
destined to be found in a cheap hotel
lost in a kitchen sink,
or thrown in a wishing well

At that time of the night
When streetlights throw crosses through window frames
Paranoia roams where the shadows reign
Oh, at that time of the night
At that time of the night
Your senses tangled in some new perfume
Criticism triggers of a loaded room
Oh, at that time of the night

So if you ask me
How do I feel inside
I could honestly tell you
We've been taken on a very long ride
And if my owners let me have some free time some day
With all good intention I would probably run away
Clutching the short straw

At that time of the night
When questions rally in an open mind
Summon all your answers with an ice cubes chime
At that time of the night

At that time of the night
Pretend you're off the hook with the telephone
Your confidence wounded in a free fire zone
Oh, at that time of the night

So if you ask me
Where do I go from here
My next destination even isn't really that clear
So if you join me and get on your knees and prey
I'll show you salvation
We'll take the alternative way
Clutching the short straw

If I had enough money I'd buy a round for that boy over there
A companion in my madness in the mirror the one with the silvery hair
And if some kind soul could please pick up my tab
And while they're at it if they could pick up my broken heart.

Warm wet circles

[MNBiker]

75. "We got a kindler gentler machine gun hand" Niel Young

[HeyManThatsCool]

78. Imagine. Only if Lennon sings. Madonna ruins the emotion.

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

[HeyManThatsCool]

80. Very Honorable Mention- Let It Be

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.

Let it be, let it be, .....

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, .....

[Longgrain]

79. Probally doesn't mean anything to any one but me...

But I'm in that sort of a mood tonight...


Whiter Shade of Pale

We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later
as the miller told his tale
that her face, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, 'There is no reason
and the truth is plain to see.'
But I wandered through my playing cards
and would not let her be
one of sixteen vestal virgins
who were leaving for the coast
and although my eyes were open
they might have just as well've been closed

She said, 'I'm home on shore leave,'
though in truth we were at sea
so I took her by the looking glass
and forced her to agree
saying, 'You must be the mermaid
who took Neptune for a ride.'
But she smiled at me so sadly
that my anger straightway died

If music be the food of love
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
and attacked the ocean bed

[housewolf]

84. Procol Harem

I love this song, it's a real mood piece. Takes me back, way back.

[Longgrain]

97. It was my parents "Wedding Song"

Kind of set the tone for the rest of my life... :(

[sendero]

118. That's a band name...

... what song? I'm guessing you are talking about "A Whiter Shade of Pale", which is a truly evocative song, although according to its author it's not about what many think it is :)

[zeemike]

93. It does to me

Every time I hear that song in my mind I get goosebumps of remembering.
It was a great song.
And now that you have brought it up it will play in my head for about three days.

[HeyManThatsCool]

81. This song makes me tear up EVERY time

Seriously, hope it never comes on when I'm in a group.
'The Rising" - is a huge number. It is not about rising up against a foe, but it is about rising above the pain, the heartache and the never-ending sorrow of 9/11.
Alot of the album was written for the firefighters- as is this song.


Bruce Springsteen- The Rising

Can’t see nothin’ in front of me
Can’t see nothin’ coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I’ve gone
How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed
On my back’s a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile of line

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin’ the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin’ down here

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

There’s spirits above and behind me
Faces gone black, eyes burnin’ bright
May their precious blood bind me
Lord, as I stand before your fiery light

I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There’s holy pictures of our children
Dancin’ in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin’ on the end of my line

Sky of blackness and sorrow ( a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness ( a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear ( a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow ( a dream of life)
Your burnin’ wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

[housewolf]

83. The most touching (and lonely) song I know...

The Fool on the Hill (Lennon/McCartney)

Day after day.
alone on the hill,
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still,
But nobody wants to know him,
They can see that he’s just a fool,
And he never gives an answer,
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning around.

Well on his way,
his head in a cloud,
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him,
Or the sound he appears to make,
And he never seems to notice,
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning around.

Nobody seems to like him
They can tell what he wants to do.
And he never shows his feelings,
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down,
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning around... round...round... round.


Sometimes.... I am that fool

[pilgrimsoul]

89. This was first a poem, but was also set to music

Go, lovely rose and tell her that wastes her time and me
how sweet and fair she seems to be.
Tell her that's young and shuns to have her graces spied
that hadst thou sprung in deserts where no men abide,
thou wouldst have uncommended died.
Small is the worth of beauty from the light retired.
Bid her come forth! Suffer herself to be desired,
and not blush so to be admired.
Then die, that she the common fate of all things rare
may read in thee,
How small a part in time we share
with things so wondrous sweet and fair.

[BBradley]

85. Bright Eyes - At the Bottom of Everything

Support your independent artists.

So there was this women and
she was on an airplane and
she's flying to meet her fiancé
sailing high above the largest ocean
on planet earth and she was seated
next to this man who you know
she had tried to start a conversation
but really the only thing
she heard him say was to order his bloody mary
and she's sitting there and she's reading
this really arduous magazine article about this
third world country that she couldn't
even pronounce the name of and
she's feeling very bored and very despondent
and then uh suddenly there's this huge mechanical failure and one of the engines gave out
and they started just falling thirty thousand feet
and the pilots on the microphone and he's saying,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Oh My God, I'm Sorry"
and apologizing and she looks at the man and she says, "where are we going" and he looks at her and he says, "We're going to a party, it's a birthday party.
It's your birthday party, happy birthday darling.
We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much." and then he starts humming this little tune and it kind of goes like this:

One, Two, One, Two, Three, Four
We must talk in every telephone, get eaten off the web
We must rip out all the epilogues from the books we have read
And to the face of every criminal strapped firmly in a chair
We must stare, we must stare, we must stare

We must take all of the medicines too expensive now to sell
Set fire to the preacher who is promising us hell
And in the ear of every anarchist who sleeps but doesn't dream
We must sing, we must sing, we must sing

And it'll go like this
While my mother waters plants my father loads his gun.
He says, "Death will give us back to god,
just like the setting sun
is returned to the lonesome ocean."

And then they splashed into the deep blue sea
It was a wonderful splash

We must blend into the choir, sing a static with the whole
We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul
And to this endless race for property and privilege to be won
We must run, we must run, we must run

We must hang up in the belfry where the bats in moonlight laugh
We must stare into a crystal ball and only see the past
And in the caverns of tomorrow with our flashlights and our love
We must plunge, we must plunge, we must plunge

And then we'll get down there,
way down to the very bottom of everything
and then we'll see it, we'll see it, we'll see it

Oh my morning's coming back
The whole worlds waking up
Oh the city bus is swimming past
I'm happy just because
I found out I am really no one

[progmom]

86. There are few who speak to me about love the way Joni Mitchell does

Joni Mitchell ALL I WANT

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be
Oh I hate you some, I hate you some
I love you some
Oh I love you when I forget about me
I want to be strong I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the living
Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive
I want to wreck my stockings in some juke box dive
Do you want - do you want - do you want
To dance with me baby
Do you want to take a chance
On maybe finding some sweet romance with me baby
Well, come on

All I really really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you too
All I really really want our love to do
Is to bring out the best in me and in you
I want to talk to you, I want to shampoo you
I want to renew you again and again
Applause, applause - life is our cause
When I think of your kisses
My mind see-saws
Do you see - do you see - do you see
How you hurt me baby
So I hurt you too
Then we both get so blue

I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Looking for the key to set me free
Oh the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling
It's the unraveling
And it undoes all the joy that could be
I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun
I want to be the one that you want to see
I want to knit you a sweater
Want to write you a love letter
I want to make you feel better
I want to make you feel free
Hmm, Hmm, Hmm, Hmm,
Want to make you feel free
I want to make you feel free

[Swede]

88. Mad World sung by Gary Jules

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places
Worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going no where
Going no where
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression
No expression
Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow
No tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles its a very very
Mad world
Mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday
Happy birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen
Sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me
No one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what’s my lesson
Look right through me
Look right through me
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles its a very very
Mad world
Mad world
Enlarging your world
Mad world

[livinginphotographs]

90. Joy Division - Insight

This song gives me chills everytime I hear it. It reads like a suicide note (which is interesting since Ian Curtis killed himself after the release of the second album)

Guess your dreams always end.
They don't rise up, just descend,
But I don't care anymore,
I've lost the will to want more,
I'm not afraid not at all,
I watch them all as they fall,
But I remember when we were young.

Those with habits of waste,
Their sense of style and good taste,
Of making sure you were right,
Hey don't you know you were right?
I'm not afraid anymore,
I keep my eyes on the door,
But I remember....

Tears of sadness for you,
More upheaval for you,
Reflects a moment in time,
A special moment in time,
Yeah we wasted our time,
We didn't really have time,
But we remember when we were young.

And all God's angels beware,
And all you judges beware,
Sons of chance, take good care,
For all the people not there,
I'm not afraid anymore,
I'm not afraid anymore,
I'm not afraid anymore,
Oh, I'm not afraid anymore. (emphasis mine)

Of course, all of Joy Divison's lyrics were pretty insightful/touching. :)

[Fleurs du Mal]

102. Indeed they were

[Bok_Tukalo]

91. "There wasn't even time to say Goodbye"

That's when Wendell Gee takes a tug
Upon the string that held the line of trees
Behind the house he lived in
He was reared to give respect
But somewhere down the line he chose
To whistle as the wind blows
Whistle as the wind blows, with me

He had a dream one night
That the tree had lost its middle
So he built a trunk of chicken wire
To try to hold it up
But the wire, the wire turned to lizard skin
And when he climbed inside
There wasn't even time to say
Goodbye to Wendell Gee
So whistle as the wind blows
Whistle as the wind blows, with me

If the wind were colors
And if the air could speak
Then whistle as the wind blows
Whistle as the wind blows

[elfrangel]

92. Here's one of my faves....

The wind is moving
But I am standing still
A life of pages
Waiting to be filled
A heart that’s hopeful
A head that’s full of dreams
But this becoming
Is harder than it seems
Feels like I’m

Chorus:
Looking for a reason
Roaming through the night to find
My place in this world
My place in this world
Not a lot to lean on
I need your light to help me find
My place in this world
My place in this world

If there are millions
Down on their knees
Among the many
Can you still hear me
Hear me asking
Where do I belong
Is there a vision
That I can call my own
Show me I’m

Chorus

"My Place In This World" -- Michael W. Smith
============================================

I also love "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday. Very haunting amd accurate description of the persecution of African Americans by "good-ole boys".

This song still has the power to make me weep... "Streets of Heaven" by Sherrie Austin

Hello God, it's me again. 2:00 a.m., Room 304.
Visiting hours are over, time for our bedside tug of war.
This sleeping child between us may not make it through the night.
I'm fighting back the tears as she fights for her life.

Well, it must be kind of crowded,
On the streets of Heaven.
So tell me: what do you need her for?
Don't you know one day she'll be your little girl forever.
But right now I need her so much more.
She's much too young to be on her own:
Barely just turned seven.
So who will hold her hand when she crosses the streets of Heaven?

Tell me God, do you remember the wishes that she made,
As she blew out the candles on her last birthday cake?
She wants to ride a pony when she'd big enough.
She wants to marry her Daddy when she's all grown up.

Well, it must be kind of crowded,
On the streets of Heaven.
So tell me: what do you need her for?
Don't you know one day she'll be your little girl forever.
But right now I need her so much more.
She's much too young to be on her own:
Barely just turned seven.
So who will hold her hand when she crosses the streets of Heaven?

Lord, don't you know she's my angel
You got plenty of your own
And I know you hold a place for her
But she's already got a home
Well I don't know if you're listenin'
But praying is all that's left to do
So I ask you Lord have mercy, you lost a son once too.

And it must be kind of crowded,
On the streets of Heaven.
So tell me: what do you need her for?
Don't you know one day she'll be your little girl forever.
But right now I need her so much more.

Lord, I know once you've made up your mind,
There's no use in beggin'.
So if you take her with you today,
Will you make sure she looks both ways,
And would you hold her hand when she crosses the streets of Heaven.

The streets of Heaven.

[New Earth]

94. you asked for it

311 - "Running"

Here in the world,
feel it flowing...
River of life on a human journey.
Don't be afraid of becoming the sea.
Don't worry yourself.
Many stories will be left untold,
But understand everything must go.

Slow slow lover
Rub you down
We don't want no one hurting
don't make a sound
Oh living is a journey
Waking believing running
For shelter now
Slow slow lover
Rub you down
We don't want no one hurting
don't make a sound
Oh living is a journey
Waking believing running

What's that you do -
You're running around -
There's people that need you
And you're letting down.
And when it's time to care
You always leave town
Don't hurry yourself
There's some wildness there and mercy
It's the emptiness we love touching.

Slow slow lover
Rub you down
We don't want no one hurting
don't make a sound
Oh living is a journey
Waking believing running
For shelter now
Slow slow lover
Rub you down
We don't want no one hurting
don't make a sound
Oh living is a journey
Waking believing running

Give thanks and praise
For good things you found
Humble people
Not ashamed nor proud
And always try to keep
Your feet on the ground
And love yourself

Slow slow lover
Rub you down
We don't want no one hurting
don't make a sound
Oh living is a journey
Waking believing running
For shelter now
Slow slow lover
Rub you down
We don't want no one hurting
don't make a sound
Oh living is a journey
Waking believing running





ps) it's waKing NOT walking!!!!!

[BrotherBuzz]

95. Shake Sugaree

SHAKE SUGAREE

By Elizabeth Cotton

I got a secret I should tell
Goin' up in heaven in a split pea shell
Oh lordy me, didn't we shake up sugaree
Everything I had done in pawn
I pawned my watch
I pawned my chain
I'd have sold myself but I got down so ashamed
Oh lordy me, well didn't we shake up sugaree
Everything I had done in pawn
I got a song to sing
It's not very long
I'm gonna sing it right
If it takes me all night long
Oh lordy me, didn't we shake up sugaree
Everything I had done in pawn
But I got a secret that I should tell
Goin' up in heaven in a split pea shell
Oh lordy me, well didn't we shake up sugaree
Everything I had done in pawn
Oh lordy me, well didn't we shake up sugaree
Everything I had done been pawned

[no name no slogan]

96. The entire Cocteau Twins back catalogue (n/t)

[mykpart]

98. Somewhere, out there

Beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me
And loving me tonight.
Somewhere out there
Someone's saying a prayer
That we'll find one another
In the great somewhere out there.
Even though I know how very far apart we are
It helps to know we might be wishing on the same bright star
And when the night wind starts to sing her lonesome lullaby
It helps to know we're sleeping underneath the same big sky.
Somewhere, out there
If love can see us through
Then we'll be together
Somewhere out there, out where dreams come true.

You just have to forget that it was sung by a cartoon mouse!

[AntiCoup2K4]

99. Here's a couple from U2

"Bad"
If you twist and turn away
If you tear yourself in two again
If I could, yes I would
If I could, I would
Let it go
Surrender
Dislocate

If I could throw this
Lifeless lifeline to the wind
Leave this heart of clay
See you walk, walk away
Into the night
And through the rain
Into the half-light
And through the flame

If I could through myself
Set your spirit free
I’d lead your heart away
See you break, break away
Into the light
And to the day

To let it go
And so to fade away
To let it go
And so fade away

I’m wide awake
I’m wide awake
Wide awake
I’m not sleeping
Oh, no, no, no

If you should ask then maybe they’d
Tell you what I would say
True colors fly in blue and black
Bruised silken sky and burning flag
Colors crash, collide in blood shot eyes

If I could, you know I would
If I could, I would
Let it go...

This desperation
Dislocation
Separation
Condemnation
Revelation
In temptation
Isolation
Desolation
Let it go

And so fade away
To let it go
And so fade away
To let it go
And so to fade away

I’m wide awake
I’m wide awake
Wide awake
I’m not sleeping
Oh, no, no, no


"One Tree Hill"
We turn away to face the cold, enduring chill
As the day begs the night for mercy
Your sun so bright it leaves no shadows, only scars
Carved into stone on the face of earth
The moon is up and over one tree hill
We see the sun go down in your eyes
You ran like river to the sea
Like a river to the sea
And in our world a heart of darkness, a firezone
Where poets speak their hearts, then bleed for it
Jara sang, his song a weapon, in the hands of love
You know his blood still cries from the ground
It runs like a river to the sea
Like a river to the sea
I don’t believe in painted roses or bleeding hearts
While bullets rape the night of the merciful
I’ll see you again when the stars fall from the sky
And the moon has turned red over one tree hill
We run like a river to the sea
Like a river to the sea

[NNadir]

100. Don't know if it's touching but these were profound once in my life.

"Woman Of Heart And Mind
by Joni Mitchell

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

I am a woman of heart and mind
With time on her hands
No child to raise
You come to me like a little boy
And I give you my scorn and my praise

You think I'm like your mother
Or another lover or your sister
Or the queen of your dreams
Or just another silly girl
When love makes a fool of me

After the rush when you come back down
You're always disappointed
Nothing seems to keep you high
Drive your bargains
Push your papers
Win your medals
Fuck your strangers
Don't it leave you on the empty side

I'm looking for affection and respect
A little passion
And you want stimulation-nothing more
That's what I think
But you know I'll try to be there for you
When your spirits start to sink

All this talk about holiness now
It must be the start of the latest style
Is it all books and words
Or do you really feel it?
Do you really laugh?
Do you really care?
Do you really smile
When you smile?

You criticize and you flatter
You imitate the best
And the rest you memorize
You know the times you impress me most
Are the times when you don't try
When you don't even try."

I used to play a version of that song quite a bit in clubs and other places, and people used to wonder about, and say that even if they liked my version they couldn't understand a man singing that song.

I understood it, but later I grew up and got married.

Now I don't have to play it anymore.

[jpgray]

101. Robert Wyatt - Signed Curtain

This is the first verse
This is the first verse
This is the first verse
This is the first verse...

And this is the chorus
Or perhaps it's a bridge
Or just another part
of the song that I'm singing

This is the second verse
Or it may be the last verse
This is the second verse
Or it may the last one

And this is the chorus
Or perhaps it's a bridge
Or just another key change
Never mind
It doesn't hurt
It only means that I
lost faith in this song
'Cause it won't help me reach you...

[seriousstan]

103. Hey kids rock and roll

rock on!!

[JimmyJazz]

104. groovy

:smoke:

[Dastard Stepchild]

105. There is a Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths)

This song always reminds be of the beauty/angst of teenage love.

Take me home tonight
where there's music and there's people
who are young and alive
driving in your car
I never never want to go home
because I haven't got one anymore

Take me home tonight
because I want to see people
and I want to see life
driving in your car
oh please don't drop me home
because it's not my home, it's their home
and I'm welcome no more

And if a double-decker bus
crashes in to us
to die by your side
is such a heavenly way to die
and if a ten ton truck
kills the both of us
to die by your side
well the pleasure, the privilege is mine

Take me home tonight
take me anywhere, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care
and in the darkened underpass
I thought Oh God, my chance has come at last
but then a strange fear gripped me
and I just couldn't ask

Take me home tonight
oh take me anywhere, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care
driving in your car
I never never want to go home
because I haven't got one
no, I haven't got one

And if a double-decker bus
crashes in to us
to die by your side
is such a heavenly way to die
and if a ten ton truck
kills the both of us
to die by your side
well the pleasure, the privilege is mine

There is a light that never goes out
There is a light that never goes out
There is a light that never goes out
There is a light that never goes out

[Strawman]

106. Gil Scott-Heron - Inner City Blues/The Siege of New Orleans

So you say you never heard of the Inner City Blues and what's more you don't understand at all what the ghetto people mean when they say livin behind walls. Well then put on your best suit what shirt and tie and go on downtown to stand in line for a job washin dishes for which you may not qualify. Walk a big hole in a brand new pair of shoes and you've had your first look at the inner city blues...

[WCGreen]

108. Can't choose, too many.....

Springsteen the River
Beatles, In My Life,
Tom Paxton, the BRavest,
Al Stewart, The Roads to Moscow,

All Move me,

[Seabiscuit]

113. Charles Trenet:

La mer
Qu'on voit danser le long des golfes clairs
A des reflets d'argent
La mer
Des reflets changeants
Sous la pluie

La mer
Au ciel d'ete confond
Ses blancs moutons
Avec les anges si purs
La mer bergere d'azur
Infinie

Voyez
Pres des etangs
Ces grands roseaux mouilles
Voyez
Ces oiseaux blancs
Et ces maisons rouillees

La mer
Les a berces
Le long des golfes clairs
Et d'une chanson d'amour
La mer
A berce mon coeur pour la vie

[biscodawg]

114. James - Seven

Blow me away
Was that love you declared
Only a word
Love can mean anything
Understand the world we're living in

Oceans apart
What's that view from your wave
Beautiful craft
Weather and change
Understand the world we're living in
Love can mean anything

God made love to me
Soothed away my gravity
Made me a pair of angel's wings
Clear vision and some magic things

God is love to me
Thank you for those things
Understand the world we're living in
Love can mean anything

Darling
I'm open
Unguarded
Unbroken

Now we've done our time
We can drift away
Like the heavy cloud
With the weight of rain

Understand the world we're living in
Love can mean anything

Understand the world we're living in
Love can change anything

[Phentex]

115. Everything But the Girl

The highlands and the lowlands
Are the roots my father knows
The holidays at Oban
And the towns around Montrose
But even as he sleeps
They're loading bombs into the hills
And the waters in the lochs
Can run deep but never still

I've thought of having children
But I've gone and changed my mind
It's hard enough to watch the news
Let alone explain it to a child
To cast your eye 'cross nature
Over fields of rape and corn
And tell him without flinching
Not to fear where he's been born

Then someone sat me down last night
And I heard Caruso sing
He's almost as good as Presley
And if I only do one thing
I'll sing songs to my father
I'll sing songs to my child
It's time to hold your loved ones
While the chains are loosed and the world
Runs wild

And even as we speak
They're loading bombs onto a white train
How can we afford to ever sleep
So sound again

[Cooley Hurd]

116. "Saturday Night" by The Thrills

Is this what they call love?
Is this what they call love?
Is this what they call love on a Saturday night?
I'm just a man
I'm just a man
Not even a great one
I'm too vague for greatness
Is this what they call love on a Saturday night?

Is this what they call sex?
Is this what they call sex?
Is this what they call sex on a Saturday night?
Top 40 nightclubs
Top 40 nightclubs
Providing the soundtrack for
dry-humping on dance floors
Is this what they call sex on a Saturday night?

Is this what they call hate?
Is this what they call hate?
Is this what they call hate on a Saturday night?
Broke Kinder bottles
Broke Kinder bottles
Thrown like American footballs
Hey, it's just jocks high on hormones
Is this what they call hate on a Saturday night?

I just love this song!

[Joe Power]

117. This one always breaks my heart

Birdland


His father died and left him a little farm in New England.
All the long black funeral cars left the scene
And the boy was just standing there alone
Looking at the shiny red tractor
Him and his daddy used to sit inside
And circle the blue fields and grease the night.
It was if someone had spread butter on all the fine points of the stars
'Cause when he looked up they started to slip.
Then he put his head in the crux of his arm
And he started to drift, drift to the belly of a ship,
Let the ship slide open, and he went inside of it
And saw his daddy 'hind the control board streamin' beads of light,
He saw his daddy 'hind the control board,
And he was very different tonight
'Cause he was not human, he was not human.

And then the little boy's face lit up with such naked joy
That the sun burned around his lids and his eyes were like two suns,
White lids, white opals, seeing everything just a little bit too clearly
And he looked around and there was no black ship in sight,
No black funeral cars, nothing except for him the raven
And fell on his knees and looked up and cried out,
“No, daddy, don't leave me here alone,
Take me up, daddy, to the belly of your ship,
Let the ship slide open and I'll go inside of it
Where you're not human, you are not human.”

But nobody heard the boy's cry of alarm.
Nobody there 'cept for the birds around the New England farm
And they gathered in all directions, like roses they scattered
And they were like compass grass coming together into the head of a shaman bouquet
Slit in his nose and all the others went shooting
And he saw the lights of traffic beckoning like the hands of Blake
Grabbing at his cheeks, taking out his neck,
All his limbs, everything was twisted and he said,
“I won't give up, won't give up, don't let me give up,
I won't give up, come here, let me go up fast,
Take me up quick, take me up, up to the belly of a ship
And the ship slides open and I go inside of it where I am not human.”

I am helium raven and this movie is mine,
So he cried out as he stretched the sky,
Pushing it all out like latex cartoon, am I all alone in this generation?
We'll just be dreaming of animation night and day
And won't let up, won't let up and I see them coming in,
Oh, I couldn't hear them before, but I hear 'em now,
It's a radar scope in all silver and all platinum lights
Moving in like black ships, they were moving in, streams of them,
And he put up his hands and he said, “It's me, it's me,
I'll give you my eyes, take me up, oh now please take me up,
I'm helium raven waitin' for you, please take me up,
Don't leave me here!”
The son, the sign, the cross,
Like the shape of a tortured woman, the true shape of a tortured woman,
The mother standing in the doorway letting her sons
No longer presidents but prophets
They're all dreaming they're gonna bear the prophet,
He's gonna run through the fields dreaming in animation
It's all gonna split his skull
It's gonna come out like a black bouquet shining
Like a fist that's gonna shoot them up
Like light, like Mohammed Boxer
Take them up up up up up up
Oh, let's go up, up, take me up, I'll go up,
I'm going up, I'm going up
Take me up, I'm going up, I'll go up there
Go up go up go up go up up up up up up up
Up, up to the belly of a ship.
Let the ship slide open and we'll go inside of it
Where we are not human, we're not human.

Well, there was sand, there were tiles,
The sun had melted the sand and it coagulated
Like a river of glass
When it hardened he looked at the surface
He saw his face
And where there were eyes were just two white opals, two white opals,
Where there were eyes there were just two white opals
And he looked up and the rays shot
And he saw raven comin' in
And he crawled on his back and he went up
Up up up up up up
Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
Sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
We like birdland.