Who packs the most words into a rock / folk song?

[ok_cpu]

Poll question: Who packs the most words into a rock / folk song?

Or, the "Blinded by the Light" inspired poll...

[punpirate]

1. Probably Al Stewart...

... very dense lyrics.

Maybe Joni Mitchell next.

[ok_cpu]

4. I'm not too familiar with Al Stewart

But I'm embarrassed to have left Joni Mitchell off the list

Edited to add other than "Time Passages" off the top of my head

[no name no slogan]

5. Think "Year of the Cat" or "Time Passages"

both were fairly big Top 40 hits in the 70s. He's quite the wordsmith.

[ok_cpu]

8. I know "Year of the Cat"

But was apparently waaaay wrong about who sang it...


:blush:

[Reciprocity]

9. He did the year of the cat and time passages.

[punpirate]

14. Look for...

"Year of the Cat." Definitely worth a listen.

The title song has one of the best opening lines ever:

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

Cheers.

[WCGreen]

27. Well maybe aI shuld read the whole damn thread

before I post....

[WCGreen]

26. I was going to say Al Stewart......

He paints a picture with his words....

On A Morning from a bogart movie
In a country where they turn back time
You go strolling through the crowd
Like Peter Lorie
Contemplating a crime......

[fishnfla]

2. The Meat Purveyors or the Gourds eom

[Floogeldy]

3. Johnny Cash

"I've Been Everywhere"

I was totin my pack along the long dusty Winnamucka road
When along came a semi with a high canvas covered load
If your goin' to Winnamucka, Mack with me you can ride
And so I climbed into the cab and then I setteled down inside
He asked me if I'd seen a road with so much dust and sand
And I said, "Listen! I've traveled every road in this here land!"

I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:
Reno
Chicago
Fargo
Minnesota
Buffalo
Toronto
Winslow
Sarasota
Wichita
Tulsa
Ottowa
Oklahoma
Tampa
Panama
Mattua
LaPaloma
Bangor
Baltimore
Salvador
Amarillo
Tocapillo
Pocotello
Amperdllo

I'm a Killer
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:
Boston
Charleston
Dayton
Lousiana
Washington
Houston
Kingston
Texas (County)
Monterey
Fairaday
Santa Fe
Tollaperson
Glen Rock
Black Rock
Little Rock
Oskaloussa
Tennessee
Tinnesay
Chickapee
Spirit Lake
Grand Lake
Devil's Lake
Crater Lake

For Pete's Sake
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:
Louisville
Nashville
Knoxville
Omerback
Shereville
Jacksonville
Waterville
Costa Rock
Richfield
Springfield
Bakersfield
Shreveport
Hakensack
Cadallic
Fond du Lac
Davenport
Idaho
Jellico
Argentina
Diamondtina
Pasadena
Catalina

See What I Mean
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

I've been to:
Pittsburgh
Parkersburg
Gravelburg
Colorado
Ellisburg
Rexburg
Vicksburg
Eldorado
Larimore
Adimore
Habastock
Chadanocka
Shasta
Nebraska
Alaska
Opalacka
Baraboo
Waterloo
Kalamazoo
Kansas City
Souix City
Cedar City
Dodge City

What A Pity
I've been everywhere, man
I've been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I've breatherd the mountain air, man
Travel - I've had my share, man
I've been everywhere

[Reciprocity]

6. This is a tuff poll.

It's between Dylan and Springsteen for me. That said, Bruce has helped me through more dark times than a flash light.

HUMAN TOUCH

You and me we were the pretenders
We let it all slip away
In the end what you don't surrender
Well the world just strips away

Girl, ain't no kindness in the face of strangers
Ain't gonna find no miracles here
Well you can wait on your blesses my darlin'
But I got a deal for you right here

I ain't lookin' for praise or pity
I ain't comin' 'round searchin' for a crutch
I just want someone to talk to
And a little of that Human Touch
Just a little of that Human Touch

Ain't no mercy on the streets of this town
Ain't no bread from heavenly skies
Ain't nobody drawin' wine from this blood
It's just you and me tonight

Tell me, in a world without pity
Do you think what I'm askin's too much
I just want something to hold on to
And a little of that Human Touch
Just a little of that Human Touch

Oh girl that feeling of safety you prize
Well it comes at a hard hard price
You can't shut off the risk and the pain
Without losin' the love that remains
We're all riders on this train

So you've been broken and you've been hurt
Show me somebody who ain't
Yeah, I know I ain't nobody's bargain
But, hell, a little touchup
and a little paint...

You might need somethin' to hold on to
When all the answers, they don't amount to much
Somebody that you could just to talk to
And a little of that Human Touch

Baby, in a world without pity
Do you think what I'm askin's too much
I just want to feel you in my arms
Share a little of that Human Touch
Feel a little of that Human Touch
Give me a little of that Human Touch

[Uben]

7. Neil Young

N/T

[Reciprocity]

10. John Denver

Some Days Are Diamonds


When you ask how I’ve been here without you
I like to say I’ve been fine and I do
But we both know the truth is hard to come by
And if I told the truth, that’s not quite true

Some days are diamonds, some days are stone
Some time the hard times won’t leave you alone
Some times the cold winds blow a chill in my bones
Some days are diamonds, some days are stone

Now the face that I see in my mirror
More and more is a stranger to me
More and more I can see there’s a danger
In becoming what I never thought I’d be

Some days are diamonds, some days are stone
Some time the hard times won’t leave you alone
Some times the cold winds blow a chill in my bones
Some days are diamonds, some days are stone

[LincolnMcGrath]

11. Its the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane -
Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs. Feed it up a knock,
speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height,
down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for
hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn't coming in a hurry with the furies
breathing down your neck. Team by team reporters baffled, trump, tethered
crop. Look at that low plane! Fine then. Uh oh, overflow, population,
common group, but it'll do. Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its
own needs, listen to your heart bleed. Tell me with the rapture and the
reverent in the right - right. You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright
light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign tower. Slash and burn,
return, listen to yourself churn. Lock him in uniform and book burning,
blood letting. Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate. Light a candle,
light a motive. Step down, step down. Watch a heel crush, crush. Uh oh,
this means no fear - cavalier. Renegade and steer clear! A tournament,
a tournament, a tournament of lies. Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives
and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I tripped a nice continental drift divide. Mount St. Edelite.
Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom! You symbiotic, patriotic,
slam, but neck, right? Right.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine...fine...

(It's time I had some time alone)

[mcscajun]

12. Subterranean Homesick Blues

All of this in 2 minutes 21 seconds flat:

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D. A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the army, if you fail
Look out kid
You're gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parkin' meters

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles

[kodi]

28. a lot longer, but better imagry

Desolation Row

They're selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker
The other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless
They need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy
"It takes one to know one," she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets
Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning
"You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says," You're in the wrong place, my friend
You better leave"
And the only sound that's left
After the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up
On Desolation Row

Now the moon is almost hidden
The stars are beginning to hide
The fortunetelling lady
Has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel
And the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love
Or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing
He's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight
On Desolation Row

Now Ophelia, she's 'neath the window
For her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday
She already is an old maid

To her, death is quite romantic
She wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon
Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking
Into Desolation Row

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood
With his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago
With his friend, a jealous monk
He looked so immaculately frightful
As he bummed a cigarette
Then he went off sniffing drainpipes
And reciting the alphabet
Now you would not think to look at him
But he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin
On Desolation Row

Dr. Filth, he keeps his world
Inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients
They're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser
She's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read
"Have Mercy on His Soul"
They all play on penny whistles
You can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough
From Desolation Row

Across the street they've nailed the curtains
They're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera
A perfect image of a priest
They're spoonfeeding Casanova
To get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence
After poisoning him with words

And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls
"Get Outa Here If You Don't Know
Casanova is just being punished for going
To Desolation Row"

Now at midnight all the agents
And the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone
That knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory
Where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders
And then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles
By insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping
To Desolation Row

Praise be to Nero's Neptune
The Titanic sails at dawn
And everybody's shouting
"Which Side Are You On?"
And Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot
Fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them
And fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much
About Desolation Row

Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke)
When you asked how I was doing
Was that some kind of joke?
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I can't read too good
Don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them
From Desolation Row

Bob Dylan is the best artist this country ever produced.

[Zenlitened]

33. Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

A Martin Scorcese film. On PBS and out on DVD next month. :bounce:

http://www.bobdylan.com/index.html

[Glenda]

13. The Barenaked Ladies...

It was one week since you looked at me, cocked your head to the side and said some stuff....

(i don't really know the words)

[mcscajun]

35. The entire lyric here...

...http://www.twin-music.com/azlyrics/b_file/songs/bare_one.html

[Glenda]

37. Thanks! It's a cool song :) n/t

[greendog]

15. Leonard Cohen

"Suzanne"

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.


And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.

Now Suzanne takes your hand
And she leads you to the river
She is wearing rags and feathers
From Salvation Army counters
And the sun pours down like honey
On our lady of the harbour
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever
While Suzanne holds the mirror
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that you can trust her
For she's touched your perfect body with her mind.

[EC]

16. If you mean of the protest

If you mean of the protest, conscience writers Woody Guthrie (This Land Is Your Land)

The Ballad of Harriet Tubman

I was five years old in Bucktown Maryland
When into slavery I was sent
I'll tell you of the beatings and of the fighting
In my ninety-three years I've spent

I helped a field hand make a run for freedom
When my fifteenth year was rolling round
And the guard he caught him in a little store
In a little slavery village town
The boss made a grab to catch the field hand
I jumped in and blocked the door
The boss he hit me with a two pound scale iron
And I went black down on the floor
On a bundle of rags in our log cabin
My mother she ministered unto my needs
It was here I swore I¹d give my life blood
Just to turn my people free

In '44 I married John Tubman
Well I loved him well till '49
But he would not come and fight beside me
So I left him there behind
I left Bucktown with my two brothers
But they got scared and run back home
I followed my northern star of freedom
I walked the grass and trees alone
I slept in a barn loft and in a haystack
I slept with my people in slavery shacks
They said I'd die by the bossman's bullets
But I told them I can't turn back
The sun was shining in the early morning
When I come to my free state line
I pinched myself to see if I was dreaming
I just could not believe my eyes

I went back home and I got my parents
I loaded them into a buckboard hag
We crossed six states and other slaves followed
Up to Canada we made our tracks
One slave got scared and he tried to turn backwards
I pulled my pistol in front of his eyes
I said get up and walk to your freedom
Or by this fireball you will die
When John Brown hit them at Harper's Ferry
My men was fighting right by his side
When John Brown swung upon his gallows
It was then I hung my head and cried
Give the black man guns and give him powder
To Abe Lincoln this I said
You¹ve just crippled that snake of slavery
We¹ve got to fight to kill him dead
When we faced the guns of lightning
And the thunders broke our sleep
After we waded the bloody rainstorms
It was dead men that we reaped
Yes we faced the zigzag lightning
But it was worth the price we paid
When our thunder had rumbled over
We¹d laid slavery in it's grave

Come now and stand around my deathbed
And I will sing some spirit songs
I'm my way to my greater union
Now my ninety-three years are gone


Others of his include: KEEP THAT OIL A-ROLLIN', Vanzetti's Letter, I Ain`t Got Nobody,


Also, there were Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, and Phil Ochs, The Travellers and Willie Dunn.


Then Dylan, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Buffalo Springfield,The 5 Man Electrical Band, Jefferson Airplane, Creedance, Joan Biaz, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Hendrix (Star Spangled Banner, Machine Gun) and the rest that we still hear today. Some band last summer put out an album of Woodie Guthrie songs, and Joe Perry covered some of his songs, like Vigilante Man on a new album.

I pretty much like them all.

[Tikki]

17. Prob.....Elvis Costello.......n/t

[salin]

25. he has my vote as well. n/t

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

31. 'nother vote for Elvis

[KitchenWitch]

18. Arlo Guthrie

Think "Alice's Restaurant"

[Faygo Kid]

19. If it's most in your head. The Legend Lives On, From the Chippewa On Down

OK, don't hear the song in your head for the rest of the evening. I dare you.

[EC]

23. That's okay, I love the song...

I even liked Cold on the Shoulder...and Rainy Day People, but Edmund Fitzgerald is just haunting....always gives me chills

[Faygo Kid]

29. Yes, I agree, and remember it well

1974, and I was there when the bells tolled 29 times at Mariner's Cathedral in Detroit. You are from Wisconsin, so you love the Lakes. No choice in the Midwest, especially in Michigan, and thanks so much.

[MN ChimpH8R]

20. Peter Hammill of Van Der Graaf Generator

He once covered the back of a 12" LP sleeve with 5 or 6 point type and barely got all the words on the cover. The High Priest of Existential Angst.

Al Stewart and Brooooooce are pretty loquacious too.

[Reciprocity]

21. VAN MORRISON

"Into The Mystic"

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic

And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when the fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don't have to fear it

And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And magnificently we will flow into the mystic

When that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home
And when that fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it
I don't have to fear it

And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will flow into the mystic
Come on girl...

Too late to stop now...

[mitchum]

22. Ani DeFranco is pretty damned wordy...

and I actually think her songs suffer for it

[evlbstrd]

24. Zappa could cram a lot of words into a song.

And there was almost always a point to it.

[MeatLoafZero]

30. "In the year 2525" - Zager and Evans

Or did it just seem to go on forever?

[Faygo Kid]

32. After all, it did go thousands of years on. . .

If man is still alive, if woman can survive. . .

[dajoki]

34. dylan

:woohoo:

[Robeson]

36. Steppenwolf.