FAVORITE LYRICS

[maarts]

This one I count in the same high regards as Springsteen, Cohen or Dylan...somehow so descriptive of me at the end of a very long day....

Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you live too long
Days drip slowly on the page
You catch yourself
Pacing the cage

I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And every one was taken in
Hours chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage

I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage

Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage.
Pacing the cage.
Pacing the cage.



Bruce Cockburn- Pacing the Cage

[phil]

OH ! It's been way too long
since I've treated myself
to a little Bruce Cockburn ...

Thanks for the "suggestion" ...

[Thorngrub]

Day After Tomorrow

I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much, here
I can't wait to see you all
And I'm counting the days, dear
I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the world
And I'll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow

It is so hard
And it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
But I miss you won't believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch tomorrow
On the day after tomorrow

I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel
About all the blood that's been spilled
Look out on the street
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow

You can't deny
The other side
Don't want to die
Any more than we do
What I'm trying to say,
Is don't they pray
To the same God that we do?
Tell me, how does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel?
And who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?

Mmmmmmm...
I'm not fighting
For justice
I am not fighting
For freedom
I am fighting
For my life
And another day
In the world here
I just do what I've been told
You're just the gravel on the road
And the one's that are lucky
One's come home
On the day after tomorrow

And the summer
It too will fade
And with it comes the winter's frost, dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I'll be twenty-one today
I've been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
And my plane it will touch down
On the day after tomorrow

[Thorngrub]

The above song was composed to resemble a letter sent home from a soldier in Iraq.

[Thorngrub]

If you doubt - - the least bit - - that Tom Wait's latest, Real Gone, is nothing short of a true raggedy blue MASTERWORK, then you are a big fat doubter.

*REAL GONE is essential Waits*

[Rit]

K-OS - "B-Boy Stance"

Ya. its so hard to remain authentic
Everything is round me in changin
Even the earth is movin in two different places
In outer space, but one thing remains the same
till the end of time i think i'll remain....

[chorus]
Im a b-boy standin in my b-boy stance

From the top of the highest summit, again we run it.
A hundred and forty four shimmering lights stunnin
too quick for the human eye to catch a glimpse
You know pimps cannot convince with bigger attempts of emcee’in,
blowing word to the wind,
While we conscend to limit the sins and pretend
We’re still human, when if fact were only half, the other path extends infinity do the math
I try to laugh, but they pull me down like crabs in a bucket
With hands in my pocket, I don’t really laugh
Heaven only knows, the ? keeps invading the flows that turns black pros
To white foes… Your just supposin have you heard my words moving at light speed and getting blurred. It’s all so incredible decibles at glance standing in a b-stance

Im a B-boy standin in my B-boy stance

This one leads the way…
Now cut it up, cut it up back to back, on the wheels of steel, cut it up back to back

Elevate, Meditate, eliminate-thoughts from my past keep knocking upon my gate
Shouldn’t let em in, the answers not to debate
But to observe the debating and then we can understate

Yo party people listen up at the drop of dime,
They took cameras to africa for pictures to rhyme
Over old.. yes, the great pretenders
Religeous entertainers who want to be life savers
Damn.. another dollar for the mind, another cold ? hoping
They can’t find, they can’t copy or get pictures with no lines,
I guess it’s just a case of the blind leading the blind
But, I’m flippin and steppin and rockin the roll, take the control
Payin my tolls, whose in control?
I’m playin a roll so people will remember that
I’m just a servent of rap, hopin to bring it back

Im a B-boy standin in my B-boy stance

This one leads the way… break

[Rit]

Mclusky - "Without My MSG I Am Nothing"

get carter to the phone, don't teach him how to cook
that'd kill him
without it she is great, a little underweight
but still appealing

everywhere i look is a darkness

i get my msg from digital tv
good consumer
you aren't the only one who has no trousers on
good audition

everywhere i look is a darkness

my my my my my my
my my my my my my
my my my my my my
my my my MY

get carter to the phone, don't teach him how to cook,
that'd
kill
him
without it she is great, a little underweight
but still appealing

everywhere i look is a darkness

[Rit]

^a right saucy song

[luke]

Modest Mouse- Bankrupt on Selling

well all the apostles-they're sitting in swings
saying "i'd sell off my savior for a set of new rings
and some sandles with the style of straps that cling best to the era"
so all of the businessers in their unlimited
hell where they buy and they sell and they sell all their
trash to each other but they're sick of it all
and they're bankrupt on selling
and all of the angels
they'd sell off yer soul for a set of new wings and anything gold
they remember
the people they loved their old friends
and i've seen through'em all seen through'em all and seen through most everything
all the people you knew were the actors
all the people you knew were the actors
well, i'll go to college and i'll learn some big words
and i'll talk real loud
goddamn right i'll be heard
you'll remember all the guys that said all those big words he must've
learned in college
and it took a long time
i came clean with myself
i come clean out of love with my lover
i still love her
loved her more when she used to be sober and i was kind

[Rit]

Green Day - "Jesus of Suburbia"

-Jesus Of Suburbia-

I'm the son of rage and love,
The Jesus of suburbia,
From the bible of "none of the above",
On a steady diet of soda pop and ritalin,
No one ever died for my sins in hell,
As far as I can tell,
At least the ones I got away with

But there's nothing wrong with me,
This is how I'm supposed to be,
In a land of make believe,
That don't believe in me

Get my television fix,
Sitting on my crucifix,
The living room in my private womb,
While the Mom's and Brad's are away,
To fall in love and fall in debt,
To alcohol and cigarettes and Mary Jane,
To keep me insane and doing someone else's cocaine
---

-City Of The Damned-

At the center of the earth,
In the parking lot,
Of the 7-11 where I was taught,
The motto was just a lie

It says: home is where your heart is,
But what a shame,
'Cause everyone's heart,
Doesn't beat the same,
We're beating out of time

City of the dead,
At the end of another lost highway,
Signs misleading to nowhere,
City of the damned,
Lost children with dirty faces today,
No one really seems to care

I read the graffiti,
In the bathroom stall,
Like the holy scriptures in a shopping mall,
And so it seemed to confess,
It didn't say much,
But it only confirmed that,
The center of the earth,
Is the end of the world

And I could really care less
---
-I Don't Care-

I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't care
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't care
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't care
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't care

Everyone Is So Full Of Shit!
Born and raised by hypocrites,
Hearts recycled but never saved,
From the cradle to the grave,
We are the kids of war and peace,
From Anaheim to the middle east,
We are the stories and disciples of,
The Jesus Of Suburbia

Land of make believe,
And it don't believe in me,
Land of make believe,
And I don't believe,
And I don't care!
---
-Dearly Beloved-

Dearly beloved, are you listening?
I can't remember a word that you were saying,
Are we demented? Or am I disturbed?
The space that's in between insane and insecure

Oh therapy can you please fill the void?
Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?
Nobody's perfect and I stand accused,
For the lack of a better word, and that's my best excuse
---
-Tales Of Another Broken Home-

To live and not to breathe,
Is to die in tragedy,
To run, to run away,
To find what you believe,
And I leave behind,
This hurricane of fucking lies,
I lost my faith to this,
This town that don't exist

So I run,
I run away

To the light of masochists,
And I leave behind,
This hurricane of fucking lies,
And I walked this line,
A million and one fucking times,
But not this time

I don't feel any shame,
I won't apologize

When there ain't nowhere you can go,
Running away from pain,
When you've been victimized,
Tales from another broken home

[rockysigman]

Not sure what it is I like about these lyrics just yet, as it's still a pretty new song, but since I saw Jeff Tweedy perform this new one last week, it's been stuck in my head:


He resurfaced on the sidewalk of my block, the other day
Yeah, it's a fact check, sorry Charlie, honey, he's back from L.A.
So son you better turn it around
Christ is on his way across town,
He was gettin tired of hanging around
Yeah, he's back Jack, smoking crack, find him if you want to get found.

He's having supper with the upper management of a new regime
He's in a new jacket, tax bracket, sandals and a dark pair of jeans
He's got deductions right on down the line
Dependent claims on all of mankind
Oh, have no fear, he's right here, drinking beer, just trying to get down

He resurfaced on the sidewalk of my block the other day
Yeah, it's a fact check, sorry Charlie, honey, he's back from the grave
You better turn your frown upside down
'Cause Christ is on his way across town
He was gettin tired of hangin' around
Oh yeah, he's back jack, shooting smack, find him if you wanna get found
Oh yeah back jack smoking crack find him if you want to get down

[Rit]

Nick Cave's ode to Johnny Cash

"Let The Bells Ring"

C'mon, kind Sir, let's walk outside
And breathe the autumn air
See the many that have lived and died
See the unending golden stair
See all of us that have come behind
Clutching at your hem
All the way from Arkansas
To your sweet and last amen

Let the bells ring
He is the real thing
Let the bells ring
He is the real, real thing

Take this deafening thunder down
Take this bread and take this wine
Your passing is not what we mourn
But the world you left behind
Well, do not breathe, nor make a sound
And behold your mighty work
That towers over the uncaring ground
Of a lesser, darker world

Let the bells ring
He is the real thing
Let the bells ring
He is the real, real thing

There are those of us not fit to tie
The laces of your shoes
Must remain behind to testify
Through an elementary blues
So, let's walk outside, the hour is late
Through your crumbs and scattered shells
Where the awed and the mediocre wait
Barely fit to ring the bells

Let the bells ring
He is the real thing
Let the bells ring
He is the real, real thing

[Paul]

"...All the World is birthday cake, so take a piece but not too much" -- It's All Too Much -- Beatles

[Dr. Drum]

The Rebel Jesus

All the streets are filled with laughter and light
And the music of the season
And the merchants' windows are all bright
With the faces of the children
And the families hurrying to their homes
As the sky darkens and freezes
They'll be gathering around the hearths and tales
Giving thanks for all God's graces
And the birth of the rebel Jesus

Well they call him by the Prince of Peace
And they call him by the Savior
And they pray to him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
As they fill his churches with their pride and gold
And their faith in him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worshipped in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

We guard our world with locks and guns
And we guard our fine possessions
And once a year when Christmas comes
We give to our relations
And perhaps we give a little to the poor
If the generosity should seize us
But if any one of us should interfere
In the business of why they are poor
They get the same as the rebel Jesus

But please forgive me if I seem
To take the tone of judgment
For I've no wish to come between
This day and your enjoyment
In this life of hardship and of earthly toil
We have need for anything that frees us
So I bid you pleasure
And I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus.

[bowiglou]

I love many many lyrics from a wide array of artists, but the following one which I'm going to post is very simplistic, not particularly literate, but maybe due to the synergy of the music and paul's plaintive vocals, For No One (from Revolver) really impacts me...


Your day breaks, your mind aches
You find that all the words of kindness linger on
When she no longer needs you

She wakes up, she makes up
She takes her time and doesn’t feel she has to hurry
She no longer needs you

And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years!

You want her, you need her
And yet you don’t believe her when she said her love is dead
You think she needs you

And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years!

You stay home, she goes out
She says that long ago she knew someone but now he’s gone
She doesn’t need him

Your day breaks, your mind aches
There will be time when all the things she said will fil your head
You won’t forget her

And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years!