FAVORITE LYRICS

[phil]

Léo Ferré
PENSIONNAIRES
Paul Verlaine


L'une avait quinze ans, l'autre en avait seize;
Toutes deux dormaient dans la même chambre.
C'était par un soir très lourd de septembre
Frêles, des yeux bleus, des rougeurs de fraise.

Chacune a quitté, pour se mettre à l'aise,
La fine chemise au frais parfum d'ambre.
La plus jeune étend les bras, et se cambre,
Et sa soeur, les mains sur ses seins, la baise,

Puis tombe à genoux, puis devient farouche
Et tumultueuse et folle, et sa bouche
Plonge sous l'or blond, dans les ombres grises;

Et l'enfant, pendant ce temps-là, recense
Sur ses doigts mignons des valses promises,
Et, rose, sourit avec innocence.

[luke]

I plan on a pretty in-depth Hank III review, particularly a track-by-track with his latest, very shortly. Anyways, 'till then, I'm just gonna post the lyrics to the first classic he ever wrote. This is the song that got him all the mainstream press, the one that's got him multiple interviews in Rolling Stone. I've been a huge fan of this song for years, and it's great to have a "definitive" version on Straight to Hell.

Hank Williams III
"Dick In Dixie"

Well some say I'm not country
and that's just fine with me
'Cause I don't wanna be country
with some faggot looking over at me
They say that I'm ill-mannered
that I'm gonna self-destruct
But if you know what I'm thinkin'
you'll know that pop country really sucks

So I'm here to put the "dick" in Dixie
and the "cunt" back in country
'Cause the kind of country I hear now days
is a bunch of fuckin' shit to me
They say that I'm ill-mannered
that I'm gonna self-destruct
But if you know what I'm thinkin'
you'll know that pop country really sucks

Well we're losing all the outlaws
that had to stand their ground
and they're being replaced by these kids
from a manufactured town
And they don't have no idea
about sorrow and woe
'Cause they're all just too damn busy
kissin' ass on Music Row

So I'm here to put the "dick" in Dixie
and the "cunt" back in country
'Cause the kind of country I hear nowdays
is a bunch of fuckin' shit to me
And they say that I'm ill-mannered
that I'm gonna self-destruct
But if you know what I'm thinkin'
you'll know that pop country really sucks

And if you know what I'm thinkin'
you'll know that pop country really sucks

[Thorngrub]

go Hank, go Hank

[Rit]

Snow Patrol - "You Could Be Happy"

You could be happy and I won't know
But you weren't happy the day I watched you go

And all the things that I wished I had not said
Are played on lips 'till it's madness in my head

Is it too late to remind you how we were
But not our last days of silence, screaming, blur

Most of what I remember makes me sure
I should have stopped you from walking out the door

You could be happy, I hope you are
You made me happier than I'd been by far

Somehow everything I own smells of you
And for the tiniest moment it's all not true

Do the things that you always wanted to
Without me there to hold you back, don't think, just do

More than anything I want to see you go
Take a glorious bite out of the whole world

[rockysigman]

Listened to this one on the way to work this morning for the first time in forever. I'd forgotten just how awesome it is...


John Cale
"Fear (Is a Man's Best Friend)"

Standing, waiting for a man to show
Wide-eyed, one eye fixed on the door
This waiting is killing me
It's wearing me down
Day in day out
My feet are burning holes in the ground

Darkness warmer than a bedroom floor
Want someone to hold me close forever more
I'm a sleeping dog
But you can't tell
When I'm on the prowl
You'd better run like hell

You know it makes sense, don't even think about it
Life and death are just things you do when you're bored

Say fear is a man's best friend
Say fear is a man's best friend
Say fear is a man's best friend
You add it up, it brings you down

Home is living like a man on the run
Trails leading nowhere, where to my son?
We're already dead, just not yet in the ground
Take my helping hand, I'll show you around

You know it makes sense
Don't even think about it
Life and death are just things you do when you're bored

Say fear is a man's best friend
Say fear is a man's best friend
Say fear is a man's best friend
You add it up, it brings you down
You add it up, it brings you down

[Dr. Drum]

Call It Democracy

Padded with power here they come
International loan sharks backed by the guns
Of market hungry military profiteers
Whose word is a swamp and whose brow is smeared
With the blood of the poor

Who rob life of its quality
Who render rage a necessity
By turning countries into labour camps
Modern slavers in drag as champions of freedom

Sinister cynical instrument
Who makes the gun into a sacrament --
The only response to the deification
Of tyranny by so-called "developed" nations'
Idolatry of ideology

North South East West
Kill the best and buy the rest
It's just spend a buck to make a buck
You don't really give a flying fuck
About the people in misery

IMF dirty MF
Takes away everything it can get
Always making certain that there's one thing left
Keep them on the hook with insupportable debt

See the paid-off local bottom feeders
Passing themselves off as leaders
Kiss the ladies shake hands with the fellows
And it's open for business like a cheap bordello

And they call it democracy
And they call it democracy
And they call it democracy
And they call it democracy

See the loaded eyes of the children too
Trying to make the best of it the way kids do
One day you're going to rise from your habitual feast
To find yourself staring down the throat of the beast
They call the revolution

IMF dirty MF
Takes away everything it can get
Always making certain that there's one thing left
Keep them on the hook with insupportable debt

Bruce Cockburn
Toronto – 11/85

[Kensterberg]

That is an incredible song ... I actually remember hearing it on the radio and maybe even (gasp) MTV back in the day.

I really need to buy a bunch of Cockburn's stuff.

[wayved]

ROALD SERVO-SMOKE MACHINE

Gonna play a show but I forgot the Smoke Machine (background vox: Smoke Machine)
How can You Rock without a Smoke Machine (Smoke Machine)
I started setting up the equipment for me and my band
But I FORGOT THE SMOKE MACHINE (smoke Machine)
Damn.......

[Paul]

I've always been fond of these lyrics:

"Brainwashed" - the Kinks
You look like a real human being
But you dont have a mind of your own
Yeah, you can talk, you can breathe
You can work, you can stitch, you can sew
But youre brainwashed
Yes you are, yes you are
Get down on your knees
Youve got a job and a house
And a wife, and your kids and a car
Yeah, youre conditioned to be
What they want you to be
And be happy to be where you are
Yes you are
Get down on your knees
Get down on your knees

The aristocrats and bureaucrats
Are dirty rats
For making you what you are
Theyre up there and you re down here
Youre on the ground and theyre up with the stars
All your life theyve kicked you around and pushed you around
Till you cant take any more
To them youre just a speck of dirt
But you dont want to get up off the floor
Mister youre just brainwashed
They give you social security
Tax saving benefits that grow at maturity
Yeah, youre conditioned to be
What they want you to be
And to do what they want you to
Yes you are, yes you are
Get down on your knees

[Fuzznuts]

This song's been in my head lately-->

"Barfruit Blues," The Hold Steady

kids with broken hearts, kids with broken bones
kids with kidney stones giving birth to bloody stereos
systems are all dripping wet with gristle piss and swizzlesticks
mary's got a bloody nose from sniffing margarita mix
she licked her lower lip and then she kissed that halleluiah chick
she came off kind of spicy but she tasted like those pickle chips
we thought she was a dancer but her steps they made the records skip
she came off kind of crunchy but she went down like a chicken strip
dripping wet with the special sauce
she had a confidence smile and a nervous cough
we got off

she said it's good to see you back in a bar band, baby
i said it's great to see you're still in the bars.

went down on the tallboy cans and he woke up in a cargo van
went down with the girls gone wild and he woke up with the middle man
went down with like fourteen bucks and woke up with like sixteen grand
went down with some crust punk junk and woke up with a straight edge band
that's not how he planned it

holly can't speak
she don't feel all that sweet
about the places that she sometimes has to go to get some sleep
she said i'm sorry people think i'm pretty
these clever kids are killing me
for one they ain't that clever
number two, it really sucks when you get stuck here with these trevors
this was supposed to be a party
half the crowd is calling out for born to run and the other half is calling out for born to lose
baby we were born to choose
we got the last call bar band really big decision blues
we were born to bruise

[phil]

O SUPERMAN
(Laurie Anderson)

O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad
O Superman. O judge. O Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad

Hi. I'm not home right now
But if you want to leave a message
Just start talking at the sound of the tone

Hello? This is your Mother
Are you there? Are you coming home?
Hello? Is anybody home?

Well, you don't know me, but I know you.
And I've got a message to give to you.
Here come the planes.
So you better get ready.
Ready to go.
You can come as you are, but pay as you go
Pay as you go

And I said:
OK. Who is this really?
And the voice said:
This is the hand, the hand that takes
This is the hand, the hand that takes
This is the hand, the hand that takes

Here come the planes
They're American planes
Made in America
Smoking or non-smoking?

And the voice said:
Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night shall
stay these couriers from the swift completion
of their appointed rounds
'Cause when love is gone, there's always justice
And when justice is gone, there's always force
And when force is gone, there's always Mom

Hi Mom!
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms
In your automatic arms
Your electronic arms
In your arms
So hold me, Mom, in your long arms
Your petrochemical arms
Your military arms
In your electronic arms

[Fuzznuts]

Drive-By Truckers, "Steve McQueen"

Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
When I was a little boy I wanted to grow up to be
Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
The coolest doggone motherscratcher on the silver screen

I’d drive real fast everywhere no one would ever catch me
and I’d kick your ass if you pissed me off so be careful what you ask me
and I’d never have an empty bottle or an empty bed
and as cool as Paul Newman is I bet Steve could whup his head

Steve McQueen............................

Bullet was my favorite movie that I’d ever seen
I totaled my go-cart trying to imitate that chase scene
That Duster had six hubcaps, know what I mean
and I love the way they all flew off when it landed in that ravine

Steve McQueen............................

I really loved The Getaway back when I was eight
that pussy Alec Baldwin sucked in the remake
and speaking of pussy, I guess Steve got it all
He fucked Faye Dunaway and he fucked Ali McGraw

Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
When I was a little boy I wanted to grow up to be
Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
The coolest goddamn mothefucker on the silver screen
(yee-haw)

(suddenly the scene turns slow and somber, as a campfire harp plays in the background)
I went to see The Hunter on my first date
The Hunter was the last movie Steve McQueen lived to make
They took my drivers license when I was just sixteen
the year Mesothelioma killed Steve McQueen


lyrics by Patterson Hood
music by Drive-by Truckers (Cooley, Hood, Howell, Lane, Neff, Stacy)
©1998 Soul Dump Music

[phil]

Growing up, I always thought Steve McQueen
to be the coolest guy on earth ...



Gawd ! How I wanted to get the same rifle ... !

[Fuzznuts]

He was bad ass.

[Thorngrub]

'O Superman' . . . . thanks, Phil


~


Hey You

Hey you,
Out there in the cold,
Getting lonely, getting old,
Can you feel me?
Hey you,
Standing in the aisles,
With itchy feet and fading smiles,
Can you feel me?
Hey you,
Don't help them to bury the light.
Don't give in without a fight.
Hey you,
Out there on your own,
Sitting naked by the phone,
Would you touch me?
Hey you,
With your ear against the wall,
Waiting for someone to call out,
Would you touch me?
Hey you,
Would you help me to carry the stone?
Open your heart, I'm coming home.
But it was only fantasy.
The wall was too high, as you can see.
No matter how he tried he could not break free.
And the worms ate into his brain...!
Hey you,
Out there on the road,
Always doing what you're told,
Can you help me?
Hey you,
Out there beyond the wall,
Breaking bottles in the hall,
Can you help me?
Hey you,
Don't tell me there's no hope at all.
Together we stand, divided we fall.
we fall...we fall...we fall...we fall...we fall...we fall...