Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

In my day, never was longer.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

You are here: Home / Music / Lyrics from songs

Lyrics from songs

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What are your all-time favorite lyrics from songs? For me, I’d go with this from Shane MacGowan because it’s the code that I try to live by everyday:

And in the Euston tavern you screamed it was your shout
But they wouldn’t give you service so you kicked the windows out
They took you out into the street and kicked you in the brains
So you walked back in through a bolted door and did it all again

I also like this from Bob Dylan, though I’m not as big a fan of Bob as some:

Life is sad
Life is a bust
All you can do is do what you must
You do what you must do and you do it well

And I’ve always like this from Robert Johnson:

When the train, it left the station, there was two lights on behind,
When the train, it left the station, there was two lights on behind,
Well, the blue light was my baby, and the red light was my mind.

What are your favorites?

Reader Interactions

311Comments

  1. 1.

    Xboxershorts

    Something I’ve always wanted to aspire to…the chorus from The Old Dun Cow:

    And there was Brown upside down
    Lappin” up the whiskey on the floor.
    “Booze, booze!” The firemen cried
    As they came knockin’ on the door (clap clap)
    Oh don’t let ’em in till it’s all drunk up
    And somebody shouted MacIntyre! MACINTYRE!
    And we all got blue-blind paralytic drunk
    When the Old Dun Cow caught fire.

  2. 2.

    ranchandsyrup

    Lately it’s been:
    He foaled a swollen daughter
    in a sauna
    playing contract bridge.
    They’re soakin up the fun
    and doin blotters
    I don’t know which.

    From Pavement — Grounded

  3. 3.

    Jonny Scrum-half

    “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.” Paul Simon
    “Anything less than the best is a felony.” Robert Van Winkle.

  5. 5.

    Miss Bianca

    Tongues talk fire and
    Eyes cry rivers
    Indian givers
    Hearts of stone
    Paper ships and
    Painted faces
    The world’s no place when
    You’re on your own
    A heart needs a home

    Richard and Linda Thompson, “A Heart Needs a Home”

  8. 8.

    Doug!

    @Miss Bianca:

    I almost included the beginning of “Keep Your Distance”, which has my favorite Thompson lyrics though not my favorite of his songs overall.

  9. 9.

    Mike in DC

    You can run on for a long time, run on for a long time, run on for a long time…sooner or later God’s gonna cut you down.

  11. 11.

    Chris

    You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?
    Another day older, and deeper in debt,
    Saint Peter don’t you call me cause I can’t go,
    I owe my soul to the company store.

  13. 13.

    Yoda Dog Democrat

    Disillusioned words like bullets bark
    As human gods aim for their mark
    Made everything from toy guns that spark
    To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
    It’s easy to see without looking too far
    That not much is really sacred.

    Bob Dylan- Its Alright Ma (Im Only Bleeding)

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    If I ventured in the slipstream
    Between the viaducts of your dream
    Where immobile steel rims crack
    And the ditch in the back roads stop
    Could you find me?
    Would you kiss-a my eyes?
    To lay me down
    In silence easy
    To be born again
    To be born again

    — Astral Weeks, Van the Man

  17. 17.

    Thoroughly Pizzled

    You’re the top
    You’re the Colosseum
    You’re the top
    You’re the Louvre museum
    You’re a melody from a symphony by Strauss
    You’re a Bendel bonnet
    A Shakespeare sonnet
    You’re Mickey Mouse

  18. 18.

    Roger Moore

    You can crush us
    You can bruise us
    But you’ll have to answer to
    Oh, The Guns of Brixton.

  20. 20.

    PaulW

    Friday night I’d just got back
    I had my eyes shut
    Was dreaming about the past
    I thought about you while the radio played
    Should’ve got moving
    Some reason I stayed
    I started drifting to a different place
    I realized I was falling off the face of your world
    And there was nothing left to bring me back

    I’m a million miles away
    A million miles away
    I’m just a million miles away
    And there’s nothing left to bring me back today

  21. 21.

    daveNYC

    what are we left with?
    a nation of god-fearing pregnant nationalists
    who feel it’s their duty to populate the homeland
    pass on traditions
    how to get ahead religions
    And prosperity via simpleton culture

    the idiots are takin over [x8]

  23. 23.

    wenchacha

    Sweet Bird – Joni Mitchell

    by Joni Mitchell

    Out on some borderline
    Some mark of inbetween
    I lay down golden in time
    And woke up vanishing

    Sweet bird you are
    Briefer than a falling star
    All these vain promises on beauty jars
    Somewhere with your wings on time
    You must be laughing
    Behind our eyes
    Calendars of our lives
    Circled with compromise
    Sweet bird of time and change
    You must be laughing
    Up on your feathers laughing

    Golden in time
    Cities under the sand
    Power ideals and beauty
    Fading in everyone’s hand

    Give me some time
    I feel like I’m losing mine
    Out here on this horizon line
    With the earth spinning
    And the sky forever rushing
    No one knows
    They can never get that close
    Guesses at most
    Guesses based on what each set of time and change is touching
    Guesses based on what each set of time and change is touching
    Guesses based on what each set of time and change is touching

  24. 24.

    dedc79

    But your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore
    They’re already overcrowded from your dirty little war
    Now Jesus don’t like killin’, no matter what the reason’s for
    And your flag decal won’t get you into Heaven anymore

  25. 25.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    I think the lyrics of Leif Erikson from Interpol are wonderful and the ending is the best part:

    It’s like learning a new language
    Helps me catch up on my mime
    If you don’t bring up those lonely parts
    This could be a good time
    You come here to me.
    We’ll collect those lonely parts and set them down
    You come here to me…

    She says brief things, her love’s a pony
    My love’s subliminal

  26. 26.

    Dan Myers

    I’m finding out there’s just one kind of war
    the one going on tween the rich and the poor

    Utah Phillips

  27. 27.

    PaulW

    Well at 5 a.m. oil pressure’s sinking fast
    I make a pit stop, wipe the windshield, check the gas
    Gotta call my baby on the telephone
    Let her know that her daddy’s coming on home
    Sit tight, little mama, I’m a-coming around
    I got a three more hours but I’m covering ground

    Your eyes get itchy in the wee wee hours
    Sun’s just a red ball rising over them refinery towers
    Radio’s jammed up with gospel stations
    Lost souls calling long distance salvation
    Hey mister deejay won’t you hear my last prayer
    Hey ho rock ‘n roll deliver me from nowhere

  29. 29.

    Xboxershorts

    I am an old woman named after my mother
    My old man is another child that’s grown old
    If dreams were lightning thunder was desire
    This old house would have burnt down a long time ago

    Make me an angel that flies from Montgom’ry
    Make me a poster of an old rodeo
    Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
    To believe in this living is just a hard way to go

    When I was a young girl well, I had me a cowboy
    He weren’t much to look at, just free rambling man
    But that was a long time and no matter how I try
    The years just flow by like a broken down dam.

    Make me an angel that flies from Montgom’ry
    Make me a poster of an old rodeo
    Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
    To believe in this living is just a hard way to go

  30. 30.

    Politically Lost

    1, Fade to Black:

    I have lost the will to live
    Simply nothing more to give
    There is nothing more for me
    Need the end to set me free

    OR

    2. Society:

    Society, you’re a crazy breed
    I hope you’re not lonely without me
    Society, crazy and deep
    I hope you’re not lonely without me

  36. 36.

    spacecakes

    All I did was miss you, and the way we used to be
    All I did was keep the beat, and bad company
    All I did was kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme
    Julie, I’d do the stars with you, anytime

    Dire Straits – Romeo and Juliet

  37. 37.

    Brachiator

    Man, I can understand how it might be
    Kind of hard to love a girl like me
    I don’t blame you much for wanting to be free
    I just wanted you to know
    I loved you better than your own kin did
    From the very start
    It’s my own fault for what happens to my heart
    You see I’ve always known you’d go

    — Do What You Gotta Do

    This lyric popped up in my brain for some reason, and I thought that I knew it from some 50s records my uncle owned. Then, thanks to the google machine, I learned that it was written by Jimmy Webb in 1967. Lots of good versions, and Nina Simone has one of the best. But the version I most remember was sung by Al Wilson.

  38. 38.

    EdTheRed

    I love “The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn.”

    Always loved this one from Nobel Prize-Winner/Non-Shit-Giver Bob Dylan:

    I must admit, I felt a little uneasy
    When she bent down to tie the laces
    Of my shoe
    Tangled up in blue

    Another favorite is from Public Enemy (I sing this one to myself about once every other day):

    I got a letter from the government the other day
    I opened and read it, it said they were suckers

    And my favorite lyric change in a re-arrangment (not really fair to call it just a “cover”) is from Levon Helm’s version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City”:

    Original:

    Now I been lookin’ for a job but it’s hard to find
    Down here it’s just winners and losers
    And don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line
    Well I’m tired of comin’ out on the losin’ end
    So honey last night I met this guy and I’m gonna do a little favor for him

    Levon:

    Now I’ve been a-lookin’ for a job, but it’s hard to find
    There’s winners and there’s losers and I’m south of the line
    Well, I’m tired of gettin’ caught out on the losin’ end
    But I talked to a man last night, gonna do a little favor for him

    That change just takes it up a notch for me…not sure why, but it does.

  39. 39.

    dedc79

    I guess I heard about original sin. I heard the dude blamed the chick. I heard the chick blamed the snake.
    I heard they were naked when they got busted.
    I heard things ain’t been the same since.

  40. 40.

    Penus

    I always liked this from the Drive-By Truckers’ “Self-Destructive Zones”: “It’s easier to let it all die a fairy tale than admit that something bigger’s passin’ through.”

    And from “A Ghost to Most” on the same album, a delightful FU to Dubya:
    “Saving everybody takes a man on a mission with a swagger that can set the world at ease
    Some believe it’s God’s own hand on the trigger and the other dumping water in the streets
    Talkin’ tough’s easy when it’s other people’s evil and you’re judging what they do or don’t believe
    Seems to me you’d have to have a hole in your own to point a finger at somebody else’s sheet”

    Basically anything by Mike Cooley. Even just the way he puts filler words together is great, like in “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac”: “Dammit, Elvis, I swear, son, I think it’s time you came around.”

  42. 42.

    Nancy Supler

    If they asked me, I could write a book
    about the way you walk and whisper and look.
    I could write a preface on how we met
    so the world would never forget.
    And the simple secret of the plot
    is just to tell them that I love you a lot.
    Then the world discovers as my book ends
    how to make two lovers a friend
    Rogers/ Hart

  43. 43.

    grrljock

    Offering two:

    ‘Cause we may flicker and fade
    But we never will be through with this
    I see this world battered but not broken
    There’s a fallow heart, it’s waiting on a sowing hand
    You can grow what you want
    One day it’s gonna rise up
    So plant what you need to make a better stand

    (Amy Ray-Indigo Girls, “Tether” on All that We Let In)

    You claim I’m stealing jobs though
    Peter Piper claimed he picked them he just underpaid Pablo

    (Snow Tha Product, “Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)” on Hamilton Mixtape)

  46. 46.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    We are the daughters
    We are the sisters who
    Carry the water
    We are the mothers too
    We are each other
    We are the other
    We are the daughters

    Fierce as fire and sweet as fruit
    Not easily defined, not following suit
    In a world that’s run on pride and force
    Women of the world, we have a voice

    When it’s not safe to walk these streets
    Gangs and tribes and clubs of beasts
    But when, oh when will there be peace?
    Will there be peace?

    We are the daughters
    We are the damned and doomed
    Give us your violence
    We won’t be silent
    We are the shelter
    We are the helpers
    We are the daughters

  47. 47.

    dexwood

    You ask me for advice, I say use the door.

    “Private Life”, The Pretenders. That’s a cold dismissal.

  48. 48.

    Boudica

    High time, we made a stand
    And shook up the views of the common man…

    Feel the pain
    Talk about it
    If you’re a worried man
    Then shout about it
    Open hearts fell about it
    Open minds think about it
    Everyone read about it
    Every one scream about it
    Everyone (everyone, yeah)
    Everyone (everyone) read about it, read about it

  51. 51.

    PaulW

    Over and in, last call for sin
    While everyone’s lost, the battle is won
    With all these things that I’ve done
    All these things that I’ve done
    If you can hold on
    If you can hold on…

  52. 52.

    rp

    So many:

    Think this through with me, let me know your mind,
    Wo, oh, what I want to know, is are you kind?

    And I love my boy and that’s why I’m leaving
    I don’t want him to be aware that there’s
    Any such thing as grieving

    Sometimes I don’t thrill you
    Sometimes I think I’ll kill you
    Just don’t let me fuck up will you
    ’cause when I need a friend it’s still you

    But Angie, Angie, ain’t it good to be alive?

    I do not count the time

    you made me forget myself
    I thought I was someone else,
    someone good

    Time casts a spell on you
    But you won’t forget me
    I know I could have loved you
    But you would not let me

    Even children get older and I’m getting older too

    So can you understand?
    Why I want a daughter while I’m still young
    I wanna hold her hand
    And show her some beauty
    Before all this damage is done

    I once was lost but now am found,
    Was blind, but now I see.

    I found a reason to keep living
    Oh and the reason, dear, is you

    Oh I do believe
    You are what you perceive
    What comes is better than what came before

    I love women, I think they’re great
    They’re a solace to the world in a terrible state

    I’m all used up, I’m out of luck, I am star struck
    By something in your eyes
    that is keeping my hope alive.
    But I’m sick of myself when I look at you
    something is beautiful and true.

    Alone here in the kitchen
    I feel there’s something missing
    I’d beg for some forgiveness
    But begging’s not my business

    Everything dies baby that’s a fact
    But maybe everything that dies someday comes back

    Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe
    Love is a banquet on which we feed

    Home, is where I want to be
    But I guess I’m already there
    I come home, she lifted up her wings
    I guess that this must be the place

    We drift in and out
    Sing into my mouth
    Out of all those kinds of people
    You got a face with a view

    We are vain and we are blind
    I hate people when they’re not polite

    Don’t confront me with my failures
    I have not forgotten them

    Once I had a love
    and it was a gas
    Soon turned out
    to be a pain in the ass

    Last time I saw you, you were on stage
    Your hair was wild, your eyes were bright
    And you were in a rage

    Let me ask you one question
    Is your money that good?
    Will it buy you forgiveness
    Do you think that it could?

    And I hope that you die
    And your death’ll come soon
    I will follow your casket
    In the pale afternoon

    Why can’t we give love that one more chance?

    But you gave away the things you loved and one of them was me

    It seems strange
    How we used to wait for letters to arrive
    But what’s stranger still
    Is how something so small can keep you alive

    There was no ransom to be paid

    Thought of you as my mountain top,
    Thought of you as my peak.

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    The song that launched an FBI investigation into possible subversive lyrics, deforming the minds of American teen agers

    Louie louie, oh baby, i gotta go.
    Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi
    Louie louie, oh baby, i gotta go.

    A fine girl, who waited for me.
    I catch a ship across the sea.
    I sailed the ship all alone.
    I wondered when i’m gonna make it home.

    Louie louie, oh baby, i gotta go.
    Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi
    Louie louie, oh baby, i gotta go.

  55. 55.

    trollhattan

    Not as succinct as “I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still” but Neil Young paints a scene in a scant few strokes here.

    She used to work in a diner
    Never saw a woman look finer
    I used to order just to watch
    her float across the floor
    She grew up in a small town
    Never put her roots down
    Daddy always kept movin’,
    so she did too.

  56. 56.

    Spanky

    Home, home again
    I like to be here when I can
    And when I come home cold and tired
    Its good to warm my bones beside the fire
    Far away across the field
    The tolling of the iron bell
    Calls the faithful to their knees
    To hear the softly spoken magic spell

  57. 57.

    PaulW

    Coming up close
    Everything sounds like welcome home
    Come home and oh, by the way
    Don’t you know that I could make a dream that’s barely half-awake come true
    I wanted to say – but anything I could have said I felt somehow that you already knew

  58. 58.

    резидент американской области Российской Федерации

    JETHRO TULL HYMN 43

    Our father high in heaven, smile down upon your son
    Who’s busy with his money games, his women and his gun
    Oh Jesus save me

    And the unsung Western hero, killed an Indian or three,
    And then he made his name in Hollywood
    To set the white man free
    Oh Jesus save me

    If Jesus saves, well He’d better save Himself
    From the gory glory seekers who use His name in death
    Oh Jesus save me

    If Jesus saves, well He’d better save Himself
    From the gory glory seekers who use His name in death
    Oh Jesus save me

  59. 59.

    piratedan

    Oh, I used to be disgusted
    And now I try to be amused
    But since their wings have got rusted
    You know, the angels want to wear my red shoes
    But when they told me ’bout their side of the bargain
    That’s when I knew that I could not refuse
    And I won’t get any older, now that angels want to wear my red shoes

    Oh, oh, I was watching while you’re dancing away
    Our love got fractured in the echo and sway
    How come everybody wants to be your friend?
    You know that it still hurts me just to say it

    Oh, I know that she’s disgusted (oh, why’s that?)
    Because she’s feeling so abused (oh, that’s too bad)
    She gets tired of the lust (oh, I’m so sad)
    But it’s so hard to refuse
    Can you say that I’m too old
    When the angels have stolen my red shoes?

    Oh, oh I said, “I’m so happy I could die”
    She said, “Drop dead,” then left with another guy
    That’s what you get if you go chasing after vengeance
    Ever since you got me punctured, this has been my sentence

    Oh, I used to be disgusted
    But now I try to be amused
    But since their wings have got rusted
    You know, the angels want to wear my red shoes
    But when they told me ’bout their side of the bargain
    That’s when I knew that I could not refuse
    And I won’t get any older, now that the angels want to wear my red shoes

  61. 61.

    call_me_ishmael

    Lots of good stuff. Pretty much anything by John Prine or Warren Zevon, but I always laugh when I hear Mr Bad Example:

    “I got a part-time job at my father’s carpet store
    Laying tackless gripping, and housewives by the score
    I loaded up their furniture, and took it to Spokane
    And auctioned off every last naugahyde divan

    I’m very well aquainted with the seven deadly sins
    I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in
    I’m proud to be a glutton, and I don’t have time for sloth
    I’m greedy, and I’m angry, and I don’t care who I cross”

    Also love me some Bruce Cockburn lyrics. This one (from 1983!) seems painfully apropos today:

    “Strikes across the frontier and strikes for higher wage
    Planet lurches to the right as ideologies engage
    Suddenly it’s repression, moratorium on rights
    What did they think the politics of panic would invite?
    Person in the street shrugs — “Security comes first”
    But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse”

  62. 62.

    raven

    So when you see your neighbor carryin’ somethin’
    Help him with his load
    And don’t go mistaking Paradise
    For that home across the road

  65. 65.

    errg

    Grateful Dead…

    Judge said “Fact it’s gonna cost you your life”
    Dupree said “Judge, you know that seems to me to be about right”

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    @piratedan:
    Good one. Elvis is essentially a limitless well and frankly, nobody out-puns him.

    But I don’t want to lock you up and say you’re mine
    Don’t want to lose you or say goodbye
    I’m the guilty party and I want my slice
    But I know you’ve got me and I’m in a grip-like vise.

  69. 69.

    Mnemosyne

    This one was going through my head on my drive to work this morning:

    He’s a fine figure of a man and handsome too
    With his eyes upon the secret places he’d like to undo
    Still he knows who knows who and where and how
    And I hope you’re happy now…

    ETA:

    And don’t forget the chorus:

    I hope that you’re happy now
    Like you’re supposed to be
    And I know that this will hurt you
    More than it hurts me

  71. 71.

    Yoda Dog Democrat

    So many great submissions…

    I can hear the wind blowin,
    Sending shivers down my spine.
    I can hear the wind blowin,
    Shakes the trees and the power lines.
    Whar makes a man spend his whole life in disguise?
    I think I know…
    I think I might know…

  73. 73.

    boatboy_srq

    Funny, it’s just like a scene out of Voltaire
    Twisting out of sight;
    ‘Cause when all the curtains are pulled back
    We’ll turn and see the circles we traced.

    Duran Duran, “Last Chance on the Stairway”

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    I’ve been so many places in my life and time
    I’ve sung a lot of songs, I’ve made some bad rhyme
    I’ve acted out my life in stages
    With ten thousand people watching
    But we’re alone now and I’m singin’ this song for you

    I know your image of me is what I hope to be
    I’ve treated you unkindly but darling can’t you see
    There’s no one more important to me
    Darling can’t you please see through me
    ‘Cause we’re alone now and I’m singin’ my song to you

    You taught me precious secrets of the truth, withholdin’ nothin’
    You came out in front and I was hiding
    But now I’m so much better so if my words don’t come together
    Listen to the melody ’cause my love’s in there hiding

    I love you in a place where there’s no space or time
    I love you for my life, ’cause you’re a friend of mine
    And when my life is over, remember when we were together
    We were alone and I was singin’ my song for you

    — A Song For You, Leon Russel

    The Carmen McCrae version is magnificent

  76. 76.

    _pk_

    Well I know one thing that really is true
    This here’s a zoo and the keeper ain’t you
    And I’m sick of it, I’m Sick of You

    Lou Reed — Sick of You

  77. 77.

    geg6

    We passed upon the stair
    We spoke of was and when
    Although I wasn’t there
    He said I was his friend
    Which came as some surprise
    I spoke into his eyes
    I thought you died alone
    A long long time ago

    Oh no, not me
    I never lost control
    You’re face to face
    With the man who sold the world

    I laughed and shook his hand
    And made my way back home
    I searched for form and land
    For years and years I roamed
    I gazed a gazley stare
    At all the millions here
    We must have died alone
    A long long time ago

    Who knows
    Not me
    We never lost control
    You’re face to face
    With the man who sold the world

  78. 78.

    ? Martin

    We met in the springtime at a rock-and-roll show
    It was on the Bowery when it was time to go
    We kissed on the subway in the middle of the night
    I held your hand, you held mine, it was the best night of my life

    Maybe because it’s not too far removed from an actual event.

  80. 80.

    ET

    The President is doing a tribute to Uncle Joe live right now. He just made Biden get red nose and pull out a hankie.

  83. 83.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @wenchacha: And almost everything by Townes Van Zandt.

    Some snippets I like:

    We’ll laugh like little children telling secrets.
    Probably cry like old women drinking gin.
    – Jason Isbell “Tour of Duty”
    The frost on the ground probably envies the frost on the trees
    – Jason Isbell “The Songs that She Sang in the Shower”

    Which lover are you, Jack of Diamonds?
    Now you be Emmylou and I’ll be Gram
    I send a letter, don’t know who I am
    I dream a highway back to you
    Gillian Welch/Dave Rawlings “I Dream a Highway”

  85. 85.

    burnspbesq

    Bruce Cockburn seems apropos these days.

    Don’t the hours grow shorter as the days roll by
    You never get to stop and open your eyes
    One day you’re waiting for the sky to fall
    The next you’re dazzled by the beauty of it all
    (from “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”)

    Or …

    Everybody
    Wants to see
    Justice done
    On somebody else
    (from “Justice”)

  88. 88.

    raven

    I can’t believe the things I’m seeing

    I wonder ’bout some things I’ve heard

    Everybody’s Crying Mercy

    When they don’t know the meaning of the word

    A bad enough situation

    It’s sure enough getting worse

    Everybody’s Crying Justice

    Just as long as it’s business first

    Toe to toe

    Touch and go

    Give a cheer

    Get your souvenir

    People running ’round in circles

    Don’t know what they’re headed for

    Everybody’s Crying Peace on Earth

    Just as soon as we win this war

    Straight ahead

    Knock ’em dead

    Pack your kit

    Choose your hypocrite

    Well you don’t have to go to off-Broadway

    To see something plain absurd

    Everybody’s Crying Mercy

    When they don’t know the meaning of the word

    Nobody knows the meaning of the word

  89. 89.

    geg6

    I was tuning in the shine on the light night dial
    doing anything my radio advised
    with every one of those late night stations
    playing songs bringing tears to me eyes
    I was seriously thinking about hiding the receiver
    when the switch broke ’cause it’s old
    They’re saying things that I can hardly believe.
    They really think we’re getting out of control.

    [Chorus:]
    Radio is a sound salvation
    Radio is cleaning up the nation
    They say you better listen to the voice of reason
    But they don’t give you any choice
    ’cause they think that it’s treason.
    So you had better do as you are told.
    You better listen to the radio.

    I wanna bite the hand that feeds me.
    I wanna bite that hand so badly.
    I want to make them wish they’d never seen me.

    Some of my friends sit around every evening
    and they worry about the times ahead
    But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference
    and the promise of an early bed
    You either shut up or get cut up;
    they don’t wanna hear about it.
    It’s only inches on the reel-to-reel.
    And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools
    tryin’ to anaesthetise the way that you feel

    [Chorus]

    Wonderful radio
    Marvelous radio
    Wonderful radio
    Radio, radio…

  91. 91.

    narya

    There’s a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
    I packed my bags and I’m heading straight into the storm
    Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
    That ain’t got the faith to stand its ground
    Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
    Blow away the dreams that break your heart
    Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

    The defiant snarl behind them, the “no retreat, baby, no surrender” (yeah, a different song) has kept me going through many a rough patch.

    And for our current times, from the song “American Land” from “Wrecking Ball”:
    The McNicholas, the Posalski’s, the Smiths, Zerillis, too
    The Blacks, the Irish, Italians, the Germans and the Jews
    Come across the water a thousand miles from home
    With nothin in their bellies but the fire down below

    They died building the railroads worked to bones and skin
    They died in the fields and factories names scattered in the wind
    They died to get here a hundred years ago they’re still dyin now
    The hands that built the country we’re always trying to keep down

  95. 95.

    justawriter

    As a chorister these words have always moved me:
    Because music was his life
    It was not his livelihood
    It made him feel so happy
    And it made him feel so good
    And sang from his heart
    And he sang from his soul
    He did not know how well he sang
    It just made him him whole

    Harry Chapin – Mr. Tanner

  96. 96.

    Kay

    Nicole Kidman: It’s time to accept and support Trump

    Why do people think they can demand this? “Support” is a state of mind. I don’t have any obligation to ‘support” Donald Trump. It’s insane to keep saying this. Accept, yes. Support? No, I don’t think so but thanks for asking. It’s just not something one person can demand of another.

    I can walk around thinking he’s a bad person, which is what I do. I don’t “support” bad people. Sorry.

  97. 97.

    Yoda Dog Democrat

    And the people bowed and prayed
    To the neon god they made
    And the sign flashed out its warning,
    In the words that it was forming
    And the signs said,
    “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
    And tenement halls
    And whisper’d in the sounds of silence

  99. 99.

    LAO

    Since geg6 beat me to “Man Who Sold The World” — Bowie’s version, of course, I offer a little Zevon.

    Well, I went home with the waitress
    The way I always do
    How was I to know
    She was with the Russians, too

    I was gambling in Havana
    I took a little risk
    Send lawyers, guns and money
    Dad, get me out of this

    I’m the innocent bystander
    Somehow I got stuck
    Between the rock and the hard place
    And I’m down on my luck
    And I’m down on my luck
    And I’m down on my luck

    Now I’m hiding in Honduras
    I’m a desperate man
    Send lawyers, guns and money
    The shit has hit the fan

  100. 100.

    geg6

    All my favorites seem to be a riff on a theme:

    Don’t wanna be an American idiot.
    Don’t want a nation under the new mania
    And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
    The subliminal mind fuck America.

    Welcome to a new kind of tension.
    All across the alienation.
    Where everything isn’t meant to be okay.
    Television dreams of tomorrow.
    We’re not the ones who’re meant to follow.
    For that’s enough to argue.

    Well maybe I’m the faggot America.
    I’m not a part of a redneck agenda.
    Now everybody do the propaganda.
    And sing along to the age of paranoia.

    Welcome to a new kind of tension.
    All across the alienation.
    Where everything isn’t meant to be okay.
    Television dreams of tomorrow.
    We’re not the ones who’re meant to follow.
    For that’s enough to argue.

    Don’t want to be an American idiot.
    One nation controlled by the media.
    Information age of hysteria.
    It’s calling out to idiot America.

    Welcome to a new kind of tension.
    All across the alienation.
    Where everything isn’t meant to be okay.
    Television dreams of tomorrow.
    We’re not the ones who’re meant to follow.
    For that’s enough to argue

  103. 103.

    LAO

    And, although I’m not a huge Paul Simon fan:

    In the clearing stands a boxer
    And a fighter by his trade
    And he carries the reminders
    Of ev’ry glove that laid him down
    And cut him till he cried out
    In his anger and his shame
    “I am leaving, I am leaving”
    But the fighter still remains

  106. 106.

    lgerard

    Them that’s got shall have
    Them that’s not shall lose
    So the Bible said
    and it still is news

  107. 107.

    geg6

    You got a lotta nerve
    To say you are my friend
    When I was down
    You just stood there grinning

    You got a lotta nerve
    To say you got a helping hand to lend
    You just want to be on
    The side that’s winning

    You say I let you down
    You know it’s not like that
    If you’re so hurt
    Why then don’t you show it

    You say you lost your faith
    But that’s not where it’s at
    You had no faith to lose
    And you know it

    I know the reason
    That you talk behind my back
    I used to be among the crowd
    You’re in with

    Do you take me for such a fool
    To think I’d make contact
    With the one who tries to hide
    What he don’t know to begin with

    You see me on the street
    You always act surprised
    You say, “How are you?” “Good luck”
    But you don’t mean it

    When you know as well as me
    You’d rather see me paralyzed
    Why don’t you just come out once
    And scream it

    No, I do not feel that good
    When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
    If I was a master thief
    Perhaps I’d rob them

    And now I know you’re dissatisfied
    With your position and your place
    Don’t you understand
    It’s not my problem

    I wish that for just one time
    You could stand inside my shoes
    And just for that one moment
    I could be you

    Yes, I wish that for just one time
    You could stand inside my shoes
    You’d know what a drag it is
    To see you

  109. 109.

    Another Scott

    “My jacket’s going to be cut and slim and checked
    Maybe a touch of seersucker with an open neck”

    Something about the rhythm of those syllables as sung by Roger Daltry has always stuck with me.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  111. 111.

    Repatriated

    We serve an old man in a dry season
    A lighthouse keeper in the desert sun
    Dreamers of sleepers and white treason
    We dream of rain and the history of the gun
    There’s a lighthouse in the middle of Prussia
    A white house in a red square
    I’m living in films for the sake of Russia
    A kino runner for the DDR
    And the fifty-two daughters of the revolution
    Turn the gold to chrome
    Gift … nothing to lose
    Stuck inside of Memphis with the mobile home, sing:

    Mother Russia, Mother Russia, Mother Russia rain down down down
    Mother Russia, Mother Russia, Mother Russia rain down

    Mother Russia – Sisters of Mercy (second half of Dominion/Mother Russia

  112. 112.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    @PaulW: Coming Up Close – Love this song and album from Aimee Mann/Til Tuesday. I used to listen to this album all the time when I was a freshman in high school.

  113. 113.

    Chris

    Well meself and a hundred more,
    To America sailed o’er,
    Our fortunes to be made, we were thinking,
    When we got to Yankee land,
    They shoved a gun into our hand,
    Saying paddy, you must go and fight for Lincoln.

    Despite the anti Civil War theme, I always loved this for perfectly capturing the immigrant’s role as America’s cannon fodder. (In much more than just war).

  115. 115.

    dedc79

    I am an American aquarium drinker
    I assassin down the avenue
    I’m hiding out in the big city blinking
    What was I thinking when I let go of you?

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @zhena gogolia:

    One of the things I liked about Obama is he isn’t a needy person. He’s complete, striding around, regardless of your “acceptance”. Donald Trump is like…crowding us with his neediness.

    Back off, buddy. i don’t like you one bit :)

  117. 117.

    Emma

    Honestly now
    Either you stand for something
    Or you get knocked down for nothing
    Sister don’t ache too soon
    I thought it was understood
    By everyone in this room
    Who’d ever come up short or won a race
    Safety’s just danger
    Out of place
    Honestly Now by Harry Connick Jr.

  118. 118.

    Miss Bianca

    @Doug!: Used to do an a cappella version of that song with an old band – works really well as a slowish doo-wop number

    Love the beginning of that song – also: “oh, I played and I got stung/now I’m biting back my tongue/and sweeping out the footsteps where I strayed”

    @wenchacha: not going to argue with that…love the nym, btw!

  119. 119.

    Cacti

    My favorite song lyrics since the election went down (I Hate You! by The Edge of Etiquette)

    Just where is our future?
    The things we’ve done and said
    Let’s just push the button
    We’d be better off dead!

    Cause I hate you!
    And I berate you!
    And I can’t wait to get to you!

    The sins of all our fathers
    Being dumped on us the sons
    The only choice we’re given
    Is how many megatons!

    And I eschew you!
    And I say SCREW YOU!
    And I hope you’re blue too!

    We’re all bloody worthless
    Just greedy human scum
    The numbers all add up
    To a negative sum!

    Cause I hate you!
    Yes I hate you!
    And I hate you too!

  120. 120.

    Turgidson

    @dedc79:

    great song. But…

    “take off your band-aid ’cause I don’t believe in touchdowns”

    How did the entire band allow that lyric to stay in the song? How did they not bust out laughing every time it was said?

  121. 121.

    No One of Consequence

    Joe Pug – Hymn #76

    To meet me is to dare into the darkness
    But if you are devoted to a dream
    Go and light the lantern
    Leave your family abandoned
    Meet me by the shallows of the stream
    O meet me by the shallows of the stream

    To ask me is to love with hesitation
    My answer is the same as it has been
    Here is my affection
    No conditions and no questions
    Open up the door and let me in
    Open up the door and let me in

    To trust me is to travel past the towers
    Those who make it back from here are few
    It takes all of your devotion
    To have courage for a moment
    The world has bested better men than you
    The world has bested better men than you

    To love me is to set upon the mountain
    Every step is harder than the last
    But to find the step above it
    Is to triumph, is to summit
    Taste the frigid water from the tap
    Taste the frigid water from the tap

    To curse me for the life we left behind us
    Is to misremember what was cost
    For from the vacant cradle
    To the empty kitchen table
    Show me what was precious that was lost
    Show me what was precious that was lost

    – NOoC

  122. 122.

    raven

    Check out my pals

    We are thrilled to announce the launch of hogeyedman.com, which proudly features our “Tune Journeys,” an interactive media page that shares sources and stories of the journey we began three years ago to interpret and present the wild, diverse, and beautiful traditional music of the Southern Appalachians. The website also has lots of new photos, a blog, shout-outs, and all the usual band stuff. Please make yourself at home and feel free to share with others! https://www.hogeyedman.com/

  123. 123.

    burnspbesq

    lyin’ here in the darkness, i heard the sirens wail
    Somebody goin’ to Emergency, somebody goin’ to jail
    If you find somebody that you love in this world, you better hang on tooth and nail,
    The wolf is always at the door

  125. 125.

    Chris

    @Cacti:

    Dude, is that that song that the punk is listening to on the bus in Star Trek IV (the one with the whales) where Spock neck-pinches him to turn off the music and the entire bus applauds?

    ETA: actually never heard it anywhere else, but I’ve seen that movie half a dozen times.

  126. 126.

    No One of Consequence

    Couldn’t not throw this in too:

    World Turned Upside Down – (traditional, but my fave is by Dick Gaughan)

    In 1649 To St. George’s Hill,
    A ragged band they called the Diggers
    Came to show the people’s will
    They defied the landlords
    They defied the laws
    They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs

    We come in peace they said
    To dig and sow
    We come to work the lands in common
    And to make the waste ground grow
    This earth divided
    We will make whole
    So it will be
    A common treasury for all

    The sin of property
    We do disdain
    No man has any right to buy and sell
    The earth for private gain
    By theft and murder
    They took the land
    Now everywhere the walls
    Spring up at their command

    They make the laws
    To chain us well
    The clergy dazzle us with heaven
    Or they damn us into hell
    We will not worship
    The God they serve
    The God of greed who feed the rich
    While poor folk starve

    We work we eat together
    We need no swords
    We will not bow to the masters
    Or pay rent to the lords
    Still we are free
    Though we are poor
    You Diggers all stand up for glory
    Stand up now

    From the men of property
    The orders came
    They sent the hired men and troopers
    To wipe out the Diggers’ claim
    Tear down their cottages
    Destroy their corn
    They were dispersed
    But still the vision lingers on

    You poor take courage
    You rich take care
    This earth was made a common treasury
    For everyone to share
    All things in common
    All people one
    We come in peace
    The orders came to cut them down

    – NOoC

  128. 128.

    PaulW

    I am holding half an acre
    Torn from the map of Michigan
    And folded in this scrap of paper
    Is the land I grew in

    Think of every town you’ve lived in
    Every room you lay your head
    And what is it that you remember

    Do you carry every sadness with you
    Every hour your heart was broken
    Every night the fear and darkness
    Lay down with you

    A man is walking on the highway
    A woman stares out at the sea
    And light is only now just breaking

    So we carry every sadness with us
    Every hour our hearts were broken
    Every night the fear and darkness
    Lay down with us

    But I am holding half an acre
    Torn from the map of Michigan
    I am carrying this scrap of paper

    That can crack the darkest sky wide open
    Every burden taken from me
    Every night my heart unfolding
    My home

  129. 129.

    Yoda Dog Democrat

    There’s a natural mystic
    Blowing through the air
    If you listen carefully now you will hear
    This could be the first trumpet
    Might as well be the last
    Many more will have to suffer
    Many more will have to die
    Don’t ask me why…

  130. 130.

    ChrisB

    I’ve always liked the following from Stevie Wonder’s Living for the City:

    “To find a job is like the haystack’s needle
    ‘Cause where he lives they don’t use colored people.”

    Such an elegant yet resonant lyric.

  132. 132.

    dedc79

    @Turgidson:

    “take off your band-aid ’cause I don’t believe in touchdowns”

    How did the entire band allow that lyric to stay in the song? How did they not bust out laughing every time it was said?

    I hear you, and I don’t have a good answer. Awful line in an otherwise amazing song.

  134. 134.

    PaulW

    There are places I’ll 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 love you more

  135. 135.

    DesertFriar

    Have a little bit of faith I say,
    Have a little faith my friend.
    We got to help each other
    through thick and thin.
    These are trying times we are living in
    Have a little bit of faith I say,
    Have a little faith my friend.
    ~Mavis Staples, “Have A Little Faith

  136. 136.

    burnspbesq

    Aux armes, citoyens
    Formez vos battailons
    Marchons, marchons
    Qu’un sang impur
    Abreuve nos sillons

  138. 138.

    Mike E

    OT npr did a segment on KOMPROMAT!!!! Thot I heard martini glasses clink in the background…

  139. 139.

    Kyle

    Patty Griffin:
    The Long Ride Home:
    Forty years go by with someone laying in your bed
    Forty years of things you say you wish you’d never said
    How hard would it have been to say some kinder words instead.

    Railroad Wings:
    And as far as I can tell, most everything means nothing
    Except some things that mean everything.

  140. 140.

    geg6

    Mother, mother
    There’s too many of you crying
    Brother, brother, brother
    There’s far too many of you dying
    You know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some lovin’ here today – Ya

    Father, father
    We don’t need to escalate
    You see, war is not the answer
    For only love can conquer hate
    You know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some lovin’ here today

    Picket lines and picket signs
    Don’t punish me with brutality
    Talk to me, so you can see
    Oh, what’s going on
    What’s going on
    Ya, what’s going on
    Ah, what’s going on

    In the mean time
    Right on, baby
    Right on
    Right on

    Mother, mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong
    Oh, but who are they to judge us
    Simply because our hair is long
    Oh, you know we’ve got to find a way
    To bring some understanding here today
    Oh

    Picket lines and picket signs
    Don’t punish me with brutality
    Talk to me
    So you can see
    What’s going on
    Ya, what’s going on
    Tell me what’s going on
    I’ll tell you what’s going on – Uh
    Right on baby
    Right on baby

  141. 141.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Repatriated: Ah, beat me to it while I was waffling between that and Doctor Jeep.

    I like Cal and his dog Napalm
    I like Ike and his itty-bitty A-bomb
    Everybody got one, I want mine
    You can order it up on Channel Nine
    Meanwhile, in the Sheraton,
    Doctor Jeep plays on and on and on
    There was a time but it’s long gone
    Janie got a crush on the Viet Cong
    Burning through downtown Saigon
    Me, I’m sold – down the Mekong
    Meanwhile, in the Sheraton,
    Doctor Jeep plays on and on and on
    Guns and cars and accidents
    The threatened witness my defence
    You can sell one another for fifteen cents
    Well bye-bye mother, it’s common sense
    Meanwhile, in the Sheraton,
    Doctor Jeep plays on and on and on

  143. 143.

    Miss Bianca

    @Another Scott: Pretty much anything off “Quadrophenia” would do. That album is pure genius.

    Oh, and hell, since we’re talking The Who:

    We’ll be fighting in the streets
    With our children at our feet
    And the morals that they worship will be gone
    And the men who spurred us on
    Sit in judgement of all wrong
    They decide and the shotgun sings the song.

  144. 144.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    Parfois j’aimerais mourir
    Tellement y a plus d’espoir
    Parfois j’aimerais mourir
    Pour plus jamais te revoir
    Parfois j’aimerais mourir
    Pour ne plus rien savoir

  145. 145.

    Major Major Major Major

    Surprised nobody’s mentioned Leonard Cohen’s Anthem.

    The birds they sang
    At the break of day
    Start again
    I heard them say
    Don’t dwell on what
    Has passed away
    Or what is yet to be

    Yeah the wars they will
    Be fought again
    The holy dove
    She will be caught again
    Bought and sold
    And bought again
    The dove is never free

    Ring the bells that still can ring
    Forget your perfect offering
    There is a crack in everything
    That’s how the light gets in

    We asked for signs
    The signs were sent
    The birth betrayed
    The marriage spent
    Yeah the widowhood
    Of every government
    Signs for all to see

    I can’t run no more
    With that lawless crowd
    While the killers in high places
    Say their prayers out loud
    But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up
    A thundercloud
    And they’re going to hear from me

    Ring the bells…

    And, for some reason I had this in my head today by The Mountain Goats:

    the best ever death metal band out of denton
    were a couple of guys, who’d been friends since grade school.
    one was named cyrus, and the other was jeff.
    and they practiced twice a week in jeff’s bedroom.

    the best ever death metal band out of denton
    never settled on a name.
    but the top three contenders, after weeks of debate,
    were satan’s fingers, and the killers, and the hospital bombers.

    jeff and cyrus believed in their hearts they were headed
    for stage lights and leer jets, and fortune and fame.
    so in script that made prominent use of a pentagram,
    they stenciled their drumheads and guitars with their names.

    this was how cyrus got sent to the school
    where they told him he’d never be famous.
    and this was why jeff,
    in the letters he’d write to his friend,
    helped develop a plan to get even.
    when you punish a person for dreaming his dream,
    don’t expect him to thank or forgive you.
    the best ever death metal band out of denton
    will in time both outpace and outlive you.

    hail satan!
    hail satan tonight!

  148. 148.

    hovercraft

    Obama Brings Joe Biden To Tears With Surprise Presidential Medal Of Freedom

    resident Barack Obama surprised an emotional Joe Biden Thursday with a farewell tribute where he presented the vice president with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

    Obama gave the entire Biden clan a glowing tribute, including his children, grandchildren and wife, Jill Biden. He described Biden and Jill as “an all-American love story” and affectionately called Biden his “brother” and a “lion of American history.”

    Biden laughed and clapped along with the President’s remarks and reacted with shock when Obama ended his speech by giving Biden the medal.

    “To know Joe Biden is to know that love without pretense, service without self-regard, and to live life fully,” Obama said. “As one of his long-time colleagues in the senate who happened to be a Republican once said, ‘if you can’t admire Joe Biden as a person, you have got a problem.’ He is as good a man as god ever created.”
    (VIDEO)

  149. 149.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @PaulW: I remember seeing the Plimsouls at UCSD, circa 1982. I wish anything I owned then still fit.

  152. 152.

    Death Panel Truck

    Oh, well, a young man
    Ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days
    I said a young man
    Ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days

    Well, you know in the old days
    When a young man was a strong man
    All the people, they’d step back
    When a young man walked by

    But you know, nowadays
    It’s the old man
    He’s got all the money
    And a young man ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days
    I said
    Ain’t got nothing
    Got sweet nothing
    —-
    Have pity on the young man
    They ain’t got nothin’ in the world these days, I said
    They ain’t got nothin’!
    They got sweet fuck-all!

    Live at Leeds

  153. 153.

    Woodrowfan

    I am he as you are he as you are me
    And we are all together
    See how they run like pigs from a gun
    See how they fly
    I’m crying
    Sitting on a cornflake
    Waiting for the van to come
    Corporation T-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
    Man you’ve been a naughty boy
    You let your face grow long

  154. 154.

    p.a.

    Hey Lord don’t ask me question
    Hey Lord don’t ask me question
    Ain’t no answer in me

    Graham Parker (he later commented that he had no idea why he sang ‘question’ singular

    Also too:
    Well I’ll forgive you if you forgive me hey
    Who needs a third party anyway
    G.P.

    (Guess who’s my favorite musician…)

  155. 155.

    SenyorDave

    From “My Back Pages”, written by Dylan and performed perfectly by the Byrds:

    In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
    At the mongrel dogs who teach
    Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
    In the instant that I preach
    My pathway led by confusion boats
    Mutiny from stern to bow
    Ah, but I was so much older then
    I’m younger than that now

  156. 156.

    Chris

    @Cacti:

    Ah. Yeah, I thought it might have been that, cheaper than getting the rights to a real song and also explaining why I’ve never heard it elsewhere.

  157. 157.

    PaulW

    In New York freedom looks like
    Too many choices
    In New York I found a friend
    To drown out the other voices

    Voices on a cell phone
    Voices from home
    Voices of the hard sell
    Voices down a stairwell
    In New York
    Just got a place in New York

    In New York summers get hot
    Well into the hundreds
    You can’t walk around the block
    Without a change of clothing

    Hot as a hair dryer in your face
    Hot as a handbag and a can of mace
    New York
    I just got a place in New York

    New York New York

    In New York you can forget
    Forget how to sit still
    Tell yourself you will stay in
    But it’s down to Alphaville

    New York
    New York, New York

    New York, New York
    New York

    The Irish been coming here for years
    Feel like they own the place
    They got the airport, city hall
    Asphalt, asphalt
    They even got the police

    Irish, Italians, Jews and Hispanics
    Religious nuts, political fanatics in the stew
    Happily not like me and you
    That’s where I lost you…………

  158. 158.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Chris: That song was written especially for the movie.

    Hmm, now y’all have me on a SoM kick.

    Vision Thing

    It’s a small world and it smells bad
    I’d buy another if I had
    Back
    What I paid
    For another motherfucker in a motorcade

    What do we need to make our world come alive?
    What do we need to make us sing?
    While we’re waiting for the next one to arrive?
    One million points of light
    One billion dollar Vision Thing

  159. 159.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m realizing that the songs I like best aren’t really about lyrics, they’re about music. So I’m coming up short.

  160. 160.

    eclare

    “There’s one more kid
    that will never go to school
    Never get to fall in love,
    never get to be cool.”

    Hard to get those lyrics out of my head after Trayvon Martin’s death.

  161. 161.

    geg6

    I hate the world today
    You’re so good to me
    I know but I can’t change
    Tried to tell you
    But you look at me like maybe
    I’m an angel underneath
    Innocent and sweet
    Yesterday I cried
    Must have been relieved to see
    The softer side
    I can understand how you’d be so confused
    I don’t envy you
    I’m a little bit of everything
    All rolled into one

    [Chorus:]
    I’m a bitch, I’m a lover
    I’m a child, I’m a mother
    I’m a sinner, I’m a saint
    I do not feel ashamed
    I’m your hell, I’m your dream
    I’m nothing in between
    You know you wouldn’t want it any other way

    So take me as I am
    This may mean
    You’ll have to be a stronger man
    Rest assured that
    When I start to make you nervous
    And I’m going to extremes
    Tomorrow I will change
    And today won’t mean a thing

    [Chorus]

    Just when you think, you got me figured out
    The season’s already changing
    I think it’s cool, you do what you do
    And don’t try to save me

    [Chorus]

    I’m a bitch, I’m a tease
    I’m a goddess on my knees
    When you hurt, when you suffer
    I’m your angel undercover
    I’ve been numb, I’m revived
    Can’t say I’m not alive
    You know I wouldn’t want it any other way

  163. 163.

    trollhattan

    If we lived in a world without tears
    How would heartbeats
    Know when to stop
    How would blood know
    Which body to flow outside of
    How would bullets find the guns

    –Lucinda Williams

  166. 166.

    Ian G.

    Have to come out of lurking mode for this. Considering the state of politics in this country today, I have to go with:

    “All over, people changing their votes
    Along with their overcoats
    If Adolf Hitler flew in today
    They’d send a limousine anyway”

    Who knew Joe Strummer could predict Trump 40 years ago?

  167. 167.

    Major Major Major Major

    Oh, and then of course there’s Leonard Cohen’s prescient “The Future“.

    Give me back my broken night
    my mirrored room, my secret life
    it’s lonely here,
    there’s no one left to torture
    Give me absolute control
    over every living soul
    And lie beside me, baby,
    that’s an order!
    Give me crack and anal sex
    Take the only tree that’s left
    and stuff it up the hole
    in your culture
    Give me back the Berlin wall
    give me Stalin and St Paul
    I’ve seen the future, brother:
    it is murder.

    Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
    Won’t be nothing
    Nothing you can measure anymore
    The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
    has crossed the threshold
    and it has overturned
    the order of the soul
    When they said REPENT REPENT
    I wonder what they meant
    When they said REPENT REPENT
    I wonder what they meant
    When they said REPENT REPENT
    I wonder what they meant

  168. 168.

    Miss Bianca

    @No One of Consequence: Actually not a traditional song, tho’ it sounds like it…it was written by Leon Rosselson in 1975…often confused with “The Diggers’ Song”, which is traditional…

    (I only know all this because we tracked the guy’s publishhing company down to make sure he got paid when we recorded it).

  169. 169.

    James Powell

    People moving out, people moving in
    Why, because of the color of their skin
    Run, run, run but you sure can’t hide
    An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
    Vote for me and I’ll set you free
    Rap on, brother, rap on

    Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher
    And it seems nobody’s interested in learning but the teacher
    Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration
    Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation

    Ball of confusion
    Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today
    Woo, hey, hey

    The sale of pills are at an all time high
    Young folks walking round with their heads in the sky
    The cities ablaze in the summer time
    And oh, the beat goes on
    Evolution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul
    Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon
    Politicians say more taxes will solve everything
    And the band played on

    So, round and around and around we go
    Where the world’s headed, nobody knows

    Oh, great googa-looga, can’t you hear me talking to you
    Just a ball of confusion
    Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today
    Woo, hey

    Fear in the air, tension everywhere
    Unemployment rising fast, the Beatles new record’s a gas
    And the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation
    And the band played on

    Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors
    Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand, suicide, too many bills
    Hippies moving to the hills, people all over the world are shouting, end the war
    And the band played on

    Great googa-looga, can’t you hear me talking to you
    Sayin’ ball of confusion
    That’s what the world is today, hey, hey

  170. 170.

    burnspbesq

    The Trump Anthem (courtesy of Lou Reed):

    Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I’ll piss on ’em
    that’s what the Statue of Bigotry says
    Your poor huddled masses, let’s club ’em to death
    and get it over with and just dump ’em on the boulevard

  171. 171.

    Repatriated

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Good call on that one. I can’t go past a Sheraton without that song coming to mind.

    On heavenly rain, you fell into my life
    Unforgettable smile, unforgettable lies
    In the name of the cross or a banner of love
    With the hand of a friend or under a blanket of trust
    The angels sighed, a little girl cried
    The tears run rings around my eyes
    We’re going to set fire to the house in my heart
    We’re going to set fire to the whole damn world
    I don’t understand the wicked things we do
    In the name of the good, in the name of the few
    Don’t look at me with your innocent smile
    When the bed is burning around my head
    When a war breaks out, It’ll be no surprise
    Your unforgettable smile, your unforgettable lies
    And I’ve got to stop running to make my start
    We’ve got to get together before we fall apart
    They’re pulling down the old slums to build the new
    They’re bringing back the old rules to please the few
    Pull down the old slums to build the new
    Pull down the love I built with you
    Promise of tomorrow you never kept
    And you try to burn the house down when I slept
    The nation’s in disorder, there’s chaos in my heart
    We’ve got to get together before we fall apart

    – Tears Run Rings Marc Almond

  172. 172.

    Turgidson

    @zhena gogolia:

    I’m the same. I generally consider vocals to be another instrument more so than poetry or storytelling. I will notice a particularly good or bad lyrical passage – and appreciate when the lyrical content is a particularly good match for the mood set by the music, but it’s not usually what I’m listening for. I think that’s part of the reason why I don’t listen to Bob Dylan all that much. I’d rather hear the Byrds’ covers of his songs than his original versions.

  173. 173.

    Ian G.

    @Penus:

    The Truckers run from “Southern Rock Opera” to “The Dirty South” was magnificent. Cooley always had the snarkiest lyrics. “Well my daddy didn’t pull out, but he never apologized”. I never fail to laugh at that line.

  174. 174.

    Wyatt Derp

    They say Jesus will find you wherever you go
    But when he’ll come lookin’ for you they don’t know

    – Warren Zevon – Gorilla You’re a Desperado

    If California slides into the ocean
    As the mystics and statistics say it will
    I predict this motel will be standing
    Until I pay my bill

    Warren Zevon – Desperados Under the Eaves

    Yes, I love Warren Zevon.

  175. 175.

    Chris

    @burnspbesq:

    I thought the Trump anthem was the theme song to Pinky and the Brain, then I remembered that was the Bush anthem. There’s no Brain anymore. Heck, there’s not even a Pinky.

  176. 176.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Miss Bianca: Cool! Yeah, the title points to the Christopher Hill book about the radicalism of the English Civil War / Revolution, which, I just looked up, came out in 1972.

  177. 177.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Stranded in Honduras
    I’m a desperate man
    Send lawyers, guns and money
    The shit has hit the fan

  178. 178.

    Brachiator

    I was born by the river in a little tent
    Oh and just like the river I’ve been running ev’r since
    It’s been a long time, a long time coming
    But I know a change 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 up there, beyond the sky
    It’s been a long, a long time coming
    But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

    I go to the movie and I go downtown
    Somebody keep tellin’ me don’t hang around
    It’s been a long, a long time coming
    But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

    — A Change is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke

  180. 180.

    Cacti

    Another song that reminds me of the incoming administration:

    Germany was having trouble what a sad, sad story
    Needed a new leader to restore her former glory
    Where oh where was he? Where could that man be?
    We looked around, and then we found the man for you and me!

    And now it’s…

    Springtime for Hitler, and Germany!
    Deutschland is happy and gay
    We’re marching to a faster pace
    Look out here comes the master race!

    Springtime for Hitler, and Germany!
    Winter for Poland and France
    Springtime for Hitler and Germany
    Come on Germans, go into your dance!

    -Mel Brooks

  181. 181.

    zhena gogolia

    The last few days, I’ve been listening to a beautiful song with very simple lyrics by Strouse & Adams of Bye, Bye Birdie fame, “Once Upon A Time.” Bob Dylan sang it at Tony Bennett’s 90th birthday — this performance is devastating in its musicianship.

  182. 182.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    Styx – These Are the TImes

    I hear voices from beyond the veil
    They reverberate in mystery
    There are shadows in my heart
    And they multiply in memory

    And the comrades that I’ve lost out there
    In the scattered ruins still speak to me

    If the flickering light of your campfire dims
    The world grows smaller
    It’s closing in
    I’m standing here
    And I want you to live

    I know

    These are the times we find out who we really are
    This will be when a true friend stands at your side
    Someone like me who wants to
    Believe in the days of high times and innocence
    Drawing the lines and shouting back to the night
    Someone like me who wants you to live

    And from those who’ve seen the light beyond
    We know the end will bring tranquility
    But the voices of the friends they heard
    Brought them back to this reality

    Tough the beacon of light in your life seems dim
    The sun’s coming up on the world we’re in
    There are choices here
    And I want you to live

    I know

    These are the times we find out who we really are
    This will be when a true friend stands at your side
    One more like me
    Who wants to believe in the truth of all we experienced
    To live again to jump back into the fight
    Someone like me who wants you to live

  183. 183.

    geg6

    @Turgidson:

    The Byrds could never sing “Positively 4th Street” the way Dylan did. Dylan’s voice was every bit the instrument that Roger McGuinn’s, David Crosby’s or Chris Hillman’s was. I get that many people don’t appreciate as such, but it is.

  184. 184.

    Mnemosyne

    @Miss Bianca:

    Yeah, but then there’s the whole “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” thing. It’s about the futility of revolutions to actually change anything fundamental.

  185. 185.

    Erick

    There are so many, tempted just to say everything on Blood on the Tracks, Darkness on the edge of Town, or Astral Weeks.

    Here is a more obscure one from Sam Phillips:

    Pictures steal our memories
    Turn our minds to salt
    History is written to say it wasn’t our fault
    Wasn’t our fault

  186. 186.

    zhena gogolia

    @Mnemosyne:

    Not coming up with any favorite Hamilton lyrics? I’m finding that they’re more sound bites than something you’d quote at length.

    I’m loving the Mixtape! Just love it! I didn’t expect to. Jill Scott, Andra Day are particularly good.

  187. 187.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Wyatt Derp: When he was dying (mesothelioma, after all that livin’ he managed to get one of the cancers that you can’t give yourself), he was on Letterman and Dave asked him what advice he would give people about life.

    And Zevon said, enjoy every sandwich.

  188. 188.

    randy khan

    On topic, basically half of the Suzanne Vega songbook. She’s so good at the observational lyric it’s incredible.

    This is the best known:

    My name is Luka
    I live on the second floor
    I live upstairs from you
    Yes I think you’ve seen me before

    If you hear something late at night
    Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight
    Just don’t ask me what it was
    Just don’t ask me what it was
    Just don’t ask me what it was

    I think it’s because I’m clumsy
    I try not to talk too loud
    Maybe it’s because I’m crazy
    I try not to act too proud

    They only hit until you cry
    After that you don’t ask why
    You just don’t argue anymore
    You just don’t argue anymore
    You just don’t argue anymore

    Yes I think I’m okay
    I walked into the door again
    If you ask that’s what I’ll say
    And it’s not your business anyway
    I guess I’d like to be alone
    With nothing broken, nothing thrown

    Just don’t ask me how I am
    Just don’t ask me how I am
    Just don’t ask me how I am

    My name is Luka
    I live on the second floor
    I live upstairs from you
    Yes I think you’ve seen me before

    If you hear something late at night
    Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight
    Just don’t ask me what it was
    Just don’t ask me what it was
    Just don’t ask me what it was

    And they only hit until you cry
    After that, you don’t ask why
    You just don’t argue anymore
    You just don’t argue anymore
    You just don’t argue anymore

    But I also love so many others, like this:

    Now the time has come to speak
    I was not able
    And water through a rusted pipe
    Could make the sense that I do

    Gurgle, mutter
    Hiss, stutter
    Moan the words like water
    Rush and foam and choke

    Having waited
    This long of a winter
    I fear I only
    Croak and sigh

    And this:

    Today I am
    A small blue thing
    Like a marble
    Or an eye

    With my knees against my mouth
    I am perfectly round
    I am watching you

    I am cold against your skin
    You are perfectly reflected
    I am lost inside your pocket
    I am lost against
    Your fingers

    I am falling down the stairs
    I am skipping on the sidewalk
    I am thrown against the sky

    I am raining down in pieces
    I am scattering like light
    Scattering like light
    Scattering like light

  189. 189.

    Chris

    @Cacti:

    Well, hi there, people! You know me!
    I used to run a little joint called Germany
    I was number one, the people’s choice
    And everybody listened to my mighty voice!

    My name is Adolf, I’m on the mike
    I’m gonna hip you to the story of the new Third Reich
    It all began down in Munich town
    And pretty soon, the word started gettin’ around

    So I said to Martin Bormann,
    I said, “Hey Marty, why don’t we throw a little Nazi party?”
    So we had an election, well, kinda sorta
    And before you knew it, hello! New order!

    To all those mothers in the Fatherland, I said,
    “Achtung, baby! I got me a plan!”
    They said, “What you got, Adolf? What you gonna do?”
    I said, “How about this one? World War Two!”

    To be or not to be
    Oh, baby, can’t you see?
    We’re gonna take it to the top
    You’re making history and it feels so good to me
    Ooh, darling, please don’t ever stop

    Don’t be stupid, be a smarty
    Come on and join the Nazi party! (Party!)

    Like Humpty Dumpty off’a that wall,
    All the little countries they began to fall
    Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Poland
    The troops were rockin’ and the tanks were rollin’

    We were swingin’ along with a song in our hearts
    And “Deutschland über alles” was making the charts
    We had a new step called the goosestep we were marching to
    Well, it’s sorta kinda like a German boogaloo

    I was gettin’ what I wanted, but it wasn’t enough
    So I called the boys, I said boys, get tough!
    Now I surrounded myself with some unusual cats
    There was skinny little Goebbles and Göring Mister Fats

    And let’s not forget ol’ Himmler and Hess
    Oh, you better believe we made a hell of a mess
    Say Heil! Heil! Siegety Heil!
    We gonna whip it on the people Teutonic style!

    To be or not to be
    Oh, baby, can’t you see?
    We’re gonna make it to the top
    You are our destiny, this thing was meant to be
    Why don’t we do it ’til we drop?

    Say your boots ain’t black and shirt ain’t brown?
    Well, get back Jack! You can’t get down!

    Do it, Adolf, do it!

    I drank wine from the Rhine with the finest ladies
    And we did it in the back of my black Mercedes
    I was on a roll; I couldn’t lose!
    Then came D-Day, the birth of the blues

    The Yanks and the Brits started raising Caen
    Those guys were the pits, they drove me insane!
    People all around me started swallowing pills
    Let’s face it, folks, we was going downhill

    Berlin was crumbling, we was under the gun
    Time to look out for number one
    So I grabbed a blonde and a case of beer
    Said, “The Russians are comin’! Let’s get out of here!”

    To be or not to be
    Oh, honey, can’t you see?
    We had to take it to the top
    You sure made history and it felt so good to me
    Oh, schätze, please don’t ever stop

    Auf wiedersehn! Good to see ya!
    I got a one way ticket to Argentina!

    To be or not to be
    Oh, baby, can’t you see?
    We’ve got to take it to the top
    You’re making history and it feels so good to me
    Why don’t we do it ’til we drop?

  190. 190.

    Ian G.

    Another good one for the state of America today, particularly its idiotic mainstream media:

    “Sixteen military wives
    Thirty-two softly focused brightly colored eyes
    Staring at the natural tan of thirty-two gently clenching wrinkled little hands
    Seventeen company men
    Out of which only twelve will make it back again
    Sergeant sends a letter to five
    Military wives whose tears drip down from ten little eyes

    Cheer them on to their rivals
    ‘Cause America can, and America can’t say no
    And America does, if America says it’s so
    It’s so
    And the anchor person on TV,
    Goes la di da di da

    Fifteen celebrity minds
    Leading their fifteen sordid, wretched, checkered lives
    Will they find the solution in time
    Using their fifteen crispy moderate liberal minds

    Eighteen academy chairs
    Out of which only seven really even cares
    Doling out the garland to five
    Celebrity minds, they’re humbly taken by surprise

    Cheer them on to their rivals
    ‘Cause America can, and America can’t say no
    And America does, if America says it’s so
    It’s so
    And the anchor person on TV,
    Goes la di da di da

    Fourteen cannibal kings
    Wondering blindly what the dinner bell will bring
    Fifteen celebrity minds
    Served on a leafy bed of sixteen military wives

    Cheer them on to their rivals
    ‘Cause America can, and America can’t say no
    And America does, if America says it’s so
    It’s so
    And the anchor person on TV,
    Goes la di da di da”

    “Sixteen Military Wives”, The Decemberists

  191. 191.

    zhena gogolia

    “Spirit in a Bottle” by Chris White. Not sure if it’s a temperance song or not, but it’s damn good:

    Some would say the bottle’s half empty
    But I say my stomach’s half full
    Some would say I’ve slept the day away
    But I say I’ve got the night still

    And another bottle in the cabinet
    That will give me another thrill
    Some would say drinking won’t cure you
    But I’m quite sure it will

    And the spirit in the bottle is sure to serve its master
    I’ve got me a genie and my wish is to get plastered
    I don’t need society
    And I don’t need sobriety
    When that spirit in the bottle sets me free.

    Some say that I am the slave
    And the bottle owns me
    Some say it’ll take me to my grave
    Some say it’ll drown me in the sea

    But me, I know much better
    It’s the liquor that keeps me alive
    As soon as that whiskey pumps through my veins
    I know I will survive

    And the spirit in the bottle is sure to serve its master
    I’ve got me a genie and my wish is to get plastered
    I don’t need sobriety
    And I don’t need society
    When that spirit in the bottle sets me free

  192. 192.

    резидент американской области Российской Федерации

    “If The Phone Doesn’t Ring It’s Me” – Jimmy Buffett

    There are oceans of feelings between us
    Currents that take us and sweep us away
    That’s why we seldom have seen us
    In the light of a cold hard day

    Lots of new friends with the same old answers
    Open your eyes, you might see
    Of our lives were that simple
    We’d live in the past
    If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me

    If the phone doesn’t ring
    You’ll know that it’s me
    I’ll be out in the eye of the storm
    If the phone doesn’t ring
    you’ll know that I’ll be
    Where someone can make me feel warm
    It’s too bad we can’t turn
    and live in the past
    If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me

    I’ve had good days and bad days
    And going half mad days
    I try to let go but you’re still on my mind
    I’ve lost all the old ways
    I’m searching for new plays
    Putting it all on the line

    Lots of new friends with the same old problems
    Open your eyes, you might see
    If our lives were that simple
    We’d live in the past
    If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me

    If it takes all the future
    We’ll live through the past
    If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me

  195. 195.

    Bobby D

    Dylan’s “Talkin’ Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues”, is up there for me. The wholes story is great, but the last two verses seem appropriate today:

    “Now, I don’t care just what you do
    If you wanta have a picnic, that’s up t’ you
    But don’t tell me about it, I don’t wanta hear it
    ’Cause, see, I just lost all m’ picnic spirit
    Stay in m’ kitchen, have m’ own picnic . . .
    In the bathroom

    Now, it don’t seem to me quite so funny
    What some people are gonna do f’r money
    There’s a bran’ new gimmick every day
    Just t’ take somebody’s money away
    I think we oughta take some o’ these people
    And put ’em on a boat, send ’em up to Bear Mountain . . .
    For a picnic ”

    My other favorite would be an entire album, rather than a song. Drive By Truckers’ Dirty South album has the best storytelling in music that I’ve heard. Really resonates w/ me because they are talking about the places/people I grew up with, in a really authentic way. Probably helps that they hail about 20mi from my family homestead, so the cultural touchstones are particularly relevant.

  196. 196.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @hovercraft: I just watched the Biden/Obama clip. I cannot ever imagine Lumpy and Pence ever acting like these two. Hell,I can’t even imagine Bush and Cheney doing that. I didn’t realize how good friends the two are. It’s a deep friendship not just a convenience friendship.

  197. 197.

    hellslittlestangel

    I’m a human fly, and I don’t know why
    I got ninety-six tears and ninety-six eyes

    — The late great Lux Interior of The Cramps

    Bonus lines from the same source:

    I’ll show you how to get on board the drug train
    You put one foot up
    you put another foot up
    You put another foot up
    And you’re on board the drug train

  198. 198.

    chopper

    when I was only 17,
    i could hear the angels whispering
    so i drove into the woods and wandered aimlessly about
    till i heard my mother shouting through the fog
    it turned out to be the howling of a dog
    or a wolf to be exact, the sound sent shivers down my back,
    but I was drawn into the pack and before long
    they allowed me to join in and sing their song
    so from the cliffs and highest hills, we would gladly get our fill,
    howling endlessly and shrilly at the dawn
    and i lost the taste for judging right from wrong
    for my flesh had turned to fur,
    and my thoughts, they surely were
    turned to instinct and obedience to God.
    -Blitzen Trapper

  199. 199.

    cosima

    Bowie, 5 Years.

    The cop knelt at the feet of the priest, and the queer threw up at the sight of that.

  200. 200.

    MazeDancer

    White House has tweeted the full 17 glorious minutes of Mr. Obama surprising Mr. Biden with the Medal of Freedom. See the whole thing here. Such wonderful men.

    Mr. Obama quotes Yeats, so it’s close to song lyrics.

  201. 201.

    Mark B.

    Mom kicked me out ’til I got some pants that fit
    She just don’t appreciate my strange kind of wit.
    [Pere Ubu–Final Solution]

  202. 202.

    Ian G.

    And given this country’s fetish for the WWC, how about “Something More Than Free” by the aforementioned Jason Isbell (although the character here sounds too dignified to be a Trump worshiper).

    When I get home from work
    I’ll call up all my friends
    And we’ll go bust up something beautiful we’ll have to build again
    When I get home from work
    I’ll wrestle off my clothes
    And leave em right inside the front door
    ‘Cause nobody’s home to know
    You see a hammer finds a nail
    And a freight train needs the rails
    And I’m doin’ what I’m on this earth to do
    And I don’t think on why I’m here where it hurts
    I’m just lucky to have the work
    Sunday morning I’m too tired to go to church
    But I thank God for the work
    When I get my reward my work will all be done
    And I will sit back in my chair beside the father and the son
    No more holes to fill and no more rocks to break
    And no more loading boxes on the trucks for someone else’s sake
    ‘Cause a hammer needs a nail
    And the poor man’s up for sale
    Guess I’m doin’ what I’m on this earth to do
    And I don’t think on why I’m here where it hurts
    I’m just lucky to have the work
    And every night I dream I’m drowning in the dirt
    But I thank God for the work
    And the day will come when I’ll find a reason
    And somebody proud to love a man like me
    My back is numb, my hands are freezing
    What I’m working for is something more than free
    And I don’t think on why I’m here where it hurts
    I’m just lucky to have the work
    Sunday morning I’m too tired to go to church
    But I thank God for the work
    And I thank God for the work

  203. 203.

    Hungry Joe

    I pulled into Nazareth
    I was feelin’ ’bout half-past dead
    Just need a place
    Where I can lay my head
    “Hey mister, can you tell me
    Where a man might find a bed?”
    He just grinned and shook my hand.
    “No,” was all he said.

  204. 204.

    misterpuff

    EC of course just a stanza and chorus:

    Down on the mainspring, listen to the tick tock
    Clock all the faces that move in on your block
    Twice shy and dog tired because you’ve been bitten
    Everything you say now sounds like it was ghost-written

    New Amsterdam it’s become much too much
    Till I have the possession of everything she touches
    Till I step on the brakes to get out of her clutches
    Till I speak double dutch to a real double duchess

    Radiohead:

    Please could you stop the noise, I’m trying to get some rest
    From all the unborn chicken voices in my head
    What’s that…? (I may be paranoid, but not an android)
    What’s that…? (I may be paranoid, but not an android)

    When I am king, you will be first against the wall
    With your opinion which is of no consequence at all
    What’s that…? (I may be paranoid, but no android)
    What’s that…? (I may be paranoid, but no android)

    Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
    Kicking and squealing gucci little piggy
    You don’t remember
    You don’t remember
    Why don’t you remember my name?
    Off with his head, man
    Off with his head, man
    Why don’t you remember my name?
    I guess he does….

    Rain down, rain down
    Come on rain down on me
    From a great height
    From a great height… height…
    Rain down, rain down
    Come on rain down on me
    From a great height
    From a great height… height…
    Rain down, rain down
    Come on rain down on me

    That’s it, sir
    You’re leaving
    The crackle of pigskin
    The dust and the screaming
    The yuppies networking
    The panic, the vomit
    The panic, the vomit
    God loves his children, God loves his children, yeah!

    Yes:

    [II Total Mass Retain]

    My eyes convinced, eclipsed with the younger moon attained with love
    It changed as almost strained amidst clear manna from above
    I crucified my hate and held the word within my hand
    There’s you, the time, the logic, or the reasons we don’t understand

    Sad courage claimed the victims standing still for all to see
    As armoured movers took approached to overlook the sea
    There since the cord, the license, or the reasons we understood will be

    Down at the edge, close by a river
    Close to the edge, round by the corner
    Close to the end, down by the corner
    Down at the edge, round by the river

    Sudden cause shouldn’t take away the startled memory
    All in all, the journey takes you all the way
    As apart from any reality that you’ve ever seen and known
    Guessing problems only to deceive the mention
    Passing paths that climb halfway into the void
    As we cross from side to side, we hear the total mass retain

    Down at the edge, round by the corner
    Close to the end, down by a river
    Seasons will pass you by
    I get up, I get down

    [III I Get Up, I Get Down]

    In her white lace, you could clearly see the lady sadly looking
    Saying that she’d take the blame
    For the crucifixion of her own domain

    I get up, I get down
    I get up, I get down

    Two million people barely satisfy
    Two hundred women watch one woman cry, too late
    The eyes of honesty can achieve
    (She would gladly say it amazement of her story)
    How many millions do we deceive each day?
    (Asking only interest could be layed upon the children of her domain)

    I get up, I get down
    I get up, I get down

    In charge of who is there in charge of me
    (She could clearly see the lady sadly looking)
    Do I look on blindly and say I see the way?
    (Saying that she’d take the blame
    For the crucifixion of her own domain)
    The truth is written all along the page
    (She would gladly say it amazement of her story)
    How old will I be before I come of age for you?
    (Asking only interest could be layed upon the children of her domain)

    I get up, I get down
    I get up, I get down
    I get up, I get down

    I get up, I get down
    I get up, I get down

    And strangely Genesis:

    Some men never listen,
    And others never learn,
    But why this man did as he did
    Only he will ever know.

    He knew he was walking
    Into a waiting trap,
    Neatly set up for him
    With a bait so richly wrapped.

    So he went inside there to take on what he found
    But he never escaped them, for who can escape what he desires?

    And this song from Duke that captures my malaise of late:

    “Heathaze”

    No cloud, a sleepy calm,
    Sunbaked earth that’s cooled by gentle breeze,
    And trees with rustling leaves,
    Only endless days without a care,
    Nothing must be done.

    Silent as a day can be,
    Far-off sounds of others on their chosen run
    As they do all those things they feel give life some meaning,
    Even if they’re dull.

    It’s time to stop this dreaming, must rejoin the real world
    As revealed by orange lights and a smoky atmosphere.

    The trees and I are shaken by the same wind but whereas
    The trees will lose their withered leaves,
    I just can’t seem to let them loose.
    And they can’t refresh me those hot winds of the south.
    Oh I feel like an alien, a stranger in an alien place.

    Now the light is fading fast,
    Chances slip away, a time will come to pass
    When there’ll be none,
    Then addicted to a perfumed poison,
    Betrayed by its aftertaste,
    Oh we shall lose the wonder and find nothing in return.
    Many are the substitutes but they’re powerless on their own.

    Beware the fisherman who’s casting out his line
    Into a dried up river bed,
    But don’t try to tell him ‘cos he won’t believe you.
    Throw some bread to the ducks instead, it’s easier that way.
    I feel like an alien, a stranger in an alien place.

    The trees and I are shaken by the same wind but whereas
    The trees will lose their withered leaves,
    I just can’t seem to let them loose.
    And they can’t refresh me those hot winds of the south.
    I feel like an alien, a stranger in an alien place.

  205. 205.

    SRW1

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Does it have to be in English?

    Les journaux sont imprimés
    Les ouvriers sont déprimés
    Les gens se lèvent ils sont brimés
    C’est l’heure où je vais me coucher

    Il est 5 heures Paris se lève
    Il est 5 heures je n’ai pas sommeil

    Jacques Dutronc “Il est cinq heures, Paris s’éveille”

    Also, too, because it says this about some Parisian landmarks:

    La Tour Eiffel a froid aux pieds
    L’Arc de Triomphe est ranimé
    Et l’Obélisque est bien dressé
    Entre la nuit et la journée

  207. 207.

    Gravenstone

    The night is black
    Without a moon
    The air is thick and still
    The vigilantes gather on
    The lonely torch lit hill

    Features distorted in the flickering light
    The faces are twisted and grotesque
    Silent and stern in the sweltering night
    The mob moves like demons possessed
    Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
    Confident their ways are best

    The righteous rise
    With burning eyes
    Of hatred and ill-will
    Madmen fed on fear and lies
    To beat and burn and kill

    They say there are strangers who threaten us
    In our immigrants and infidels
    They say there is strangeness too dangerous
    In our theaters and bookstore shelves
    That those who know what’s best for us
    Must rise and save us from ourselves

    Quick to judge
    Quick to anger
    Slow to understand
    Ignorance and prejudice
    And fear walk hand in hand

  208. 208.

    Gravenstone

    Conquistador your stallion stands
    in need of company
    and like some angel’s haloed brow
    you reek of purity
    I see your armour-plated breast
    has long since lost its sheen
    and in your death mask face
    there are no signs which can be seen
    And though I hoped for something
    to find
    I could see no maze to unwind
    Conquistador a vulture sits
    upon your silver shield
    and in your rusty scabbard now
    the sand has taken seed
    and though your jewel-encrusted blade
    has not been plundered still
    the sea has washed across your face
    and taken of its fill
    And though I hoped for something
    to find
    I could see no maze to unwind
    Conquistador there is no time
    I must pay my respect
    and though I came to jeer at you
    I leave now with regret
    and as the gloom begins to fall
    I see there is no, only all
    and though you came with sword held high
    you did not conquer, only die
    And though I hoped for something
    to find
    I could see no maze to unwind

  209. 209.

    LAO

    Climbing up on Solsbury Hill
    I could see the city light
    Wind was blowing, time stood still
    Eagle flew out of the night
    He was something to observe
    Came in close, I heard a voice
    Standing stretching every nerve
    Had to listen had no choice
    I did not believe the information
    (I) just had to trust imagination
    My heart going boom boom boom
    “Son,” he said “Grab your things,
    I’ve come to take you home.”

    To keep in silence I resigned
    My friends would think I was a nut
    Turning water into wine
    Open doors would soon be shut
    So I went from day to day
    Tho’ my life was in a rut
    “Till I thought of what I’d say
    Which connection I should cut
    I was feeling part of the scenery
    I walked right out of the machinery
    My heart going boom boom boom
    “Hey” he said “Grab your things
    I’ve come to take you home.”
    (Back home.)

    When illusion spin her net
    I’m never where I want to be
    And liberty she pirouette
    When I think that I am free
    Watched by empty silhouettes
    Who close their eyes but still can see
    No one taught them etiquette
    I will show another me
    Today I don’t need a replacement
    I’ll tell them what the smile on my face meant
    My heart going boom boom boom
    “Hey” I said “You can keep my things,
    they’ve come to take me home.”

  210. 210.

    Lizzy L

    This one’s been running through my mind since November.

    Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
    Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”
    God say, “No.” Abe say, “What ?”
    God say, “You can do what you want Abe, but
    The next time you see me comin’ you better run”
    Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done ?”
    God says. “Out on Highway 61”.

    Well Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose
    Welfare Department they wouldn’t give him no clothes
    He asked poor Howard where can I go
    Howard said there’s only one place I know
    Sam said tell me quick man I got to run
    Ol’ Howard just pointed with his gun
    And said that way down on Highway 61.

    Well Mack the finger said to Louie the King
    I got forty red white and blue shoe strings
    And a thousand telephones that don’t ring
    Do you know where I can get ride of these things
    And Louie the King said let me think for a minute son
    And he said yes I think it can be easily done
    Just take everything down to Highway 61.

    Now the fifth daughter on the twelfth night
    Told the first father that things weren’t right
    My complexion she said is much too white
    He said come here and step into the light he says hmmm you’re right
    Let me tell second mother this has been done
    But the second mother was with the seventh son
    And they were both out on Highway 61.

    Now the rowin’ gambler he was very bored
    He was tryin’ to create a next world war
    He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
    He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
    But yes I think it can be very easily done
    We’ll just put some bleachers out in the sun
    And have it on Highway 61.

    But there are so many wonderful songs in the world, I don’t have a favorite, or even 100 favorites. Unpossible!

  211. 211.

    Mary G

    Second “Angel from Montgomery,” “Man Who Sold the World,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Immigrants, We Get the Job Done,” Joni Mitchell, especially the Blue Album, too many to mention from Leonard Cohen but the one in my head is
    Sign in

    Fortunate Son
    Creedence Clearwater Revival
    Buy for $1.29
    SubscribeStart Free Radio
    Subscribe to Google Play Music and listen to this song and millions of other songs. First month free.
    Lyrics
    Some folks are born made to wave the flag
    Ooh, they’re red, white and blue
    And when the band plays “Hail to the chief”
    Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord

    It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son
    It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no

    Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
    Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh
    But when the taxman comes to the door
    Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes

    It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no
    It ain’t me, it ain’t me; I ain’t no fortunate one, no

    Yeah, yeah
    Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
    Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
    And when you ask them, “How much should we give?”
    Ooh, they only answer More! more! more! y’all

  212. 212.

    Gravenstone

    Just take a pebble and cast it to the sea,
    Then watch the ripples that unfold into me
    My face spills so gently into your eyes
    Disturbing the waters of our lives

    Shreds of our memories are lying on your grass
    Wounded words of laughter are graveyards of the past
    Photographs are grey and torn, scattered in your fields
    Letters of your memories are not real

    Wear sadness on your shoulders like a worn-out overcoat
    In pockets creased and tattered hang the rags of your hopes
    The daybreak is your midnight, the colours have all died
    Disturbing the waters of our lives,
    Of our lives, of our lives, lives, lives, lives
    Of our lives

  213. 213.

    lol chikinburd

    Ask any therapist
    For a practical prognosis
    She’ll tell you making lists
    Could be a symptom of psychosis
    And it’s becoming clear
    Too clear to be dismissed
    That there’s somebody this year
    Who’s got a thing for making lists
    There’s a list of evil men, there’s a list of evil nations
    There’s a list of suspect profiles and suspicious organizations
    There’s a list of strange new laws, there’s a list of detainees
    It’s a list a thousand long which we’re all not allowed to see
    But if it’s anything at all like their last illustrious list
    That ought to give us some idea of whom this one consists
    Cause if you wrote the Bill of Rights, which we’re hoping still exists
    Then you’d fit their definition of suspicious terrorists
    And for the people who resist, and the people who’d assist
    There’s a mystery tribunal in a military mist
    It’s a twisted justice system that can always add more twists
    When it goes on feeling listless once its mill runs out of grist
    And nobody has to be, a vicious pessimist
    To perceive that there’s a question here that everybody’s missed
    It’s a question that persists, through every day of this
    Namely:
    Why aren’t we
    On the list

    (Rick Burkhardt/Prince Myshkins, from the most recent similar moment in our history)

  214. 214.

    JoeSo

    Never say it’s over
    Never say the end
    Anytime you stop, just start again
    Never say give up
    Never say give in
    You always have to fight to win

    However much it hurts
    However much it takes
    Believe and all your dreams will all come true
    However hard it gets
    However much it aches
    Always believe in me
    As I believe in you

    To never say too late
    Never say it’s done
    Make me know for real you are the one
    The one that never turns
    Never walks away
    The one that I can trust to always stay…always stay…

    Never say surrender
    Never say die
    You only ever get there if you try
    Never say give up
    Never say give in
    You always have to fight to win

    However much it hurts
    However much it takes
    Believe that all your dreams can all come true
    However hard it gets
    However much it aches
    Always believe in me
    As I believe in you

    Never say if only
    Never say regret
    Only the weak remember to forget
    Never say it’s over
    Never say the end
    Never say never again

    However much it hurts
    However much it takes
    Believe and all your dreams will all come true
    However hard it gets
    However much it aches
    Believe in me
    As I believe in you

    -Dredd Song, The Cure

  217. 217.

    PJ

    You’re like a guitar in the hands
    of a man that just can’t play
    You’re like an inmate countin’ off the days
    You’re like a student on vacation
    That’s waitin’ for school to resume
    Like a flower in the dark,
    Never gonna bloom

    You’re getting married
    You’re getting married
    You’re getting married–oh no…

    Well, you say that you’ll both be real happy
    You forgot to tell your eyes
    You’re like a bird in a cage
    Watchin’ the flock fly on by
    You’re like a student who’s on vacation
    Just waitin’ for school to start
    I don’t know what’s in it for you,
    But it ain’t your heart…

    You’re getting married
    You’re getting married
    You’re getting married–oh no..oh no…

    You’re like a guitar in the hands
    of some fool that just can’t play
    You’re like an inmate countin’ off the days
    Well, you say that you’ll both be happy
    Hey, you forgot to tell your eyes
    You’re like a bird in a cage
    Watchin’ the flock fly on by

    You’re like a student on vacation
    Just waitin’ for school to resume
    You’re like a flower in the dark,
    You ain’t never gonna bloom
    If you get married
    If you get married
    Don’t you get married
    No, no, no no…

    Paul Westerberg, Don’t Get Married

  218. 218.

    quakerinabasement

    This one always stirs me:

    Carolina
    Is a little girl
    Who holds my hopes for me
    And I wonder
    Looking at the side of the world
    What it is she sees

    Moving one step at a time
    One step at a time
    In my own way
    I follow

  219. 219.

    satby

    Won’t see the golden of the sun when I’m gone
    And the evenings and the mornings will be one when I’m gone
    Can’t be singing louder than the guns when I’m gone
    So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here

    All my days won’t be dances of delight when I’m gone
    And the sands will be shifting from my sight when I’m gone
    Can’t add my name into the fight while I’m gone
    So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here
    Phil Ochs

  220. 220.

    Mrearl

    He’s a poet, he’s a picker–
    He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher–
    He’s a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he’s stoned–
    He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
    Takin’ ev’ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home.

  221. 221.

    mr_gravity

    We’ll do it all
    Everything
    On our own

    We don’t need
    Anything
    Or anyone

    If I lay here
    If I just lay here
    Would you lie with me and just forget the world? – Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol

  222. 222.

    Gravenstone

    Just cause I surfed across it on the way home tonight:

    There’s a club if you’d like to go
    you could meet somebody who really loves you
    so you go, and you stand on your own
    and you leave on your own
    and you go home, and you cry
    and you want to die

  223. 223.

    Lizzy L

    One for my baby, and one more for the road…

    Four years after the revolution
    and the old kings execution
    Four years after remember how
    those courtiers took their final bow

    String up every aristocrat
    Out with the priests and let then live on their fat

    Four years after we started fighting
    Marat keeps up with his writing
    Four years after the Bastille fell
    He still recalls the old battle yell

    Down with all of the ruling class
    Throw all the generals out on their ass

    Why do they have the gold?
    Why do they have the power why why why why why?
    Do they have the friends at the top?
    Why do they have the jobs at the top?

    We’ve got nothing; always had nothing
    Nothing but holes and millions of them
    Living in holes
    Dying in holes
    Holes in our bellies and
    Holes in our clothes

    Marat we’re poor
    And the poor stay poor
    Marat don’t make us wait any more
    We want our rights and we don’t care how
    We want a revolution
    Now

    Four years he fought and he fought unafraid
    Sniffing down traitors by traitors betrayed
    Marat in the courtroom
    Marat underground
    Sometimes the otter and sometimes the hound

    Fighting all the gentry and fighting every priest
    The business man the bourgeois the military beast
    Marat always ready to stifle every scheme
    Of the sons of the ass licking, dying regime

    We’ve got new generals our leaders are new
    They sit and they argue and all that they do
    is sell their own colleagues
    And ride upon their backs
    Or jail them
    Or break them
    Or give them all the ax
    Screaming in language that no one understand
    Of the rights that we grab with our own bleeding hands
    When we wiped out the bosses
    And stormed through the wall of the prison you told us would outlast us all

    Marat we’re poor
    And the poor stay poor
    Marat don’t make us wait any more.
    We want our rights and we don’t care how
    We want a revolution
    Now

    Poor old Marat they hunt you down
    The bloodhounds are sniffing all over the town
    Just yesterday your printing press was smashed
    Now they’re asking your home address

    Poor old Marat in you we trust
    You work till your eyes turn as red as rust
    But while you write they’re on your track
    The boots mount the staircase
    The door’s thrown back

    Poor old Marat in you we trust
    You work till your eyes turn as red a rust
    Poor old Marat we trust in you

    Marat we’re poor
    And the poor stay poor
    Marat don’t make us wait any more
    We want our rights and we don’t care how
    We want a revolution

    Now…

  224. 224.

    PJ

    Well the smart money’s on Harlow
    And the moon is in the street
    The shadow boys are breaking all the laws
    And you’re east of East St. Louis
    And the wind is making speeches
    And the rain sounds like a round of applause
    Napoleon is weeping in the Carnival saloon
    His invisible fiance is in the mirror
    The band is going home
    It’s raining hammers, it’s raining nails
    Yes, it’s true, there’s nothin’ left for him down here

    And it’s Time Time Time
    And it’s Time Time Time
    And it’s Time Time Time
    That you love
    And it’s Time Time Time

    And they all pretend they’re Orphans
    And their memory’s like a train
    You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
    And the things you can’t remember
    Tell the things you can’t forget that
    History puts a saint in every dream

    Well she said she’d stick around
    Until the bandages came off
    But these mamas boys just don’t know when to quit
    And Matilda asks the sailors are those dreams
    Or are those prayers?’
    So just close your eyes, son
    And this won’t hurt a bit

    And it’s Time Time Time
    And it’s Time Time Time
    And it’s Time Time Time
    That you love
    And it’s Time Time Time

    Well, things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl
    The boys just dive right off the cars
    And splash into the street
    And when she’s on a roll she pulls a razor
    From her boot and a thousand
    Pigeons fall around her feet
    So put a candle in the window
    And a kiss upon his lips
    Till the dish outside the window fills with rain
    Just like a stranger with the weeds in your heart
    And pay the fiddler off till I come back again

    Oh, it’s time, time, time
    And it’s time, time, time

    And it’s Time Time Time
    And it’s Time Time Time
    And it’s Time Time Time
    That you love
    And it’s Time Time Time

  225. 225.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    One for the Trumpanzees:

    You made me promises promises
    You knew you’d never keep
    Promises promises
    Why do I believe
    All of your promises
    You knew you’d never keep
    Promises promises
    Why do I believe

    Naked Eyes – Promises, Promises

  226. 226.

    Chris

    Oh yes, here’s a good one:

    I danced on the Sabbath
    And I cured the lame;
    The holy people
    Said it was a shame.
    They whipped and they stripped
    And they hung me on high,
    And they left me there
    On a Cross to die.

    Because the more things change…

  227. 227.

    Jim Parene

    @Xboxershorts: Down the way where the nights are gay
    and the sun shines daily on the mountain top
    I took a trip on a sailing ship
    And when I reached Jamica I made a stop

    (Chorus) But I’m sad to say, I’m on my way
    I won’t be back for many a day
    My heart is down, my head is turning around
    I had to leave a little girl in Kingston Town

    Sounds of laughter everywhere
    And the dancing girls swaying to and fro
    I must declare that my heart is there
    Though I’ve been from Maine to Mexico

    (Chorus)

    Down at the market you can hear
    Ladies cry out while on their head they bear
    Ackie rice and salt fish is nice
    And the rum is good any time of year

    (Chorus)
    (Chorus)
    by Erving Burgess

  228. 228.

    misterpuff

    Oh yeah this one, so simple and yet…

    “God Only Knows”

    I may not always love you
    But long as there are stars above you
    You never need to doubt it
    I’ll make you so sure about it

    God only knows what I’d be without you

    If you should ever leave me
    Though life would still go on believe me
    The world could show nothing to me
    So what good would living do me

    God only knows what I’d be without you

    God only knows what I’d be without you

    If you should ever leave me
    Well life would still go on believe me
    The world could show nothing to me
    So what good would living do me

    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows what I’d be without you
    God only knows
    God only knows what I’d be without you

    Mike Love can suck it. He was blessed to be able to sing this one.

  229. 229.

    John Barleycorn

    Sadly, this one has been popping in to my head recently

    No more ashes, no more sackcloth.
    And an armband made of black cloth
    Will some day never more adorn a sleeve.
    For if the bomb that drops on you
    Gets your friends and neighbors too,
    There’ll be nobody left behind to grieve.
    And we will all go together when we go.
    What a comforting fact that is to know.
    Universal bereavement,
    An inspiring achievement,
    Yes, we all will go together when we go.

    Tom Lehrer – We will all go together when we go

  230. 230.

    mr_gravity

    I heard it started with a talkin’ snake
    Had a leather briefcase and a three-piece suit
    Eve and Adam made a huge mistake
    You just can’t bargain with a talkin’ snake. – me

  232. 232.

    daryljfontaine

    @schrodingers_cat: Lyrically one of my favorites, though I like the Bryan Ferry arrangement in particular.

    Heard ten thousand whispering and nobody listening

    @Spanky: This is the part of that song which seems more relevant these days:

    Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
    Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

    Also, my favorite Pink Floyd song of all time:

    Did you think you could tell?
    Did they get you to trade
    Your heroes for ghosts?
    Hot ashes for trees?
    Hot air for a cool breeze?
    Cold comfort for change?
    Did you exchange
    A walk-on part in the war
    For a leading role in a cage?

    @grrljock: That whole track is fantastic; Snow’s verse just kills. Though I am also partial to this bit from Riz MC:

    Who these ‘fugees, what did they do for me
    But contribute new dreams
    Taxes and tools, swagger and food to eat?

    D

  234. 234.

    john fremont

    The name she gave was Caroline
    Daughter of a miner
    Her ways were free
    It seemed to me
    That sunshine walked beside her

    Tecumseh Valley by Townes Van Zandt

    Everything is not enough
    And nothin’ is too much to bear
    Where you been is good and gone
    All you keep is the getting there

    Read more: Townes Van Zandt – To Live Is To Fly Lyrics | MetroLyrics

  235. 235.

    John Barleycorn

    From Iris Dement’s Let the Mystery Be –

    Some say they’re goin’ to a place called Glory
    And I ain’t saying it ain’t a fact
    But I’ve heard that I’m on the road to purgatory
    And I don’t like the sound of that
    I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
    But I choose to let the mystery be

  236. 236.

    Jim Parene

    One more, just for fun!

    Dear Abbey, Dear Abbey, my feet are too long
    My hair’s falling out and my right is all wrong
    My friends they all tell me I have no friends at all
    Won’t you write me a letter, won’t you give me a call
    Signed Bewildered

    (Chorus) Bewildered Bewildered you have no complaint
    You are what you are and you ain’t what you ain’t
    So listen up buster and listen up good
    Stop wishin’ for bad luck and knockin’ on wood

    Dear Abbey Dear Abbey my fountain pen leaks
    My wife hollers at me and my kids are all freaks
    Every side I get up on is the wrong side of bed
    If it wern’t so expensive I’d wish I were dead
    Signed Unhappy

    (Chorus) Unhappy Unhappy etc.

    Dear Abbey Dear Abbey you won’t believe this
    But my stomach makes noises whenever I kiss
    My girlfriend tells me its all in my head
    But my stomach tells me to write you instead
    Signed Noisemaker

    (Chorus) Noisemaker Noisemaker etc

    Dear Abbey Dear Abbey well I never would thought
    That me and my girlfriend would ever get caught
    We were sittin’ in the back seat just shootin’ the breeze
    With her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees
    Signed Just Married

    (Chorus) Just Married Just married etc.

    Signed Dear Abbey. By John Prine.

  237. 237.

    FlipYrWhig

    @mr_gravity: I’m pretty sure that song is also one of the few examples in the wild of strictly proper lie/lay usage. It’s like, “If I were to lie here, would you lie with me?” but conjugated in the subjunctive.

  238. 238.

    Neil Blumengarten

    “I’m not a coward,
    I’ve just never been tested
    I’d like to think that if I was,
    I would pass
    Look at the tested and think there but for the grace go
    I might be a cowards,
    I’m afraid of what I might find out.” -Mighty Mighty Boss-tones

    “And she said losing love
    Is like a window in your heart
    Everybody sees you’re blown apart
    Everybody sees the wind blow.” -Paul Simon

  239. 239.

    Repatriated

    @John Barleycorn:
    “You know, every great war produces its great songs. And, after each war, we like to gather around the piano or the guitar, and play these songs. We enjoy these songs because they remind us of how much we enjoyed the war. Now, World War III is almost upon us as you know — by popular demand, it seems. And it occurred to me that if any songs are going to come out of World War III, we’d better start writing them now.

    So I have one here. This is a song that some of the boys will have sung to their mothers, as they will have gone bravely off to World War III.”

    – Introduction to So Long, Mom, Tom Lehrer

  240. 240.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    Nick Cave – Red Right Hand

    Take a little walk to the edge of town
    and go across the tracks
    Where the viaduct looms,
    like a bird of doom
    As it shifts and cracks
    Where secrets lie in the border fires,
    in the humming wires
    Hey man, you know
    you’re never coming back
    Past the square, past the bridge,
    past the mills, past the stacks
    On a gathering storm comes
    a tall handsome man
    in a dusty black coat with
    a red right hand

    He’ll wrap you in his arms,
    tell you that you’ve been a good boy
    He’ll rekindle all the dreams
    it took you a lifetime to destroy
    He’ll reach deep into the hole,
    heal your shrinking soul,
    but there won’t be a single thing
    that you can do
    He’s a god, he’s a man,
    he’s a ghost, he’s a guru
    They’re whispering his name
    through this disappearing land
    But hidden in his coat
    is a red right hand

    You don’t have no money?
    He’ll get you some
    You don’t have no car?
    He’ll get you one
    You don’t have no self-respect,
    you feel like an insect
    Well don’t you worry buddy,
    ’cause here he comes
    Through the ghettos and the barrio
    and the bowery and the slum
    A shadow is cast wherever he stands
    Stacks of green paper in his
    red right hand

    You’ll see him in your nightmares,
    you’ll see him in your dreams
    He’ll appear out of nowhere but
    he ain’t what he seems
    You’ll see him in your head,
    on the TV screen
    And hey buddy, I’m warning
    you to turn it off
    He’s a ghost, he’s a god,
    he’s a man, he’s a guru
    You’re one microscopic cog
    in his catastrophic plan
    Designed and directed by
    his red right hand

  242. 242.

    debbie

    Tom Waits, Come On Up to the House:

    Well, the moon is broken and the sky is cracked
    Come on up to the house
    The only things that you can see is all that you lack
    Come on up to the house

    All your crying don’t do no good
    Come on up to the house
    Come down off the cross, we can use the wood
    You gotta come on up to the house

    Come on up to the house
    Come on up to the house
    The world is not my home
    I’m just a-passing through
    You got to come on up to the house

    There’s no light in the tunnel, no irons in the fire
    Come on up to the house
    And you’re singing lead soprano in a junkman’s choir
    You got to come on up to the house

    Does life seem nasty, brutish and short
    Come on up to the house
    The seas are stormy and you can’t find no port
    Got to come on up to the house, yeah

    You gotta come on up to the house
    Come on up to the house
    The world is not my home I’m just a-passing through
    You got to come on up to the house, yeah

    You gotta come on up to the house
    Come on up to the house
    The world is not my home
    I’m just a-passing through
    You got to come on up to the house

    There’s nothing in the world that you can do
    You gotta come on up to the house
    And you been whipped by the forces that are inside you
    Gotta come on up to the house

    Well, you’re high on top of your mountain of woe
    Gotta come on up to the house
    Well, you know you should surrender, but you can’t let it go
    You gotta come on up to the house, yeah

    Gotta come on up to the house
    Gotta come on up to the house
    The world is not my home I’m just a-passing through
    You gotta come on up to the house

    Gotta come on up to the house
    You gotta come on up to the house
    Yeah yeah yeah

  243. 243.

    Ann Marie

    Last verse of “Farewell, but Whenever”:

    Let Fate do her worst, there are relics of joy,
    Bright dreams of the past, which she cannot destroy,
    Which come in the night-time of sorrow and care,
    And bring back the features that joy used to wear.
    Long, long be my heart with such memories fill’d,
    Like the vase in which roses have once been distill’d.
    You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,
    But the scent of the roses will hang ’round it still.

  244. 244.

    Shalimar

    Well, the dog act got drunk again last night
    The king and queen of the waltz clog team had another fight
    The king was careless with his tango grip
    Nearly lost his queen in a dip

    Yeah, she righted herself
    Straightened out her slip and kicked him in the shin
    Miss Billy Begonia thinks she’s hit the “Big time”
    She wants a thick red rug from the dressing room door
    To the front-line of the footlights

    She’s got a sky blue swans down powder puff
    And a corset to keep her spirits up
    Yeah, she don’t sweat
    She sours and melts like ice cream in the sun
    She’ll be out of a job at the end of this three week run

    We’re having fun out here on Panic Beach
    All the vaudeville bums are here out on Panic Beach
    I hear them talk about the Palace but it’s so far out of reach
    So I’ll do my time then say goodbye to Panic Beach
    Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

    The visionary theatric strikes a juggler’s seesaw tune
    And the dying swan pirouettes and fawns
    By the light of the street lamp moon

    When my trunk is filled with taffeta
    Those “Big time” hacks won’t laugh at us
    When my taps are made of silver
    I can make the kiddies thrill for just one buck and wing
    Yeah, I will nail them to my heel and the Panic Choir sings

    Here comes a lucky little thing to Panic Beach
    Yeah, you know we got to teach him how to sing
    While we’re stuck on Panic Beach
    Ah the way ya hear ’em say it, doesn’t seem so outta reach
    So I’ll do my time then say goodbye to Panic Beach
    Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

    Well, the landlord gets a free show every Saturday at six
    Sometimes on a Sunday
    All dependin’ on whatever kinda mood he’s in

    I keep his glass filled up with sherry
    And sing him all his favorite songs
    If a tear comes to his eye he may let a month go by
    Before he takes away my key
    Oh, that sherry starts to taste real good to me

    Hey mama, look at me on Panic Beach
    I may be hungry but my rent is free up on Panic Beach
    Yeah, I can almost see the palace no longer outta reach
    So I’ll do my time then say goodbye to Panic Beach
    Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

    Maria McKee, Panic Beach

  245. 245.

    mz

    In the attics of my life
    Full of cloudy dreams; unreal
    Full of tastes no tongue can know
    And lights no eye can see
    When there was no ear to hear
    You sang to me

    I have spent my life
    Seeking all that’s still unsung
    Bent my ear to hear the tune
    And closed my eyes to see
    When there were no strings to play
    You played to me

    In the book of love’s own dreams
    Where all the print is blood
    Where all the pages are my days
    And all my lights grow old

    When I had no wings to fly
    You flew to me
    You flew to me

    In the secret space of dreams
    Where I dreaming lay amazed
    When the secrets all are told
    And the petals all unfold
    When there was no dream of mine
    You dreamed of me

  246. 246.

    Neil Blumengarten

    Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge, they’re the chosen whites
    You justify those that died by wearing the badge, they’re the chosen whites
    Those who died are justified, for wearing the badge, they’re the chosen whites
    You justify those that died by wearing the badge, they’re the chosen whites
    Come on!

    Rag Against the Machine

  247. 247.

    p.a.

    Lucinda Williams:
    If I had my way I’d be in your town
    I might not stay but at least I would’ve been around
    Cause there’s something about what happens when we talk
    Something about what happens when we talk
    Does this make sense It doesn’t matter anyway
    Is it coincidence or was it meant to be
    Cause there’s something about what happens when we talk
    Something about what happens when we talk
    Conversation with you was like a drug
    It wasn’t your face so much as it was your words
    Cause there’s something about what happens when we talk
    Something about what happens when we talk

    Well I can’t stay round cause I’m going back south
    But all I regret now is I never kissed your mouth
    Cause there’s something about what happens when we talk
    Something about what happens when we talk
    Cause there’s something about what happens when we talk
    Something about what happens when we talk

    dedicated to S-

  248. 248.

    MC Hesher

    Listened to this daily for a year and a half.

    Bad Religion – The Defense

    Nothing comes easier than madness in the world today
    Mass paranoia is a mode, not a malady
    Yeah, I’d like to watch a thousand cable channels but there’s nothing on
    And my high speed connection’s monitored daily by the Pentagon

    These things are seldom what they seem
    I’m not inclined to enjoy my dream
    Won’t go away

    (No peace) No peace
    (And no friends) And no friends
    (We trace)
    We trace the mortal edge (With no defense)
    To state the obvious
    This world is perilous for us

    No sense (No sense)
    And no guide (No guide)
    Ain’t it beautiful to be alive? (Yeah, right)
    I won’t resign before the struggle ends
    So I’ll construct this sound defense

    We are the prey and culture is the predator
    I’m running out of time where conditions are positional
    Shadows of a doubt cast reluctance and depravity
    There’s got to be a way to overcome this grim reality

    Is there an option left for me?
    I’m not immune to despondency
    There’s no way

    (No peace) No peace
    (And no friends) And no friends
    (We trace)
    We trace the mortal edge (with no defense)
    To state the obvious
    This world is perilous for us

    No sense (no sense)
    And no guide (no guide)
    Ain’t it beautiful to be alive? (Yeah, right)
    I won’t resign before the struggle ends
    So I’ll construct this sound defense

    There’s a signpost on the corner and it keeps everybody safe
    We were all made in the shade
    And your mother’s in the kitchen where she’s patching all the cracks in the wall
    We never had a care in the world

    (No shade) Too much to sacrifice
    (And no light) It’s hard to recognize
    (Just black) Traps to compromise
    (And white) Obscuring deadly alibis
    (My plans) It’s combinational
    (Designs) The pressure so intense
    So I’ll construct this sound defense

    (No way) Nothing’s plainer than the madness in the world today
    (No sign) I must conceal myself and steel myself and break away
    (No grace) I seek initiatives in matters that are black and white
    (No sense) So I’ll construct this sound defense

  250. 250.

    kuvasz

    “Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world,
    the heart has its beaches, its homeland and thoughts of its own.
    Wake now, discover that you are the song that the mornin’ brings,
    But the heart has its seasons, its evenin’s and songs of its own.”

    Eyes of the World, Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia

  252. 252.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Penus:
    ‘A Ghost to Most’ really struck me, obviously, but I live by:

    Some people stop living
    Long before they die
    Work a dead end job
    Just to scrape on by
    But I keep living
    Just to bend that note in two
    Now help me with this amp
    And a guitar or two

    The Living Bubba

  253. 253.

    AnonPhenom

    As I dreamed out last evening by a river of discontent
    I bumped right into old Tom Paine
    As a-running down the road he went
    He said I can’t stop right now my son King Georgy’s after me
    He’ll have a rope around my throat and hang me on the liberty tree

    And I will dance to Tom Paine’s bones
    I will dance to Tom Paine’s bones
    I’ll dance in the oldest boots I own
    To the rhythm of Tom Paine’s bones

    He said I just wrote about freedom and justice for everyone
    Ever since the very first word I spoke
    I’ve been looking down the barrel of a gun
    Well they say I preached revolution but let me say in my defence
    All I did wherever I went was to talk a lot of Common Sense

    Well old Tom Paine he ran so fast he left me standing still
    And there I was a piece of paper in my hand
    Standing at the top of the hill
    And it read “this is the Age of Reason these are the Rights of Man
    Kick off religion & monarchy” it was written there in Tom Paine’s plan

    Poor old Tom Paine there he lies
    Nobody Laughs and nobody cries
    Where he’s gone or how he fares
    Nobody knows and nobody cares

  256. 256.

    No One of Consequence

    @Miss Bianca: Many thanks for the additional info Miss. I deeply appreciate it. Love that song, and wish I could play it. I know I can sing it.

    Peace,

    – NOoC

  257. 257.

    snidelywonder

    It was Christmas Eve babe
    In the drunk tank
    An old man said to me, won’t see another one
    And then he sang a song
    The Rare Old Mountain Dew
    I turned my face away
    And dreamed about you

    Got on a lucky one
    Came in eighteen to one
    I’ve got a feeling
    This year’s for me and you
    So happy Christmas
    I love you baby
    I can see a better time
    When all our dreams come true

  258. 258.

    A Ghost to Most

    Sturgill Simpsons Voices has been running around my head:

    How I wish somebody’d make these voices go away
    Seems they’re always talking but they don’t have much to say
    Well a picture’s worth a 1000 words but a word ain’t worth a dime
    We all know they’ll go on talking til the end of time

  259. 259.

    frosty

    Tom Waits, first verse of Fumblin’ With the Blues:

    Friday left me fumblin’ with the blues.
    And it’s hard to win when you always lose.
    ‘Cause the night spots spend your spirit,
    Beat your head against the wall,
    Two dead ends, but you’ve still got to choose.

    Yow, that’s grim when you write it out!

  260. 260.

    DCF

    Jimi Hendrix from The Cry Of Love album (‘Straight Ahead’):

    Hello, my friend
    So happy to see you again
    I was so alone
    All by my self
    I just couldn’t make it

    Have you heard, baby
    What the winds blowing round
    Have you heard, baby
    A whole lot of peoples coming right on down

    Communication, yeah
    Is coming on strong
    And don’t give a damn, baby
    If your hair is short or long, huh

    I said, get out of your grave
    Everybody is dancing in the street
    Do what you know, don’t be slow
    You gotta practice what you preach
    ‘Cause it’s time for you and me
    Come to face reality

    Forget about the past, baby
    Things ain’t what they used to be
    Keep on Straight Ahead
    Keep on straight Ahead

    Straight Ahead, baby
    Straight Ahead, baby

    We got to stand side by side
    We got to stand together and organize
    They say power to the people,
    That’s what they’re screamin’
    Freedom of the soul
    Pass it on, pass it on to the young and old

    You got to tell the children the truth
    They don’t need a whole lot of lies
    Because one of these days, baby
    They’ll be running things
    So when you give them love
    You better give it right
    Woman and child and man and wife
    The best love to have is the Love Of Life

    Pushing on Straight Ahead
    Straight Ahead, baby

    Hello my friend
    It’s so good to see you again
    And I’ve been all by my self
    I don’t think I can make it alone
    I gotta keep on pushing ahead

  261. 261.

    Pete Downunder

    This wonderful line from a 70’s era country song –
    “We have too little future and way too much past”

    Anyone know what it’s from? Mr Google has been no help

  262. 262.

    brendancalling

    Supersuckers, “Someday I Will Kill You”

    I can’t believe all the crap that comes out of your mouth
    Yeah you’re so condescending, that’s all you’re about
    Get off your high horse and through your thick head
    You’ll wish you’d listened to what I just said

    Yeah you’re getting on my last nerve
    And it’s time for something that you deserve
    Nothing left to say, nothing better to do
    Someday I will kill you

    This belligerent bullshit had just got to stop
    Cause I’m sick of your best, tired of being your cop
    Loan me some sketches so shifty and dark
    My bite will be so much worse than my bark

    Yeah you’re getting on my last nerve
    And it’s time for something that you deserve
    Nothing left to say, nothing better to do
    Someday I will kill you

    Let there be death, let there be grief
    Let there be loving, let’s make it brief
    Can you walk with a heart when you’re out of breath
    Can you run with a brain, when you’re scared to death

    So now I’m supposed to feel sorry for you
    But I think I might puke from the dumb shit you do
    So let’s call it quits by now you know why
    It’s over for you yeah and now you must die

    And you’re getting on my last nerve
    And it’s time for something that you deserve
    And there’s nothing left to say, nothing better to do
    Someday I will kill you

    Someday I will kill you
    Yeah!

  263. 263.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Ian G.:
    My favorite punch line is from Nine Bullets (Pizza Deliverance):

    One left over
    I’ll save it for my roommate
    After all
    It’s my roommate’s gun

  267. 267.

    John Revolta

    Sounds across the nation
    Coming from young hearts and minds
    Battered drums and old guitars
    Singing songs of passion
    It’s the truth that they all look for
    The one thing they must keep alive
    Will the wolf survive?

  269. 269.

    frosty

    @John Barleycorn:

    Tom Lehrer – We will all go together when we go

    They’ve been popping into my head these days too:
    “So long Mom, we’re off to drop the bomb, so don’t wait up for me.”

    “First we got the bomb, and that was good, ’cause we love peace and Motherhood,
    Then Russia got the bomb, but that’s OK, ’cause the Balance of Power’s maintained that way.
    Who’s next?

    :

  272. 272.

    Jim

    You can run on for a long time
    Run on for a long time
    Run on for a long time
    Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
    Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

    Go tell that long tongue liar
    Go and tell that midnight rider
    Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
    Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
    Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down

    Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news
    My head’s been wet with the midnight dew
    I’ve been down on bended knee talkin’ to the man from Galilee
    He spoke to me in the voice so sweet
    I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel’s feet
    He called my name and my heart stood still
    When he said, “John go do My will!”

    Go tell that long tongue liar
    Go and tell that midnight rider
    Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
    Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down
    Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down

    You can run on for a long time
    Run on for a long time
    Run on for a long time
    Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
    Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

    Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
    Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man
    But as sure as God made black and white
    What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light

    You can run on for a long time
    Run on for a long time
    Run on for a long time
    Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
    Sooner or later God’ll cut you down

    Go tell that long tongue liar
    Go and tell that midnight rider
    Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
    Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down
    Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down
    Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down

  273. 273.

    Patricia Kayden

    Bob Marley “Zimbabwe”

    Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny,
    And in this judgement there is no partiality.
    So arm in arms, with arms, we’ll fight this little struggle,
    ‘Cause that’s the only way we can overcome our little trouble.

    Brother, you’re right, you’re right,
    You’re right, you’re right, you’re so right!
    We gon’ fight (we gon’ fight), we’ll have to fight (we gon’ fight),
    We gonna fight (we gon’ fight), fight for our rights!

    Natty Dread it in-a (Zimbabwe);
    Set it up in (Zimbabwe);
    Mash it up-a in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    Africans a-liberate (Zimbabwe), yeah.

    No more internal power struggle;
    We come together to overcome the little trouble.
    Soon we’ll find out who is the real revolutionary,
    ‘Cause I don’t want my people to be contrary.

    And, brother, you’re right, you’re right,
    You’re right, you’re right, you’re so right!
    We’ll ‘ave to fight (we gon’ fight), we gonna fight (we gon’ fight)
    We’ll ‘ave to fight (we gon’ fight), fighting for our rights!

    Mash it up in-a (Zimbabwe);
    Natty trash it in-a (Zimbabwe);
    Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    I’n’I a-liberate Zimbabwe.

    (Brother, you’re right,) you’re right,
    You’re right, you’re right, you’re so right!
    We gon’ fight (we gon’ fight), we’ll ‘ave to fight (we gon’ fight),
    We gonna fight (we gon’ fight), fighting for our rights!

    To divide and rule could only tear us apart;
    In everyman chest, mm – there beats a heart.
    So soon we’ll find out who is the real revolutionaries;
    And I don’t want my people to be tricked by mercenaries.

    Brother, you’re right, you’re right,
    You’re right, you’re right, you’re so right!
    We’ll ‘ave to fight (we gon’ fight), we gonna fight (we gon’ fight),
    We’ll ‘ave to fight (we gon’ fight), fighting for our rights!

    Natty trash it in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    Mash it up in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    Set it up in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    Natty dub it in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe).

    Set it up in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
    Every man got a right to decide his own destiny.

  274. 274.

    Jim

    The ghost of Tom Joad
    Bruce Springsteen

    Men walking ‘long the railroad tracks
    Going someplace, there’s no going back
    Highway patrol choppers coming up over the ridge
    Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
    Shelter line stretching ’round the corner
    Welcome to the new world order
    Families sleeping in the cars in the southwest
    No home, no job, no peace, no rest

    Well the highway is alive tonight
    But nobody’s kidding nobody about where it goes
    I’m sitting down here in the campfire light
    Searching for the ghost of Tom Joad

    He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag
    Preacher lights up a butt and he takes a drag
    Waiting for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
    In a cardboard box ‘neath the underpass
    You got a one-way ticket to the promised land
    You got a hole in your belly and a gun in your hand
    Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
    Bathing in the city’s aqueduct

    Go!

    Well the highway is alive tonight
    Where it’s headed everybody knows
    I’m sitting down here in the campfire light
    Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad

    Now Tom said, “Mom, wherever there’s a cop beating a guy
    Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
    Where there’s a fight against the blood and hatred in the air
    Look for me, Mom, I’ll be there

    Wherever somebody’s fighting for a place to stand
    Or a decent job or a helping hand
    Wherever somebody’s struggling to be free
    Look in their eyes, Ma, and you’ll see me”
    Yeah!

    The highway is alive tonight
    Where it’s headed everybody knows
    I’m sitting down here in the campfire light
    With the ghost of old Tom Joad

  275. 275.

    Bill Dunlap

    I met Wanda when she was employed
    behind the counter of the route 60 Bob’s Big Boy.
    Bruce: Open All Night

  276. 276.

    Bonnie

    My whole life has been lived around music because I found how much about life could be found in a well-written lyric. Starting with big band music found in the old movies I grew up watching to rock and roll, the music of most of my life. Even when I just needed peace and quiet, music without words from Mozart, Beethoven, and many others. Dylan was a poet as his Nobel award proved; Simon and Garfunkel, extraordinarily thoughtful lyrics when thoughtfulness was needed; the Eagles with so many great songs, many creating a peaceful, easy feeling. I loved Springsteen and his blue-collar music and “spitting in the face of the badlands.” Those really down home blues from Etta James, Bessie Smith, Billy Holiday, etc. And, then, there was Motown; so many great tunes and lyrics from Otis Redding, the Four Tops, etc. However, there is one song that I still remember hearing it for the first time and how I was so struck by the lyrics. I always make sure my 20-something relatives and friends are familiar with these lyrics because they are what life is about. From the Rolling Stones:

    You can’t always get what you want
    You can’t always get what you want
    You can’t always get what you want
    But if you try sometimes well you might find
    You get what you need

  277. 277.

    Steve Holmes

    Here’s the bridge of “Goddamn Lonely Love” by Drive-By Truckers
    Jason Isbell can really set the scene

    Stop me if you heard this one before,
    A man walks into a bar
    And leaves before his ashes hit the floor
    Stop me if I ever get that far
    the suns a desperate star
    that burns like every single one before

  278. 278.

    Larkspur

    This one by Gillian Welch keeps me going sometimes.

    There’s gotta be a song left to sing
    Cause everybody can’t have thought of everything
    One little song that ain’t been sung
    One little rag that ain’t been wrung out completely yet
    Got a little left

    One little drop of falling rain
    One little chance to try again
    One little bird that makes it every now and then
    One little piece of endless sky
    One little taste of cherry pie
    One little week in paradise and I start thinkin’

    There’s gotta be a song left to sing
    Cause everybody can’t have thought of everything
    One little note that ain’t been used
    One little word ain’t been abused a thousand times
    In a thousand rhymes

    One little drop of falling rain
    One little chance to try again
    One little bird that makes it home now and then
    One little piece of endless sky
    One little taste of cherry pie
    One little week in paradise and I start thinkin’

    Gotta be a song left to sing
    Cause everybody can’t have thought of everything
    One little song that ain’t been sung
    One little rag that ain’t been wrung out completely yet
    Till there’s nothing left

  279. 279.

    LAC

    From this woman’s work:

    should be crying, but I just can’t let it go
    I should be hoping, but I can’t stop thinking

    Of all the things we should’ve said,
    That we never said.
    All the things we should’ve done,
    Though we never did.
    All the things that you needed from me.
    All the things that you wanted for me.
    All the things that I should’ve given,
    But I didn’t.

    Oh, darling, make it go away.
    Just make it go away now.

  281. 281.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Who controls the British crown?
    Who keeps the metric system down?
    We do! We do!
    Who leaves Atlantis off the maps?
    Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
    We do, We do!
    Who holds back the electric car?
    Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star?
    We do! We do!
    Who robs cavefish of their sight?
    Who rigs every Oscar night?
    We do! We DOOOOOOO!

  283. 283.

    LibraryGuy

    Ellis Paul, for my Rhea

    She fell to the mattress
    With the grace of an actress
    You’re falling like a thief from a roof.
    She’s asking for proof, “are you staying? ”
    Outside you hear mission bells.

    Welcome to maria’s beautiful mess,
    In a cluttered apartment on the west side.
    She pulls the blinds while,
    You watch how her dress falls round her.

    Chorus
    And the world slows, a clock shows
    A wrinkle in the flow of time
    And she steps close, her eyes glow,
    Lips pop open like a bottle of wine

    And she loves like it’s thirst
    Like she’s never been hurt,
    She dances just like nobody’s watching.
    Is this love? Is this cursed?
    It feels like the first time falling
    Nobody’s watching, nobody’s watching,
    Nobody’s watching, watching

    Now she puts on some music,
    She asks you to choose it
    You sang her back a gershwin line.
    Now ella is singing holy, soulfully
    Bringing up better times

    And beneath the tunes,
    She’s smiling on an unmade bed
    She says, “what’s in the middle that scares you,
    Does it dare you
    To take a moment and just slow down? ”

    Chorus

    Pull the curtains all down
    On the prince or a clown,
    She’s smiling like the mona lisa.
    You could conquer this town.
    If your feet touched the ground,
    But you’re falling boy
    I know, I see you
    I see you, I see, I see,
    I see you

  284. 284.

    prostratedragon

    Frequently on my inner soundtrack of late:

    There may be trouble ahead
    But while there’s music and moonlight and love and romance
    Let’s face the music and dance

    Before the fiddlers have fled
    Before they ask us to pay the bill and while we still have the chance
    Let’s face the music and dance

    Soon we’ll be without the moon, humming a different tune and then
    There may be teardrops to shed
    So while there’s moonlight and music and love and romance
    Let’s face the music and dance.

    –Irving Berlin, 1936

  285. 285.

    evap

    For every woman who ever made a fool of a man, there’s a woman made a man of a fool. – Nick Lowe

  286. 286.

    Summer

    Oh the passenger
    How, how he rides
    Oh the passenger
    He rides and he rides
    He looks through his window
    What does he see?
    He sees the sight of hollow sky
    He sees the stars come out tonight
    He sees the city’s ripped back sides
    He sees the winding ocean drive
    And everything was made for you and me
    All of it was made for you and me
    Cause it just belongs to you and me
    So let’s take a ride and see what’s mine

  288. 288.

    BBA

    Hang on to your hopes, my friend
    That’s an easy thing to say
    But if your hopes should pass away
    Simply pretend that you can build them again

  290. 290.

    maurinsky

    When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez when it’s Easter time, too
    And your gravity fails and negativity don’t pull you through

    – Bob Dylan, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues

    If there was a better way to go then it would find me
    I can’t help it, the road just rolls out behind me
    Be kind to me, or treat me mean
    I’ll make the most of it, I’m an extraordinary machine

    – Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine

    When I touch you, do you quiver
    from your head down to your liver?

    -Nina Simone, Do I Move You

    Listen…
    There’s anothe national anthem playing,
    Not the one you cheer
    At the ball park.
    [BYCK]
    Where’s my prize?…
    [PROPRIETOR]
    It’s the other national anthem, saying,
    If you want to hear-
    It says,
    [BYCK]
    “Bullsh*t!”…
    [CZOLGOSZ]
    It says, “Never!”-
    [GUITEAU]
    It says, “Sorry!”-
    [OTHERS]
    Loud and clear-

    Stephen Sondheim, Another National Anthem

  291. 291.

    firusan

    Blind Lemon Jefferson by Nick Cave:

    And if that sky serves as his eye
    Then that moon’s a cataract

  294. 294.

    Summer

    Well, God is in heaven
    And we all want what’s his
    But power and greed and corruptible seed
    Seem to be all that there is
    I’m gazing out the window
    Of the St. James Hotel
    And I know no one can sing the blues
    Like Blind Willie McTell

  295. 295.

    Summer

    I’m also partial to this most imaginative rhyming with “bathroom stall”

    I saw you outside
    The bathroom stall
    You were just standing there
    Out in the hall
    You leaned your hip against
    Against the wall
    I’d love you anywhere
    But Black Leaf Falls

  296. 296.

    scott alloway

    And it’s a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
    And a wound that will never heal
    No prima donna, the perfume is on
    An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
    And goodnight to the street sweepers
    The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight, Mathilda too.

    Tom Waits, a long time ago.

  298. 298.

    catbirdman

    The past few days I’ve been introduced to Cass McCombs, and am quite impressed. These lyrics are sticking with me:

    Medusa’s Outhouse

    Help me, help me to remember to forget
    To forget what hasn’t happened yet
    Knock me down that mystic slide again
    Tell me, tell me about Medusa’s outhouse
    Medusa’s outhouse, and the hornet’s nest
    Stone me if I didn’t pass the test

    Season of the slug crawling up the vine
    Music like a crow in the gold sunshine
    Oh, the rest is up to dreams
    Don’t leave me hanging upside down

    Music, music to forget the little strings
    Forget who we are and everything
    Undressing in the theater our rayon wings

    Calliope dancing on thin air
    Ambrosia cotton candy until we’re free from care
    All the rest is up to dreams
    Don’t leave me hanging, don’t leave me hanging
    Don’t leave me hanging upside down

    If it’s so easy, you try
    Here, you try
    Here, if it’s so easy, you try
    If it’s so easy, you try
    Here, you try
    Here, if it’s so easy, you try

    Dancing, dancing and music are sisters
    Sisters are good listeners
    Listeners are good kissers

    Say nothing if you don’t wanna stay
    Slow down if you’re going my way
    All the rest is up to dreams

    Don’t leave me hanging, don’t leave me hanging
    Don’t leave me hanging, don’t leave me hanging
    Don’t leave me hanging, don’t leave me hanging
    Don’t leave me hanging, don’t leave me hanging

  299. 299.

    BillCinSD

    You take the skyway, high above the busy little one-way
    In my stupid hat and gloves, at night I lie awake
    Wonderin’ if I’ll sleep
    Wonderin’ if we’ll meet out in the street

    But you take the skyway
    It don’t move at all like a subway
    It’s got bums when it’s cold like any other place
    It’s warm up inside
    Sittin’ down and waitin’ for a ride
    Beneath the skyway

    Oh, then one day, I saw you walkin’ down that little one-way
    Where, the place I’d catch my ride most everyday
    There wasn’t a damn thing I could do or say
    Up in the skyway

    Paul Westerberg

  300. 300.

    BillCinSD

    God, what a mess, on the ladder of success
    Where you take one step and miss the whole first rung
    Dreams unfulfilled, graduate unskilled
    It beats pickin’ cotton and waitin’ to be forgotten
    …
    Clean your baby womb, trash that baby boom
    Elvis in the ground, there’ll ain’t no beer tonight
    Income tax deduction, what a hell of a function
    It beats pickin’ cotton and waitin’ to be forgotten
    …
    The ones who love us best are the ones we’ll lay to rest
    And visit their graves on holidays at best
    The ones who love us least are the ones we’ll die to please
    If it’s any consolation, I don’t begin to understand them

    Bastards of Young, Paul Westerberg

  301. 301.

    catbirdman

    Yeah, Westerberg’s got a bunch…

    Crackle & Drag

    What’s the matter here? You’ll never repair
    The lady’s cursed with insight
    You’ll never fix her, with a cold stare
    She’s all broken inside

    She made a good go like a weeping willow
    Her limbs clung to the ground
    She closed the window and made a pillow
    And lay the head down
    And as her babies slept, she took a long deep breath

    Now they’re zipping her up in a bag
    Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
    And the Cadillac’s waiting to take her away
    Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?

    Another head cold, another spirit old
    February
    Her hair was dirty and she was thirty in 1963
    And while her babies slept, she took a long deep breath

    And they’re zipping her up in a bag
    Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
    The Cadillac’s waiting to take her away
    Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?

    And drag, and drag, and drag
    And drag, and drag

    She made a good go for a weeping willow
    She stuffed some rags on the floor
    She closed the window
    She made a pillow on the oven door
    And took a long deep breath while her babies slept

    Now they’re zipping her up in a bag
    Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
    And the Cadillac’s waiting to take her away
    Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?

    They’re zipping her up in a bag
    Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
    The Cadillac’s waiting to take her away
    Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
    Hear her blacks crackle & drag

  302. 302.

    TriassicSands

    You come home late and you come home early
    You come on big when you’re feeling small
    You come home straight and you come home curly
    Sometimes you don’t come home at all

    So what in the world’s come over you
    And what in heaven’s name have you done
    You’ve broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
    You’re out there running just to be on the run

    John Prine — The Speed of the Sound of Lonliness

  304. 304.

    JimV

    Woody Guthrie “Deportees” about the Los Gatos airplane crash, circa 1954:

    The sky-plane went down over Los Gatos Canyon
    A firebomb of fire that shook all our hills
    Who are all these dear friends all falling like dry leaves?
    The radio said, they were just deportees.

  305. 305.

    Peter VE

    @Miss Bianca:
    “Oh she was a rare thing, fine as a bee’s wing
    So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
    She was a lost child, oh she was running wild
    She said “As long as there’s no price on love, I’ll stay.
    And you wouldn’t want me any other way”
    Beeswing, RT

  306. 306.

    mere mortal

    And though you hold the keys to ruin
    Of everything I see
    With every prison blown to dust,
    My enemies walk free
    Though all my kingdoms turn to sand
    And fall into the sea
    I’m mad about you, I’m mad about you

  307. 307.

    Atticus Dogsbody

    Flame Trees, Cold Chisel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJJV1nruUUA

    But, oh! Who needs that sentimental bullshit, anyway
    Well, it takes more than just a memory to make me cry
    And I’m happy just to sit here at a table with old friends
    And see which one of us can tell the biggest lies

    And there’s a girl just falling in love near where the pianola stands
    With her young local factory auto worker, just holding hands

    And I’m wondering if he’ll go or if he’ll stay

    Do you remember, nothing stopped us on the field
    In our day.

  308. 308.

    Wyatt Derp

    @Major Major Major Major: Yeah. Miss that little hellraiser. I really used to enjoy when people heard Excitable Boy for the first time and tapped their feet to the melody, then listened to the lyrics and didn’t know how to respond. I’m evil that way.

  309. 309.

    Marty

    “Sometimes the best maps cannot guide you
    You can’t see what’s ’round the bend.
    Sometimes the road leads through dark places
    Sometimes the darkness is your friend” _____________ Bruce Cockburn, OC, from “Pacing the Cage”

  311. 311.

    Drobnox

    David Bowie’s “Fantastic Voyage”

    In the event
    that this fantastic voyage
    Should turn to erosion
    and we never get old
    Remember it’s true, dignity is valuable
    But our lives are valuable too

    We’re learning to live with somebody’s depression
    And I don’t want to live with somebody’s depression
    We’ll get by, I suppose
    It’s a very modern world,
    but nobody’s perfect

    It’s a moving world,
    but that’s no reason
    To shoot some of those missiles
    Think of us as fatherless scum
    It won’t be forgotten
    ‘Cause we’ll never say anything nice again, will we?

    And the wrong words make you listen
    In this criminal world
    Remember it’s true, loyalty is valuable
    But our lives are valuable too

    We’re learning to live with somebody’s depression
    And I don’t want to live with somebody’s depression
    We’ll get by I suppose
    But any sudden movement I’ve got to write it down
    They wipe out an entire race and I’ve got to write it down
    But I’m still getting educated but I’ve got to write it down
    And it won’t be forgotten
    ‘Cause I’ll never say anything nice again, how can I?

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