Favourite Lyrics

[-DLC-]

Twenty-five years and my life is still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've always loved this song, but it now has a very special place in my heart.  My son's wedding last summer...this song, and a group of us in a circle, hugging and singing "at the top of our lungs".    Was a special kind of special.  Photographer caught the moment, from the floor looking upward, and it's an incredible pic.  And memory.

[Monty]

1 hour ago, bishopshodan said:

Was out with my god son earlier. He can't spell or type yet so I'll post for him, cause he definitely has a set of lyric's he seems to identify with.....

 

Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Baby shark!

Mommy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Mommy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Mommy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Mommy shark!

Daddy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Daddy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Daddy shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Daddy shark!

Grandma shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Grandma shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Grandma shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Grandma shark!

Grandpa shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Grandpa shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Grandpa shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Grandpa shark!

Let’s go hunt, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Let’s go hunt, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Let’s go hunt, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Let’s go hunt!

 

 

 

Took my 2 year old daughter to dance class today, and they do this song every time.

[-DLC-]

If I die of vanity, promise me, promise me,
They bury me some place I don't want to be,
You'll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously,
Away from the swollen city-breeze, garbage bag trees,
Whispers of disease and the acts of enormity
And lower me slowly, sadly and properly
Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy........

[otherwise]

5 hours ago, Monty said:

Took my 2 year old daughter to dance class today, and they do this song every time.

 

6 hours ago, bishopshodan said:

Was out with my god son earlier. He can't spell or type yet so I'll post for him, cause he definitely has a set of lyric's he seems to identify with.....

 

do they do the actions/diff voices? that was always my fave, so much fun!

[Monty]

1 hour ago, otherwise said:

 

do they do the actions/diff voices? that was always my fave, so much fun!

Definitely do.

[Nuxfanabroad]

Bruce Cockburn writes some mighty evocative lyrics. Conscientious man, often pays homage to causes like war refugees. Proud he's Canadian.

 

Night train: Ice cube in the dark drink shines like star light..Star light shines like glass shards in dark hair..When the mind's eye stumbles out along the steel track..Fixing every shadow with it's stare...Nighhht train

 

Another gem, "Tokyo" (written way back in 1980, still so perfect today)

 

Pachinko jingle, & space-torpedo beams

Comic book violence, and escaping steam

Grey suited businessman, p*ssin against the wall

Cut to crumblin guard rail, slow motions car fall

 

Oh..Tokyo..I never can sleep in your arms

Mind..keeps on, ringin like a fire alarm

Me & all these other dice, bouncin around in the cup

Did you have to show me that accident scene,

Didn't I get enough shaking up?

Still I'm gonna miss, youuu....

 

Or in the late 80's, "If a Tree Falls(Does Anybody Hear?)"

 

This bloke's usually far ahead of most every artist, on important issues.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Nuxfanabroad

[riffraff]

Surfin Bird

The Trashmen

A-well-a ev'rybody's heard about the bird
B-b-b-bird, b-birdd's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, b-bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, well-a bird is a word
A-well, a bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is a word

A-well-a-bird, bird, b-bird's a word, a-well-a

A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird
Bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well, a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody's talking about the bird!

A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, surfing bird, brrrrrrrrpagh!
Aaah, bap-a-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pap

Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-mow
Ma-ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-mow
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow

A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is a word

A-well, a bird, bird, b-bird's a word
A-well-a mow, mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, ma-ma, mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, ma-ma, mow, pa-pa
Ma-ma-mow, ma-ma, mow, pa-pa

 

 

/thread

[Gnarcore]

A very under rated Canadian band: 

 

Propagandhi - A Speculative Fiction 

 

A new iron curtain drawn across the 49th parallel
Cut all diplomatic ties as we expel
All American dignitaries
And issue a nation-wide
Travel advisory for any others left inside

Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide

The burned out shells of south-bound traffic lay
Strewn along a cold stretch of would-be interstate
Still visible below
Their charred remains: Pax Americana plates

Your stupid &^@#ing laser-pucks™ were just the start
And while you may stand six full cubits and a span
We got a shepherd’s sling and five stones in our hand
And the battle of 1812 lives in our hearts

We don’t care if we’re destroyed
We’ll never capitulate
We’ll take the whole &^@#ing world down
Down with us in flames

Just a speculative fiction. No cause for alarm
We got a good 15 years left ’til the "United We Stand"
Murals on West Broadway finally fade
And we wave good-bye to such sad, childish refrains
Exchanged for other stupid lullabies like "you can have my guns when you pry
Them from my cold dead hands."

 

 

 

 

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

Will Oldham is my favourite living songwriter. 

 

But it's really hard to pick a favourite song or lyric.

 

So I'm gonna cheat and share several of my personal favourites. 

 

I'll hide the lyrics in spoilers so this post doesn't run too annoyingly long (unless you want it to--then by all means open all the spoilers ).

 

"I See a Darkness" 

 

 

 

Well you're my friend
(It's what you told me anyway)
And can you see
(What's inside of me?)

Many times we've been out drinking
And many times we've shared our thoughts
But did you ever, ever notice
The kind of thoughts I got?

Well you know I have a love
A love for everyone I know
And you know I have a drive
To live I won't let go

But can you see it's opposition
Comes a-rising up sometimes
That it's dreadful and position
Comes blacking in my mind

And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And did you know how much I love you
Is a hope that somehow you you
Can save me from this darkness?

Well I hope that someday, buddy
We have peace in our lives
Together or apart
Alone or with our wives
That we can stop our whoring
And pull the smiles inside
And light it up forever
And never go to sleep
My best unbeaten brother
This isn't all I see

Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
And did you know how much I love you
Is a hope that somehow you you
Can save me from this darkness?
 

 

 

"Arise, Therefore"

 

 

 

There will be no end soon
If I've seen things right that have come
People will be scared, they never will see anything
Meanwhile all of my friends have been struck dumb

How can no final thing come
When our faces are pulled from us
How can someone blame who they refuse to name
For pulling other people down with them

Some have risen, they are lucky
To have their fall delayed by people
What they have is threaded, grafted and plotted
Played out and bad

Some have made mistakes for us
Waiting by the door for us
We told them to go ahead, their support is just a weight
Better to sever the weighted limb

Where is it hanging tonight ?
It is not looming to propel us along
We move ourselves to it, one year to sit in dirt
One cycle with which to comment upon the dirt
 

 

 

"I Send My Love to You"

 

 

 

I send my love to you
I send my hands to you
I send my clothes to you
I send my nose to you
I send my trees to you
I send my pleas to you
Won't you send some back to me?

Send your ways to me
Send your call to me
Send you days to me
Send it all to me
And when I'm high and square
When i would have you there
You will be...

The moon is falling
My wounds are calling
My head is bleeding
And I'm a duck
The lake is cracking
It hears me quacking
F*** the land, and two if by me

Send your ways to me
Send your call to me
Send your days to me
Send it all to me
And when i'm high and square
When i would have you there
You will be...
 

 

 

"You Will Miss Me When I Burn" 

 

 

When you have no one

No one can hurt you
When you have no one
No one can hurt you

In the corner there is light
That is good for you
And behind you, I have warned you
There are awful things

Will you miss me when I burn
And will you eye me with a longing?
It is longing that I feel
To be missed or to be real

When you have no one
No one can hurt you
When you have no one
No one can hurt you

Will you miss me when I burn
And will you close the others' eyes
It would be such a favor
If you would blind them

There is absence, there is lack
There are wolves here abound
You will miss me
When I turn around

When you have no one
No one can hurt you
When you have no one
No one can hurt you

 

"(I Was Drunk At The Pulpit)"

 

 

 

I was drunk at the pulpit, I knew it was wrong
And I left in mid-sermon tempted by a bar-house song
The pews creaked and shifted as they turned to watch me leave
And I pulled a little bottle from the pocket in my sleeve

The sunlight was stronger to my church-dark widened eyes
Than the light which had blinded me with Christ's own half-lies
Yes mid-sunday morning, my old playmates sat
Round a stumble stained table, Christopher spat
And he kicked out a chair and showed me to sit
Then they started back singing in that s***-smelling pit
They were grinning and dribbling with comforted heads
Their wives were in church or at home and in beds
Well I sucked down a cupful and God shone within
In a red earthen mask, and I saw where I'd been was a palace of sin

Let them abstain on unbucking high horses
Poor wooden structures which merely eye courses
That these log heads run just to find some respite
In the whiskey-induced holy unending night
Yes I thought I saw new light, the black one which dimmed
The bleached garments with which mangled peons stayed rimmed
Oh the church songs they paled next to this fiery chorus
Composed from a living depth especially for us

There were arms linked in sympathy, gilded the glaring
Of these bloated companions, who hid 'neath their swearing
Some need for another, kin to brother lust
Which coarse words and music, was faith and was trust
Yes I saw a dependence, an inherent weakness
Within walls which hid sunlight and hindered all frankness
That floor there supported what souls couldn't stand
On their own in their own eyes, to hint they are men
Who are slave to their vision but to that alone
Yes each of them cloistered fear of being alone
Wherever folks gather, to imply a rule
They are each one a sinner, each one a fool
For if I drink my whiskey, and if I sing a song
I have no breast companion, a-trailing along
To imagine a sharing of burdens I earned
To steal from the embers i strove so to burn
God is one's corpus, and Jesus one's blood
The world is within you, without is of mud...
 

 

 

"The Weaker Soldier"

 

 

 

I once was a weaker soldier hanging in the war
But I left, like an ape, folded neatly in four
And silently played for a moment slow and bled
On a sandalwood bust I had
Where was the field where I had pressed another down
Where I had revealed myself by crying and shouting ?
I turned away from that and into this
Black kettle of one-ness

I have not been feeling the same
I am not fit to carry your name
I am not fit and I am not willing
To go on

Sold, down the lane, in a way to restrain
You from calling a name and then regretting
If you save what you own you are always alone
And then why postpone the good death ?
We are those who break laws when the cold body thaws
Who prefer breaking jaws but must lower ourselves
Unfit though we are to help you get very far
Still we would never mar your rightful due

And I have not been feeling the same
I am not fit to carry your name
I am not fit and I am not willing
To go on

It was noon before she moved into the yards and pressed her hair
With a hand yellowed, smooth, and shaking
She had pulled on a housedress over nothing but her skin
And stood in the grass looking about her
You breathe in here, and you've breathed of me
My girl here, she loves you, she'll take you upstairs
Call on me later, much later in life
But do me a favor and leave her up there

I am not feeling the same
(I have not been feeling the same)
I am not willing to carry your name
(I am not fit to carry your name)
I am not here and I am not going
(I am not fit and I am not willing)
To be there
(To go on)
 

 

 

"Lost Blues"

 

 

 

Don't you wanna go where things move slow
Give me a little time to take what I know
Follow the ocean line, follow the flow
Give me a little time to take what I know

Oh! And he's calling
But I do not answer
I'm hunting for me now
And I must go quietly
And it's a hard way of walking
Oh! And I know
It's a hard way of talking
Oh! And I know

Don't let your guard down and don't live far from town
Follow the oceanline, follow the flow
Give me a little time to take what I know
Give me a little time to take what I know

Oh! Lordy, lordy
"I am down", said Charlie
They try and shush me
But I holler gleefully
In a house made for sleeping
Oh! And I know
With a mouth made of gold
Oh! And I know

I see him smile at me
Smiling desperately
If only you would trust me
We would live happily
In a house made of silver
Oh! And I know
In a house made of platinum
Oh! And I know

Hold the raft at the ready, hold it fast, hold it steady
Follow the oceanline, follow the flow
Give me a little time to take what I know
Give me a little time to take what I know
 

 

 

I know a lot of these songs are about depression, but while it's true that Oldham often chooses to explore some of the very darkest reaches of the human psyche in his songwriting, he's not just a "sad songs" lyricist. I think it's more that several of his "sad songs" are my favourites because they really helped get me through the times in my life where I was struggling the most with my own depression (I had planned to write a post about this in the "dealing with depression and other mental illnesses" thread, but I never got around to it). 

 

Here's a quote from Will that really expresses the purpose behind many of his songs:

 

“That’s the intention of my work,” [Oldham] says softly. “The idea is to create a song that other people will have access to for our mutual benefit, so that we see a kinship. The music functions like a vaccine. You inject and you make stronger that thing that you have been trying to push away. You introduce more of it so that, rather than running away from it, all of a sudden you’ve got these kind of psychological and emotional antibodies fighting it.” Because, he adds, “the more you think it is bad, and the more you think it is drowning you, the more you will suffer”.

 

Will Oldham writes a lot of songs about the stuff we all try to push away or hold deep inside.

 

For me, listening to Will Oldham's music has truly functioned like the vaccine he describes in that quote. His songs have forced me to acknowledge and confront things that were extremely difficult and painful. There have even been a few times when Will's music has "saved me" from myself (and it's not hyperbole when I say that). Several of his songs (especially a couple of the ones I've shared here) have quite literally brought me back from the brink. 

Edited November 11, 2018 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME
fixed spacing

[riffraff]

16 hours ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Will Oldham is my favourite living songwriter. 

 

But it's really hard to pick a favourite song or lyric.

 

So I'm gonna cheat and share several of my personal favourites. 

 

I'll hide the lyrics in spoilers so this post doesn't run too annoyingly long (unless you want it to--then by all means open all the spoilers ).

 

"I See a Darkness" 

 

  Hide contents

 

Well you're my friend
(It's what you told me anyway)
And can you see
(What's inside of me?)

Many times we've been out drinking
And many times we've shared our thoughts
But did you ever, ever notice
The kind of thoughts I got?

Well you know I have a love
A love for everyone I know
And you know I have a drive
To live I won't let go

But can you see it's opposition
Comes a-rising up sometimes
That it's dreadful and position
Comes blacking in my mind

And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And then I see a darkness
And did you know how much I love you
Is a hope that somehow you you
Can save me from this darkness?

Well I hope that someday, buddy
We have peace in our lives
Together or apart
Alone or with our wives
That we can stop our whoring
And pull the smiles inside
And light it up forever
And never go to sleep
My best unbeaten brother
This isn't all I see

Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
Oh no, I see a darkness
And did you know how much I love you
Is a hope that somehow you you
Can save me from this darkness?
 

 

 

"Arise, Therefore"

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

There will be no end soon
If I've seen things right that have come
People will be scared, they never will see anything
Meanwhile all of my friends have been struck dumb

How can no final thing come
When our faces are pulled from us
How can someone blame who they refuse to name
For pulling other people down with them

Some have risen, they are lucky
To have their fall delayed by people
What they have is threaded, grafted and plotted
Played out and bad

Some have made mistakes for us
Waiting by the door for us
We told them to go ahead, their support is just a weight
Better to sever the weighted limb

Where is it hanging tonight ?
It is not looming to propel us along
We move ourselves to it, one year to sit in dirt
One cycle with which to comment upon the dirt
 

 

 

"I Send My Love to You"

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I send my love to you
I send my hands to you
I send my clothes to you
I send my nose to you
I send my trees to you
I send my pleas to you
Won't you send some back to me?

Send your ways to me
Send your call to me
Send you days to me
Send it all to me
And when I'm high and square
When i would have you there
You will be...

The moon is falling
My wounds are calling
My head is bleeding
And I'm a duck
The lake is cracking
It hears me quacking
F*** the land, and two if by me

Send your ways to me
Send your call to me
Send your days to me
Send it all to me
And when i'm high and square
When i would have you there
You will be...
 

 

 

"You Will Miss Me When I Burn" 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

When you have no one

No one can hurt you
When you have no one
No one can hurt you

In the corner there is light
That is good for you
And behind you, I have warned you
There are awful things

Will you miss me when I burn
And will you eye me with a longing?
It is longing that I feel
To be missed or to be real

When you have no one
No one can hurt you
When you have no one
No one can hurt you

Will you miss me when I burn
And will you close the others' eyes
It would be such a favor
If you would blind them

There is absence, there is lack
There are wolves here abound
You will miss me
When I turn around

When you have no one
No one can hurt you
When you have no one
No one can hurt you

 

"(I Was Drunk At The Pulpit)"

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I was drunk at the pulpit, I knew it was wrong
And I left in mid-sermon tempted by a bar-house song
The pews creaked and shifted as they turned to watch me leave
And I pulled a little bottle from the pocket in my sleeve

The sunlight was stronger to my church-dark widened eyes
Than the light which had blinded me with Christ's own half-lies
Yes mid-sunday morning, my old playmates sat
Round a stumble stained table, Christopher spat
And he kicked out a chair and showed me to sit
Then they started back singing in that s***-smelling pit
They were grinning and dribbling with comforted heads
Their wives were in church or at home and in beds
Well I sucked down a cupful and God shone within
In a red earthen mask, and I saw where I'd been was a palace of sin

Let them abstain on unbucking high horses
Poor wooden structures which merely eye courses
That these log heads run just to find some respite
In the whiskey-induced holy unending night
Yes I thought I saw new light, the black one which dimmed
The bleached garments with which mangled peons stayed rimmed
Oh the church songs they paled next to this fiery chorus
Composed from a living depth especially for us

There were arms linked in sympathy, gilded the glaring
Of these bloated companions, who hid 'neath their swearing
Some need for another, kin to brother lust
Which coarse words and music, was faith and was trust
Yes I saw a dependence, an inherent weakness
Within walls which hid sunlight and hindered all frankness
That floor there supported what souls couldn't stand
On their own in their own eyes, to hint they are men
Who are slave to their vision but to that alone
Yes each of them cloistered fear of being alone
Wherever folks gather, to imply a rule
They are each one a sinner, each one a fool
For if I drink my whiskey, and if I sing a song
I have no breast companion, a-trailing along
To imagine a sharing of burdens I earned
To steal from the embers i strove so to burn
God is one's corpus, and Jesus one's blood
The world is within you, without is of mud...
 

 

 

"The Weaker Soldier"

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I once was a weaker soldier hanging in the war
But I left, like an ape, folded neatly in four
And silently played for a moment slow and bled
On a sandalwood bust I had
Where was the field where I had pressed another down
Where I had revealed myself by crying and shouting ?
I turned away from that and into this
Black kettle of one-ness

I have not been feeling the same
I am not fit to carry your name
I am not fit and I am not willing
To go on

Sold, down the lane, in a way to restrain
You from calling a name and then regretting
If you save what you own you are always alone
And then why postpone the good death ?
We are those who break laws when the cold body thaws
Who prefer breaking jaws but must lower ourselves
Unfit though we are to help you get very far
Still we would never mar your rightful due

And I have not been feeling the same
I am not fit to carry your name
I am not fit and I am not willing
To go on

It was noon before she moved into the yards and pressed her hair
With a hand yellowed, smooth, and shaking
She had pulled on a housedress over nothing but her skin
And stood in the grass looking about her
You breathe in here, and you've breathed of me
My girl here, she loves you, she'll take you upstairs
Call on me later, much later in life
But do me a favor and leave her up there

I am not feeling the same
(I have not been feeling the same)
I am not willing to carry your name
(I am not fit to carry your name)
I am not here and I am not going
(I am not fit and I am not willing)
To be there
(To go on)
 

 

 

"Lost Blues"

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Don't you wanna go where things move slow
Give me a little time to take what I know
Follow the ocean line, follow the flow
Give me a little time to take what I know

Oh! And he's calling
But I do not answer
I'm hunting for me now
And I must go quietly
And it's a hard way of walking
Oh! And I know
It's a hard way of talking
Oh! And I know

Don't let your guard down and don't live far from town
Follow the oceanline, follow the flow
Give me a little time to take what I know
Give me a little time to take what I know

Oh! Lordy, lordy
"I am down", said Charlie
They try and shush me
But I holler gleefully
In a house made for sleeping
Oh! And I know
With a mouth made of gold
Oh! And I know

I see him smile at me
Smiling desperately
If only you would trust me
We would live happily
In a house made of silver
Oh! And I know
In a house made of platinum
Oh! And I know

Hold the raft at the ready, hold it fast, hold it steady
Follow the oceanline, follow the flow
Give me a little time to take what I know
Give me a little time to take what I know
 

 

 

I know a lot of these songs are about depression, but while it's true that Oldham often chooses to explore some of the very darkest reaches of the human psyche in his songwriting, he's not just a "sad songs" lyricist. I think it's more that several of his "sad songs" are my favourites because they really helped get me through the times in my life where I was struggling the most with my own depression (I had planned to write a post about this in the "dealing with depression and other mental illnesses" thread, but I never got around to it). 

 

Here's a quote from Will that really expresses the purpose behind many of his songs:

 

“That’s the intention of my work,” [Oldham] says softly. “The idea is to create a song that other people will have access to for our mutual benefit, so that we see a kinship. The music functions like a vaccine. You inject and you make stronger that thing that you have been trying to push away. You introduce more of it so that, rather than running away from it, all of a sudden you’ve got these kind of psychological and emotional antibodies fighting it.” Because, he adds, “the more you think it is bad, and the more you think it is drowning you, the more you will suffer”.

 

Will Oldham writes a lot of songs about the stuff we all try to push away or hold deep inside.

 

For me, listening to Will Oldham's music has truly functioned like the vaccine he describes in that quote. His songs have forced me to acknowledge and confront things that were extremely difficult and painful. There have even been a few times when Will's music has "saved me" from myself (and it's not hyperbole when I say that). Several of his songs (especially a couple of the ones I've shared here) have quite literally brought me back from the brink. 

I see a darkness is one of my personal favourite all time songs tbh.  Everyone has their taste but I prefer Johnny cash’s cover.

 

glad you posted it.  I almost did.

 

first time I heard it I was working with earphones on and I literally stopped what I was doing.  So intense.  So real.  So incredibly close to home.  I won’t get into any personal details here on the general theme of the song.  But ye, amazing.

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

11 minutes ago, riffraff said:

I see a darkness is one of my personal favourite all time songs tbh.  Everyone has their taste but I prefer Johnny cash’s cover.

 

glad you posted it.  I almost did.

 

first time I heard it I was working with earphones on and I literally stopped what I was doing.  So intense.  So real.  So incredibly close to home.  I won’t get into any personal details here on the general theme of the song.  But ye, amazing.

Yeah, it's an amazing song. I've heard a few people say they prefer the Johnny Cash cover, and it's undoubtedly a great recording (and I love Cash), but I still prefer Oldham's original.

 

Little bit of trivia: Oldham actually sings backup on the Cash recording.

 

I think it depends on which version you hear first, because it's certainly a song that grabs you (especially if the content has some extra personal meaning for you). The original Oldham version (released under his Bonnie Prince Billy moniker) just came out at a time when I really needed that song, so it's very personal to me. 

 

Oldham has also done a kind of poppy, up-tempo version, and it's a bit jarring to listen to at first (and it has a kind of creepy and oddly funny video), but I've warmed to that version also and I really like it now (although it's my third favourite after the original and the Cash cover).

 

I think a few other artists have also covered "I See a Darkness."

Edited November 11, 2018 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME

[riffraff]

24 minutes ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Yeah, it's an amazing song. I've heard a few people say they prefer the Johnny Cash cover, and it's undoubtedly a great recording (and I love Cash), but I still prefer Oldham's original.

 

Little bit of trivia: Oldham actually sings backup on the Cash recording.

 

I think it depends on which version you hear first, because it's certainly a song that grabs you (especially if the content has some extra personal meaning for you). The original Oldham version (released under his Bonnie Prince Billy moniker) just came out at a time when I really needed that song, so it's very personal to me. 

 

Oldham has also done a kind of poppy, up-tempo version, and it's a bit jarring to listen to at first (and it has a kind of creepy and oddly funny video), but I've warmed to that version also and I really like it now (although it's my third favourite after the original and the Cash cover).

 

I think a few other artists have also covered "I See a Darkness."

Bonny prince billy....yes you can hear him on back up vocals with cash and his video is quite different and quirky.

 

ive been a cash fan forever - the old originals and the covers.  This song is right in his wheelhouse and without a doubt, if you know about johnnys life the song sure makes sense.  It’s the first version I have heard and my favourite as I mentioned but that is certainly because of cash’s old man voice and the ambience he is able to create during his songs.

[riffraff]

“Ye only have one finger left and it’s pointing out the door.”

 

-Beck

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by riffraff

[The Beagle had landed]

"Ticks And Leeches"
 

Suck and suck
Suckin' up all you can
Suckin' up all you can suck
Workin' up under my patience like a little tick
Fat little parasite

Suck me dry
My friend, bruised and borrowed
You thieving bastards
You have turned my blood cold and bitter
Beat my compassion black and blue

Hope this is what you wanted
Hope this is what you had in mind
'Cause this is what you're getting
I hope you're choking. I hope you choke on this

Taken all I can, taken all I can, f*ckin' take
Taken all you can, taken all you can f*ckin' take
Got nothing left to give to you

Blood-suckin' parasitic little tick
Blood-suckin' parasitic little tick
Blood-suckin' parasitic little tick
Take what you want and then go

Hope this is what you wanted
Hope this is what you had in mind
'Cause this is what you're getting

Suck me dry suck
Suck me dry suck
Suck me dry suck
Suck me dry

Is this what you wanted?
Is this what you had in mind?
Is this what you wanted?
'Cause this this is what you're getting
I hope, I hope, I hope you choke

[Bill Sikes]

Through early morning fog I see
Visions of the things to be
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

I try to find a way to make
All our little joys relate
Without that ever-present hate
But now I know that it's too late, and

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The only way to win is cheat
And lay it down before I'm beat
And to another give my seat
For that's the only painless feat

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger watch it grin, but

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

A brave man once requested me
To answer questions that are key
Is it to be or not to be
And I replied 'Oh, why ask me? '

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

'Cause suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please

And you can do the same thing if you please

Songwriters: JOHNNY MANDEL, MICHAEL B ALTMAN

[Nuxfanabroad]

There's such a randomness now with tunes. We used to listen to the radio, & I could place songs/albums to successive life chapters..sometimes precise months/yrs, when they were big. In general, it felt more shared. Up 'til about the early 90's this applied.

 

Away for a long spell, & would listen to internet radio stations..don't know if the tunes are old/new(?), so it feels different. Just the same, some gems catch my ear with a first listen. One was from a bloke named Gary Louris, from The Jayhawks. Recommend this acoustic version on youtube..some excerpts:

 

Omaha Nights

All the days are numbered, are they slippin thru my fingers?

Am I singin melodies all meant for other singers?/ Occupying places that were clearly meant for others/

Am I growin old in the arms of the wrong lover?

 

Chorus: Oooh oooh oh Omaha nights, gonna make it alright/ Ooh Omaha, gonna set me free

 

Some folks look for saviors, some for missin pieces/ Some for earthly-ecstasy, some may look for Jesus..Chorus

 

LOVE the last lines -

Here we find what we want, along this finite journey / Is it here that sense appears, or are we merely learnin? /

That money leads to power, power to corruption / The only way to heaven, mama, is the power of devotion ..chorus

 

 

[riffraff]

“Might as well jump!”

 

-David Lee Roth

 

”just beat it”

 

-Michael Jackson 

[RRypien37]

Immortal Technique - Industrial Revolution 

 

I want fifty three million dollars for my calloused hands
Like the Bush administration gave to the Taliban
And &^@# packing grams nigga, learn to speak and behave
You wanna spend twenty years as a government slave
Two million people in prison keep the government paid
Stuck in a six by eight cell alive in the grave
I was made by revolution to speak to the masses
Deep in the club toast the truth, reach for the glasses
I burn an orphanage just to bring heat to you bastards
Innocent deep in a casket, Columbian fashion
Intoxicated of the flow like thugs passion
You mother&^@#ers will never get me to stop blastin'
Your better off asking Ariel Sharon for compasion
Your better off begging for twenty points for a label
Your better off battling cancer under telephone cables
Technique chemically unstable, set to explode
Foretold by the dead sea scrolls written in codes
So if your message ain't $&!#, &^@# the records you sold
'cause if you go platinum, it's got nothing to do with luck
It just means that a million people are stupid as &^@#
Stuck in the underground in general and rose to the limit
Without distribution managers, a deal, or a gimmick
Revolutionary Volume 2, murder the critics
And leave your &^@#ing body rotten for the roaches and crickets

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by RRypien37

[HI5]

Little Weapon

Lupe Fiasco

Now little Terry got a gun he got from the store
He bought it with the money he got from his chores
He robbed the candy shop told them lay down on the floor
Put the cookies in the bag; take the pennies out the drawer
Lil' Khalil got a gun he got from the rebels
To kill the infidels and American devils
A bomb on his waist, a mask on his face
Prays five times a day yet listens to heavy metal
Little Alex got a gun he took from his dad
That he snuck into school in his black book bag
His black nail polish, black boots and black hat
He's gon' blow away the bully that just pushed his ass

I killed another man today
Shot him in his back as he ran away
Then I blew up his hut with a hand grenade
Cut his wife throat as she put her hands to pray
Just five more dogs then could get a soccer ball
That's what my commander says
How old? Well I'm like ten, eleven
Been fighting since I was like six or seven
Now I don't know much about where I'm from
But I know I strike fear everywhere I come
Government wants me dead so I wear my gun
I really want the rocket launcher but I'm still to young
This candy gives me courage not to fear no one
To feel no pain and hear no tongue
So I hear no screams and I shed no tear
If I'm in your dreams then your end is near

Little weapon, little weapon, little weapon
We're calling you, there's a war
If it comes not just too tall for you
You find you something small to use
Little weapon, little weapon, little weapon
Yanked you now, pow

Now here comes the march of the boy brigade
A McCar parade of the toys he made
And in shimmer shades who looks half his age
About half the size of the flags they waved
And camouflage suits made to fit youths
Cause the ones off dead soldier hang a little loose
With AK-47 that they shooting into heaven
Like they trying to kill the Jetsons
They struggle little recruits
Cute, smileless, heartless, violent
Childhood destroyed, avoided of all childish ways
Can't write their own names
Or read the words on their own graves
Think you gangsta popped a few rounds
These kids will come through and murder a whole town
And sit back and smoke and watch it burn down
The grave gets deeper the further we go down

Little weapon, little weapon, little weapon
We're calling you, there's a war
If it comes not just too tall for you
You find you something small to use
Little weapon, little weapon, little weapon
Yanked you now, pow

Imagine if I had to console
The family of those
Slayed that I slain on game consoles
I aim I hold, right trigger to squeeze
Press up and y one less nigga breathe
B for the bombs, press pause for your moms
Make the room silence she don't approve of violent games
She leaves resume activity
Start and blew hearts, with poor harsh wizardry
On next part I insert code
To sweeten up the purses of murder work load
I tell him he work for
CIA with A
And operative, I operate this game all day
I hold a controller connected to the soldier
With weapons on his shoulder, he's only seconds older than me
We playful but serious, now keep on mind for online experience

Little weapon, little weapon, little weapon
We're calling you, there's a war
If it comes not just too tall for you
You find you something small to use
Little weapon, little weapon, little weapon
Yanked you now, pow

Little weapon, little weapon, little weapon
We're calling you, there's a war
If it comes not just too tall for you
You find you something small to use
Little weapon, little weapon, little weapon
Yanked you now, pow

[Curmudgeon]

From Industrial Disease by Dire Straits

 
I go down to Speaker's Corner I'm thunderstruck
They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks
Two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong
There's a protest singer singing a protest song - he says
'they want to have a war to keep us on our knees

They want to have a war to keep their factories
They want to have a war to stop us buying Japanese
They want to have a war to stop Industrial Disease

They're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind
They want to sap your energy incarcerate your mind
They give you Rule Brittania, gassy beer, page three

Two weeks in Espana and Sunday striptease'
Meanwhile the first Jesus says 'I'd cure it soon
Abolish Monday mornings and Friday afternoons'
The other one's on a hunger strike he's dying by degrees
How come Jesus gets Industrial Disease

 

Songwriters: Mark Knopfler