History repeats the old conceits The glib replies the same defeats Keep your finger on important issues With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues
___Beyond Belief
The sky fell over cheap Korean monster-movie scenery And spilled into the reservoir of the crushed capsule hotel Between the Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery And I knew I was in trouble but I thought I was in hell
___Tokyo Storm Warning
Times are tough for English babies Send the army and the navy Beat up strangers who talk funny Take their greasy foreign money Skin shop, red leather, hot line Be prepared for the engaged sign Bridal books, engagement rings And other wicked little things
___Sunday’s Best
Well, the night came undone like a party dress And fell at her feet in a beautiful mess The smoke and whisky came home in her curls And crept through the dreams of the barroom girls
The first two lines alone are a marvel of imagery.
Bruce Springsteen, “No Surrender”; Well we busted out of class
Had to get away from those fools
We learned more from a three-minute record, baby
Than we ever did in school
Gordon Lightfoot, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”; The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gichigumi
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore, 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
The good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early
Ghost, “Life Eternal”; Can you hear me say your name forever?
Can you see me longing for you forever?
Would you let me touch your soul forever?
Can you feel me longing for you forever, forever?
I know the light grows darker down below
But in your eyes it’s gone before you know
This is the moment of just letting go
She said, “If you had life eternal…”
So young, so brazen, so unholy
I come to you in painted skies
You’re broken, taint your ancient story
The living challenge to their lies
Black Sabbath - Symptom of the Universe
Take me through the centuries to supersonic years
Electrifying enemy is drowning in his tears
All I have to give you is a love that never dies
The symptom of the universe is written in your eyes
I wouldn’t claim any great artistic merit for it, but there’s something special about:
Sittin’ in a sleazy snack-bar suckin’ Sickly sausage rolls Slippin’ down slowly Slippin’ down sideways Think I’ll sign off the dole 'cause the fog on the Tyne is all mine, all mine The fog on the Tyne is all mine
(Fog On The Tyne, Lindisfarne. Translation: sign off the dole = to cease claiming unemployment benefit.)
Thanks for posting the item about JD. I remember hearing (and this was almost 50 years ago, so I may be mis-remembering it) that for a while Denver – when he was associating with Fat City (Danoff and Nivert) – was hanging around Washington, DC for a spell and the best they could do for mountains were the Blue Ridge and that’s where the song came from. FC had written the lyrics and JD added a few lyrics himself and polished up the music accompaniment. After his solo career really took off, Aspen, Colorado was where he wished to live (and he could finally afford it).
Feel free to correct any of this, I’d appreciate it.
Essentially the same as the closing lines, which I just posted in the partner thread:
A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like, “You and me babe, how about it?”
All night, all I hear, all I hear’s your heart How come, how come
I twisted you over and under to take you The coals went so wild as they swallowed the rest I twisted you under and under to break you I just couldn’t breathe with your throne on my chest
One night upon my motorcycle through the desert speed
And it smashed my body so that all my friends thought I was dead
My sister held me close and whispered to my bleeding head
“You are the son of a mother fucker”