Paul Simon:
“Graceland”
She comes back to tell me she’s gone,
As if I didn’t know that
As if I didn’t know my own bed,
As if I’d never noticed,
The way she brushed her hair from her forehead,
And she said losing love
Is like a window in your heart,
Everybody sees you’re blown apart,
Everybody sees the wind blow…
and
The whole of “A Poem on the Underground Wall.”
Joni Mitchell: Judgment of the Moon and Stars (Ludwig’s Tune) - a tribute to Beethoven
Condemned to wires and hammers,
strike every chord that you feel
that broken trees
and elephant ivories
conceal.
Well, someone had to.
Since I have two little girls, Tori Amos’ Song “Winter” utterly destroys me:
“Keep Me In Your Heart,” From Warren Zevon’s final album (before he died of lung cancer):
“30Kft” by Assemblage 23, written as an answering machine message left by a man about to die in a plane crash, ends thus:
“Marian” by The Sisters of Mercy is likewise dark and gorgeous:
“The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” by Eric Bogle (fantastic cover by the Pogues) is about surviving the disastrous Battle of Suvla (Gallipoli) in WWI:
The restriction against love songs prevents the obvious addition…
Terry’s Song by Springsteen - an elegy for his long time friend and producer.
Mama Look Sharp from the musical 1776 - a great unknown anti war song from the Viet Nam era.
True Colors reminds me that my kids have a hard time moving through the world, and how beautiful they are despite it all.
The movie, Mr. Holland’s Opus ends with a song with words written by Julian Lennon which seems to be about his father: Cole’s Song.
If you wanna hear it go to youtube here
*I feel that the love around me
has come from another world
I have lost love
I have found love
From the moment you were born
I could see a new beginning…
…I have lost you
and now I’ve found you
Let me feel your heart
let me hear your song
*
I love Teru no Uta - it’s in Japanese from the Tales of Earthsea movie (Gedo Senki), and is done acappella. I have linked to a version which shows the Japanese lyrics translated - obviously its not great poetry in English but it’s really lovely in Japanese.
This next link goes to Aoi Teshima singing the song in concert and it’s lovely…
The full lyrics in Japanese are in the blurb bit.
White Stripes, “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”
and every breath that is in your lungs
is a tiny little gift to me
Always liked that line, it speaks of the fraility of life and his adoration at the same time.
Ok, I’m gonna go break stuff or somethin’…
Plenty by the Indigo Girls.
From Least Complicated:
What makes me think I could start clean slated
The hardest to learn was the least complicated
From Virginia Woolf:
*they published your diary
and that’s how i got to know you
key to the room of your own and a mind without end
here’s a young girl on a kind of a telephone line through time
the voice at the other end comes like a long-lost friend *
I’d like to quote Andy too but the entire song is beautiful. I wouldn’t know what to choose.
Their activist songs are pretty good to
*The center holds, so they say.
It never held too well for me.
I won’t stop short for common ground
that vilifies the trodden down.
The center held the bonded slave
for the sake of industry.
The center held the bloody hand
of the executioner man.
It took a long time to
become the thing I am to you.
And you won’t tear it apart
without a fight, without a heart.
It took a long time to
become you, become you.
Our recent Memorial Day had me retrieving XTC’s Mummer for “In Loving Memory of a Name”. Though it’s inspired by Britain’s war dead, the sentiment is universal. Here’s a snippet:
England can never repay you
You gave your life to be buried alongside
The place you loved
The sermons attended when you were young
Still echo 'round these churchyard walls
Seconded. FYI, they’ve got a new one out, The Seldom Seen Kid, and it’s brilliant – a filler-free hour of stately, gorgeous orchestral pop. I can’t compare it to their earlier efforts (since I don’t have any of their earlier work), but this one turned me into a fan. And they have their own distinctive sound, although “An Audience With the Pope” sounds like it could be the best song Pulp never recorded.
If I had to find fault, it’d be with the predominance of slow- and mid-tempos, with a decided emphasis on the former. (It doesn’t really bother me now, but I’m not really young anymore.) If only to broaden their radio appeal, they should try to produce a few more numbers that really rock out on each album, without sacrificing lyricism, cleverness or beauty.
Pink Floyd (well, Roger Waters, anyways…) The Gunner’s Dream:
*A place to stay
“Oi! A real one …”
Enough to eat
Somewhere old heroes shuffle safely down the street
Where you can speak out loud
About your doubts and fears
And what’s more no-one ever disappears
You never hear their standard issue kicking in your door.
You can relax on both sides of the tracks
And maniacs don’t blow holes in bandsmen by remote control
And everyone has recourse to the law
And no-one kills the children anymore.
And no one kills the children anymore. *