Moving lyrics

Cafe Society
21

Tom Waits. Heartattack And Vine. I’d like to quote the entire song, but that’s not allowed. So, here’s a tiny taste:

Boney’s high on china white, Shorty found a punk
Don’t you know there ain’t no devil, there’s just God when he’s drunk
Well this stuff will probably kill you, let’s do another line
What you say you meet me down on heartattack and vine

See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top
With the peddle pushers sucking on a soda pop
Well I bet she’s still a virgin but it’s only twenty-five 'til nine
You can see a million of 'em on heartattack and vine

22

Thanks!

23

Paradise, by John Prine. The whole song, actually.

And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking
Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away

24

I like to sing it: “Mr. Coltrane’s pea body has hauled it away.”

25

You are tempting me to go ahead and hate my neighbor.

mmm

26

Tom Waits again.

27

I know it’s almost a cliché by now, and many people have quoted it, but there’s this line from Leonard Cohen that’s oh so true:

There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in

Speaks to every damaged person in the world, and aren’t we all?

28

Kentucky Avenue and Tom Traubert’s Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen) are two of Wait’s songs that have incredibly intense lyrics.

In an interview, Waits explained that all the kids mentioned in Kentucky Avenue were real friends he had growing up, the kid in the wheelchair and with leg braces had polio.

29

I think the first few lines of “The Rose” are quite moving.

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger
An endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower
And you, its only seed

30

Actually, ThelmaLou, the whole lyric to that song is quite touching.

31

You are so right, but I understand we’re not permitted to quote all the lyrics of a song on the board. I did that once in the past and got a mod note. Maybe that’s changed now?

32

No. Quote short snippets that won’t get the SDMB in trouble for copyright issues.

33

Now, some guys, they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up
Then go racing in the street

Perhaps Springsteen’s greatest song…

Racing In The Street (London Calling: Live In Hyde Park, 2009) - YouTube