Right now I’m really digging “If I could have my wasted days back, would I use them to get back on track?” from Metallica’s “Frantic”. There’s plenty of others but this one is in my head right now.
Any others???
I’m rather partial to “In My Life” by John Lennon. But there are probably a million more.
Even though I’m a guy, Janis Ian’s “At Seventeen.” (I was with her right after she married her girlfriend in Toronto, and she’s a sweetheart.)
“Damn I wish I was your lover
I’ll rock you till the daylight comes
Make sure you are smiling and warm”
Is a sentiment I’d like to hear more of in real life.
“When I think about you, I touch myself” - I Touch Myself, DiVinyls. Incredibly sexy sentiment
“I’m stranded all alone in the gas station of love, and I have to use the self servcie pumps” - One More Minute, Weird Al Yankovic.
Aren’t most songs written in the first person?
“I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.”
“If I had one wish, I would ask for a big enough a** for the whole world to kiss” — Eminem
Sun comes up, it’s Tuesday Morning
Description: Inner dialogue over the course of a day making no attempt to rhyme. Strangely evocative when set against the Junkies’ narcotic groove.
"But now my wait is over, and as this final hour drags by
I ain’t about to tell you that I don’t deserve to die.
But there’s twenty-seven men here, mostly black, and brown, and poor,
And most of them are guilty, but who are you to say for sure?
So when the preacher comes to get me, and they shave off all my hair
Could you take that long walk with me, knowing hell is waiting there?
Could you pull that switch yourself, sir, with a sure and steady hand?
Could you then still tell yourself, sir, that you’re better than I am?"
“Billy Austin” by Steve Earle
a probably-forgotten favorite from my younger decades:
…
I try to move my arm and there’s no feeling
And when I look, I see there’s nothing there.
The face beside me has stopped its holy (holey?) bleeding;
The girl I knew has such a distant stare.
(Chorus)
IIIIIIII remember
We were flying low
And we hit something in the air
IIIIIIII remember
We were flying low
And we hit something in the air
Then I look at the attendant
His face is pale as it can be
He bends down and whispers something softly
He says, there’s no chance for me.
…
– from “D.O.A.”, band name forgotten.
(funny, haven’t thought about that song in ages, but it popped right up when “first person” was mentioned.)
what?
you thought only the current crop of teenagers know about angsty or got enthralled by images of death?
I had this dream, where I relished the fray…
I’ll take this as a sign, as it was the first one that popped into my head:
I’ll be there today with a big bouquet of cactus
I’ve got this rig that runs, runs on memories
And I promise, cross my heart, they’ll never catch us
But if they do, just tell them it was me
–Leonard Cohen, “I Can’t Forget”
Saw Bob Dylan live, and he blew my preconceptions by playing around with his songs, many of which were unidentifiable at first. A steamy sax solo led into Bob singing “Early one morning the sun was shining / HE was laying in bed…”
And I realized that he was doing my favorite first-person song as a third-person.
With a different meaning, different emphasis.
:: ::studio version::
She was married when we first met / soon to be divorced.
I helped her out of a jam I guess / but I used a little too much force.
:: ::live::
She was married when they first met / to a man four times her age.
He left her penniless in a state of regret / it was time to bust out of that cage.
:: ::studio version::
So I drifted down to New Orleans / where my luck it was to be employed / part-time on a fishing boat / right outside of Delacroix
:: ::live::
So he drifted down to new Orleans / where they treated him like a boy. /He nearly went mad in Baton Rouge / he nearly drowned in Delacroix
Gotta hear it to believe it. The Live At Budokon version is close, IIRC.
What I didn’t capture was the Dylanesque phrasing, like [bob]“time to busssst out UHHHHHV that CAAAYge”.[/bob]
Tangled Up In Blue
Y’know, I remember some of these lyrics even though it’s been years since I’ve heard the songs. And I could’ve typed the entire Dylan song as well as the alternative version without even trying hard.
The power of first person.
ps: that live version is close to that on “Real Live” ('84). Another 3rd-person version is from “The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3” ('91). They’ve got clips at bobdylan.com.
pps:
*She was workin’ in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer/
I just kept lookin’ at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I’s just about to do the same/
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, “Don’t I know your name?”
I muttered somethin’ underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face/
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe…
Tangled up in blue.*
Some lines from Hurt have been running through my head lately…
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
…
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
A line from an old Rush song (name of the song escapes me at the moment).
“Now I lay me down in dreamland
I know perfect is not for real
I thought we might get closer
But, I’m ready to make a deal…”
Lastly, Everlong. Very special for very personal reasons…
Hello
I’ve Waited Here For You
Everlong
Tonight
I Throw Myself Into…
…
Breathe Out
So I Can Breathe You In
I’m kind of partial to,
So now I’m prayin’ for the end of time, to hurry up and arrive
'Cause if I have to spend another minute with you I don’t think that I could really survive…
Meatloaf, “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”
From Needles In My Eyes by The Beta Band
I crept in and stole I your mind
I think I’m having trouble with mine
And also from The Beta Band, from the song Dragon
*I never been the type to sing all night but Aaaaaaaaah! *
So, they collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed
And shipped us back home to Australia
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane
The proud, wounded heroes of Souvla
And when our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thanked Christ there was no one there waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
– And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, The Pogues (by Eric Bogle)
By Hank Williams (Hank Senior, of course) “I’m so lonesome I could die”
Hear that lonesome whooperwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is runnning low
I’m so lonesome I could cry
I never seen a night so long
When the leaves turned brown and died
The moon just went behind the clouds
I’m so lonesome I could die
The silence of the falling stars
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I’m so lonesome I could die
“I’d give up forever to touch you.”
-John - er, whatshisname of the Goo Goo Dolls, Iris
“He is high on intellectualism. I’ve never been there, but the brochure looks nice.”
-Sheryl Crowe, All I Wanna Do
“Something in the way she moves, attracts me like no other lover.”
-George Harrison, Something