Billy Bragg -* There is power in a Union*:
There is power in a factory, power in the land
Power in the hands of a worker
But it all amounts to nothing if together we don’t stand
There is power in a Union
…
The Union forever defending our rights
Down with the blackleg, all workers unite
With our brothers and out sisters from many far off lands
There is power in a Union
Dead Can Dance - Severance:
“Severance,”
The birds of leaving call to us,
Yet here we stand
Endowed with the fear of flight.
…
Indifference,
The plague that moves throughout this land
Omen signs
In the shapes of things to come.
The waltzing fool
He’s got lights in his fingers
The waltzing fool
He just don’t never say
The waltzing fool
He keeps his hands in his pockets
And waltzes the evening away
Standing at the crossroads
trying to read the signs
to tell me which way I should go
to find the answers and all the time I know
Plant your love and let it grow
Oh, I’ve got something inside me to drive a princess blind.
There’s a wild man, wizard, he’s hiding in me, illuminating my mind.
Oh, I’ve got something inside me but it’s not what my life’s about
'Cause I’ve been letting my outside tide me over 'til my time runs out.
Well, I’ve lost my equilibrium,
My car keys and my pride.
The tattoo parlor’s warm,
So I hustle there inside;
And the grinding of the buzzsaw,
“Whatchoo want that thing to say?”
“Just don’t misspell the name, buddy;
She’s the one that got away”.
(Yeah, I’m still hung up on someone; does it show?)
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride, security
It blows the mind most bitterly
For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely
I’m a huge fan of a band called Bright Eyes which I really enjoy because the singer and the songs place a huge focus on the writing, which Conor Oberst excels at magnificently. I’d recommend most of the albums by them save perhaps Digital Ash in a Digital Urn since it’s my least favorite. Otherwise a great source of lyrically meaningful and exceptionally written songs.
If The Brakeman Turns my Way
That’s one of my favorites from the Cassadaga album. Really I’d say just about every song from them has verses that are worth quoting so it’s hard to choose specifics.
One song that has particular meaning to me is Rain On The Roof by Lovin Spoonful:
o/ You and me and rain on the roof, Caught up in a summer shower, Drying while it soaks the flowers. Maybe we'll be caught for hours, Waiting out the sun. You and me, we're gathered away Deep in conversation, sitting in the hay. Honey, how long was I laughing in the rain with you? Cause I didn't feel a drop til the thunder brought us to. o/
Yes, I’m old, and so I’m told, it’s better to be Over the Hill than under it
She took me to her mother’s house
Outside of town where the stars hang down
She said she’d never seen someone so lost
I said I’d never felt so found
And then I kissed her on the cheek
And so she kissed me on the mouth
Also, Bright Eyes - One Foot in Front of the Other (which is essentially an earlier, better version of Landlocked Blues that appeared on the compilation disc Saddle Creek 50)
And Laura’s asleep in my bed
As I’m leaving, she wakes up and says
“I dreamed you were carried away on the crest of a wave
Baby, don’t go away, come here”
The couplet of the century so far:
From Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”
“I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing,
Roman cavalry choirs are singing”
From Ludo’s “Love Me Dead”
“You’re a parasitic psycho filthy creature finger-banging my heart”
From The The’s “Love Is Stronger Than Death”:
“How could you believe that the life within the seed,
that grew arms that reached, and a heart that beat,
and lips that smiled and eyes that cried,
could ever die?”
