Poetry and Lyrics

[Reltne]

In Memoriam for the Latest Two Lost

Take me Home Country Roads​

Written by Danoff/Nivert/Denver)

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah river
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowin' like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

All my memories, gather 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrops in my eyes

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

I hear her voice, in the morning how she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
Drivin' down the road I get the feelin'
That I should been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong
West Virginia mountain momma
Take me home, down country roads​

 

[BooMerengue]

Hey everyone! I heard this today and was immediately swamped with nostalgia. Anyone remember it?

The Court Of The Crimson King

including The Return Of The Fire Witch
and The Dance Of The Puppets
(McDonald-Sinfield)

The rusted chains of prison moons
Are shattered by the sun.
I walk a road, horizons change
The tournament's begun.
The purple piper plays his tune,
The choir softly sing;
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue,
For the court of the crimson king.

The keeper of the city keys
Put shutters on the dreams.
I wait outside the pilgrim's door
With insufficient schemes.
The black queen chants
the funeral march,
The cracked brass bells will ring;
To summon back the fire witch
To the court of the crimson king.

The gardener plants an evergreen
Whilst trampling on a flower.
I chase the wind of a prism ship
To taste the sweet and sour.
The pattern juggler lifts his hand;
The orchestra begin.
As slowly turns the grinding wheel
In the court of the crimson king.

On soft grey mornings widows cry,
The wise men share a joke;
I run to grasp divining signs
To satisfy the hoax.
The yellow jester does not play
But gently pulls the strings
And smiles as the puppets dance
In the court of the crimson king.​

 

[Angeline]

For Rybbka

Thanks for the compliment on the ten word. We just watched The Concert for Bangladesh and were marveling at the power of Bob's voice singing this.

Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it,
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

 

[clutching_calliope]

Brick - Ben Folds Five

.....

 

[flyguy69]

I love Ben Folds.

I especially relate to "There's always someone cooler than you."

Nerds go wild!

6 am day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark
The smell of cold
Car seat is freezing
The world is sleeping
I am numb
Up the stairs to her apartment
She is balled up on the couch
Her mom and dad went down to Charlotte
they're not home to find us out
And we drive
Now that I have found someone
I'm feeling more alone
Than I ever have before
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
they call her name at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
then I walk down to buy her flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
Can't you see
It's not me you're dying for
Now she's feeling more alone
Than she ever has before
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
As weeks went by
It showed that she was not fine
They told me son it's time to tell the truth
She broke down and I broke down
Cause I was tired of lying
Driving home to her apartment
For the moment we're alone
She's alone
I'm alone
Now I know it

 

[clutching_calliope]

Up with pocket protectors

.....

 

[Harry Leg]

A Thirsty Fish - Rumi

Although you were sleeping I read this to you last night, my love

I don't get tired of you. Don't grow weary
of being compassionate toward me!

All this thirst equipment
must surely be tired of me,
the waterjar, the water carrier.

I have a thirsty fish in me
that can never find enough
of what it's thirsty for!

Show me the way to the ocean!
Break these half measures,
these small containers.

All this fantasy
and grief.

Let my house be drowned in the wave
that rose last night out of the courtyard
hidden in the center of my chest.

Joseph fell like the moon into my well.
The harvest I expected was washed away.
But no matter.

A fire has risen above my tombstone hat.
I don't want learning, or dignity,
or respectability.

I want this music and this dawn
and the warmth of your cheek against mine.

The grief-armies assemble,
but I'm not going with them.

This is how it always is
when I finish a poem.

A great silence overcomes me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.

 

[clutching_calliope]

I must admit to you all

.....

 

[annaswirls]

um y' know, that will bring not hatred but adoration around here

I adore Cole Porter songs. Don't hate me.
Day and night, night and day

 

[eagleyez]

I adore Cole Porter songs. Don't hate me.


Like the beat beat beat of the tom-tom
When the jungle shadows fall
Like the tick tick tock of the stately clock
As it stands against the wall
Like the drip drip drip of the raindrops
When the summer shower is through
So a voice within me keeps repeating you, you, you

Night and day, you are the one
Only you beneath the moon or under the sun
Whether near to me, or far
It's no matter darling where you are
I think of you
Day and night, night and day, why is it so
That this longing for you follows wherever I go
In the roaring traffic's boom
In the silence of my lonely room
I think of you
Day and night, night and day
Under the hide of me
There's an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me
And this torment won't be through
Until you let me spend my life making love to you
Day and night, night and day

Nice choice-Anna is right!

 

[clutching_calliope]

Some good ol' boys

.....

 

[flyguy69]

I'd ask if you have an mp3 but that would be illegal...


so I'll whisper it, instead!

I don't know how many Canadians there are roaming about here, but I hope y'all won't be upset for disclosing on of our better kept musical secrets.

Poets
by Tragically Hip
album: Phantom Power (1998)
(Drum Intro)
(Guitar starts up, followed by another)
Spring starts when a heartbeat's poundin'
When the birds can be heard above the reckoning carts doing some final accounting
Lava flowing in Super Farmer's direction
He's been gettin' reprieve from the heat in the frozen-food section, ya

Don't tell me what the poets are doing
Don't tell me that they're talkin' tough
Don't tell me that they're anti-social
Somehow not anti-social enough, all right

And porn speaks to it's splintered legions
To the pink amid the withered corn stalks in them winter regions, yeah
While aiming at the archetypal father
He said with such broad and tentative swipes why do you even bother, yeah

Don't tell me what the poets are doing
Those Himalayas of the mind
Don't tell me what the poet's been doing
In the long grasses over time

{ Instra }

Don't tell me what the poets are doing
on the street and the epitome of vague
Don't tell me how the universe is altered
When you find out how he gets paid, all right
If there's nothing more that you need now
Lawn cut by bare-breasted women
Beach bleached towels within reach for the women gotta make it that'll make it by swimmin'

(Guitar, drum ends)

 

[clutching_calliope]

Carnival Town - Norah Jones

.....

 

[Angeline]

All we are saying

Two, one, two, three, four
Ev'rybody's talking about
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism,
Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, That-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m
All we are saying is give peace a chance,
All we are saying is give peace a chance

C'mon
Ev'rybody's talking about ministers,
Sinister, Banisters
And canisters, Bishops, Fishops,
Rabbis, and Popeyes, Bye, bye, bye byes
All we are saying is give peace a chance,
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Let me tell you now
Revoluton, evolution, masturbation,
Flagellation, regulation, integrations,
Meditations, United Nations,
Congratulations
All we are saying is give peace a chance,
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Ev'rybody's talking about
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary,
Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan,
Tommy Copper,
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer,
Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna,
Hare Krishna
Hare Hare Krishna

All we are saying
is give peace a chance

 

[clutching_calliope]

Lovers in a Dangerous Time - more Canadians....

.....

 

[interracial_sex]

I enjoyed this thread. I have always been a music lover due to meaningful lyrics that touch me emotionally (the actual music is a secondary consideration to me). My own writing has been greatly influenced and inspired by songwriters more so than actual poets (although Jim Morrison was both and I do greatly enjoy Frost & Blanding). That being said the two singer/songwriters who have inspired me the most and whom I consider to be among the very best (if not the best) are Jimmy Buffett and Merle Haggard. Haggard is even commonly referred to as "the poet of the common man." Both write incredibly poignant, deeply moving and intensley personal lyrics that resonate with me like few others can.

 

[interracial_sex]

My two all-time favorite songs. My first favorite is by Buffett. The second is by Haggard.

Jimmy Buffett - A Pirate Looks At Forty Lyrics

Mother, mother ocean,
I have heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters
since I was three feet tall
You've seen it all, you've seen it all

Watched the men who rode you
switch from sails to steam
And in your belly you hold the treasures
few have ever seen
Most of 'em dream, most of 'em dream

Yes I am a pirate,
two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder,
there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late

I've done a bit of smugglin',
I've run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami,
but I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last, never meant to last

And I have been drunk now for over two weeks
I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks
But I got stop wishin',
got to go fishin'
Down to rock bottom again
Just a few friends, just a few friends

(instrumental)

I go for younger women,
lived with several awhile
Though I ran 'em away,
they'd come back one day
Still could manage to smile
Just takes a while, just takes a while

Mother, mother ocean,
after all the years I've found
An occupational hazard beats
an occupation's just not around
I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown

Coda:
I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown


Merle Haggard-The Runnin' Kind

I was born the runnin' kind
leaving always on my mind
Home was never home to me at anytime
Every front door found me hopin'
I would find the back door open
There just had to be an exit
for the runnin' kind


Within me there's a prison,
surrounding me alone
As real as any dungeon
with its walls of stone
I know running's not the answer,
but running's been my nature
And a part of me that keeps me moving on

I was born the running kind,
leaving always on my mind
Home was never home to me at anytime
Every front door found me hopin'
I'd find the back door open
There just had to be an exit
for the runnin' kind

 

[Guest]

Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
The next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin -- this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime --
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight --
Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
And we're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

Bruce Cockburn or The BNL?

More Bruce.......


Look at them working in the hot sun
The pilloried saints and the fallen ones
Working and waiting for the night to come
And waiting for a miracle

Somewhere out there is a place that's cool
Where peace and balance are the rule
Working toward a future like some kind of mystic jewel
And waiting for a miracle

You rub your palm
On the grimy pane
In the hope that you can see
You stand up proud
You pretend you're strong
In the hope that you can be
Like the ones who've cried
Like the ones who've died
Trying to set the angel in us free
While they're waiting for a miracle

Struggle for a dollar, scuffle for a dime
Step out from the past and try to hold the line
So how come history takes such a long, long time
When you're waiting for a miracle

You rub your palm
On the grimy pane
In the hope that you can see
You stand up proud
You pretend you're strong
In the hope that you can be
Like the ones who've cried
Like the ones who've died
Trying to set the angel in us free
While they're waiting for a miracle

 

[Alt]

More Cockburn...

Here come the helicopter -- second time today
Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away
How many kids they've murdered only God can say
If I had a rocket launcher...I'd make somebody pay.

I don't believe in guarded borders and I don't believe in hate
I don't believe in generals or their stinking torture states
And when I talk with the survivors of things too sickening to relate
If I had a rocket launcher...I would retaliate

On the Rio Lacantun one hundred thousand wait
To fall down from starvation -- or some less humane fate.
Cry for Guatemala, with a corpse in every gate
If I had a rocket launcher...I would not hesitate

I want to raise every voice -- at least I've got to try.
Every time I think about it water rises to my eyes.
Situation desperate echoes of the victims cry
If I had a rocket launcher...some sonofabitch would die

 

[clutching_calliope]

It's Bruce Cockburn-poolooza

.....

 

[interracial_sex]

I'll continue the Cockburn love-fest by including the common link between he and Buffett.

http://bruce-cockburn.brainsip.com/

Pacing The Cage

lyrics by: Bruce Cockburn
performed by: Jimmy Buffett

Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you've lived too long
Days drip slowly on the page
And You catch yourself
Pacing the cage

I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And everyone was taken in
Powers chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage

I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage

Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage
Pacing the cage

Pacing the cage

Jimmy Buffet chooses two Cockburn songs for his current number one release.

TORONTO – July 21, 2004 - Bruce Cockburn gets covered, a lot. It’s been a great few months for Bruce Cockburn tunes with many of the titles from his extensive catalogue of songs being covered by various artists from around the globe. Bruce’s songs have now been recorded by over two hundred different artists including: Jimmy Buffett, The Barenaked Ladies, The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Maria Muldaur, Dan Fogelberg, Anne Murray and The Rankins.

Jimmy Buffett has two renditions of Bruce Cockburn’s songs on his newly released CD License To Chill. License To Chill debuts at #1 in the US as of today’s date, with an incredible sale of 238,597 CD’s in the first week. Jimmy recorded the beautiful Anything Anytime Anywhere, which is the title cut of Bruce’s greatest hits CD released in 2001. Mr. Buffett also chose the song Someone I Used To Love, and turned it into a lovely duet with Nanci Griffith. Someone I Used to Love is originally on Bruce’s 1994 CD Dart To The Heart.

http://cockburnproject.net/

 

[clutching_calliope]

And now for something completely different

.....

 

[Sabina_Tolchovsky]

Wow! I love Gord Downie....I can't believe, well I guess I can this is a poetry thread. If you have not listened to The Tragically Hip I highly recommend them...Gord Downie is one of the most amazing contemporary poets out there...
I live 12 nautical miles from Victoria, British Columbia.

I don't know how many Canadians there are roaming about here, but I hope y'all won't be upset for disclosing on of our better kept musical secrets.

Poets
by Tragically Hip
album: Phantom Power (1998)
(Drum Intro)
(Guitar starts up, followed by another)
Spring starts when a heartbeat's poundin'
When the birds can be heard above the reckoning carts doing some final accounting
Lava flowing in Super Farmer's direction
He's been gettin' reprieve from the heat in the frozen-food section, ya

Don't tell me what the poets are doing
Don't tell me that they're talkin' tough
Don't tell me that they're anti-social
Somehow not anti-social enough, all right

And porn speaks to it's splintered legions
To the pink amid the withered corn stalks in them winter regions, yeah
While aiming at the archetypal father
He said with such broad and tentative swipes why do you even bother, yeah

Don't tell me what the poets are doing
Those Himalayas of the mind
Don't tell me what the poet's been doing
In the long grasses over time

{ Instra }

Don't tell me what the poets are doing
on the street and the epitome of vague
Don't tell me how the universe is altered
When you find out how he gets paid, all right
If there's nothing more that you need now
Lawn cut by bare-breasted women
Beach bleached towels within reach for the women gotta make it that'll make it by swimmin'

(Guitar, drum ends)

 

[Sabina_Tolchovsky]

here, I will add my favorite Hip tune

38 Years Old
Twelve men broke loose in '73
From millhaven maximum security
Twelve pictures lined up across the front page
seems the mounties had a summertime war to wage

the chief told the people they had nothing to fear
the last thing they'd wanna do is hang around here
they mostly came from towns with long french names
but one of the dozen was a hometown shame

chorus: same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall
been one seat empty 18 years in all
freezing slow time away from the world
he's 38 years old, never kissed a girl
he's 38 years old, never kissed a girl

we were sittin' at the table, heard the telephone ring
father (pa?) said he'd tell me if he saw anything
heard the tap on the window in the middle of the night
held back the curtains for my older brother mike

see my sister got raped, so a man got killed
little boy went to prison, man's buried on the hill
folks went back to normal when they closed the case
they still stare at their shoes when they pass our place

----------solo-----------------

my mother cried 'the horror has finally ceased'
he whispered 'yeah, for the time being, at least'
an' (then?) over his shoulder, on the squad car megaphone
said 'let's go michael, son, we're takin' you home'

chorus: same pattern on the table.....

 

[Man Ray]

All time love

All time love
by Will Young

If this link works it will take you to a place where the words come to life!

http://www.willyoung.co.uk/cinema/


Sometimes you walk by the good ones
'Cos you're trying to hard, too hard to see them
And sometimes you don't find the right lines
'Cos you're trying too hard, too hard to hear them
But you know what it feels like
'Cos you're like me
And you won't give up
'Till an all time love
'Cos nothing else is good enough
I want an all time love to find me

Some days you're too set in your ways
And you forget to shut up, shut up and listen
And some days you just have to misplace all your mistakes
Somewhere that you won't miss them
So stop lying that you're fine
'Cos you're like me
And you can't give up

'Till an all time love
'Cos nothing else is good enough
I want an all time love to find me

I don't believe that it's a failing
I don't believe that it's a fault
'Cos if everything were plain sailing
Oh tell me what would there be left to exalt

But an all time love
'Cos nothing else is good enough
I want an all time love to find me
I want an all time love
'Cos nothing else is good enough
I want an all time love to find me