Memorable Lyrics

I'd hope that's the case, but Charlie Daniels performed at a Jimmy Carter fundraiser in '76 and eventually went full-on MAGA.

 

time, place and milieu. economic as hell:

"They furnished off an apartment with a two room Roebuck sale
The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale
But when Pierre found work, the little money comin' worked out well
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell

"They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast
Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm and jazz
But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell
"C'est la vie", say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell..."

chuck berry, amen.

 

I'm sure we've all got tales of being at a sporting event where veterans are asked to stand and be applauded as "Born In the USA" plays. Guys. For the love of fuck, play ANYTHING ELSE but that.

I remember once getting rip-roaring drunk in college and stumbling on stage with the house band and singing "Glory Days." Even in my drunken state, I recognized the irony.

And also, to sort of tie this together, I always thought Springsteen did a nifty job of describing casual no strings attached sex with the second verse...added bonus that it makes the dork in him feel good to hook up with the girl who peaked in high school.

Well there's a girl that lives up the block
Back in school she could turn all the boy's heads
Sometimes on a Friday I'll stop by
And have a few drinks after she put her kids to bed
Her and her husband Bobby well they split up
I guess it's two years gone by now
We just sit around talking about the old times
She says when she feels like crying
She starts laughing thinking bout

 

Bruce was so succinct here. No wasted words. "The River"

Then I got Mary pregnant
And, man, that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday
I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
And the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles, no walk down the aisle
No flowers, no wedding dress

 

The entirety of the Beastie Boys’ “Paul’s Boutique” is a lyrical master class from start to finish.

Steely Dan’s “Everyone’s Gone To The Movies” is one of the sickest songs in terms of subject matter ever recorded by a major artist, but it’s done so artfully, with two different POV in the song (which just adds to how twisted it is), it’s a remarkable song anyway.

Since the huzzahs were already handed down, I will also throw my support behind Bob Seger. “We’ve Got Tonight” is the best rock ballad. I always imagine Seger imagined the lyrics while by himself at a hotel bar. In fact, I tend to think the singer is imagining the entire tryst.

Good call on Rodney Crowell. I’ll double down with some Jerry Jeff Walker and Tony Joe White for the rootsy vibe. Bobbie Gentry too. Go listen to “Casket Vignette”, a remarkable song.

There’s Dylan, of course. Among many other lines, “every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal” is among my faves. The entirety of both “Idiot Wind” and “When I Paint My Masterpiece” are both worthy of his legend alone.

There’s so many lyrics I love, but I’ll leave it with this one, which I’ve always found moving for some reason.

I don’t know what it is, but gambling imagery really pulls at me for some reason. Between “Tumbling Dice”, Seger’s “Still The Same” and my favorite Clash song.

The bolded part always hits me. Partly with the passionate delivery of Mick Jones, but also, I think, a bit of commentary on how the protoganist might be wrongly thought of as a hero at home, even though he lost his life trying to cheat in a card game.

“There's a solitary man cryin', "hold me!"
It's only because he's a-lonely
And if the keeper of time runs slowly
He won't be alive for long

If he only had time to tell of all of the things he planned
With a card up his sleeve, what would he achieve?
It means nothing

To the opium dens and the barroom gin
In the Belmont chair playing violin
The gambler's face cracks into a grin
As he lays down the king of spades

But the dealer just stares
"There's something wrong here", he thinks
The gambler is seized and forced to his knees
And shot dead

He only wanted more time
Away from the darkest door
But his luck it gave in
As the dawn light crept in
And he lay on the floor

From the Hundred Year War to the Crimea
With a lance and a musket and a Roman spear
To all of the men who have stood with no fear
In the service of the King

Before you met your fate
Be sure you did not forsake
Your lover may not be around anymore …”

 

The Card Cheat is in my Clash top 5, such a contrast to their other songs with that pounding piano and Beatle-esque French horn bit.

 

As I walk through this wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity
I ask myself, "Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred and misery?"

And each time I feel like this inside
There's one thing I wanna know
What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?

 

A city around me had a porchfesst last weekend. Bands play out front of homes. Pretty crappy for the most part, just covers of bad songs. It was an excuse to walk 4 miles. The highlight was a bluegrass cover of 'Peace Love and Understanding. '

 

Pretenders: “Talk of the Town”

Oh but it's hard to live by the rules
I never could and still never do


Tom Petty: “Dogs on the Run”

I was helped to the home of a young bleached blonde
Who said, "Honey, I discovered early in life
There's ways of getting anything I want."
Yeah, some of us are different
It's just something in our blood
There's no need for explanations
We're just dogs on the run


Rod Stewart: “Every Picture Tells a Story”

My body stunk but I kept my funk

 

I never understood Daniels' heel turn.

 

“But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell” is just some A++ stuff

 

Some from Paul Simon:

Then I learned to play some lead guitar
I was underage in this funky bar
And I stepped outside to smoke myself a J
And when I come back to the room
Everybody just seemed to move
And I turned my amp up loud and I began to play
And it was late in the evening
And I blew that room away


Mama looked down and spit on the ground
Every time my name gets mentioned
Papa said, "Oy, if I get that boy
I'm gonna stick him in the house of detention"



I know a father who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons
For the things he'd done
He came a long way just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and headed home again


If you took all the girls I knew when I was single
And brought 'em all together for one night
I know they'd never match my sweet imagination
Everything looks worse in black and white


A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the third world
Maybe it's his first time around
Doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound, sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity
He says, "Amen! Hallelujah!"


Along come a young girl
She's pretty as a prayer book
Sweet as an apple on Christmas day.
I said, "Good gracious! Can this be my luck?
If that's my prayerbook
Lord, let us pray."


Well, that was your mother
And that was your father
Before you was born, dude
When life was great.
You are the burden of my generation
I sure do love you
But let's get that straight


She said, "Honey, take me dancing"
But they ended up by sleeping
In a doorway
By the bodegas and the lights on
Upper Broadway
Wearing diamonds on the soles of their shoes

Honestly, I could put the entire Graceland album here. There's so much good stuff there.