Favourite Song Lyrics

[Regulator]

Not sure if our Marc deserves a writing credit on that, as Charles Aznavour sang the same translation a couple of decades earlier.

But it's a brilliant song.  On the subject of Brel....

*Goes to Google*

The Aznavour version was very slightly differently worded.

[clarion]

Was it?  It's a while since I heard Charles, so I maybe misremember, but it seemed the same.

If not, then full credit to the brilliant Marc Almond.

[bomber]

it's a small world and it smells funny
I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money
take back what I paid
for another motherfucker in a motorcade

twenty five whores in the room next door
twenty five floors and I need more

I'm far too young for this stuff really

Love the line from a Black Box Recorder song;

"Life is unfair.  Kill yourself, or get over it"

[bikenerd]

One two three
She's a real left winger 'cause she been down south
And held peasants in her arms
She said "I could tell you a story that could make you cry"
"What about you?"
I said "Me too"
"I could tell you a story that will make you cry"
And she sighed "Aaahh"
I said "I wanna be a singer like Lou Reed"
"I like Lou Reed" she said sticking her tongue in my ear
"Let's go, let's sit, let's talk"
"Politics go so good with beer"
"And while we're at it baby, why don't you tell me one of your biggest fears?"
I said "Loosing my penis to a whore with disease"
"Just kidding" I said "Loosing my life to a whore with disease"
I said "Please... I'm a humble guy with a healthy desire"
"Don't give me no shit because..."

I've been tired

[rogerzilla]

There's more to life than books, you know, but not much more

[Really Ancien]

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies, my love,
To the dark and the empty skies.

The first time ever I kissed your mouth
And felt your heart beat close to mine
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command, my love
That was there at my command.

And the first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the earth
And last till the end of time my love
It would last till the end of time my love

The first time ever I saw your face, your face,
your face, your face


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/nI7gzXz1cHo&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/nI7gzXz1cHo&rel=1</a>

Damon.

[LEE]

Now Ernie dragged him from his van and beneath the blazing sun,
They stood there face to face, and Ted went for his bun.
But Ernie was too quick, things didn't go the way Ted planned,
And a strawberry-flavoured yogurt sent it spinning from his hand

I loved it as a kid and I still love it now.

[Ian H]

The pump don't work,
Cos the vandals stole the handle.

[pcolbeck]

So close and yet so far away
And all the things I'd hoped to say
Will have to go unsaid today
Perhaps until tomorrow
Your fears have built a wall between
Our lives and all that loving means
Will have to go unfelt it seems
And that leaves only sorrow
You built your tower strong and tall
Can't you see, it's got to fall someday

You close your eyes and speak to me
Of faith and love and destiny
As distant as eternity
From truth and understanding
The wind blows cold outside your door
It whispers words I've tried before
But you don't hear me anymore
Your pride's just too demanding
You built your tower strong and tall
Can't you see, it's got to fall someday

The end is coming soon it's plain
A warm bed just ain't worth the pain
And I will go and you'll remain
With the bitterness we've tasted
A mother's breast, a newborn child
A poet's tear and drunken smile
I can't help feelin' all the while
Their meaning won't be wasted
You built your tower strong and tall
Can't you see, it's got to fall someday

Tower Song - Townes Van Zandt

[Mrs Pingu]

When you see an accident do not turn your head and look away
I can see detectives are sifting through the wreckage we have made

It starts with only one kiss
It changes everything

TV crews arrive on the scene
They say "See the man who lost everything"
He lies shattered like a glass on the ground
They say "Only you can bring him around
& set me free"

I became delirious
Palm trees gently swaying in the breeze
On a desert island, I haven't seen a human being for years

The house where we used to live
Described by witnesses
TV crews arrive on the scene
& the anchormen they break down and weep
Living proof that things are not what they seem
It takes all these wild and wonderful things -
To set me free

and:

My lovely horse, running through the field
Where are you going, with your fetlocks blowing in the wind?

I want to shower you with sugar lumps, and ride you over fences
Polish your hooves every single day, and bring you to the horse dentist

My lovely horse, you're a pony no more
Running around with a man on your back, like a train in the night...

 

[clarion]

The first time ever I saw your face

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/nI7gzXz1cHo&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/nI7gzXz1cHo&rel=1</a>

Damon.

Yes - one of the most beautiful songs ever written.  But remember to give Ewan McColl a credit for writing it!

[border-rider]

The higher you build your barriers
The taller I become
The further you take my rights away
The faster I will run
You can't deny me
You can't decide to turn your face away
No matter 'cause there's

Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though you're doing me wrong so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
(oh-no)
Something inside so strong
Oh no something inside so strong

The more you refuse to hear my voice
(oo-way oo-way oo-way oo-way)
The louder I will sing
You hide behind walls of Jerricho
(oo-way oo-way oo-way oo-way)
Your lines will come tumbleing
Deny my place sometime
You squander wealth that's mine
My light will shine so brightly it will burn you
'Cause there's

Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though you're doing me wrong so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone
(oh-no)
Something inside so strong
Oh no something inside so strong

[Mr Larrington]

Pulling the ice axe from my leg
I staggered on
Spindrift stinging my remaining eye

I finally managed to reach the station
Only to find that the bus replacement service had broken down

After wondering to myself whether it should actually be called a train replacement service
I walked out onto the concourse and noticed the giant screen seemed to have been tampered with
Probably by a junior employee
Disgruntled commuters were being regaled with some dismal TVM
Involving a tug-of-love-custody-battle
Stockard Channing held sway

Down in the High Street somebody careered out of Boots without due care or attention
I suggest that they learn some pedestrian etiquette
i.e sidle out of the store gingerly
Embrace the margin

Fat kids with sausage rolls
Poor sods conducting polls

There’s a man with a mullet going mad with a mallet in Millets

I try to put everything into perspective
Set it against the scale of human suffering
And I thought of the Mugabe government
And the children of the Calcutta railways
This works for a while
But then I encounter Primark FM
Overhead a rainbow appears
In black and white

Shite Day
I guess this must be National Shite Day
This surely must be National Shite Day
Don’t tell me, it’s National Shite Day

Float… float on
Float… float on
Barry… Herpes

I got a letter from Stringy Bob
Still on suicide watch
Screws not happy
Spotted a Marsh Fritillary during association
Was roundly ignored
What news you
I felt sorry for him
He’d only been locked up for public nuisance offences
One of which saw him beachcombing the Dee Estuary
Found a dead wading bird
Took it home, parcelled it up, and sent it off to the rubber-faced irritant Phil Cool
With a note inside which read: “Is this your Sanderling?”

Another time saw him answering an advert in the music press
“Keyboard player required: Doors, Floyd, etc.
Must be committed, no time wasters”
You can guess the rest

I always imagined he would simply wander off some day into the hills
To be found months later
His carcass stripped by homeless dogs
His exposed skull a perch for the quartering crow

I folded away the letter and put it in my inside pocket
All of a sudden I felt brushed by the wings of something dark
May the Lord have mercy on Stringy Bob

Shite Day
I do believe it’s National Shite Day
It all points to National Shite Day
Someone’s declared it National Shite Day

Shite Day
My birthday! On National Shite Day
No bogroll, it’s National Shite Day
Cue drumroll, it’s National Shite Day

[Really Ancien]

The first time ever I saw your face

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ypSPbIAApuQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ypSPbIAApuQ&rel=1</a>

Damon.

Yes - one of the most beautiful songs ever written.  But remember to give Ewan McColl a credit for writing it!

There are certain things that people ought to just know, and that's one of them. it also gives me a chance to recommend the version which Clint Eastwood used in his first film as a director, Play Misty for Me, where he set a romantic sequence to Roberta Flack's original album version, bringing the song to a wider audience and prompting the release of a shorter version which spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard Chart in the US.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ypSPbIAApuQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ypSPbIAApuQ&rel=1</a>
 There are plenty of interpretations of the song, but most follow the Flack version, as the original was half the length. Roberta can't really be beaten because of her modulation and the way she gets round the difficult sibilants in the title. I quite like the version by Johnny Cash, which transforms it into a leave-taking song revealing the tenderness behind a tough exterior, very affecting when you know how soon he died after his beloved wife.

Damon..

[tiermat]

Revelry - Kings Of Leon

What a night for a dance,
you know, i'm a dancing machine
put the fire in my bones
with the sweet taste of kerosene

i get lost in the lights(?),
so high, i don't want to come down
to face the loss of the good thing that i found

woo hoo hoo
woo hoo hoo

in the dark of the night
i can hear you calling my name
with the hardest of hearts
i still feel full of pain

so i drink and i smoke
and i ask
if you're ever around
even though it was me
who drove us right in the ground

see, the time we shared
it was precious to me
all the while i was dreaming of revelry

on a run, baby, run
like a steam down a mountainside
with the wind in my back
i don't ever even bat an eye
just know it was you all along
who had a hole in my heart
but the demon in me
was the best of friends from the start

so the time we shared
it was precious to me
all a while i was dreaming of revelry
dreaming of revelry

and i told myself
for the way you go
it rained so hard
it felt like snow
everything came
a' tumbling down on me
in the back of the woods
in dark of the night
careless, --(?), your moonlight
everything just felt so empty
dreaming of revelry

Daughter - Pearl Jam

Alone...listless...breakfast table in an otherwise empty room
Young girl...violins...center of her own attention
The, mother reads aloud, child, tries to understand it
Tries to make her proud

The shades go down, its in her head
Painted room...cant deny theres something wrong...

Dont call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me
Dont call me daughter, not fit to
The picture kept will remind me
Dont call me...

She holds the hand that holds her down
She will...rise above...ooh...oh...

Dont call me daughter, not fit to } the picture kept will remind me } (2x) dont call me
Daughter, not fit to be } the picture kept will remind me } dont call me...

The shades go down (2x) the shades go, go, go...

Better Man - Pearl Jam (again)

Waitin, watchin the clock, its four oclock, its got to stop
Tell him, take no more, she practices her speech
As he opens the door, she rolls over...
Pretends to sleep as he looks her over
She lies and says shes in love with him, cant find a better man...
She dreams in color, she dreams in red, cant find a better man...
Cant find a better man (2x)
Ohh...

Talkin to herself, theres no one else who needs to know...
She tells herself, oh...
Memories back when she was bold and strong
And waiting for the world to come along...
Swears she knew it, now she swears hes gone
She lies and says shes in love with him, cant find a better man...
She dreams in color, she dreams in red, cant find a better man...
She lies and says she still loves him, cant find a better man...
She dreams in color, she dreams in red, cant find a better man...
Cant find a better man (2x)
Yeah...

She loved him, yeah...she dont want to leave this way
She feeds him, yeah...thats why shell be back again
Cant find a better man (3x)
Cant find a better...man...
Ohh...ohh...
Uh huh... (5x)
Ohh...

And one last one, Seeing Things - Black Crows

I find it hard to shed a tear
You brought it all on yourself my dear
Wrong, yes I may be
Dont leave a light on for me
cause I aint comin home
It hurts me baby to be alone
Yes, it hurts me baby

A hundred years will never ease
Hearing things I wont believe
I saw it with my own two eyes
All the pain that I cant hide
And this pain starts in my heart
And this love tears us apart
You wont find me bent down on my knees
Aint bendin over backwards baby
Not to please

cause Im seeing things for the first time
Im seeing things for the first time, oh yeah
Im seeing things for the first time
In my life, in my life

I used to dream
Of better days that never came
Sorry aint nothin to me
Im gone and thats the way it must be
So please Ive done my time
Lovin you is such a crime
You wont fine me down on, on my knees
Wont fine me over backwards baby
Just to please

cause Im seeing things for the first time
Im seeing things for the first time
Seeing things for the first time
Oh Im seeing things for the first time
Yeah, seeing things for the first time
Im seeing things for the first time
Yeah, Im seeing things for the first time
In my life, in my life

[Really Ancien]

many of the finest lyrics have the cadences of the King James Bible, Prince was quite good at that, I think of ' Nothing compares 2 U' and especially 'Love, thy will be done' by Martika, occasionally the King James Bible makes it to the charts itself, with minor adaptations.

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time for every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time for peace, I swear its not too late

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/MWg3b15ITS8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/MWg3b15ITS8&rel=1</a>


Damon.

[pcolbeck]

The first time ever I saw your face

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ypSPbIAApuQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ypSPbIAApuQ&rel=1</a>

Damon.

Yes - one of the most beautiful songs ever written.  But remember to give Ewan McColl a credit for writing it!

There are certain things that people ought to just know, and that's one of them. it also gives me a chance to recommend the version which Clint Eastwood used in his first film as a director, Play Misty for Me, where he set a romantic sequence to Roberta Flack's original album version, bringing the song to a wider audience and prompting the release of a shorter version which spent six weeks at the top of the Billboard Chart in the US.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ypSPbIAApuQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ypSPbIAApuQ&rel=1</a>
 There are plenty of interpretations of the song, but most follow the Flack version, as the original was half the length. Roberta can't really be beaten because of her modulation and the way she gets round the difficult sibilants in the title. I quite like the version by Johnny Cash, which transforms it into a leave-taking song revealing the tenderness behind a tough exterior, very affecting when you know how soon he died after his beloved wife.

Damon..

It's amazing how fast people forget and credit songs to so someone who covered them.  Was watching X-Factor last week and a girl group did Wonderwall and credited it to Ryan Adams not Oasis ! Mind you at least they showed some taste knowing who Ryan Adams was

[tiermat]

It's amazing how fast people forget and credit songs to so someone who covered them.  Was watching X-Factor last week and a girl group did Wonderwall and credited it to Ryan Adams not Oasis ! Mind you at least they showed some taste knowing who Ryan Adams was

Despite it sounding more like Mike Flowers Pops than either of those two.....

[clarion]

I wasn't suggesting for a moment that Damon didn't know, and I share his view that Roberta Flack's performance is electrifying - I can feel a tingle in my fingers just thinking about it.  I just felt that the sculptor who crafted such a brilliant piece should be acknowledged.

[Really Ancien]

Sorry to give the impression that I'd taken the hump, It's merely that I think there are certain things we ought to just know as part of our common heritage, like the verse of Ecclessiastes which Pete Seeger turned into 'Turn Turn Turn'.

Damon.

[Ian H]

I'm afraid that nearly always I treat the voice as another instrument and seldom listen to or even notice the words. But these lyrics always amuse me. The song's great, but the words, especially on their own, are on that borderline between mad and daft.

If it matters how you do it,
And how you do it it's your thing.
If it matters which way you go,
That's your way to go.
And if you get it like that,
That's the way you get it,
'Cause you get it like that
When you want to be that way,
When you wanna be that way,
That's the way you wanna be, see.

Hey! It's all right.
Hey!
Yeah, its all right.

Now that you try to do to me
Out there a-walkin' doesn't matter, baby
Ain't no question, no suggestion
Nothin' in my mind that can't be
Shut out when I want it to be
Nothin' in yours that can't be kept in
When you open it up and lose it
And nothin' you can't let out
If it's got to be let out, just let it out
And don't worry which way it goes.

[ChrisO]

From Green Day's Dookie album...

I went to a shrink
To analyze my dreams
He said it's lack of sex
That's bringing me down

I went to a whore
Who said my life's a bore
So quit my whining cause
It's bringing her down

... and the line I love most, from Longview...

When masturbation's lost its fun
You're fucking lonely

[Really Ancien]

Probably the 21st Century lyric that has had the biggest impact is this.

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space -
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - Oh - Oh - Oh
Do You Realize - that everyone you know
Someday will die -

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize


I read an essay on what it meant to one person.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: "Do You Realize??" by the Flaming Lips


Damon.

[bikenerd]

Probably the 21st Century lyric that has had the biggest impact is this.

The Happy Death Song!
I love the Flaming Lips.  If you ever get the chance to see them live then do.  I've seen them twice and both times were life-affirming moments.

[oncemore]

"Ever tell your kids you're glad that they can think?
Ever said you love 'em? Ever let 'em watch you drink?
Ever wonder why your daughter looks so sad?
It's such a drag to have to love a plastic mum and dad."

And so on...

Text for bringing up your children, courtesy of Frank Z.