Oh, gosh!
I have to resist quoting entire songs, but I love some fantastic lyrics! So, I have to post a bunch!
I will be crediting the artists. Partly because I prefer to give credit to genius, but also because most people would not guess my faves anyway!
First up, a bunch from my fav duo, Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer! Dave had the soul of a poet.
Starting with a mystical theme:
"and when the sun comes trumpets from his red house in the east
he will find a standin stone where long i chanted my release
he will send his mornin messenger to strike the hammer blow
and i will crumble down uncountable in showers of crimson rubies when i go"
-- Dave Carter, "When I Go"
"and should you glimpse my wand'rin form out on the borderline
between death and resurrection and the council of the pines
do not worry for my comfort, do not sorrow for me so
all your diamond tears will rise up and adorn the sky beside me when i go "
-- Dave Carter, "When I Go"
Moving on to romance:
"i climbed the redwood tree and caught the wren in flight
but her wings were soft as morning and the morning slipped away"
-- Dave Carter, "Kate and the Ghost of Lost Love"
"professor come to burst my bubble, says that girl is bound for trouble
serves me solace in a paper cup
but it looks a bit like agent orange and when he leaves he slams the door and
just about that time she phones me up"
-- Dave Carter, "The River, Where She Sleeps"
(Yes, Dave rhymed "orange" with "door-and...")
(An Arthurian western!)
"lancelot rode on a swayback mare
he won in a card game up north somewhere
he was bottom-out lonesome, he was too tired to care
keepin one step ahead of the rain
well he blew into broken bow late last year
talkin up the vision of his lost guinevere
but he couldn't tell a grail from a glass of beer
so he settled for lady elaine"
-- Dave Carter, "Lancelot"
Ouch:
"he got himself married at seventeen
she looked real pretty but she talked kinda mean
he thought they'd work things out in the fullness of time
twenty years later he's headed south
the close-range victim of her sawed-off mouth
leavin their salad days behind"
-- Dave Carter, "Frank to Valentino"
"my uncle little tree dreams of another life
coddles his cattle and he rents his range
holds the fan to the face of his pretty wife
she knows nothin ain't ever gonna change, "
-- Dave Carter, "(30 Bad Summers in) Tillman Co."
And a few *girl power* songs:
"and the sun comes in tears 'cause the gardener did not find you
will you bloom bright and fierce, will you know you don't need him anymore"
-- Dave Carter, "Disappearing Man"
This one is a mood:
"i am not looking for no champion of my freedom
i am anything but anybody's foundling
sometimes i feel like i am wandering
an old balloon on broken string
a bubble in a baby's dream
a lost and lonely buzzardling
a vulture beating creaky wings
while angry storms go gathering around me"
-- Dave Carter, "236-6132"
This is the only song of Dave's that I don't actually understand, but it still has fantastic lines:
"elvis presley came to me in a dream last night
like a sleepy golden eagle on the breeze
wearin wings of spanish leather, he was lookin all right
but his rebel heart lay bleeding on his knees "
~
"now the truth is plain and simple, but it flickers on my lips
like a moonbeam in a blue kentucky pool"
-- Dave Carter, "Elvis Presley"
And some darker ones.
This one is not for the faint of heart:
"as the hour of midnight was approachin
she heard his goblin bootheels on the floor
the tattered rags like raven wings in motion
the hammer hand upon the bedroom door"
-- Dave Carter, "Cat Eye Willie Claims His Lover"
A one paragraph horror story:
"death came to my window in the form of a maiden
and she didn’t say nothin, she just stood and stared
and round about midnight she lay down beside me
but when i awoke, there was nobody there"
-- Dave Carter, "Better Way"
Feels like every day, checking the news:
"this morning sailed a ship of fools across a sea of gin
with a blind and grinning reaper at the tiller"
-- Dave Carter, "Preston Miller"
And, a summary of the American contradiction: cleaning a gun while watching Mr Rogers!
"sweet maria she's a pretty little nine
kicks like a mule but she barks just fine
i ain't cleaned her in a mighty long time
takin her out tonight
dip her in a bucket of kerosene
mr. rogers on my t.v. screen
friendliest sucker i ever seen
we are precious in his sight"
-- Dave Carter, "Red (Elegy)"
Assorted religious commentary:
"some build temples and some find altars
some come in tall hats and robes spun fine
some in rags, some in gemstone halters
some push the pegs back in line"
-- Dave Carter, "The Mountain"
"go home, go home" the mayor cried when jesus came to city hall, 'cause
this is an ordinary town, and the prophet stands alone
this is an ordinary town and we crucify our own
-- Dave Carter, "Ordinary Town"
"as lightnin burns these bridges under, smoke will surely rise
and the fables of my innocence blow lazy through the skies
when timeless truths reveal themselves as little more than lies"
-- Dave Carter, "Mother, I climbed"
Finally moving on to other artists!
This is one Woodie Guthrie wrote but never recorded. Many other folks have done so for him. (Yes, including Dave & Tracy! )
...
"she said it’s hard for me to see
how one little boy got so ugly
...yes my little girly, that might be
but there ain’t nobody that can sing like me"
-- Woody Guthrie, "Way over Yonder in the minor key"
...
(Lol, you tell Em, Woody! )
"We are brief as a summer lightning
We are swift as swallow’s flight
We are sparks that spiral upward in the darkness in the night
We are frost upon a window
We won’t pass this way again
In the end only love remains"
-- Garnet Rogers, "Summer Lightning"
"And the nightwind greets him like a lover;
Her cold fingers brush up against his cheek
Then she chases papers down the street
Past doorways, where lovers meet
And huddle in the night"
-- Garnet Rogers, "Phone Booth"
Cant leave out Tom Waits!
"The piano has been drinking
... not me"
"the large print giveth
and the small print taketh away"
"The sun looks like a cookie
That didn't come out right
Ah, the moon looks like a cookie
And someone stole a bite
Flat stuff, flat stuff
Way out to the way out to the setting sun
When them old boys come through
Sometimes I think it would have been best
If they'd said, "Jesus, it's too flat here"
And just kept going West"
-- Greg Brown, "Flat Stuff"
"I thought I was well read
Wouldn't have to ask her for a lead
'Til I read what her eyes said
Then I knew there was nothing more to read
Nothing more to do and nothing more to say
But give all my words away
To someone who needs them
That can't find a girl like you"
-- Archie Fisher, "Silver Coin"
"And I ran all the way here
To be the first to see the morning star
There were others before me
For the sounds of beauty travel far
I hear it loud and clear and it rings like a silver coin
Thrown down on stone
Though I'm lost in a crowd
I know you're around me somehow"
-- Archie Fisher, "Silver Coin"
"Love will come and love will go
As the seas roll on forever
And lost love has the everlasting flow
Of a neverending river
And it's not an easy reckoning
But sometimes I have the notion
That womenkind, in heart and mind
Sails on a restless ocean"
-- Archie Fisher, "Windward Away"
"I wish the Northern Lights were of a fabric apprehended
That from these earthbound human hands
Those lights could be suspended
I wish the northern lights were mine to hem and sew and weave
I'd make a cloak for you to wear
To keep you from the breeze"
-- James Keelaghan, "I Would I Were"
Sandy Denny, being epic:
"I've always lived in a mansion
On the other side of the moon
I've always kept a unicorn
And I never sing out of tune
I could tell you that the grass is really greener
On the other side of the hill
But I can't communicate with you
And I guess I never will"
-- Sandy Denny, "Solo"
Holding nothing back:
"Do me a favour, stay away from my door
I could use some good company but I don't care for yours
My love is not here, my love is away
You've caught me alone but you've nothing to say
And it's time to leave now and you know the way
And it's time to leave and you know the way"
-- Sandy Denny, "Friends"
"They said that it was snowing in astounded tones upon the news
I wonder why they're always so surprised 'cos every year it snows"
-- Sandy Denny, "No End"
"Today I went hunting, for a job
They say there’s nothing right now
But banks to rob
So I wrote another song and solace it brings me
but no money, for all I sing
And now I’ve got to think of something"
-- Martha Tilston, "Night Rambling"
"Where is everybody rushing to?
Off to the shops to buy all the crap that we lack"
~
"Oh, won't you please move out my way, now?
Busy's the street and you're treading on all of the flowers
Oh, won't you please move out my way, now?
Busy's the street and I'm losing all of my powers"
-- Martha Tilston, "Space"
"We said we didn't want the seeds, but they blew in,
We said we didn't want the cards, what you doing?
We said we didn't want the war, that they threw in, that's one for free... two corruptions you get one free. "
-- Martha Tilston, "Good World"
I have no idea what any of this verse means, but that's probably why I find it hilarious:
"Okay I'll use an analogy
I wash my clothes in the bath with me
'cause in the end we're all laundry
I take myself down to the sea"
-- Martha Tilston, "Brighton Song"
"Then yesterday we met at last,
an empty sun was sinking fast
And a full moon rising, baby, but I won’t take that as a sign
~
When you were born, a fire sign,
I brought the water just in time"
I Draw Slow, "Santiago"
Whew, I think I'm done now!
Lol, I posted way too many lyrics at midnight, didn't I?