Memorable Lyrics

Yeah, it's one of mine, as well....I really like the entire Uprising album. That little whistle (might even be really high organ notes, not sure) in the background always gets me moving on this song.

Not sure if you've heard it or not, but It Hurts To Be Alone is one of my all time favorite Wailers songs. It's really not even all that reggae-ish or even ska, but there's something so emotionally strong about that one. Simple lyrics carried with incredibly impassioned vocals can really bring it home.


Yeah, Uprising is a perfect album, from beginning to end. I basically raised myself on that record as a little kid by accident.

That “little whistle” is actually a Rhodes electric piano btw.

Lyrically, I think Pimper’s Paradise is the best on that album, especially once you realize it’s an allegory about the United States of America. When I read that it blew my mind... I thought it was just about some slutty coke whore.:p
 
Yeah, Uprising is a perfect album, from beginning to end. I basically raised myself on that record as a little kid by accident.

That “little whistle” is actually a Rhodes electric piano btw.

Lyrically, I think Pimper’s Paradise is the best on that album, especially once you realize it’s an allegory about the United States of America.

Nice! I didn't know Pimper's Paradise was directed at the U.S., per se...I did figure it was a addressing a situation in which those with higher power abusing those that they had influence over..."pimping" those who didn't know better or couldn't do anything about it, if you will.

Thanks for the info on the little whistle!! I always wondered what it was...the mystery always kind of played a part in my admiration for that song.
 
I will always remember these lyrics, cos I wrote it. :p:rolleyes:

It’s centered around Saint Teresa and Mohandas Gandhi. Hope you like it!

Lights

In my inner dreams where it softly glows,
Stands a figure of white and azure
Before her calloused hands laid a leprous man,
Who was deemed to be near his last

By his stricken side she stooped to cleanse his wounds,
As a hundred were gathered in wonder
They could never understand how it could be found,
That a stranger would be loved as a son

Though we stand beaten and assailed against these tides
Yet I know we won’t be giving up this fight
Because direction matters more than place in time
As we set these sails for far and enduring Lights

There was a frail old man on a dusty road,
Against a back of lush gold desert
He wore a humble shroud that was native wound,
Leather sandals over mud and dust

They would feed him scorn and they beat him down,
They were but leaves on a gale of deliverance
With a musket of the truth and a cavalry of doves,
He led a people to their finest hour.

Though we stand beaten and assailed against these tides
Yet I know we won’t be giving up this fight
Because direction matters more than place in time
As we set these sails for far and enduring Lights

I know we’ll meet again, home on higher ground
I know we’ll live again, home on higher ground

I believe it
 
Last edited:
@Tonart, beautiful lyrics, thanks for sharing those!!!

Tom Waits...

"I Don't Wanna Grow Up"

When I'm lyin' in my bed at night
I don't wanna grow up
Nothin' ever seems to turn out right
I don't wanna grow up
How do you move in a world of fog
That's always changing things
Makes me wish that I could be a dog
When I see the price that you pay
I don't wanna grow up
I don't ever wanna be that way
I don't wanna grow up

Seems like folks turn into things
that they'd never want
The only thing to live for
Is today...
I'm gonna put a hole in my TV set
I don't wanna grow up
Open up the medicine chest
And I don't wanna grow up
I don't wanna have to shout it out
I don't want my hair to fall out
I don't wanna be filled with doubt
I don't wanna be a good boy scout
I don't wanna have to learn to count
I don't wanna have the biggest amount
I don't wanna grow up


Well when I see my parents fight
I don't wanna grow up
They all go out and drinking all night
And I don't wanna grow up
I'd rather stay here in my room
Nothin' out there but sad and gloom
I don't wanna live in a big old tomb
On Grand Street

When I see the 5 o'clock news
I don't wanna grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes
I don't wanna grow up
Stay around in my old hometown
I don't wanna put no money down
I don't wanna get me a big old loan
Work them fingers to the bone
I don't wanna float a broom
Fall in love and get married then boom
How the hell did it get here so soon
I don't wanna grow up
 
Another by Tom Waits....

"House Where Nobody Lives"

There's a house on my block
That's abandoned and cold
Folks moved out of it a
Long time ago
And they took all their things
And they never came back
Looks like it's haunted
With the windows all cracked
And everyone calls it
The house, the house where
Nobody lives

Once it held laughter
Once it held dreams
Did they throw it away
Did they know what it means
Did someone's heart break
Or did someone do somebody wrong?

Well the paint was all cracked
It was peeled off of the wood
Papers were stacked on the porch
Where I stood
And the weeds had grown up
Just as high as the door
There were birds in the chimney
And an old chest of drawers
Looks like no one will ever
Come back to the
House where nobody lives

Once it held laughter
Once it held dreams
Did they throw it away
Did they know what it means
Did someone's heart break
Or did someone do somebody wrong?
So if you find someone
Someone to have, someone to hold
Don't trade it for silver
Don't trade it for gold
I have all of life's treasures
And they are fine and they are good
They remind me that houses
Are just made of wood
What makes a house grand
Ain't the roof or the doors
If there's love in a house
It's a palace for sure
Without love...
It ain't nothing but a house
A house where nobody lives
Without love it ain't nothing
But a house, a house where
Nobody lives
 
Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can
And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
No one speaks
And no one tries
No one flies around the sun
 
This is called "I Hope You Dance". It was written by Mark D. Sanders and Tia Sillers and was recorded & released in 2000 by Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin'
Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth makin'

Don't let some Hellbent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance (Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance
I hope you dance (Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder)
I hope you dance (Where those years have gone?)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance

I hope you dance
I hope you dance (Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along)
I hope you dance (Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder?)

Lloyd
 
We went to a shopping mall
And laughed at all the shoppers
And security guards trailed us to a record shop
We asked for Mojo Nixon
They said he don't work here
We said if you don't got Mojo Nixon then your store could use some fixin'
 
This was written by Trent Reznor. It was recorded, released, and owned (according to Trent himself) by Mr. Johnny Cash in 2002. He changed a word or two because of his Faith, and in my opinion that only made his version more poignant and powerful.

This is "Hurt".

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liars chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt

I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

Goldtop Lloyd

Mr. and Mrs. Cash - Rest In Peace
 
And a little humor..."I had a heart attack, while playing charades...(distantly) ...I pledge allegiance???..." Brad Paisley. From Death of a Married Man.
 
Last edited:
This one rips at my heartstrings every time, but it helps me grieve, it helps me heal.

Feeling you shake
Feel your heart break
Thinking if only, if only, if only, if only
And the salt water runs
Through your veins and your bones
Telling you no not this way, not this way, not this way
And you would give anything
Give up everything
Offer your life blood away
For yesterday

No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
We live on laughing and in no pain
We'll stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today

Finding the answer
It's a human obsession
But you might as well talk to the stones and the trees and the sea
'Cause nobody knows
And so few can see
There's only beauty and caring and truth beyond darkness

No one leaves you
When you…
No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
We live on laughing and in no pain
We'll stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today

And we won't understand your grief
Because time is illusion
As this watery world spins around
This timeless sun
Will dry your eyes
And calm your mind

No one leaves you
When you live in their heart and mind
And no one dies
They just move to the other side
When we're gone
Watch the world simply carry on
It's okay, we will stay and be happy
Stay and be happy
With those who have loved us today

Songwriters: Steve Rothery / Mark Kelly / Pete Trewavas / Ian Mosley / Steve Hogarth
Estonia lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group
 
One of my favourite modern ‘folk’ writers is Dallas Green (Alexis of Fire - definitely not folk, City and Colour - largely acoustic)
A very thoughtful writer.

Save your scissors
For someone else’s skin
My surface is so tough
I don’t think the blade will dig in
Save your strength
Save your wasted time
There’s no way that I want you to be left behind
Go on and save your scissors
 
I was listening to 1979 from the Smashing Pumpkins the other day and this line really stuck in my head:

Junebug skipping like a stone
With the headlights pointed at the dawn
We were sure we'd never see an end to it all

When your 17, 18, 19 with headlights pointed at the dawn and running with your friends, you really never think you'll see an end to it all. I know better now of course, and as I get older I'm starting to lose some of those I ran with back in the day. The old adage that no matter how fast you run, you can't outrun father time is cruelly true.
 
Last edited:
I was listening to 1979 from the Smashing Pumpkins the other day and this line really stuck in my head:

Junebug skipping like a stone
With the headlights pointed at the dawn
We were sure we'd never see an end to it all

When your 17, 18, 19 with headlights pointed at the dawn and running with your friends, you really never think you'll see an end to it all. I know better now of course, and as I get older I'm starting to lose some of those I ran with back in the day. The old adage that no matter how fast you run, you can't outrun father time is cruelly true.


...for sure

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
 
Back
Top