Lights out tonight, trouble in the heartland
Got a head-on collision smashin' in my guts, man
I'm caught in a crossfire that I don't understand
But there's one thing I know for sure, girl
I don't give a damn for the same old played-out scenes
Baby, I don't give a damn for just the in-betweens
Honey, I want the heart, I want the soul, I want control right now
You better listen to me, baby
Talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night with a fear so real
You spend your life waiting for a moment that just don't come
Well, don't waste your time waiting
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
Keep pushin' 'til it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
Working in the fields 'til you get your back burned
Working 'neath the wheels 'til you get your facts learned
Baby, I got my facts learned real good right now
You better get it straight, darling
Poor man wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied 'til he rules everything
I wanna go out tonight, I wanna find out what I got
Well, I believe in the love that you gave me
I believe in the faith that could save me
I believe in the hope and I pray that some day
It may raise me above these
Badlands, you gotta live it everyday
Let the broken hearts stand as the price you've gotta pay
Keep pushin' 'til it's understood
And these badlands start treating us good
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
I wanna find one face that ain't looking through me
I wanna find one place, I wanna spit in the face of these
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Here in North East Ohio, back in 1803
James and Danny Heaton found the ore that was linin' Yellow Creek
They built a blast furnace here along the shore
And they made the cannonballs that helped the Union win the war
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down
Here, darlin', in Youngstown
Well, my daddy worked the furnaces
Kept 'em hotter than hell
I come home from 'Nam, worked my way to scarfer
A job that'd suit the devil as well
Taconite coke and limestone
Fed my children and make my pay
Them smokestacks reachin' like the arms of God
Into a beautiful sky of soot and clay
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
Sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down
Here, darlin', in Youngstown
Well, my daddy come on the Ohio works
When he come home from World War II
Now the yard's just scrap and rubble
He said, "Them big boys did what Hitler couldn't do"
Yeah, these mills they built the tanks and bombs
That won this country's wars
We sent our sons to Korea and Vietnam
Now we're wondering what they were dyin' for
Here in Youngstown
Here in Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down
Here, darlin', in Youngstown
From the Monongahela valley
To the Mesabi iron range
To the coal mines of Appalachia
The story's always the same
700 tons of metal a day
Now, sir, you tell me the world's changed
Once I made you rich enough
Rich enough to forget my name
In Youngstown
In Youngstown
My sweet Jenny, I'm sinkin' down
Here, darlin', in Youngstown
When I die, I don't want no part of heaven
I would not do heaven's work well
I pray the devil comes and takes me
To stand in the fiery furnaces of hell
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Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
End up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just to cover it up, now
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., now
Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hands
Send me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A.
Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said, "Son, if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said, "Son, don't you understand, now?"
I had a brother at Khe Sanh
Fighting off all the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms, now
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go
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Spanish Johnny drove in from the underworld last night
With bruised arms and broken rhythm in a beat-up old Buick
But dressed just like dynamite
He tried sellin' his heart to the hard girls over on Easy Street
But they sighed "Johnny it falls apart so easy
And you know hearts these days are cheap"
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The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways
Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays
Roy Orbison's singing for the lonely
Hey, that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside, darling
You know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey, you're alright
Oh, and that's alright with me
You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain
Waste your summer praying in vain
For a savior to rise from these streets
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Wow, many great ones posted above - I'll go with King Crimson Epitath, prescient for 1967 .. knowledge is a deadly friend when no one sets the rules
The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
The silence drowns the screams
Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl, a cracked and broken path
If we make it, we can all sit back and laugh
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Between the iron gates of fate
The seeds of time were sown
And watered by the deeds of those
Who know and who are known
Well, knowledge is a deadly friend
When no one sets the rules
The fate of all mankind I fear
Is in the hands of fools
The wall on which the prophets wrote
Is cracking at the seams
Upon the instruments of death
The sunlight brightly gleams
When every man is torn apart
With nightmares and with dreams
Will no one lay the laurel wreath
When silence drowns the screams
Confusion will be my epitaph
As I crawl, a cracked and broken path
And if we make it, we can all sit back and laugh
But I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Crying!
Crying!
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Yes, I fear tomorrow I'll be crying
Crying!
Crying!
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Brick baby! That's what I'm gonna throw upside your head! I said a brick baby....Albert Collins
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Oh, Lord have mercy on my wicked soul
I wouldn't mistreat you, baby, for my weight in gold
Charley Patton
I must admit I felt a little uneasy when she bent down to tie the laces of my shoes.
Dylan
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Brough to you by Iris DeMent. Let the Mystery Be
Some say they're going to a place called Glory, and I ain't saying it ain't a fact
But I've heard that I'm on the road to purgatory and I don't like the sound of that
Well, I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be.
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@jpwarren58 - 'Cadillac'? What happened to 'headlight'? 
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There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy
Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do, but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy
All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy
All you need is love
Winston O'Boogie
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I'm not selling molasses I'm not pushing tea
I don't appeal to the masses and they don't appeal to me
I'm not peddling fiction I'm not packaging youth
I've got a predilection for the truth
Quite a diatribe against the record industry and the dumbed down society by Graham Parker!
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Thanks for the posts.
If anything, I’ve discovered the scope of the emotional connection, intensity, and complexity of the poetry within this group that integrates with what we call "music." Some lyrics just make you smile. Others seek to produce a cognition where it appears, at least, that they (the songwriter/poet) "figured it out" and willing to help us work through the chaos. Or simply comment on the absurdity of it all. Then, there are lyrics that are just plain silly. Which is okay, too.
I recall that some of those messages resonated with me based on my life conditions and emotional state at the time. White Snake’s "And here I go again on my own" was one such personal message, back in 1986.
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Turn! Turn! Turn!", a monster #1 hit by the Byrds, also known as or subtitled "To Everything There Is a Season", is a song written by Pete Seeger in 1959.
The lyrics – except for the title, which is repeated throughout the song, and the final two lines – consist of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes
https://youtu.be/xVOJla2vYx8?feature=shared
To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to 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 to 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 to 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 to every purpose under heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late
Songwriters: Peter Seeger.
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XTX Respectable Street
It's in the order of their hedgerows
It's in the way their curtains open and close
It's in the look they give you down their nose
All part of decency's jigsaw, I suppose
Heard the neighbour slam his car door
Don't he realise this is Respectable Street?
What d'you think he bought that car for?
'Cause he realise this is Respectable Street
Now they talk about abortions
In cosmopolitan proportions to their daughters
As they speak of contraception
And immaculate receptions on their portable
Sony Entertainment Centers
Heard the neighbour slam his car door
Don't he realise this is Respectable Street?
What d'you think he bought that car for?
'Cause he realise this is Respectable Street
Now she speaks about diseases
And which sex position pleases best her old man
Avon lady fills the creases
When she manages to squeeze in past the caravans
That never move from their front gardens
Heard the neighbour slam his car door
Don't he realise this is Respectable Street?
What d'you think he bought that car for?
'Cause he realise this is Respectable Street
It's in the order of their hedgerows
It's in the way their curtains open and close
It's in the look they give you down their nose
All part of decency's jigsaw, I suppose
Sunday church and they look fetching
Saturday night, saw him retching over our fence
Bang the wall for me to turn down
I can see them with their stern frown as they dispense
The kind of look that says they're perfect
Heard the neighbour slam his car door
Don't he realise this is Respectable Street?
What d'you think he bought that car for?
'Cause he realise this is Respectable Street
He realise this is Respectable Street
He realise this is Respectable Street
He realise this is Respectable Street
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Abraham, Martin, and John ,
Writer/s:Richard Hollersung , sung by Dion
https://youtu.be/a5hFMy4pTrs?feature=shared
Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone
Has anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone
Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people
But it seems the good die young
But I just looked around and he’s gone
Didn’t you love the things that they stood for?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free
Someday soon, it’s gonna be
One day
Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin’
Up over the hill
With Abraham, Martin and John
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I wish I was a Cadillac on a Northbound train
Grateful Dead
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EVE OF DESTRUCTION
written by P F Sloan, sung by Barry McGuire
https://youtu.be/_38SWIIKITE?feature=shared
The Eastern world, it is explodin'
Violence flarin', bullets loadin'
You're old enough to kill but not for votin'
You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin'?
And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin'
But you tell me over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction
Don't you understand what I'm trying to say?
Can't you feel the fear that I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave
Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you, boy
But you tell me over and over and over again, my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction
Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin'
I'm sittin' here just contemplatin'
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation
Handful of Senators don't pass legislation
And marches alone can't bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin'
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin'
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction
Think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
Ah, you may leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it's the same old place
The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead but don't leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace
And you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend
You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction
You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction
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“This really blew my mind
The fact that me, an overfed long-haired, leaping gnome
Should be the star of a Hollywood movie”
War
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Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.
Grateful Dead
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I hate graveyards and old pawn shops
For they always bring me tears
I can't forgive the way they robbed me
Of my childhood souvenirs
John Prine
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anyone can write words. The magic is to dip them into a story, a narrative, a timeless legend so that they come alive.
I would have to go with McCartney, too many great lyrics
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From Kevin Gilbert's Tea For One,
Caught in the pouring rain he crouches beneath her awning
And there through the screen spies his lady of esteem
Not alone
And there's rapture on her face
Within a man's embrace
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I don’t rank things that way. The best I can do is list some of my favorite lyric writers (in no particular order): John Prine, Robbie Robertson, Dylan, J. Mitchell, P. Townshend, Richard Thompson, J. Browne, V. Morrison, Robert Hunter, James McMurty, Lucinda Williams and Patrick Park.
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@curiousjim
Hope your wife doesn't peruse this forum! ;o)
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Elvin Bishop, Traveling Shoes.
Gonna take Hank Aaron’s baseball bat and tenderize her head.
Not sure why this just popped into my brain just now, but there you go.
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- The Beatles, whose lyrics are often shrouded in pun, double entendre, or controversy … The ending chant to I Am a Walrus. I hear and like to believe it is Everybody’s Fucked Up, for it is fitting of the social state of affairs in the mid to late 60s and our current state of affairs which has made me sardonic. Realize admitting that was the lyric would have resulted in censorship back then. Others hear Everybody Smoke Pot another controversial lyric for the time resulting in possible censorship. I believe in a Playboy interview, John Lennon stated the chant is Everybody’s Got One but Lennon was always the practical joker and not always believable especially when asked to comment or critique his work. I love this chant for its pitch and cadence making it stick in my mind, as is your premise, but because we will never know if it was fluke or intent to muddle the clarity to create the controversy and hide a phrase that would result in censorship. What do you hear?
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Today's favorite song lyric of all time is from the Band.
"Then Daniel took the harp and went high on the hill
And he blew across the meadow like a whippoorwill
He played out his heart just the time to pass
But as he looked to the ground, he noticed no shadow did he cast"
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Learning to Fly by Tom Petty...
And the Sun went down as I crossed the hill
And the town lit up, the world got still...
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"Little old lady got mutilated late last night" Werewolves of London WZ 1978
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Sorry about the length of this post, but Frank had a lot to say back in 1966, with regards to the world and it is sad that so little has changed in that regard.
If you haven't heard it. Do.
Trouble Every Day
Song by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention ‧ 1966
Well I’m about to get sick
From watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
Is just another rotten mess
And when it’s gonna change, my friends
Is anybody’s guess
So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
Wednesday I watched the riot...
I seen the cops out on the street
Watched ’em throwin’ rocks and stuff
And chokin’ in the heat
Listened to reports
About the whisky passin’ ’round
Seen the smoke & fire
And the market burnin’ down
Watched while everybody
On his street would take a turn
To stomp and smash and bash and crash
And slash and bust and burn
And I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
Well you can cool it
You can heat it...
’Cause, baby, I don’t need it...
Take your TV tube and eat it
’N all that phony stuff on sports
’N all the unconfirmed reports
You know I watched that rotten box
Until my head began to hurt
From checkin’ out the way
The newsmen say they get the dirt
Before the guys on channel so-and-so
And further they assert
That any show they’ll interrupt
To bring you news if it comes up
They say that if the place blows up
They’ll be the first to tell
Because the boys they got downtown
Are workin’ hard and doin’ swell
And if anybody gets the news
Before it hits the street
They say that no one blabs it faster
Their coverage can’t be beat
And if another woman driver
Gets machine-gunned from her seat
They’ll send some joker with a brownie
And you’ll see it all complete
So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’
Hopin’ for the best
Even think I’ll go to prayin’
Every time I hear ’em sayin’
That there’s no way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
No way to delay
That trouble comin’ every day
Hey you know something people
I’m not black
But there’s a whole lots a times
I wish I could say I’m not white
Well, I seen the fires burnin’
And the local people turnin’
On the merchants and the shops
Who used to sell their brooms and mops
And every other household item
Watched the mob just turn and bite ’em
And they say it served ’em right
Because a few of them are white
And it’s the same across the nation
Black & white discrimination
They’re yellin’ "; You can’t understand me!"
And all the other crap they hand me
In the papers and TV
’N all that mass stupidity
That seems to grow more every day
Each time you hear some nitwit say
He wants to go and do you in
Because the color of your skin
Just don’t appeal to him
(No matter if it’s black or white)
Because he’s out for blood tonight
You know we gotta sit around at home
And watch this thing begin
But I bet there won’t be many left
To see it really end
’Cause the fire in the street
Ain’t like the fire in my heart
And in the eyes of all these people
Don’t you know that this could start
On any street in any town
In any state if any clown
Decides that now’s the time to fight
For some ideal he thinks is right
And if a million more agree
There ain’t no great society
As it applies to you and me
Our country isn’t free
And the law refuses to see
If all that you can ever be
Is just a lousy janitor
Unless your uncle owns a store
You know that five in every four
Just one amount and nothin’ more
Don’t watch the rats go across the floor
And make up songs about being poor
Blow you harmonica son!
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Pauk Butterfield's:
"I'm drunk again, I've been been drinkin' Gordons gin"
Who doesn't like a good lawsuit lyric?
DeKay
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#1 "it’s better to burn out than it is to rust" Neil Young
#2 "people are strange" Doors
#3 "you can’t always get what you want but if you try real hard you get what you need" Stones
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"I’ve got nasty habits I take my tea at three"
Gotta be a Brit to get this....lol
Live With Me, The Rolling Stones.
"But I can still paint the town
All the colour of your evening gown
While I’m waiting for your blonde hair
To turn grey"
Mick Jagger
Evening Gown
Too much Zappa to list
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@dekay
The best of the best. Tough call between these two.
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It's a tie between...
And the colored girls go
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo
Doo
And...
Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes
Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes
DeKay
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I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float...
...Into the mystic
Tonight when I chase the dragon
The water may change to cherry wine
And the silver will turn to gold
Time out of mind
Oh, it seemed like a holy place, protected by amazing grace
And we would sing right out loud, the things we could not say
We thought we could change this world with words like love and freedom
We were part of the lonely crowd inside the Sad Café
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