Me and my best friend Lillian And her blue tick hound dog Gideon, Sittin on the front porch cooling in the shade Singin every song the radio played Waitin for the Alabama sun to go down Two red dirt girls in a red dirt town Me and Lillian Just across the line and a little southeast of Meridian. She loved her brother I remember back when He was fixin up a '49 Indian He told her 'Little sister, gonna ride the wind Up around the moon and back again" He never got farther than Vietnam I was standin there with her When the telegram come for Lillian Now he's lyin somewhere About a million miles from Meridian. She said "There's not much hope for a red dirt girl Somewhere out there is a great big world That's where I'm bound And the stars might fall on Alabama But one of these days I'm gonna swing My hammer down Away from this red dirt town I'm gonna make a joyful sound" She grew up tall and she grew up thin Buried that old dog Gideon By a crepe myrtle bush in the back of the yard, Her daddy turned mean and her mama leaned hard Got in trouble with a boy from town Figured that she might as well settle down So she dug right in Across a red dirt line Just a little south east of Meridian Yes, she tried hard to love him but it never did take Just another way for the heart to break So she learned to bend One thing they don't tell you about the blues When you got em You keep on falling cause there ain't no bottom And there ain't no end, at least not for Lillian. Nobody knows when she started her skid, She was only twenty seven and she had five kids. Coulda' been the whiskey, Coulda been the pills, Coulda been the dream she was trying to kill. But there won't be a mention in the news of the world About the life and the death of a red dirt girl Named Lillian Who never got any farther across the line than Meridian Now the stars still fall on Alabama Tonight she finally laid That hammer down Without a sound In the red dirt ground
I left a note on his dresser And my old wedding ring With these few goodbye words How can I sing Goodbye old sleepy head I’m packing you in like I said
Take care of everything I’m leaving my wedding ring Don’t look for me I’ll get ahead Remember darling Don’t smoke in bed
Don’t look for me I’ll get ahead Remember darling Don’t smoke in bed Nina Simone wrote them & Holly Cole’s version is my favorite
Emmylou Harris wrote the song "Red Dirt Girl" which is the name of the album for which she won a Grammy in 2001 for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Emmylou Harris explained the background to this song on her website: "I am very, very inspired by the sound of words, and the names of places are so melodic and beautiful," she said. "I was passing through Meridian on my way down to record in New Orleans and that's what started it."
"But what really took it over the edge for me was on a night off in New Orleans we went to see Boys Don't Cry," Emmylou continued. "It unnerved me, not only because of the violence and homophobia, but also because of the underlying theme of how trapped those young people were. We all come into this world with so much potential and so many dreams. Who knows why some people escape and other people don't? The key idea is in the lyric, 'There won't be any mentions on The News of the World.'"
mitchchavis --- Hey, that Dylan Mr. Tambourine Man verse ("Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind") is my number one lyric of all-time, too. Then there's David Bowie's verse from the album Aladdin Sane -- "Jung the foreman prayed at work, that neither hands nor limbs would burst. It's hard enough to keep formation, mid this fallout saturation."
I hope you've heard "The Twins" version...from Live @ Benroyal Hall, from Brandi Carlile. ........................................ ..."she's my sister, and she floats like a bird in the canopy"
There was a boy A very strange enchanted boy They say he wandered very far, very far Over land and sea A little shy and sad of eye But very wise was he
And then one day A magic day he passed my way And while we spoke of many things Fools and kings This he said to me
"The greatest thing you’ll ever learn Is just to love and be loved in return"
"The greatest thing you’ll ever learn Is just to love and be loved in return"
One of the greatest ’message songs’ that I know of. My favourite version is by the legendary Nat King Cole. As is also this following collaboration of his.
Love is the Thing (by Cole/Jenkins)
What does it matter if we’re rich or we’re poor Fortune and fame they never endure For love is the thing, love is the thing
What good is money if your heart isn’t right Here in your arms I’m wealthy tonight When youth has its fling, love is the thing
While others fight for power We can walk among the flowers Knowing that the best thing in life Is the thing that’s free Love for you and me
And even though our castles crumble and fall We have the right to laugh at them all For love is still king, love is the thing
And even though our castles crumble and fall We have the right to laugh at them all For love is still king, love is the thing
There’s a poppy wreath on a soldier’s tomb, There’s a poppy snake in a dressing room. Poppy poison—poppy tourniquet, It slithers away on brass like mouthpiece spit.
Guess your dreams always end. They don't rise up just descend, But I don't care anymore, I've lost the will to want more, I'm not afraid not at all, I watch them all as they fall, But I remember when we were young.
Those with habits of waste, Their sense of style and good taste, Of making sure you were right, Hey don't you know you were right? I'm not afraid anymore, I keep my eyes on the door, But I remember...
Tears of sadness for you, More upheaval for you, Reflects a moment in time, A special moment in time, Yeah we wasted our time, We didn't really have time, But we remember when we were young.
And all God's angels beware, And all you judges beware, Sons of chance, take good care, For all the people not there, I'm not afraid anymore, I'm not afraid anymore, I'm not afraid anymore, Oh, I'm not afraid anymore.
Is this the best Joy Division lyric? Totally dark, totally bleak, yet somehow you can take the ambiguous ending in whichever way you prefer.
On a good day, I can take it as a form transcendence.
"I get the feeling that it's two against one I'm already fighting me, so what's another one The mirror is a trigger and your mouth's a gun Lucky for me, I'm not the only one" Brian Joseph Burton / Daniele Luppi / Jack White
"I get the feeling that it's two against one I'm already fighting me, so what's another one The mirror is a trigger and your mouth's a gun Lucky for me, I'm not the only one"
With all the crap going down in both the US and the the UK (mainly London thankfully) I can't help but be reminded of this Dylan lyric.
Only a Pawn in their Game
A bullet from the back of a bush Took Medgar Evers' blood A finger fired the trigger to his name A handle hid out in the dark A hand set the spark Two eyes took the aim Behind a man's brain But he can't be blamed He's only a pawn in their game A South politician preaches to the poor white man "You got more than the blacks, don't complain You're better than them, you been born with white skin, " they explain And the Negro's name Is used, it is plain For the politician's gain As he rises to fame And the poor white remains On the caboose of the train But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid And the marshals and cops get the same But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool He's taught in his school From the start by the rule That the laws are with him To protect his white skin To keep up his hate So he never thinks straight 'Bout the shape that he's in But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks And the hoofbeats pound in his brain And he's taught how to walk in a pack Shoot in the back With his fist in a clinch To hang and to lynch To hide 'neath the hood To kill with no pain Like a dog on a chain He ain't got no name But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught They lowered him down as a king But when the shadowy sun sets on the one That fired the gun He'll see by his grave On the stone that remains Carved next to his name His epitaph plain Only a pawn in their game
Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick The one that makes me scream she said The one that makes me laugh she said Threw her arms around my neck The Cure - Just Like Heaven
I’m first among equals - second to none I’m last of the best - you can bury the rest
It must be the winter of my discontent I wish you’d taken me with you wherever you went They talk all night - they talk all day Not for a second do I believe what they say
Mister Freud with his dreams and Mister Marx with his axe See the raw hide lash rip the skin off their backs
Black Rider Black Rider hold it right there The size of your cock will get you nowhere
What are these dark days I see in this world so badly bent How can I redeem the time - the time so idly spent
I feel the Holy Spirit inside and see the light that freedom gives I believe it’s within the reach of every man who lives
Key West is the place to be If you’re lookin’ for immortality Stay on the road – follow the highway sign Key West is fine and fair If you lost your mind, you’ll find it there
I’ve never lived in the land of Oz Or wasted my time with an unworthy cause
The day that they blew out the brains of the king Thousands were watching, no one saw a thing It happened so quickly - so quick by surprise Right there in front of everyone’s eyes
Greatest magic trick ever under the sun Perfectly executed, skillfully done
Ridin’ in the back seat, next to my wife Heading straight on into the afterlife I’m leaning to the left, got my head in her lap Oh Lord, I’ve been led into some kind of a trap
Goodbye, Charlie, goodbye Uncle Sam Frankly, Miss Scarlet, I don’t give a damn What is the truth and where did it go Ask Oswald and Ruby - they oughta know Shut your mouth, says the wise old owl Business is business and it’s murder most foul
You got me dizzy Miss Lizzy, you filled me with lead That magic bullet of yours has gone to my head
Zapruder’s film, I’ve seen that before Seen it thirty three times, maybe more It’s vile and deceitful - it’s cruel and it’s mean Ugliest thing that you ever have seen They killed him once, they killed him twice Killed him like a human sacrifice
The day that they killed him, someone said to me, “Son, The age of the anti-Christ has just only begun.”
Lenny Bruce is dead but his ghost lived on and on Never did get any Golden Globe award, never made it to Synanon
He was an outlaw, that’s for sure More of an outlaw than you ever were
Lenny Bruce is gone but his spirit’s living on and on.
Maybe he had some problems, maybe some things that he couldn’t work out But he sure was funny and he sure told the truth and he knew what he was talking about
Never robbed any churches, nor cut of any babies heads He just took the folks in high places and he shined a light in their beds
He’s on some other shore, he didn’t want to live anymore.
Lenny Bruce is dead but he didn’t commit any crime He just had the insight to rip off the lid before its time
I rode with him in a taxi once, only for a mile and a half Seemed like it took a couple of months
Lenny Bruce moved on and like the ones that killed him, gone.
They say he was sick ’cause he didn’t play by the rules He just showed the wise men of his day to be nothing more than fools
They stamped him and they labeled him like they do with pants and shirts He fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts
Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the brother that you never had.
----
It’s a song that just builds and builds. That last line must resonate with a lot of people.
Did they get you to trade Your heroes for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? ***Did you exchange A walk on part in the war For a lead role in a cage?***
2. The Clash: Death or Glory
And every gimmick hungry yob digging gold from rock ’n’ roll Grabs the mike to tell us he’ll die before he’s sold ***But I believe in this and it’s been tested by research He who fucks nuns will later join the church***
It's knowin' that your door is always open And your path is free to walk That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag rolled up And stashed behind your couch
With your silhouette when the sunlight dims Into your eyes where the moonlight swims And your matchbook songs and your gypsy hymns Who among them would try to impress you?
Stephen Sondheim wrote many great lyrics but perhaps this one (from Send in the Clowns) nails down relationship problems better than anyone?
’Don’t you love a farce? My fault, I fear I thought that you’d want what I want Sorry, my dear! But where are the clowns? Send in the clowns Don’t bother, they’re here’
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