Greatest Song lyrics

[alan1chef]

If the scope of this thread is going to become so narrow that you cannot include all music, then the title should be changed, because you cannot call this a discussion of "Greatest Song Lyrics" and then exclude all music except new age British bands of the early 1980's or whatever narrow scope you wish to include.

[rxpharm]

alan1chef, this post was started by Mirimark, and the only reason why there are more British songs is because those members are more active posting in here. If other members with other favorites post you will see things change.

[alan1chef]

Naang Faa, there is a lot of British music I thoroughly enjoy, most of it probably before you were born. I started to listen to music in the late 1950's, thanks to older siblings who were in high school at the time and I have been a music lover ever since. I just cannot seem to get a grasp on hip hop.

[jimslim]

(alan1chef @ Feb. 26 2008,03:23) I will take it your comment speaks to all American rock music, from the roots in the 1930's up to today, covering all genres?

My greatest love is soul music 1960s - present day which is probably 100% American (well my collection certainly is )
But I think American Rock has become bland , British Rock has more of a cutting edge nowdays .

[Naang Faa]

Worra you on?

I have posted everything from Northern Soul (American music) 60's Brit pop,70's pop and
classical music written in 1680 something....and you call me narrow minded just because
i rate American rock below the Eurovision song contest!!!!!
don't make me come over there!
x

[stogie bear]

Erm... It's important here to remind ourselves that the Brits (actually the English) invented having a good time.

Americans were very, very restricted until the Brits showed them how it was done in the early 60's.

Don't forget that it was The Beatles who invented The Monkees and it was Clodagh Rogers who allowed Joni Mitchell to get away with the awful dross she was passing off as 'hip!'

[Naang Faa]

My greatest love is soul music 1960s - present day which is probably 100% American (well my collection certainly is )
But I think American Rock has become bland , British Rock has more of a cutting edge nowdays .

I wish i just written that...
x

[alan1chef]

Yes, Stogie, and it was George Harrison who said his greatest influence was Carl Perkins. However, you are right about the English inventing having a good time. The American TV censors did not even like Elvis shaking his leg.

[jimslim]

Yep even Forrest Gump had to teach him that

[Guest]

Americans were very, very restricted until the Brits showed them how it was done in the early 60's.

other way around mate... all the early 60s brit pop was totally inspired by white and black america.
Buddy Holly, Eddie cochran, link ray, Elvis and all the black RnB, soul from Chicago, Detroit etc

There was an album out a few years back called John Lennon's Juke box- which is basically all American music.

The best rock band of all time in my opinion is 'the stones' - most of their early albums were just Black Blues and Rn B covers. They never hid the fact that they were just copying chess records stuff.Same goes for Zepplin, Cream, Animals, Yardbirds, kinks, the who list goes on

Not sure Bowie would have progressed the way he did, if it wasn't for the velvet underground and Iggy pop.

I think Pete Townsend siad it was hearing link ray for the first time inspired hin to play the guitar. the 60 brit pop was just marketed better to a white audience, Rock N roll was basically white mans R n b. The sound was taken and cleaned up for middle class white audiences

The real roots of all rock comes from black America..jazz to r n B to soul but what keeps the music fresh and alive is that the different countries and scenes influence each other.

there would be no stones without chess and quite possibly no stooges without the stones which would mean no punk. Sure even Johnny Rotten sang an Alice Copper song for his audition for the sex pistols.


Same goes for ska and Reggae it was American soul and r&b which was a vital ingredient in the sound.


both countries have musically being very influential on each other and thats why i like brit and US rock.

[Grinder]

And if it wasn't for Shakin' Stevens... er... I'll get me coat...

[alan1chef]

Very well said, orgasmaddict.

[Otho]

One for you trivia fans, and because he's been mentioned a few times - the haunting electric guitar at the start of Stir It Up, the Wailers' first smash hit, is played by Carl Perkins!

The story is that they couldn't get the sound they wanted, recorded it over and over with loads of different guitarists, then Bob Marley heard a Carl Perkins record on the radio, asked for him and they flew him over.

I read an interview where Carl Perkins described how he was totally nonplussed by the whole event. A good ole boy from Tennessee, he'd never heard of Bob Marley, thought he was really scary when he met him and couldn't understand a word he was saying, knew nothing about reggae, didn't like London (where it was recorded) and had certainly never spent time with Jamaicans who smoked ganja 24/7.

Great record though.

[Otho]

I have to agree with Stogie Bear and one of the other posters who name Bob Dylan as the greatest songwriter.

Here's my favourite lyric, Tangled Up In Blue from Blood On The Tracks, the same album that Stogie's choice was from.

It's such a vivid story and I love the way he changes the point of view. Some of it is related by "I", some of it is "he" and some of it is "them". And the verse about how he meets her again in a hooker bar might ring a bell with some of us!

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
With the feeling it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I was lucky 'nough to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.

She was workin' in a topless place
When I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
Later on as the crowd thinned out
I was just about to do the same,
She was standing there at the back of my chair
Saying "Honey don't I know your name?"
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie up the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin' back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.

[Lefty]

Since no one else mentioned him, I'll have to make a plug for who I believe is the greatest lyricist of all time, Leonard Cohen, who is Canadian. His deep, haunting voice really does it for me too.

Perhaps my favorite Cohen song is The Future, though I like many if not all of his stuff.

"The Future"

Give me back my broken night
my mirrored room, my secret life
it's lonely here,
there's no one left to torture
Give me absolute control
over every living soul
And lie beside me, baby,
that's an order!
Give me crack and anal sex
Take the only tree that's left
and stuff it up the hole
in your culture
Give me back the Berlin wall
give me Stalin and St Paul
I've seen the future, brother:
it is murder.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant

You don't know me from the wind
you never will, you never did
I'm the little jew
who wrote the Bible
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival
Your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold:
It's over, it ain't going
any further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
you feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the future:
it is murder

Things are going to slide ...

There'll be the breaking of the ancient
western code
Your private life will suddenly explode
There'll be phantoms
There'll be fires on the road
and the white man dancing
You'll see a woman
hanging upside down
her features covered by her fallen gown
and all the lousy little poets
coming round
tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson
and the white man dancin'

Give me back the Berlin wall
Give me Stalin and St Paul
Give me Christ
or give me Hiroshima
Destroy another fetus now
We don't like children anyhow
I've seen the future, baby:
it is murder

Things are going to slide ...

When they said REPENT REPENT ...