Every once in a while, a set of lyrics will strike me in a certain way - either as a source of meaning, or by their relevance to my own current situation. As I post these, I think you'll know what I mean.

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There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain

All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more

stuhistoryguy...what a great song you selected! A friend and I were talking not long ago how those Beatles songs so often (always?) redefined brilliance using such simple and tangilble terms.
If I may barge into the theme here... - Here's one I heard the other day - I thought the words were just awesome (and I'm probably the only one who'd never heard the tune before ):

"Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover
And you want to travel with her.
And you want to travel blind,
And you know that she will trust you,
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.
And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower.
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors, then,
Until the sea shall free them..."

There are so many great singers and good lyrics in this world. And I probably haven't listened to more than 5% of them all, but as Gatsby mentioned "Suzanne" and Leonard Cohen is one of my favorite poets, I take the liberty to post another bunch of his verses:

Like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
Like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If i, if i have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If i, if i have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.

Like a baby, stillborn,
Like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.

But i swear by this song
And by all that i have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
He said to me, "you must not ask for so much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
She cried to me, "hey, why not ask for more?"

Oh like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

WARNING: Some of you may find this in very poor taste.

I just heard a "classic" hardcore song on the radio: "Institutionalized" by The Suicidal Tendencies. I tell you, it really hit home - this is almost exactly how I felt at that age. But for the grace of G-d, I was never interned. Nothing really wrong with me, but, as I would bet many of you could confirm, the "different" are often reacted to in an extreme manner.

This is very "dialoguey", so much of it does not read as verse.


Sometimes I try to do things, and it just don't turn out the way I wanted to
and I get real frustrated, it's like, I take my time and I try real hard, but
no matter what I do and no matter what I try it never works out, it's like I
concentrate on it real hard, but it never works out, it's like I need some
time to figure these things out, but there's always someone there going:
- Hey Mike, you know, we been noticing you've been having alot of problems
lately, you know, and like maybe you should talk about it, you'd feel alot
better.
And I go:
- No, it's ok, I now have some problems, I'll figure it out myself, just
leave me alone I'll figure it out.
And they go:
- Why don't you talk about it, you'll feel alot better?
And I go:
- No, I don't want to, just leave me alone, I'll figure it out myself!
And they keep on bugging me and it builds up inside, it builds up inside...

So you're gonna be institutionalized
You'll come out brainwashed with bloodshot eyes
You won't have any say
They'll brainwash you until you see their way

I'm not crazy - institutionalized
You're the one who's crazy - institutionalized
You're driving me crazy - institutionalized

They stuck me in an institution
Said it was the only solution
To give me the needed professional help
To protect me from the enemy, myself

I was sitting in my room, and I was like staring at the walls thinking about
everything but then again I was thinking about nothing, and then my mom came
in and I didn't notice she was there and she calls my name and I didn't hear
her and then she started screaming:
- Mike, Mike!
And I go:
- What, what's the matter?
She goes:
- What's the matter with you?
I say:
- Nothing mom.
She goes:
- Don't tell me nothing, you're on drugs!
I go:
- No mom, I'm not on drugs, I'm ok, I'm just thinking, you know, why don't
you get me a Pepsi?
She goes:
- No, you're on drugs, you're crazy, normal people won't be acting that way!
I go:
- Mom, I'm all right, I'm just thinking, you know, so why don't you, like
give me a Pepsi?
And she goes:
- No, you're crazy!
All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn't give it to me,
just one Pepsi.

They give you a white shirt with long sleeves
Tied around you're back, you're treated like thieves
Drug you up because they're lazy
It's too much work to help a crazy

I'm not crazy - institutionalized
You're the one who's crazy - institutionalized
You're driving me crazy - institutionalized

They stuck me in an institution
Said it was the only solution
To give me the needed professional help
To protect me from the enemy, myself

I was sitting in my room and my mom and my dad came in and they pulled up a
chair and they sat down, they go:
- Mike, we need to talk to you.
And I said:
- Okay, what's the matter?
They go:
- Well me and your mom, we been noticing lately you've been having alot of
problems, and you haven't been acting like yourself, and we're afraid that
you're going to hurt somebody, and we're afraid that you're gonna hurt
yourself, so we decided that it would be in your best interest if we put
you somewhere where you could get the help that you need...
And I said:
- Wait, what are we talking about?! We decided?! My best interest?! How can
you know, how can you say what my best interest is? What are you trying to
say? I'm crazy? When I went to your schools, I went to your churches, I
went to your institutional learning facilities. So how can you say that I'm
crazy?

They say they're gonna fix my brain
Alleviate my suffering and my pain
But by the time they fix my head
Mentally I'll be dead

I'm not crazy - institutionalized
You're the one who's crazy - institutionalized
You're driving me crazy - institutionalized

They stuck me in an institution
Said it was the only solution
To give me the needed professional help
To protect me from the enemy, myself

It doesn't matter, i'm trying to get hit by a car anyway.

This is an old Malcolm Mckinney song which I limit myself to hearing once every few years, for a lot of reasons. The tune is as wrenching and simple as the lyrics.



Sometimes in the morning
I catch a falling dream

disappearing scene
I think about a someone that I will never see again
and now it's only me again

Sometimes in the morning
I think I hear a phrase echo through the haze
And it's just beyond my vision
Something that she said one night
Before we went to bed one night


And sometimes in the morning
When I go back to sleep
Trying hard to keep
All my memories in motion
Wishing she were here my love
Whispering in my ear my love

Sometimes...

Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Suzanne, the plans they made made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to

I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Won't you look down upon me Jesus
You got to help me make a stand
You just got to see me through another day
My body's achin' and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way

Been walkin' my mind to an easy time
My back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows
It'll turn your head around
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line
To talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Wonderful song and lyrics. James Taylor rocks!

This is the day
Of the expanding man
That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers
Wild gamblers
That's all in the past

You call me a fool
You say it's a crazy scheme
This one's for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I'll make it this time
I'm ready to cross that fine line

Chorus:
I'll learn to work the saxophone
I'll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whisky all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues

My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love
With those of my kind
Libations
Sensations
That stagger the mind

I crawl like a viper
Through these suburban streets
Make love to these women
Languid and bittersweet
I'll rise when the sun goes down
Cover every game in town
A world of my own
I'll make it my home sweet home

(Chorus)

This is the night
Of the expanding the man
I take one last drag
As I approach the stand
I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too long
This brother is free
I'll be what I want to be

Oooh, Steely Dan - 'Deacon Blues' I believe it's called.

I'm watching TV and this commercial comes on for a jewelry store that is playing this wonderful song. I google it and find it's sung by Dusty Springfield, so I download it to my IPod and listen to this beautiful song.

What Are You Doing For the Rest of Your Life

What are you doing the rest of your life?
North and south and east and west of your life
I have only one request of your life
That you spend it all with me

All the seasons and the times of your days
All the nickels and the dimes of your days
Let the reasons and rhymes of your days
All begin and end with me

I want to see your face
In every kind of light
In fields of dawn
And forests of the night
And when you stand before the candles on a cake
Oh, let me be the one to hear the silent wish you make

Those tomorrow's waiting deep in your eyes
And the world of love you keep in your eyes
I'll awaken what's asleep in your eyes
It may take a kiss or two

Through all of my life
Summer, winter, spring and fall of my life
All I ever will recall of my life
Is all of my life with you, ooh, ooh

Yep, that's an old jazz standard, recorded by just about everybody under the sun including Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Streisand, tons of others.
I do like Dusty Springfield's version a lot. In fact I like just about everything she did.

I was asked to make a drawing inspired by the theme "Amore" and while I saw a lot of my friends doing either broken-hearted, lost love things or very cheesy sort of Hallmark card romance, I chose passion as my theme. I was struck by how many people remove lust from the equation of love because a person can have lust without having love, and how ironic it seemed to me because passion and (in my mind) true love almost always has that element of lust in it. It SHOULD be lusty. It should be passionate and not just physically. And the lyrics from a Janis Ian song were included in my drawing. "Mine is yours for free if you'll be in love with me." The song isn't really about passion so much as desparation, I think, but still the song is in my head now.

I haven't been loved by a man in quite a while
You know it ain't easy making me smile
Friends have their lovers
Men on a string
There must be something terribly wrong with me
Sometimes I feel like I haven't learned anything

How do you do,
Would you like to be friends?

No, I just want a bed for the night
Someone to tell me they care
You can fake it, that's all right
In the morning I won't be here

It's a sacrificial alter
And I'm laying down my head
And I'm telling you up front
I haven't much to give

Is that how it starts,
Or shall I sing and dance?
Give me a chance

How do you do, do you want to be friends?
Yes, that might be very nice,
Maybe we'll fall in love
Every body has its price
Mine is yours for free
If you'll be in love with me

I haven't been loved by a man in quite a while
You know it ain't easy making me smile
All my friends have their lovers
They've got men on a string
There must be something terribly wrong with me

How do you do, would you like to be friends...

Change the amount of time mentioned and insert Ohio where it says 'New York' and I'm liking this song more than plenty today ...

Well, things were spinnin' round me
And all my thoughts were cloudy
And I had begun to doubt all the things that were me.
Been in so many places,
You know I've run so many races
And looked into the empty faces of the people of the night -
And something is just not right, cause I know...

That I gotta get out of here
Im so alone.
Don't you know that I gotta get out of here
'cause New York's not my home.

Though all the streets are crowded
There's somethin' strange about it,
I lived there 'bout a year and I never once felt at home.
I thought I'd make the big time,
I learned a lot of lessons awful quick
And now I'm tellin' you
That they were not the nice kind.
And its been so long since I have felt fine, that's the reason

That I gotta get out of here,
I'm so alone.
Don't you know that I gotta get out of here
'cause New York's not my home....

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
That you got someone to blame

You say
One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
It's one love
We get to share it
It leaves you baby
If you don't care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without

Well it's too late
Tonight
To drag the past out
into the light
We're one
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head
Did I ask you too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well, we hurt each other
Then we'll do it again

You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should

One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers

One life
But we're not the same
We got to carry each other
Carry each other

My favourite hard nosed Janis Ian song...

I'm leaving by night
I'm leaving alone
I'm leaving it lie
When you waken I'll be gone
I would not beg for me
As I would not beg for you
Though I'd like to be the one
To see you through
Every step you have taken
Disappears with the tide
You're torn up and shaken
With changing your mind
You haven't got the grace
To say you'll finally decide
And you haven't got the strength
To stay and fight
Those people who surround you
Only want to see you weak enough to crawl
They'll lie for you decide for you
And buy up all your rights and all your wrongs
And they'll try to stop your singing
In the middle of your song
For they do not want you free
And they do not make you strong
But only drag you down
In the hole they're coming from
They say you are foolish in wanting the sun
Say you are selfish in learning to run
And they'll tell you that the darkness
Is a blessing in disguise
For you never have to notice
If you're sighted or you're blind
And they'll do their best
To keep you from the light
You're more than beginning
You're learning to fly
You feel like you're falling
But it passes in time
I hate to see a friend
Go down in flames without a song
So I'm waiting by the doorway
But I will not linger long
I'm leaving by night
I'm leaving alone
I'm leaving it lie
When you waken I'll be gone
I would not beg for me
As I could not beg for you
But I'd like to be the one
To see you through...

This not-exactly-new song played at just the very right-est moment this evening/morning (whatever it is )...

Now that shes back in the atmosphere
With drops of jupiter in her hair.
She acts like summer and walks like rain
Reminds me that theres time to change.
Since the return from her stay on the moon
She listens like spring and she talks like June...

Tell me - did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way, to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?

Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star,
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking at yourself out there?

Now that she's back from that soul vacation.
Tracing her way through the constellation...
She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo;
Reminds me that there's time to grow...

Now that she's back in the atmosphere
Im afraid that she might think of me as plain ol' Jane,
Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land...

Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back to the Milky Way?
And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?
Was it everything you wanted to find?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken?
Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong?
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance, five-hour phone
Conversation or
The best soy latte that you ever had . . . and me?

Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back toward the Milky Way?

Good choice, Gats!

Have you ever been close to tragedy
Or been close to folks who have
Have you ever felt a pain so powerful
So heavy you collapse

I've never had to knock on wood
But I know someone who has
Which makes me wonder if I could
It makes me wonder if
I've never had to knock on wood
And I'm glad I haven't yet
Because I'm sure it isn't good
That's the impression that I get

Have you ever had the odds stacked up so high
You need a strength most don't possess
Or has it ever come down to do or die
You've got to rise above the rest

I've never had to knock on wood
But I know someone who has
Which makes me wonder if I could
It makes me wonder if
I've never had to knock on wood
And I'm glad I haven't yet
Because I'm sure it isn't good
that's the impression that I get

I'm not a coward, I've just never been tested
I'd like to think that if I was, I would pass
Look at the tested and think there but for the grace go I
Might be a coward,
I'm afraid of what I might find out

I've never had to knock on wood
But I know someone who has
Which makes me wonder if I could
It makes me wonder if
I've never had to knock on wood
And I'm glad I haven't yet
Because I'm sure it isn't good
That's the impression that I get

Load up on guns and bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
She's over bored and self assured
Oh no, I know a dirty word

Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello!

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yay!

I'm worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello!

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido
Yay!

And I forget just why I taste
Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard, it's hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, hello!

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido

A denial!

My tea's gone cold, I wondering why I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window and I can't see at all
And even if I could it'd all be grey, but your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad
I drank too much last night, got bills to pay, my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today, I'm late for work again
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply that I might not last the day
And then you call me and it's not so bad, it's not so bad and
I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life
Push the door, I'm home at last and I'm soaking through and through
Then you handed me a towel and all I see is you
And even if my house falls down now, I wouldn't have a clue
Because you're near me and
I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life.
I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life.

One of my favourites...

You with the sad eyes
Dont be discouraged
Oh I realize
Its hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And thats why I love you
So dont be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

Show me a smile then,
Dont be unhappy, cant remember
When I last saw you laughing
If this world makes you crazy
And youve taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know Ill be there

And Ill see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And thats why I love you
So dont be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

(when I last saw you laughing)
If this world makes you crazy
And you've taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know Ill be there

And Ill see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And thats why I love you
So dont be afraid to let them show

Your true colors
True colors
True colors
Shining through

Oh, yes, I have a lot of great memories of Cyndi from back in the day. What a great lady.

This may be crude, but, with the exception of line 3, this encapsulates my philosophy of romantic relationships pretty well.

I don't want you to be no slave
I don't want you to work all day
I don't want you to be true
I just want to make love to you

I don't want you to wash my clothes
I don't want you to keep my home
I don't want your money too
I just want to make love to you

Well I can see by the way that you switch and walk
And I can tell by the way that you baby talk
And I know by the way that you treat your man
I wanna love you baby, it's a cryin' shame

I don't want you to bake my bread
I don't want you to make my bed
I don't want you cause I'm sad and blue
I just want to make love to you