Do you have a prized or favorite lyric?

[Jack of All Parades]

Alex, feeling most up to answering your query. Yes there is a definite contrast but for me not in the way you would like to see it. As I wrote both are exquisite reveries, one from the back end of life and the other as adult relationships are beginning. Both deal with human sexuality and longing but approach the topic in different ways; Dylan with his elongated stanzas that scroll back through time and Morrissey with his elliptical, curt lines that patch intelligently together lines, quotes and references much in the manner that an Eliot or Pound poem is pieced together[and no I am not saying he writes as well as Eliot or Pound, only that he incorporates in this lyric their frequent lyrical technique of pastiche.].

I would not belittle Morrissey's lines. As Simon Godard shows in his Mozipedia it starts right at the first line with the emphatic and cold image of a punctured bicycle tire- not 'she loves you' or 'well I told you once and I told you twice'. That deflated tire spawns a beautiful reverie of the narrator's youth and sexual awakening. What I appreciate are the quotes from the film "Sleuth, the references to the film "A Taste of Honey"-nothing to wear. That era in England with Albert Finney, Alan Sillitoe, John Osborne, the Angry Young Men like Kingsley Amis and Philip Larkin and the realist fiction such as "The Sporting Life" or "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" has always touched me. For me I love the way this lyric takes you to that part and time in England- working class Northern country with its desperation, repression, anger, class consciousness and yet a great energy. This song catches quite succinctly that time for me and as I said in the previous post it is truly 'charming'- a great song, musically and lyrically. I think you dismiss too quickly Morrissey's lyric talent. Whether the song is about heterosexual love or homoerotic love, it is still a human relationship in my eyes and not 'fey'. I would also argue that as he has aged his writing has reflected that aging, maturing in its scope, though like all writers he will still from time to time touch back upon familiar themes.

[alexv]

Christopher, I like Larkin too, and Amis and a lot of what you mention, and if the Morrissey lyric takes you there, go with it. There's no telling what any one of us finds in a lyric. And my objection to the lyric is not because of its homoerotic context. There are many different ways of addressing human relationships.

My objection, just to keep our conversation going in a non-confrontational way (yes?), is that this particular type of human relationship is addressed in the song in a juvenile, silly way. For moi.

What are the lyrics that you are comparing to the sacred Dylan? They are really just a few lines:

Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate.
Will nature make a man of me yet?

Why pamper life's complexities
when the leather runs smooth
on the passenger seat?

I would go out tonight.
but I haven't got a stitch to wear.
This man said “It's gruesome
that someone so handsome should care”.

A jumped-up pantry boy
who never knew his place
he said “Return the ring”.
He knows so much about these things.
He knows so much about these things.

And then this charming man and this charming car!!

I just don't see this as "an exquisite reverie" on the beginning of an adult relationship, worthy of comparison to Bobby. It does deal with human sexuality and longing, but you view Morrissey's lyrics as "elliptical, curt lines that patch intelligently together lines, quotes and references in the manner of Pound etc."? "I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear.
This man said “It's gruesomethat someone so handsome should care”. What is artful about that? And "A jumped-up pantry boy who never knew his place he said “Return the ring”. He knows so much about these things."? Huh? And when I hear "Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate Will nature make a man of me yet?", I think "bad poetry", and my mind immediately calls to mind a silly, immature teenager staring at him or herself in the mirror. "Pastiche"? There's artful pastiche and then there's this which, when looked at as a lyric, without the music, is just plain silly, for moi.

As I said, Christopher, since this is pop music we are talking about, the whole silly mess is redeemed by the melody and the song. It works, and for me, back in the day when I loved this and lots of other Smiths songs, the effect was always the same: "Damn I love this song, and damn those lyrics are silly". And I had probably just put down an Amis book (pere) with a satisfied smirk on my face.

The other thing, strangely enough, that played into the overall impact of the lyric, was the singing. Morrissey's singing style made the teenage angst side of this song, and lots of others, come out even more. It was part of the act, and it worked, because it served, at least to me, to say that he was in on the joke.

Anyway, Christopher, one man's Amis-evoking lyric can very well be another man's whatever. And it clearly is in this case. But, we both, I think, love The Smiths and Dylan and that is a good thing.

[Otis Westinghouse]

As ever I wouldn't separate the lyrics from the song, and I think The Smiths achieved something close to perfection with that song. Moz's wit is arch in that very northern (specifically north-western/Lancastrian) way, call it camp if you will, but for me it's the potent blend of archness, pathos and poignancy that does it. And the shocking originality. Who else could start a song contrasting having a puncture and feeling inadequate as a male with the charming man and his car in this way? No-one. You can't cite a Dylan line that does this, it's another context entirely. I'm not sure Dylan has ever written a single line as jaw-droppingly magnificent as 'Why pamper life's complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?' It's like an entire novel compressed into one line. Hard to cite a better lyric in the history of popular music, I would assert.

[alexv]

I hear what you are saying, Otis. I don't agree, obviously, but I hear you. I say we move on...

How about this lyric, from someone who reminds be a bit of Mr. Morrissey, but whose lyrics I like a lot better. If only he had a Johnny Marr of his own:

Go or Go Ahead--Rufus Wainwright

Thank you for this bitter knowledge
Guardian angels who left me stranded
It was worth it, feeling abandoned
Makes one hardened but what has happened to love

Got me writing lyrics on postcards
Then in the evenings looking at stars
But the brightest of the planets is Mars
What has happened to love

So I will opt for the big white limo
Vanity fairgrounds and rebel angels
Can't be trusted with feathers so hollow
Heaven's invention, steel eyed vampires of love
You see over me, I'll never know
What you've shown to other eyes

Go or go ahead and surprise me
Say you've lead the way to a mirage
Go or go ahead and just try me

Nowhere's now here smelling of junipers
Fell off the hay bales, I'm over the rainbows
But oh Medusa kiss me and crucify
This unholy notion of the mythic powers of love
Look in her eyes, look in her eyes
Forget about the ones that are crying
Look in her eyes, look in her eyes
Forget about the ones that are crying

Go or go ahead (x3)
And surprise me
Go or go ahead (x3)
And just try me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYb5vyBuD3E

Christopher, you know who this reminds me of, vaguely, but it's there: Auden.

[Jack of All Parades]

I hear you Alex, and like you will move on to yet another good lyric, but I do remain firmly on Otis's side when it comes to that Smith's lyric-long may I have both The Smiths and Dylan to listen to on my internal tape loop. That Rufus song is top notch- I have always loved the insouciant playfulness throughout the stanzas and that one image of the brightest planet, Mars, outshining Venus, as they continue their eternal courtship from mythology. The whole playfulness with classical mythology is wonderful in that lyric. And yes most reminiscent of old Wystan. They would have made quite a pair in both their primes down in the Village. Oddly I was thinking of him this week as I have been immersed in a collection of Byron's poems working my way yet again through Childe Harold and Auden came immediately to mind- in fact tonight I will pull off the shelf my collection of his Poems from the 30's and revisit his Letter to Byron. The playfulness you note in Rufus's lyric is definitely reflected in many of Auden's love lyrics from that time- "Lay Your Faithless Head on my Shoulder' etc.

The earlier Fountains of Wayne song you cited was an inspired choice and definitely out country's EC hands down. I offer this one as further evidence of the genuine lyric talent of Misters Schleslinger and Collingwood:

"Valley Winter Song"

Hey Sweet Annie

Don't take it so bad

You know the summer's coming soon

Though the interstate is choking under salt and dirty sand

And it seems the sun is hiding from the moon

Your daddy told you

When you were a girl

The kind of things that come to those who wait

So give it a rest girl

Take a deep breath girl

And meet me at the Bay State tonight

And the snow is coming down

On our New England town

And it's been falling all day long

What else is new

What could I do

I wrote a valley winter song

To play for you

And late December

Can drag a man down

You feel it deep in your gut

Short days and afternoons spent pottering around

In a dark house with the windows painted shut

Remember New York

Staring outside

As reckless winter made its way

From State Island to the Upper West Side

Whiting out our streets along the way

And the snow is coming down

On our New England town

And it's been falling all day long

What else is new

What can I do

But sing this valley winter song

I wrote for you

Fountains of Wayne

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvTNMdDl ... re=related
enjoy the shots of my Brookline neighborhood!

Definitely the change of season, but this song always catches my breath. It is piquant, melodic, melancholy, touching and just a great listen every time I hear it. These two men have quietly built up a catalog of intelligent, literate but yet tuneful pop songs over the last 15 years. Rarely any discussion of them but they definitely merit appreciation.

[Jack of All Parades]

"The Christmas Song" Mel Torme

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cubgWvBfs24

The proverbial holiday song- 'tis the season! Of all this is perhaps my favorite as it balances so delicately the line between saccharine and wonderful. I like how it encapsulates all 'from one to ninety-two' and plays on the holiday's appeal for all. It is not hurt that Nat Cole nails it. It is the one holiday song that each season I still look forward to hearing for the umpteenth time. Unless perhaps it is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ7iyRJrFg8
Congratulations on her election into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

[Jack of All Parades]

"Who Knows Where the Time Goes"-- Sandy Denny[Fairport Convention]


Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving
But how can they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?
Sad, deserted shore, your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know it's time for them to go
But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?
And I am not alone while my love is near me
I know it will be so until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter and then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time
For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?

Perhaps it is the pending change of season, the dwindling of light and time or perhaps the loss last night of my wife's favorite cat, Gracie, but this song is always evocative for me at such times. I do not know if there is such a category as seasonal change songs but were there one this song is the king for me. It out Dylans Dylan. As sparse in lyric line as the dwindling days it recounts, its languor always catches me up and immediately makes me take stock of the time I have left. I have always particularly been struck by the fadeout as the guitar and voice just empty and flow into that stream that is 'time'. In one way it is Montaigne put to music. It is greatly enhanced by the deft vocal of Ms. Denny and the equally understated, and all the more powerful guitar work of Mr. Thompson. This song has always been in my top twenty five tunes of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2xODjbfYw8

[Jack of All Parades]

"Who Knows Where the Time Goes?"
Sandy Denny

Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving
But how can they know it's time for them to go?
Before the winter fire, I will still be dreaming
I have no thought of time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

Sad, deserted shore, your fickle friends are leaving
Ah, but then you know it's time for them to go
But I will still be here, I have no thought of leaving
I do not count the time

For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes?

And I am not alone while my love is near me
I know it will be so until it's time to go
So come the storms of winter and then the birds in spring again
I have no fear of time

For who knows how my love grows?
And who knows where the time goes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ycaoV0WXfk

"Let The Mystery Be"

Iris Dement

Everybody is wonderin' what and where they all came from
Everybody is worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go
When the whole thing's done
But no one knows for certain
And so it's all the same to me
I think I'll just let the mystery be

Some say once gone you're gone forever
And some say you're gonna come back
Some say you rest in the arms of The Savior
If in sinful ways you lack
Some say that they're comin' back in a garden
Bunch of carrots and little sweet peas
I think I'll just let the mystery be

CHORUS

Some say they're goin' to a place called Glory
And I ain't sayin' 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
I believe in love and I live my life accordingly
But I choose to let the mystery be

CHORUS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaoR5m4L80

The shuffle off this mortal coil song. PD traded a few suggestions with me on another thread. My choices were of a more somber tone while his took a decidedly more joyous approach. Got me thinking maybe I too might have more joyful, if not skeptical, choices. These two have always fit the bill for me as a confirmed agnostic, bordering on atheism. Not convinced I am going anywhere other than back to nature and the natural processes that have occurred over and over since time began in the 'big bang'. Have always appreciated Sandy's plain take that it will pass, fight and rail as one might. The best one can do is have someone dear to guide you through it. Iris is equally fatalistic but at least gives a voice to some sort of reincarnation which is appealing as I like the notion of 'sweet peas'. More though, I like her notion that why fear what you do not know?- just live with the mystery. Come to think of it that is what Montaigne proposes, as well. Either will do as send offs of a more positive tone when my time comes.

When I am more doubtful I can always draw strength from Iris and this song memorably placed at the end of the Coen Brothers "True Grit".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anhPfU3WGXk

[ice nine]

I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's no illusions I recall
I really don't know cows at all

[Jack of All Parades]

"My Baby's Gone"-Hazel Houser
as performed by the Louvin Brothers


Hold back the rushing minutes
Make the wind lie still
Don't let the moonlight shine
Across the lonely hill
Dry all the raindrops
And hold back the sun
My world has ended
My baby's gone

The Milkman whistles softly
As he comes up to my door

The Mailman brings the letters by
Just like he did before
They seem so busy all day long
As though there's nothing wrong,
Don't they know the world has ended
My Baby's Gone

CHORUS

I wake up sometimes in the night
And realize you're gone
And then I toss upon my bed
And wait for day to come
I try to tell my lonely heart
It must go on alone
But it cries the world has ended
My Baby's Gone


W. H. Auden
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

The stop the world: the pain is just too great song. I have always loved how this old Country Western Chestnut builds upon the same sentiment that Wystan voiced. The plea to put an end to natural forces or processes is poignant in both lyrics. I like even more the noting in the Louvin song that the ordinary events of the world still go on- something you can read too in Auden's" Musee Des Beaux Arts". These two examples give pointed argument to the contention that the elements of good poetry can be found in a contemporary lyric. EC goes on to explore this same theme with "You Hung the Moon".

Here are some of my favorite videos of this song being performed. I am most partial to the high harmonies of the Louvins and Hillman and Pederson:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kizPITXG9Ag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh6zKOKbbuU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO_6-paBVPM

But my favorite version might be this one by Nick Lowe and Ron Sexsmith:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WlfDEEBZU0

And old Wystan deserves a chance to perform as well as there is a melody in his recitation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc0ep0lX ... re=related

and if you feel adventurous checkout the extension of the theme as voiced in "Musee des Beaux Arts":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n7OkqUe ... h_response

[Jeremy Dylan]

I gave up married women 'cause I heard it was a sin
But now I'm back in Pittsburgh I might take them up again

[Jack of All Parades]

Green Grass - Tom Waits

Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down in the green grass
Remember when you loved me

Come closer don't be shy
Stand beneath a rainy sky
The moon is over the rise
Think of me as a train goes by

Clear the thistles and brambles
Whistle 'Didn't He Ramble'
Now there's a bubble of me
And it's floating in thee

Stand in the shade of me
Things are now made of me
The weather vane will say
It smells like rain today

God took the stars and he tossed them
Can't tell the birds from the blossoms
You'll never be free of me
He'll make a tree from me

Don't say good bye to me
Describe the sky to me
And if the sky falls, mark my words
We'll catch mocking birds

Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down in the green grass
Remember when you loved me
Remember when you loved me
Remember when you loved me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1FS_RmZqbE&feature=fvsr

Transformations by Thomas Hardy

Portion of this yew
Is a man my grandsire knew,
Bosomed here at its foot:
This branch may be his wife,
A ruddy human life
Now turned to a green shoot.

These grasses must be made
Of her who often prayed,
Last century, for repose;
And the fair girl long ago
Whom I often tried to know
May be entering this rose.

So, they are not underground,
But as nerves and veins abound
In the growths of upper air,
And they feel the sun and rain,
And the energy again
That made them what they were!

I am always thrilled when a synchronicity like this one occurs. Two beautiful evocations of a sense of permanence that replaces any need for religion for me and I would argue for either author. The entwining of natural processes which see no end upon one's death is soothing for me. We were, are and will be as long as life continues on this planet. It is as if the DNA of both lyrics have been intertwined over the years. Both offer a sense of calm for me as I contemplate the future. I look forward to that transformation into 'nerves and veins abound/In the growths of upper air'.

[Jackson Monk]

Some people draw conclusions like curtains...and don't they draw them tight!

[Jack of All Parades]

Montezuma- Robin Pecknold


So now I am older than my mother and father
when they had their daughter
now what does that say about me

Oh how could I dream of such a selfless and true love
could I wash my hands of
just looking out for me?

Oh man what I used to be
Oh man oh my oh me
Oh man what I used to be
Oh man oh my oh me

In dearth or in excess
both the slave and the empress
will return to the dirt, I guess, naked as when they came

i wonder if I'll see any faces above me
or just cracks in the ceiling
nobody else to blame?

Oh man what I used to be
Oh man oh my oh me
Oh man that I used to be
Oh man oh my oh me

Gold teeth and gold jewelry
every piece of your dowry
throw them into the tomb with me
bury them with my name

Unless i have someday
Ran my wandering mind away

Oh man what i used to be
Montezuma to Tripoli
Oh man oh my oh me


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdN2bfov9JQ


Okay- maybe pull the curtains back just ever so slightly with some doubt- love the expression of that doubt in this interesting new song from the Fleet Foxes.

[Jack of All Parades]

Ask

Shyness is nice, and shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life you'd like to
Shyness is nice, and shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life you'd like to

So if there's something you'd like to try
If there's something you'd like to try
Ask me, I won't say no, how could I?

Coyness is nice, and coyness can stop you
From saying all the things in life you'd like to

So if there's something you'd like to try
If there's something you'd like to try
Ask me, I won't say no, how could I?

Spending warm summer days indoors
Writing frightening verse
To a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Because if it's not love
Then it's the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
That will bring us together

Nature is a language, can't you read?
Nature is a language, can't you read?

So ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Because if it's not love
Then it's the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
That will bring us together

If it's not love
Then it's the bomb
Then it's the bomb that will bring us together

So ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me, oh

The Smiths/Morrissey

As a lark just pulled out Louder than Bombs this morning and tucked it in my brief. While at work treated myself to the album and this one continues to reverberate with me. Obvious why. Nothing but pure pop prettiness with an amiable sentiment that gives a nod to 'joie d vivre', particularly when it comes out of the mouth of a notoriously morose individual. Nice irony. Beautifully restrained vocal with a too die for melody that just cannot be resisted forcing, at least me, to always break out in vocal accompaniment, joining in just as the lyric advises. Have always loved the shout out to old William of the Lake District with the admonition that there is a language to be read in nature. It is hard for me to come up with a stronger piece of 'pure pop'. Oh! and the suggestion that coitus might be the 'bomb' is funny. If asked, I would have to say this is my current Smiths fave.

Lovely video as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMY4W0l4peY&ob=av2n

[Otis Westinghouse]

Agree it's a classic, and one in our set in my covers band, which never fails to get people going. It's hard to sing the Luxembourg line witha straight face! Played it and 'Suedehead' at a recent party gig attended by an incredible Mozalike, quiff, face and all. he was doing all the Moz Smiths era gestures with his mate. The only thing missing were the gladioli. Hilarious. Don't get your bomb = coitus point. For me it's a more literal statement that if we don't love each other, nuclear war would be the alternative and we'd be united in death (this being the era when 'last night the plans for a future war were all I saw on Channel 4').

There was always a huge and enjoyable irony in Moz the legendary celibate writing songs exhorting others to go with their natural urges like this and 'Stretch Out and Wait'.

[Jack of All Parades]

Totally understood- hard to imagine how an audience could not get moving when those jangly chords start-as humans I think we are genetically programmed to move to that chord sequence. I give the 'bomb' another reading, less literal, that of the explosion of an orgasm[ do you recall the camera shot in Summertime when Katherine Hepburn and the male lead finally consummate their flirtation and the camera cuts to exploding fireworks over the canals of Venice?]. Multiple levels of meanings, perhaps. Or, perhaps, just too much of a Christopher Rick's close reading on my part.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Seems the latter to me! 'Love each other or wipe each other out' rather than 'love each other or just make it carnal'. Surely wouldn't be 'If 'it's not... then it's the...' if it wasn't this contrast?

Well, you hear what you hear, but then again that's a sonic bomb simulation that follows it, or do you hear a big climax!

Seems a very clear reflection of the late cold war era when the threat of nuclear wipeout seemed incredibly likely.

[Jack of All Parades]

Riverbed 1---Buck 65


"i take my orders from the street lights, wind at my shoulder
the afternoon is grey and the air is getting colder
i'm old fashioned and on foot, passionate and fascinated
wide eyed awake and ready for anything
navigating side walks, dry docks and back alleys always
in and out of elevators and hallways
i'm out for a walk and following the human currents
i'm in no hurry i need no reassurance
curfews and purfumes; excuses and costumes
customs, corrections, fuss or directions
even the leaves have taken on lives
deprived of their privacy, purpose and property
probably runaways, they play catch
with stray cats that stay at the girl's school,
the city's a whirlpool,
there's too much going on, there's too much garbage,
too much to choose from, too much carnage
there's not enough quiet to think straight, it's not a stunt
maybe i will make my way back to the waterfront
this is where the people are slightly unsavoury
with no time, possessions, labor or slavery
neighbors without names neglected and hip-checked,
stripped down to nothing, fallen and ship wrecked
completely uncalled for, way out of line
stranded, branded, weathered and abandoned
these are the counter clock wise, the despised
with swollen noses and tears in their eyes
and tears in their clothes and time on their hands
they sleep walk
full of that cheap wine and cheap talk
everything gets washed away here at the pier
the best you can do is to play it by ear
wishes sink to the bottom and doubts float
i'm afraid of the water and i live in this houseboat"

Have overcome an aversion to hip-hop- strange as I love words- thanks to a fellow board member and have been having fun with this artist. What I love about this lyric is its hallucinatory incantation of the urban landscape and its denizens. That and the rapid fire end and middle rhymes coupled with decent consonant rhymes. And it is not misogynistic either. Sharply observed and spoken. Filled this morning with the images of "Howl" having watched the biopic last night on DVD, it has struck me how close this song gets to the frenzied, speeded up lines of that famous poem. Not making claims that this equals Ginsberg's incantations but it puts my brain nerves on edge just as that poem does. I also like that final conceit of being afraid of water yet living upon it. That is being attuned to the world with open nerve endings. Also like that the song is populated with some instrumentation, particularly the steel guitar part and the sixties style guitar that insinuates itself thought-out the piece. Most atmospheric. Nice to step out of my comfort zone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E46D4BAk ... 0620E6B072

[Poor Deportee]

Riverbed 1---Buck 65


"i take my orders from the street lights, wind at my shoulder
the afternoon is grey and the air is getting colder
i'm old fashioned and on foot, passionate and fascinated
wide eyed awake and ready for anything
navigating side walks, dry docks and back alleys always
in and out of elevators and hallways
i'm out for a walk and following the human currents
i'm in no hurry i need no reassurance
curfews and purfumes; excuses and costumes
customs, corrections, fuss or directions
even the leaves have taken on lives
deprived of their privacy, purpose and property
probably runaways, they play catch
with stray cats that stay at the girl's school,
the city's a whirlpool,
there's too much going on, there's too much garbage,
too much to choose from, too much carnage
there's not enough quiet to think straight, it's not a stunt
maybe i will make my way back to the waterfront
this is where the people are slightly unsavoury
with no time, possessions, labor or slavery
neighbors without names neglected and hip-checked,
stripped down to nothing, fallen and ship wrecked
completely uncalled for, way out of line
stranded, branded, weathered and abandoned
these are the counter clock wise, the despised
with swollen noses and tears in their eyes
and tears in their clothes and time on their hands
they sleep walk
full of that cheap wine and cheap talk
everything gets washed away here at the pier
the best you can do is to play it by ear
wishes sink to the bottom and doubts float
i'm afraid of the water and i live in this houseboat"

Have overcome an aversion to hip-hop- strange as I love words- thanks to a fellow board member and have been having fun with this artist. What I love about this lyric is its hallucinatory incantation of the urban landscape and its denizens. That and the rapid fire end and middle rhymes coupled with decent consonant rhymes. And it is not misogynistic either. Sharply observed and spoken. Filled this morning with the images of "Howl" having watched the biopic last night on DVD, it has struck me how close this song gets to the frenzied, speeded up lines of that famous poem. Not making claims that this equals Ginsberg's incantations but it puts my brain nerves on edge just as that poem does. I also like that final conceit of being afraid of water yet living upon it. That is being attuned to the world with open nerve endings. Also like that the song is populated with some instrumentation, particularly the steel guitar part and the sixties style guitar that insinuates itself thought-out the piece. Most atmospheric. Nice to step out of my comfort zone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E46D4BAk ... 0620E6B072

That's a terrific track - the sonic atmosphere really enriches what is already a strong lyric (especially the ominous, descending notes halfway through, right when the song introduces "these...counter-clockwise, despised" riff-raff that inhabit the pier). I especially enjoy that closing couplet

Wishes sink to the bottom and doubts float
I'm afraid of the water and I live on this houseboat

Which seems to me to be about a nicely existential statement.

This is part of a series of songs about life on a houseboat (seemingly set in Europe) on his genuinely great and criminally negelected album Talkin' Honky Blues. To this day I think this album would have revolutionized hip-hop if anyone had bothered to pay attention. My favourite of these 'river' songs is actually Riverboat No.2: less melodramatic than the one Christopher singled out, it combines an idiosyncratic life manifesto with an eye for detail that I find very enjoyable. And note the equally fine closing couplet. But really, like any lyric these need to be taken with the music...I really recommend getting a hold of that entire album.

The river itself feeds on souls
The suicides, the ones who let go of the controls
Like the woman whose beauty they couldn't replace
The morgue even made a plaster cast of her face
There's at least one a week, more women than men
For some reason or other, it changes by season
It sometimes has nightmares, which truly is frightening
When the sky becomes filled with bouquets of lightening
Raindrops seeping into the letter box while I'm sleeping
Makes it seem like those who wrote me were weeping
The river's emotional with waves made of mercury
Sometimes brutal, sometimes nurturing
It rocks me to sleep with oscillations of anguish
It whispers its secrets but in its own language
It leaves me to languish, it breaks all of my promises
It threatens my premises, it's my friend and my nemesis
My houseboat is well suited for finer affairs
I think, it just needs a few minor repairs
It's like a lawnchair chapel, to make an analogy
Moss at the waterline, skirted with algae
Held together with the help of nothing but trust
The chimney and water tank is covered with rust
Shutters cover windows, some of which are stained glass
All the way around the deck is a railing of plain brass
Unpolished and pretty, Norweigan design
From the front there's a clothes line reaching behind
To the back where the anchor and gang plank hang out
There's a chance you might see two or three pairs of pants waving in the wind
The inside is wooden, by every means reinforced, all around by heavy beams
Low ceilings and oil lamps, candles and incense
A great big bed that would be fit for a princess
Pot bellied stove, transistor radio
Roll top desk, this is the way to go
A person can dream here and write with impunity
The sunlight is proper, there is endless opportunity
The views are inspiring, bare and chameleon
Reflections and shadows play on the ceiling
Troubles are handled with propriety and no delay
All I have to do is pull the anchor up and float away

[Jack of All Parades]

PD- I am following your suggestion and have created a Spotify station for myself. The Riverbed songs are tremendous and I really like his new material with the French singer Olivia Ruiz- i think I have flubbed the name but the songs are quite good and their voices work well together Here is the song Tears of your Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgvPSQkQJIQ

Have to love that retro guitar sound and 'one deep kiss and I'll make you mine'- indeed!

- more about them later. And I did not see any "bright lights"- glad to say. Really like this one these days with Buck 65- "Shutterbuggin"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F0poz7f ... re=related

[Poor Deportee]

PD- I am following your suggestion and have created a Spotify station for myself. The Riverbed songs are tremendous and I really like his new material with the French singer Olivia Ruiz- i think I have flubbed the name but the songs are quite good and their voices work well together Here is the song Tears of your Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgvPSQkQJIQ

Have to love that retro guitar sound and 'one deep kiss and I'll make you mine'- indeed!

- more about them later. And I did not see any "bright lights"- glad to say. Really like this one these days with Buck 65- "Shutterbuggin"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F0poz7f ... re=related

Shutterbuggin' is a blast! Who else is writing songs about pornographers in the 1950s? It's off his album 'Situation,' which was a concept record dealing with 1957 as a weird parallel to our times. Good album, full of humourous (and moving) vignettes, not as abstractly arty as it sounds. If I had to rank his more recent albums, I'd go this way:

1. Talkin Honky Blues. Again, it's hard to oversell this thing. I see it as akin to Rain Dogs or Highway 61 Revisited in the specific sense that it represents an artist achieving the fullest possible realization of his distinctive voice and potential. OK, that may be a bit much, but this really is a tremendous record, so wrongly ignored it hurts.

2. Situation. Entertaining songs filled with references to the Beats, to Bettie Paige, McCarthyism, etc.. Occasionally veers into a pretty 'pure' hip hop sound that I don't find as interesting as his more eccentric excursions. Then again it has a lot of strong numbers on it. 'The Outskirts' blows me away: complicated beauty of abandoned buildings and parking lots...

3. 20 odd Years. Highly collaborative, breezily entertaining 'summer' record. It actually has songs that could be hits if accorded radio play, IMHO.

Other albums from his mature period, such as 'Square' and 'Secret House Against the World', or his collaboration 'Bike for Three', should be approached with caution, although the first two do have brilliant moments. He's great but capable of being very uneven.

Glad to hear you saw no lights! Sometimes oblivion beats the alternative.

[Jack of All Parades]

I have to get a copy of 20 Odd years- also thank you for the story about his having MTV check out his 'crib'- his one room apartment. You are so right to note it puts the luxury apartment and dwelling artists and their 'whining' about pseudo poverty in direct perspective. Yet another magnificent Canadian Iconoclast in the shape of Glenn Gould- have to love that!

Yes- thankfully saw no compelling lights and as our man says it is definitely "Not Dark Yet"!!!!!!

[Jack of All Parades]

Begin the Beguine

When they begin the beguine
It brings back the sound of music so tender,
It brings back the days of tropical splendor,
It brings back a memory ever green.

I'm with you once more under the stars,
And down by the shore an orchestra's playing
And even the palms seem to be swaying
When they begin the beguine.

To live it again is past all endeavor,
Except when the tune clutches my heart,
And there we are, swearing to love forever,
And promising never, ever to part.

What moments divine, what rapture serene,
Till clouds came along to disperse the joys we had tasted,
And now when I hear people curse the chance that was wasted,
I know but too well what they mean;

So don't let them begin the beguine
Let the love that was once a fire remain an ember;
Let it sleep like the dead desire I only remember
When they begin the beguine.

Oh yes let them begin the beguine, make them play
Till the stars that were there before return above you,
Till you whisper to me once more,
Darling, I love you!
Then we'll suddenly know, what heaven we're in
When they begin the beguine
When they begin the beguine

Cole Porter

I can think of too few songwriters and songs that combine all the things I treasure: wit, clean line, inspired word play and rhyme, divine melody and a strong harmonic underpinning. This songwriter and this song epitomize all these characteristics and it is the 'gold' standard for me. There are moments in this lyric when I think he must be tapped directly into the Muse. The rhymes come so naturally and that is so difficult to achieve if you have ever tried. There is a sophisticated playing with time, both musically and figuratively. Memory is an intoxicating thing; it quite often teases one. What was once 'ever green' has now cooled to 'an ember'; what was vital is now a whisper of three little words 'I love you' but what a power they have. Like Proust's Madeleine, these words possess the power to transport over time and reinvigorate an emotion. This song has always been a talisman for me and my wife. When I am 'blue' and full of self doubt I only need 'begin' to hum this tune and I am transported back into her arms. It is a musical alchemy that few artists have accomplished. Porter did it quite often in my estimation; EC approached it in "Almost Blue".

The old cliche is that they do not write them like this anymore. That is a cliche. Truth is lyricists like this are few. You have to cherish them when they appear. Have a listen because this song begs to be heard in its entirety with the aid of a vital singer-here is just such an aid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUyYQbgmhJk

[Jack of All Parades]

Reacquainted myself with this good poet from my school days over the past few months- Marvin Bell. This one has been staying in my head:

To Dorothy
by Marvin Bell

You are not beautiful, exactly.
You are beautiful, inexactly.
You let a weed grow by the mulberry
and a mulberry grow by the house.
So close, in the personal quiet
of a windy night, it brushes the wall
and sweeps away the day till we sleep.

A child said it, and it seemed true:
"Things that are lost are all equal."
But it isn't true. If I lost you,
the air wouldn't move, nor the tree grow.
Someone would pull the weed, my flower.
The quiet wouldn't be yours. If I lost you,
I'd have to ask the grass to let me sleep.

It makes me feel even closer to Tom Waits's "Green Grass"- it echoes that song for me- that sense of interconnectedness in this world amongst all living and inanimate things on the planet.