Continued from last post
10) It's hard to pick the last lines to put on this list. I know I'm forgetting some, and to keep the list down to 10 I'm having to leave off a lot of my favorite lines. The only method I used to narrow it down at the end was right now I feel like writing about this one.
"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."- Joe Strummer, "Death or Glory"
What raises The Clash from Ok to great are Joe Strummer's lyrics. His voice might be a close second, and a bunch of their records have a great sound to them, but in the end those things are secondary. The Clash are one of the very few bands where the song can be bad but still get you to listen because the lyrics are good. A lot of good bands can get away with mediocre or bad lyrics if the music playing underneath is good. But The Clash stand out as the direct opposite. Joe Strummer had an ability to come across like good rappers do, alive and in the cut, not composing for posterity, forget books and poetry, the cops are at the fucking door.
At their best there's an urgency and immediacy that is absent in ninety of percent of rock music. So when a band is able to hit you like that it's a) something special and b) liable to make you feel like they truly are "The Only Band That Matters". Of course they're not, but to make you think that, even for a moment, is a hell of an acomplishment.
Sometimes you have to listen hard though, Joe has a mumbly sounding voice and I wouldn't know half of what it is he's saying if I didn't find his lyrics online. I remember when I read what the actual words to "Janie Jones" were, a song I had never liked before, and was stunned to find out how great a song it was. That's happened a lot of times with them, a lot of their melodies are annoying to me, like "Spanish Bombs", and a lot of their songs sound like they were barely written, like "Garageland". "Garageland" has great lyrics though (besides the "We're a garageband. We come from garageland" part in thr chorus), and one of the worst songs off their first album, "Cheat", starts with one of the best opening lines ever. ("I get violent, when I'm fucked up. I get silent, when I'm drugged up" I don't mean that ironically either, listen to it if you haven't heard it.)
"Death or Glory" is off "London Calling", their third album and the one that everyone calls their masterpiece. I like their first two better, but "London Calling" does have some great songs on it and "Death or Glory's" one of them. It's a band that hasn't sold out looking out at all the bands that have. Joe finds them all, walks up to them, and leans in close against their ears. "Here's how we stayed stayed strong my friends, long since when you'd left and gone. Listen closely..."
Showing posts with label 10 Greatest Lyrics Ever. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10 Greatest Lyrics Ever. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
10 Greatest Lyrics Ever (Part 5)
Continued from last post
9) "Saw you stretched out in room ten-o-nine
With a smile on your face
And a tear right in your eye
Couldnt seem to get a line on you
My sweet honey love...
When you're drunk in the alley baby
With your clothes all torn
And your late night friends
Leave you in the cold grey dawn
Just seemed too many flies on you
I just cant brush them off
Angels beating all their wings in time
With smiles on their faces
And a gleam right in their eyes
Thought I heard one sigh for you..."- Mick Jagger, "Shine a Light"
Mick Jagger has written some of the best lyrics of all time, "Please allow me to introduce myself", "I saw her today at the reception", "You're obsolete my baby" and "She said she liked the way I held the microphone" among them. I read once that "Shine a Light" was Mick's song to Keith, a "goodbye, I love you" to a friend he'd given up on saving. Whether that's true or not, I always think about the song like that. In 1971 when it was recorded Keith seemed on the verge of overdosing, and his time left on the Earth not long. The fact that Keith is still alive doesn't make Mick's goodbye any less powerful. "Shine a Light" is the second to last song on an album where all the best songs are goodbyes. "Exile on Mainstreet", released in 1971, was the last great album the Rolling Stones ever made, and the last great one that they ever will make. After this was something changed; though made up of the same parts, somewhere along the way they had left something behind. Like your late night friends leave you in the cold gray dawn. An album of angel's sighs. "Rocks Off", the first song on the album, is the most honest song a band's ever written about losing touch and burning out. Going through the motions comes next, and "Goat's Head Soup", billions more dollars, a million more tours...Roger Waters wrote a whole album about it, but Mick condensed the whole thing into 4 and a half minutes on "Rocks Off". Here's the full lyrics to "Rocks Off",
"I hear you talking when I'm on the street,
Your mouth don't move but I can hear you speak.
What's the matter with the boy?
He don't come around no more,
Is he checking out for sure?
Is he gonna close the door on me?"
"I'm always hearing voices on the street,
I want to shout, but I can hardly speak.
I was making love last night
To a dancer friend of mine.
I can't seem to stay in step,
'Cause she comes ev'ry time that she pirouettes on me."
And I only get my rocks off while I'm dreaming,
I only get my rocks off while I'm sleeping.
I'm zipping through the days at lightning speed.
Plug in, flush out and fire the fuckin' feed.
Heading for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you've kicked before,
I can't even feel the pain no more.
Feel so hypnotized, can't describe the scene.
Its all mesmerized all that inside me.
The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.
Chasing shadows moonlight mystery.
Headed for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you've kicked before,
I can't even feel the pain no more."
So there you are, seconds before the crash, what it looked like from the seat. When he still cared that it didn't hurt, when people could still wonder if a door was really closing. Are they checking out for sure. Every great band goes; not every great band says goodbye. Those are pearls that were his eyes, of his bones is coral made, nothing living left to fade. Have you seen your mother baby? 1971, standing in the shadows, Mick on the stage, Keith strung out. Backstage they're all packed and ready for their next stop on tour. A moment before the last song Mick stops, seeming to be a little disconcerted. He looks over at Keith, swaying, eyes glazed, half shut. Then he looks out at the crowd. Some seconds pass, he looks down, regains his composure, and starts the song. "She would never say where she came from...Yesterday don't matter if it's gone..." Behind him, Nicky Hopkins, tinkling on the piano, tries to cue Keith in that the chorus is coming. "No one knows, she comes and go..." It comes and Keith nails it. Nicky sighs. There are angels in the crowd. "Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday..."
Continued next post
9) "Saw you stretched out in room ten-o-nine
With a smile on your face
And a tear right in your eye
Couldnt seem to get a line on you
My sweet honey love...
When you're drunk in the alley baby
With your clothes all torn
And your late night friends
Leave you in the cold grey dawn
Just seemed too many flies on you
I just cant brush them off
Angels beating all their wings in time
With smiles on their faces
And a gleam right in their eyes
Thought I heard one sigh for you..."- Mick Jagger, "Shine a Light"
Mick Jagger has written some of the best lyrics of all time, "Please allow me to introduce myself", "I saw her today at the reception", "You're obsolete my baby" and "She said she liked the way I held the microphone" among them. I read once that "Shine a Light" was Mick's song to Keith, a "goodbye, I love you" to a friend he'd given up on saving. Whether that's true or not, I always think about the song like that. In 1971 when it was recorded Keith seemed on the verge of overdosing, and his time left on the Earth not long. The fact that Keith is still alive doesn't make Mick's goodbye any less powerful. "Shine a Light" is the second to last song on an album where all the best songs are goodbyes. "Exile on Mainstreet", released in 1971, was the last great album the Rolling Stones ever made, and the last great one that they ever will make. After this was something changed; though made up of the same parts, somewhere along the way they had left something behind. Like your late night friends leave you in the cold gray dawn. An album of angel's sighs. "Rocks Off", the first song on the album, is the most honest song a band's ever written about losing touch and burning out. Going through the motions comes next, and "Goat's Head Soup", billions more dollars, a million more tours...Roger Waters wrote a whole album about it, but Mick condensed the whole thing into 4 and a half minutes on "Rocks Off". Here's the full lyrics to "Rocks Off",
"I hear you talking when I'm on the street,
Your mouth don't move but I can hear you speak.
What's the matter with the boy?
He don't come around no more,
Is he checking out for sure?
Is he gonna close the door on me?"
"I'm always hearing voices on the street,
I want to shout, but I can hardly speak.
I was making love last night
To a dancer friend of mine.
I can't seem to stay in step,
'Cause she comes ev'ry time that she pirouettes on me."
And I only get my rocks off while I'm dreaming,
I only get my rocks off while I'm sleeping.
I'm zipping through the days at lightning speed.
Plug in, flush out and fire the fuckin' feed.
Heading for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you've kicked before,
I can't even feel the pain no more.
Feel so hypnotized, can't describe the scene.
Its all mesmerized all that inside me.
The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.
Chasing shadows moonlight mystery.
Headed for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you've kicked before,
I can't even feel the pain no more."
So there you are, seconds before the crash, what it looked like from the seat. When he still cared that it didn't hurt, when people could still wonder if a door was really closing. Are they checking out for sure. Every great band goes; not every great band says goodbye. Those are pearls that were his eyes, of his bones is coral made, nothing living left to fade. Have you seen your mother baby? 1971, standing in the shadows, Mick on the stage, Keith strung out. Backstage they're all packed and ready for their next stop on tour. A moment before the last song Mick stops, seeming to be a little disconcerted. He looks over at Keith, swaying, eyes glazed, half shut. Then he looks out at the crowd. Some seconds pass, he looks down, regains his composure, and starts the song. "She would never say where she came from...Yesterday don't matter if it's gone..." Behind him, Nicky Hopkins, tinkling on the piano, tries to cue Keith in that the chorus is coming. "No one knows, she comes and go..." It comes and Keith nails it. Nicky sighs. There are angels in the crowd. "Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday..."
Continued next post
Monday, March 16, 2009
10 Greatest Lyrics Ever (Part 4)
Continued from last post
7) "One fine morning she put on a New York station and she couldn't believe what she heard at all. She started dancing to that fine-fine music, you know her life was saved by rock 'n' roll", Lou Reed,"Rock and Roll"- Rock and roll ain't noise pollution, and here Lou pins down why. The same feeling that makes us bow down to God makes us raise the volume up when it's already playing loud. Repent, repent, the kingdom of God is that band. What else could saving be, here on Earth but change at hand, with no heaven for us coming, a New York street to a promised land.
8) "Things they do look awful cold. Hope I die before I get old", Pete Townshend, "My Generation"- This one has been written and talked about so many times that I hesitate to put it on the list. What can you do though, Pete caught a leviathan with his line, to squirm upon our shores until the Earth is dead and we're all gone. I'll love this line forever, and it'll get me high forever, or at least untill I'm old and my hopes been traded on. You're not a hypocrite for getting old Pete, if this line has haunted you, which I doubt it has, just keep in mind he was just a kid who wrote it. Hey hey, my my.
Continued next post
7) "One fine morning she put on a New York station and she couldn't believe what she heard at all. She started dancing to that fine-fine music, you know her life was saved by rock 'n' roll", Lou Reed,"Rock and Roll"- Rock and roll ain't noise pollution, and here Lou pins down why. The same feeling that makes us bow down to God makes us raise the volume up when it's already playing loud. Repent, repent, the kingdom of God is that band. What else could saving be, here on Earth but change at hand, with no heaven for us coming, a New York street to a promised land.
8) "Things they do look awful cold. Hope I die before I get old", Pete Townshend, "My Generation"- This one has been written and talked about so many times that I hesitate to put it on the list. What can you do though, Pete caught a leviathan with his line, to squirm upon our shores until the Earth is dead and we're all gone. I'll love this line forever, and it'll get me high forever, or at least untill I'm old and my hopes been traded on. You're not a hypocrite for getting old Pete, if this line has haunted you, which I doubt it has, just keep in mind he was just a kid who wrote it. Hey hey, my my.
Continued next post
Sunday, March 15, 2009
10 Greatest Lyrics Ever (Part 3)
Continued from last post
5) "Well it’s 1969, Ok. All across the USA, it’s another year for me and you, another year with nothing to do”- Iggy Pop, “1969”- In addition to righteous indignation, punk rock has its roots in a feeling that life’s not fun enough. We’re young and can’t do nothing; it’s the Summertime Blues that keep coming, all through winter, spring and fall. Since we stay young for just a moment, to make it useful is to make it loud. And if we don’t make you proud at least we’ll know that we’re still living. Here’s the link from punk to Elvis. Alone and driving a truck is too damn bleak for my young heart.
6) “Well we busted out of class, we had to get away from those fools. We learned more from a three minute record baby then we ever learned in school”- Bruce Springsteen, “No Surrender”- School’s out forever, if you want it. Homework really was a fucking waste of time. You were right, Zak at 16. Driving down the highway playing “Born to Run” was better in this tiny little life then all my time in study hall. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep”. You’ll fail big, you won’t get far, a degree will open doors, that without it will be barred. But that’s cause life’s not fair, not for value there at all. Be young while you’re still young, fight against them till you fail, and if you give up when you’re young, even then still play this song.
Continued next post
5) "Well it’s 1969, Ok. All across the USA, it’s another year for me and you, another year with nothing to do”- Iggy Pop, “1969”- In addition to righteous indignation, punk rock has its roots in a feeling that life’s not fun enough. We’re young and can’t do nothing; it’s the Summertime Blues that keep coming, all through winter, spring and fall. Since we stay young for just a moment, to make it useful is to make it loud. And if we don’t make you proud at least we’ll know that we’re still living. Here’s the link from punk to Elvis. Alone and driving a truck is too damn bleak for my young heart.
6) “Well we busted out of class, we had to get away from those fools. We learned more from a three minute record baby then we ever learned in school”- Bruce Springsteen, “No Surrender”- School’s out forever, if you want it. Homework really was a fucking waste of time. You were right, Zak at 16. Driving down the highway playing “Born to Run” was better in this tiny little life then all my time in study hall. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep”. You’ll fail big, you won’t get far, a degree will open doors, that without it will be barred. But that’s cause life’s not fair, not for value there at all. Be young while you’re still young, fight against them till you fail, and if you give up when you’re young, even then still play this song.
Continued next post
Saturday, March 14, 2009
10 Greatest Lyrics Ever (Part 2)
Continued from last post
3) "God save the queen. WE MEAN IT MAN"- The Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen"-
Storming the bastille while Steve Jones plays the chords. The vengeance of God has rained down on London. Cutting through the shit, past the palace guards, right up to her wrinkled throat, "WE MEAN IT MAN". Rock and roll isn't just sex anymore, it's the spirit you ignored come raging from the shadows, in the language of the outlaw with God's killers on their side. The smile of the innocent, tonight we take back what you stole, in the heart of dear old London, a royal answer for your crimes.
4) "She asked me why the singers name was Alice, I said listen baby you really wouldn't understand"- Alice Cooper, "Be My Lover" Criminaly underrated, Alice Cooper's early records are fucking awesome. He had a great scratchy voice, and two awesome fucking guitar players. Some people don't get it, and Alice says don't waste your time explaining. You're in a "long haired rock and roll band", if that doesn't make enough sense then making sense is cheesy.
Continued next post
3) "God save the queen. WE MEAN IT MAN"- The Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen"-
Storming the bastille while Steve Jones plays the chords. The vengeance of God has rained down on London. Cutting through the shit, past the palace guards, right up to her wrinkled throat, "WE MEAN IT MAN". Rock and roll isn't just sex anymore, it's the spirit you ignored come raging from the shadows, in the language of the outlaw with God's killers on their side. The smile of the innocent, tonight we take back what you stole, in the heart of dear old London, a royal answer for your crimes.
4) "She asked me why the singers name was Alice, I said listen baby you really wouldn't understand"- Alice Cooper, "Be My Lover" Criminaly underrated, Alice Cooper's early records are fucking awesome. He had a great scratchy voice, and two awesome fucking guitar players. Some people don't get it, and Alice says don't waste your time explaining. You're in a "long haired rock and roll band", if that doesn't make enough sense then making sense is cheesy.
Continued next post
Friday, March 13, 2009
10 Greatest Lyrics Ever (Part 1)
1) "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"- Johnny Cash, "Folsom Prison Blues"- This is no country for old men. Look at the blood all over his shoes. It's a blood soaked floor in Reno where he feels the most at home. Sing about God all you want Johnny, you already showed us he don't exist. "The Man in Black", "Johnny and June", forget them all because they don't matter...The heart of Johnny Cash is in a pitiless, smiling face, full of pills, in a dying West. Eternal cruelty, eternaly smiling. A smooth, graceful, "bring all your guns to town Bill, at least that'll get us high". Here's "country" for you boys. Don't let it get too familiar, there's nowhere else to go. Oh captain, my captain.
2) "Well she was just seventeen, and you know what I mean"- Paul McCartney, "I Saw Her Standing There"- A throwaway line that can stand forever. Paul worked a God damn frenzy into this one. You're forgiven for all those Wings songs, and that sweater you used to wear with a heart on it.
Before he was always cute and never mean, here was Paul groping in the dark and telling what he'd found. To be young in Liverpool was to be young in Jersey. I'm in love with rock and roll too Paul, God bless groping, you know what I mean.
Continued next post
2) "Well she was just seventeen, and you know what I mean"- Paul McCartney, "I Saw Her Standing There"- A throwaway line that can stand forever. Paul worked a God damn frenzy into this one. You're forgiven for all those Wings songs, and that sweater you used to wear with a heart on it.
Before he was always cute and never mean, here was Paul groping in the dark and telling what he'd found. To be young in Liverpool was to be young in Jersey. I'm in love with rock and roll too Paul, God bless groping, you know what I mean.
Continued next post
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