I asked Travis of Trav's Thoughts for a song suggestion and he came up with Nightswimming by REM which I had never heard. This one may stir up all sorts of images for you to write about next week, so sign in and Take This Tune.
Nightswimming
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
Still, it's so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
The moon is low tonight
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday
Nightswimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon
I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming
You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me,
This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
Nightswimming
The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night
My all time favorite Sondheim show is "Into The Woods" where in telling familiar fairy tales a musical is created about almost the whole of human experience which is everything but a fairy tale. Trav has suggested this week's Take This Tune in one of the most powerful songs in the production sung by the Witch: Children Will Listen. Here it is sung by the original star, Bernadette Peters. Take This Tune and let us know how you feel knowing children are listening.
How do you say to your child in the night? Nothing's all black, but then nothing's all white How do you say it will all be all right When you know that it might not be true? What do you do? Careful the things you say Children will listen Careful the things you do Children will see and learn Children may not obey, but children will listen Children will look to you for which way to turn To learn what to be Careful before you say "Listen to me" Children will listen Careful the wish you make Wishes are children Careful the path they take Wishes come true, not free Careful the spell you cast Not just on children Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see And turn against you Careful the tale you tell That is the spell Children will listen How can you say to a child who's in flight "Don't slip away and i won't hold so tight" What can you say that no matter how slight Won't be misunderstood What do you leave to your child when you're dead? Only whatever you put in it's head Things that you're mother and father had said Which were left to them too Careful what you say Children will listen Careful you do it too Children will see And learn, oh guide them that step away Children will glisten Tamper with what is true And children will turn If just to be free Careful before you say "Listen to me" Children will listen (repeat 3x)
Don't forget to sign the Mr. Linky so that others can find your blog.
Nobody has sent any suggestions and I'm still all wrapped up in the new "The Union" album from Elton John and Leon Russell with Bernie Taupin throwing in his song writing abilities. Rolling Stone declared it the third best album of 2010. I'm declaring it number one. When it comes to vocals, musicianship and incredible lyrics, I simply cannot decide which one I like best, every single song is unique in mood, sound, and meaning. So I'll go with the love song. Take This Tune and tell me about a dream or a love story.
The Best Part of the Day
I hear you singing, "I Shall Be Released"
Like a chainsaw running through a masterpiece
But that's all right, that's ok
Grab the bottle and slide my way
You dreamt of a devil down below
Sprinkled cayenne pepper in your sugar bowl
But he's a fool and he's a thief
Got silly little horns and pointed teeth
Roll back the covers and raise the shades
We don't want to miss out on the best part of the day
You're my best friend you shared my crazy ways
Now we don't want to miss out on the best part of the day
There's a canyon where an echo hangs
Like the ancient bells of Notre Dame
It's beyond the hills out of sight
Thought I heard 'em ringing all last night
Hear the mating call of the morning dove
Like Romeo angels in the roof above
Rains will come sweet and clean
Let the tears of God keep the mountains green
Roll back the covers and raise the shades
We don't want to miss out on the best part of the day
You're my best friend you shared my crazy ways
Now we don't want to miss out on the best part of the day
One big sun coming up
Old moon going down
Thunder breaking in the east
I'm gonna love you 'til it comes around
Roll back the covers and raise the shades
We don't want to miss out on the best part of the day
You're my best friend you shared my crazy ways
Now we don't want to miss out on the best part of the day
You're my best friend you shared my crazy ways
Now we don't want to miss out on the best part of the day
Those participating in Music Monday can sign in below:
Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.
This wonderful song by Mary Chapin Carpenter is about all the small towns that we once knew that now are dying or changing beyond recognition. We flee from them, remember them, hope to find them again as imagined, and miss them when they disappear. They are hopes and dreams both fulfilled or dashed.
So next week take this tune and tell a story about one of your cities or towns. Don't forget to sign Mr. Linky down below so others can find you.
I'm a town in Carolina, a detour on a ride
For a phone call and a soda, I'm a blur from the driver's side
I'm the last gas for an hour if you're going twenty-five
I am Texaco and tobacco, I am dust you leave behind
I am peaches in September, and corn from a roadside stall
I'm the language of the natives, I'm a cadence and a drawl
I'm the pines behind the graveyard, and the cool beneath their shade,
where the boys have left their beer cans
I am weeds between the graves.
My porches sag and lean with old black men and children
Their sleep is filled with dreams, I never can fulfill them
I am a town.
I am a church beside the highway where the ditches never drain
I'm a Baptist like my daddy, and Jesus knows my name
I am memory and stillness, I am lonely in old age;
I am not your destination
I am clinging to my ways
I am a town.
I'm a town in Carolina, I am billboards in the fields
I'm an old truck up on cinder blocks, missing all my wheels
I am Pabst Blue Ribbon, American, and "Southern Serves the South"
I am tucked behind the Jaycees sign, on the rural route
I am a town
I am a town
I am a town
Southbound.
This meme also works well for Lady Java's Music Monday. Come join Music Monday and share your songs. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge
It's the time of year when we pull boxes down from the shelves in preparation for the year end holidays. I'm bringing back Take This Tune to see if it will fly and if nothing else, have some great music for the holiday. What better song than one about friends, family and most of all LOVE. So pull up a warm computer and have a go at showing us your Seasons of Love. Don't forget to sign in below and then link back here in your post so others can find you.
Seasons Of Love
by Jonathan Larson
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?
How about love?
How about love?
How about love? Measure in love
Seasons of love. Seasons of love
JOANNE
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?
COLLINS
In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died.
ALL
It's time now to sing out,
Tho' the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Seasons of love!
JOANNE(while ALL sing)
Oh you got to got to
Remember the love!
You know that love is a gift from up above
Share love, give love spread love
Measure measure your life in love.
There are certainly more than enough issues that you might want to hit with this Eagles song ... have fun!!!
Get Over It
The Eagles
I turn on the tube and what do I see
A whole lotta people crying don't blame me
They point their crooked little fingers ar everybody else
Spend all their time feeling sorry for themselves
Victim of this, victim of that
Your momma's too thin; your daddy's too fat
Get over it
Get over it
All this whining and crying and pitching a fit
Get over it, get over it
You say you haven't been the same since you had your little crash
But you might feel better if I gave you some cash
The more I think about it, old billy was right
Let's kill all the lawyers, kill 'em tonight
You don't want to work, you want to live like a king
But the big, bad world doesn't owe you a thing
Get over it
Get over it
If you don't want to play, then you might as well split
Get over it, get over it
It's like going to confession every time I hear you speak
You're makin' the most of your losin' streak
Some call it sick, but I call it weak
You drag it around like a ball and chain
You wallow in the guilt; you wallow in the pain
You wave it like a flag, you wear it like a crown
Got your mind in the gutter, bringin' everybody down
Complain about the present and blame it on the past
I'd like to find your inner child and kick it's little ass
Get over it
Get over it
All this bitchin' and moanin' and pitchin' a fit
Get over it, get over it
Get over it
Get over it
It's gotta stop sometime, so why don't you quit
Get over it, get over it
Blues the way it should be with Mark Knopfler's biographical song about Sonny Liston. For the non fight fans and those too young to remember, click on the link for the Wikipedia about this troubled man. Both his life and death are still filled with mysteries and still being discussed. He attained the greatest height in his field but never the love or acclaim he desired and whose headstone bears the simple epitaph "A Man."
Lots of ways to go from sports to crime to mysteries to the price of fame and notariety.
So many mouths
To feed on the farm
Sonny was the second
To the last one born
His mamma ran away
And his daddy beat him bad
And he grew up wild
Good love he never had
He had a left
Like henry's hammer
A right like betty bamalam
Rode with the muggers
In the dark and dread
And all them sluggers
Went down like lead
Well he hung with the hoods
He wouldn't stroke the fans
But he had dynamite
In both his hands
Boom bam
Like the slammer door
The bell and the can
And the bodies on the floor
Beware the bear's in town
Somebody's money says
The bear's going down
Yeah, the bear never smiles
Sonny's going down
For miles and miles
Sonny's going down
For miles and miles
The writers didn't like him
The fight game jocks
With his lowlife backers
And his hands like rocks
They didn't want to have
A bogey man
They didn't like him
And he didn't like them
Black cadillac
Alligator boots
Money in the pockets
Of his sharkskin suits
Some say the bear
Took a flop
They couldn't believe it
When they saw him drop
He had a left
Like henry's hammer
A right like betty bamalam
Rode with the muggers
In the dark and dread
And all them sluggers
Went down like lead
Joe Louis was his hero
He tried to be the same
But a criminal child
Wears a ball and chain
So the civil rights people
Didn't want him on the throne
And the hacks and the cops
Wouldn't leave him alone
Beware the bear's in town
Somebody's money says
The bear's going down
Yeah, the bear never smiles
Sonny's going down
For miles and miles
Sonny's going down
For miles and miles
At the foot of his bed
With his feet on the floor
There was dope in his veins
And a pistol on the drawer
There was no investigation
As such
He hated needles
But he knew too much
Criss-crossed
On his back
Scars from his daddy
Like slavery tracks
The second-last child
Was the second-last king
Never again was it the same
In the ring
He had a left
Like henry's hammer
A right like betty bamalam
Rode with the muggers
In the dark and dread
And all them sluggers
Went down like lead
They never could be sure
About the day he was born
A motherless child
Set to working on the farm
And they never could be sure
About the day he died
The bear was the king
They cast aside
Beware the bear's in town
Somebody's money says
The bear's going down
Yeah, the bear never smiles
Sonny's going down
For miles and miles
Sonny's going down
For miles and miles
"Some day they're gonna write a
Blues for fighters. It'll just be for
Slow guitar, soft trumpet and a bell."
This time around, Linda the wonderful photographer with the unbelievably talented artist daughter has requested this week's Take This Tune. Visit her on Are We There Yet
The Things We Do For Love
10 CC
Too many broken hearts have fallen in the river
Too many lonely souls have drifted out to sea,
You lay your bets and then you pay the price
The things we do for love, the things we do for love
Communication is the problem to the answer
You've got her number and your hand is on the phone
The weather's turned and all the lines are down
The things we do for love, the things we do for love
Like walking in the rain and the snow
When there's nowhere to go
And you're feelin' like a part of you is dying
And you're looking for the answer in her eyes
You think you're gonna break up
Then she says she wants to make up
Ooh, you made me love you
Ooh, you've got a way
Ooh, you had me crawling up the wall
Like walking in the rain and the snow
When there's nowhere to go
And you're feelin' like a part of you is dying
And you're looking for the answer in her eyes
You think you're gonna break up
Then she says she wants to make up
Ooh, you made me love you
Ooh, you've got a way
Ooh, you had me crawling up the wall
A compromise would surely help the situation
Agree to disagree but disagree to part
When after all it's just a compromise of
The things we do for love, the things we do for love
One of our regular participants, Travis of Trav's Thoughts picked this week's Take This Tune song. Whistle Down the Wind is a musical based on the 1961 film Whistle Down the Wind with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Jim Steinman. This is one of Webbers few unsuccessful musicals despite the wonderful music. The Broadway opening was cancelled after poor reviews of the out of town preview. A more successful West End production did run and a concept album was issued that achieved several hit songs
You can read all about the book, movie, and musical production on the above link. The show has strong religious conotations as it delves into the nature of faith, belief, unanswered dreams and deception as the town children mistake an injured wanderer for Jesus in Act One, but who may really be a fugitive. It ends with whoever he was imprisoned inside a burning barn but still a mystery.
That is one side of the story. The other is much simpler, a beautiful song about the persistence of hopes, dreams, love and memory.
Whistle Down The Wind
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Whistle down the wind
Let your voices carry
Drown out all the rain
Light a patch of darkness
Treacherous and scary
Howl at the stars
Whisper when you're sleeping
I'll be there to hold you
I'll be there to stop
The chills and all the weeping
Make it clear and strong
So the whole night long
Every signal that you send
Until the very end
I will not abandon you my precious friend
So try to stem the tide
Then you'll raise a banner
Send a flare up in the sky
Try to burn a torch
And try to build a bonfire
Every signal that you send
Until the very end
I'm there
So whistle down the wind
For I have always been
Right there
Howl at the stars
Whisper when your sleeping
I'll be there to hold you
I'll be there to stop
The chills and all the weeping
Make it clear and strong
So the whole night long
Every signal that you send
Until the very end
I will not abandon you my precious friend
So whistle down the wind
Let your voices carry
Drown out all the rain
Light a patch of darkness
Treacherous and scary
Every signal that you send
Until the very end
I'm there
So whistle down the wind
For I have always been
Right there.
This week we are giving you three songs that are all about home towns, small towns, and places you leave behind on the way to somewhere else. First up Mary Chapin Carpenter's "I Am A Town" then Iris Dement with "My Town" and finally, Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown". They are the places where we are from or just pass by on the way to somewhere else. Do you have a story to tell?
I Am A Town - Mary Chapin Carpenter
I'm a town in Carolina, I'm a detour on a ride
For a phone call and a soda, I'm a blur from the driver's side
I'm the last gas for an hour if you're going twenty-five
I am Texaco and tobacco, I am dust you leave behind
I am peaches in September, and corn from a roadside stall
I'm the language of the natives, I'm a cadence and a drawl
I'm the pines behind the graveyard, and the cool beneath their shade,
where the boys have left their beer cans I am weeds between the graves.
My porches sag and lean with old black men and children
Their sleep is filled with dreams, I never can fulfill them
I am a town.
I am a church beside the highway where the ditches never drain
I'm a Baptist like my daddy, and Jesus knows my name
I am memory and stillness,
I am lonely in old age; I am not your destination
I am clinging to my ways
I am a town.
I'm a town in Carolina, I am billboards in the fields
I'm an old truck up on cinder blocks, missing all my wheels
I am Pabst Blue Ribbon, American, and "Southern Serves the South"
I am tucked behind the Jaycees sign, on the rural route
I am a town
I am a town
I am a town
Southbound.
Our Town- Ireis Dement
And you know the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
'Cause your heart's bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.
Up the street beside that red neon light,
That's where I met my baby on one hot summer night.
He was the tender and I ordered a beer,
It's been forty years and I'm still sitting here.
But you know the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
'Cause your heart's bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.
It's here I had my babies and I had my first kiss.
I've walked down Main Street in the cold morning mist.
Over there is where I bought my first car.
It turned over once but then it never went far.
And I can see the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
'Cause your heart's bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.
I buried my Mama and I buried my Pa.
They sleep up the street beside that pretty brick wall.
I bring them flowers about every day,
but I just gotta cry when I think what they'd say.
If they could see how the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
'Cause your heart's bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can't you see the sun's settin' down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.
Now I sit on the porch and watch the lightning-bugs fly.
But I can't see too good, I got tears in my eyes.
I'm leaving tomorrow but I don't wanna go.
I love you, my town, you'll always live in my soul.
But I can see the sun's settin' fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on, I gotta kiss you goodbye,
But I'll hold to my lover,
'Cause my heart's 'bout to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to my town, to my town.
I can see the sun has gone down on my town, on my town,
Goodnight.
Goodnight.
My Hometown
Bruce Springsteen
I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I'd sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town
He'd tousle my hair and say son take a good look around this is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
This is your hometown
In `65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown
My hometown
My hometown
Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys
and they ain't coming back to your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown
Your hometown
Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm thirty-five we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said son take a good look around
Awhile back we played with Vince Gill's "Some Things Never Get Old". One of the lines about things that never get boring in that song reads "Eatin' watermelon down to the rind, any song by Brother John Prine". If you aren't familiar with John Prine, seek him out. His songs can be hilarious, sad, angry, or sweet. What they will always be is powerful in some way. Prine doesn't cheat. He always has something to say. This is one of the best known, tragic, and cause for thought as he sings of those who come home from war broken either physically or mentally.
Sam Stone
John Prine
Sam Stone came home,
To his wife and family
After serving in the conflict overseas.
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerves,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked,
With a Purple Heart and a monkey on his back.
Chorus:
There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,
Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.
Little pitchers have big ears,
Don't stop to count the years,
Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.
Mmm....
Sam Stone's welcome home
Didn't last too long.
He went to work when he'd spent his last dime
And Sammy took to stealing
When he got that empty feeling
For a hundred dollar habit without overtime.
And the gold rolled through his veins
Like a thousand railroad trains,
And eased his mind in the hours that he chose,
While the kids ran around wearin' other peoples' clothes...
Repeat Chorus:
Sam Stone was alone
When he popped his last balloon
Climbing walls while sitting in a chair
Well, he played his last request
While the room smelled just like death
With an overdose hovering in the air
But life had lost its fun
And there was nothing to be done
But trade his house that he bought on the G. I. Bill
For a flag draped casket on a local heroes' hill.
This is a two for one Take This Tune. I first heard "He Rode All The Way to Texas on the Trio album featuring Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and Dolly Parton. Unfortunately, You tube doesn't have that video, but you might want to go hunting on I Tunes to download. It is a song about a love 'em and leave "em man who happens to be an entertainer. The sentiments are similar to those of The Groupie (Superstar) here with the original recording by Delaney and Bonnie rather than The Carpenters. In both songs, the women are left with nothing but the radio. Somehow it sounds better and a little less cruel in bluegrass. Apparently Hollywood likes the subject as at least ffour movies have been made on the topic (The Rocker, Walk Hard, The Banger Sisters, and Almost Famous) What do you have to say about stars and their obsessive fans?
He rode all the way to Texas on an old freight train
Didn't miss the girl he left behind
He rode all the way to Texas
Didn't shed a tear
He's letting you know that he's the moving kind
A light shines from my window
Just can't sleep no more
Lord it hurts so much to be alone
But the real men never do admit
It's them that might be wrong
At least that's what he told me in his song
Chorus
The freedom that he sings about
I guess I'll never know
Just can't shake the guilt or kill the pain
But he lets me ride when the lights turn low
Get on board the radio and take a ride to Texas on his train
He rode all the way to Texas on an old freight train
Didn't miss the girl he left behind
He rode all the way to Texas
Didn't shed a tear
Letting you know that he's the moving kind
He's letting you know that he's the moving kind
Long ago
and oh so far away
I fell in love with you
Before the second show
Your guitar
it sounds so sweet and clear
it's just the radio
but you're not really there
Don't you remember you told me you love me baby
you said you'd be coming back this way again baby
baby baby baby baby oh baby
I love you, I really do
Loneliness, is such a sad affair
and I can hardly wait
to sleep with you again
what to say to make you come again
come back to me again
and play your sad guitar
Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby
you said you'd be coming back this way again baby
baby baby baby baby oh baby
I love you, I really do
Don't you remember you told me you love me baby
you said you'd be coming back this way again baby
baby baby baby baby oh baby
I love you, I really do
The ladies of Take This Tune seem to be in a bit of a mood with Elvis last week and now the very risque lyrics of Red Staggerwing. Spring must be coming in. This video features one of the best guitarists living, Mark Knopfler, in duet with the incomparable Emmylou Harris from their album, Real Live Roadrunning which you really must have. You can get either the CD or the combination CD and DVD of the tour. There isn't a loser song in the whole album and the fun of Staggerwing is offset by the sad and poignant Red Dirt Girl. In the meantime, take this tune tell us a story or just go for a ride.
If i was staggerwing plane
A staggerwingpainted red
I'd fly over to your house, baby
Buzz you in your bed
If i was a taperwing
A taperwing painted blue
I'd be barrell-rolling over you
You're gonna need a rider anyhow
Let me be your rider now
If i was a maserati
A red 300s
I'd ride around to your house, baby
Give you a driving test
If i was a mustang racer
White with a stripe of blue
You could ride me,baby
Whenever you wanted to
You're gonna need a rider anyhow
Let me be your rider now
If i was a fender guitar
A fender painted red
You could play me, darlin'
Until your fingers bled
If i was one of them gibsons
Like a '58 or '9
You could plug me in
And play me anytime
You're gonna need a rider anyhow
Let me be your rider now
If i was a motorcycle
A vincent red rapide
I'd ride around to your house, baby
Get you up to speed
If i was short track racer
I'd be an indian
You could ride me around
And ride me round again
You're gonna need a rider anyhow
Let me be your rider now
You're gonna need a rider anyhow
Let me be your rider now
This is as we first saw him. There is a song to go with the legend.
Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell
Jimmy Rogers on the Victrola up high
Mama's dancin' with baby on her shoulder
The sun is settin' like molasses in the sky
The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for
Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
Up in Memphis the music's like a heatwave
White lightening, bound to drive you wild
Mama's baby's in the heart of every school girl
"Love me tender" leaves 'em cryin' in the aisle
The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for
Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
Every word of every song that he sang was for you
In a flash he was gone, it happened so soon, what could you do?
(Guitar Solo)
Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
Black velvet and that little boy's smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
With the current state of politics and predictions of imminent disaster for 2012, it would seems things are gearing up for some cataclysmic event. So where you gonna go when the volcano blows? What is your idea of the ultimate place to spend your final years (or hours)?
Chorus:
Now I don't know
I don't know
I don't know where I'm a gonna go
When the volcano blow
Chorus:
Well let me hear ya now
I don't know
I don't know
I don't know where I'm a gonna go
When the volcano blow
Ground she's movin' under me
Got ya tidal waves out on the sea
Sulphur smoke up in the sky
Pretty soon we learn to fly
Chorus:
Hey I don't know
I don't know
I don't know where I'm a gonna go
When the volcano blow
Now my girl quickly said to me
Man, you'd better watch your feet
That lava comes out soft and hot
You better lova me now or lova me not
Chorus:
See I don't know
I don't know
I don't know where I'm a gonna go
When the volcano blow
"Hey Mr. Utley."
No time to count what I'm worth
Hey I just left the planet earth
But a' where I go I hope there's rum
Not to worry, more soon come
Chorus:
I don't know
I don't know
I don't know where I'm a gonna go
When the volcano blow
But I don't want to land in New York City
Don't want to land in Mexico (no no no)
Don't want to land in the Three Mile Island
Don't want to see my skin aglow (no no no)
Don't want to land in Commanche Sky park
Or in Nashville, Tennessee (no no no)
Don't want to land in no San Juan airport
Or the Yukon Territory (no no no)
Don't want to land in no San Diego
Don't want to land in no Buzzard's Bay(no no no)
Don't want to land on no ayutollah
I got nothin a more to say
Chorus:
I don't know
I don't know
I don't know where I'm a gonna go
When the volcano blow
This week we are taking a different kind of trip - the ones you take at night or in your daydreams. Here's a beautiful German lieder (English translation below) courtesy of Fairweather to remind you that Spring will be coming around again eventually and maybe, just maybe the return or beginning of love.
Such colorful flowers I dreamed of,
All blooming and lovely in May
A fantasy of fresh meadows
And wonderful creatures in song.
But then cried out the rooster
My eyes were opened wide.
The world was cold and shadows
And ravens all cackled aloud.
And on my darkened windows
Who was it who painted such leaves?
Oh, why do you laugh at the dreamer
With visions of winter flowers?
(Who wiles away youthful hours...)
I dreamed of a love untainted
A maiden of beauty, and pure;
Of kisses and sweet caresses
Of happiness whole, and our joy.
But then cried out the rooster
And bid my heart awake
And now alone I languish
Is doubt and confusion my fate?
Once more I close my eyes and
My heart beats fast and strong
When will those leaves grow truly -
My love I will hold in my arms?
(To cherish forevermore.)
More driving. This time it's down a lonely road. Some of the best shows on television are now on cable. This will be the last season starting at the end of March for Saving Grace. Your job, write about your favorite non network show, your favorite TV theme song, the lyrics to Saving Grace, or the lonely roads you might have traveled. . As always, go where it takes you.
One time around the block
Two times around the clock
Three times, don't cross the little lady (lady)
So pretty and, oh, so bold
Got a heart full of gold on a lonely road
She said, "I don't even think that God can save me" (save me)
(Am I) gainin' ground
(Am I) losin' face
(Have I) lost and found my saving grace
Thankful for the gift my angels gave me
Born alone, we die alone
'n' I'm just sittin' here by the phone
Waitin' for the Lord to send my callin'
Street wise from the boulevard
Jesus only knows that she tries too hard
She's only tryin' to keep the sky from fallin'
("How'd you know my name"
"God sent me"
"God sent you"
"Yes")
Any man who says it's Heaven and Hell
Prob'ly got somethin' useless to sell
You ask me if I'm saved, but what's it to ya?
Blow a quarter, cop another eight
You're runnin' out of high, you're losin' your faith
Throw your hands up and scream, "Hallelujah"
Linda of "Are We There Yet" requested this driving music favorite of hers with the following comment. "Before you could send a text message or call someone in their car, there was no way to communicate to a driver - unless you had a certain telepathic love that could convey from a distance your desire to be with that person, something you might call - Radar Love. In this song, the guy has been driving all night, but keeps pushing the pedal because he just knows that his baby wants him home." It's been called "One of the Ten Best Driving Songs"!
So Start Your Engines, and tell us an "On The Road" story.
I've been drivin' all night, my hands are wet on the wheel.
There's a voice in my head that drives my heel.
My baby call said I need you here.
It's half past four and I'm shifting gears.
When she's lonely and the longing gets too much,
She sends a cable coming in from above.
Don't need no phone at all.
We got a thing that's called radar love
We got a wave in the air
Radar love
The radio's playin' some forgotten song.
Brenda Lee's coming on strong.
The road has got me hypnotized,
As I spin into a new sunrise.
When I get lonely and I'm sure I've had enough,
She sends comfort coming in from above.
Don't need no letters at all.
We got a thing that's called radar love
We got a line in the sky
Radar love
No more speed I'm almost there.
Gotta keep cool, now, gotta take care.
Last car to pass, here I go.
The line of cars drove down real slow.
The radio plays that forgotten song.
Brenda Lee's coming on strong.
The news man sang his same song,
One more radar lover gone.
When I'm feeling lonely and I'm sure I've had enough.
She sends the comfort coming in from above.
Don't need no radio at all
We got a thing that's called radar love
We got a light in the sky
We got a thing and its called radar love
We got a thing that's called
Radar love
We are heading out on the road for awhile with songs that take you places to see wonderful things. To kick it off tell us all the wonderful things you have seen. What experiences have you had that you could repeat over and over again? Start writing and tell us all about them.
Have you ever watched the sunset
Disappear in the water down in Mexico
The sky on fire melting into the ocean
Man there's some things that never get old
Have you ever seen a baby walk for the first time
It's like watching a sparrow, a sparrow's wings unfold
When that baby smiles up at you
Man there's some things that never get old
Makin' sweet love to that gal of mine
My first taste of bluebird wine
Eatin' watermelon down to the rind
Any old song by brother John Prine
Sometimes that face looking back in the mirror
Make that mirror, make that mirror cold
But in my heart, oh I'm a hundred years younger
Man there's some things that never get old
Ridin' into town with some friends of mine
It's a two-tone Chevy, she's a '59
Ice cold beer in the summertime
Pickin' on the back porch with brother John Prine
I think livin' is one long highway
I'm bettin' Heaven is at the end of the road
I think love just might be the answer
Man there's some things that never get old
I think love, oh Lord, I know it's the answer
Man there's some things that never get old
"It will come to you, this love of the land. There’s no gettin’ away from it, if you’re Irish." Mr. Gerald, Scarlett O’Hara’s father, in Margaret Mitchell’s GONE WITH THE WIND (1936)
It’s not just an Irish thing. I suspect that, no matter what one’s nationality or ethnicity is, there is one place where our hearts put down roots—one place we call home. It isn’t necessarily the place we happen to be living at the moment. For example, the late Teddy and Doyle Wilburn, natives of Arkansas, lived out their careers and lives in Nashville, far from the Ozarks, but you can still hear that longing and love in their voices for a "forty acre patch God sowed in sprouts" back home.
Though the brambles took the cabin I was born in
And the briars reclaim the fields I used to plow
There's a yearnin' in my heart to be goin'
To that forty-acre patch God sowed in sprouts
Arkansas, are your rivers still flowin'
Is your cotton growin' white as snow
Are the squirrels still a-barkin' up on old Crowley's ridge
Has the girl I was sparkin' gone and burned another bridge
Arkansas. . .Arkansas
I have known the troubles I was born to know
I have wanted things a poor man's born to want
And in all my dreams and memories I go runnin'
Through the fields of Arkansas from which I sprung
Arkansas, are your rivers still flowin'
Is your cotton growin' white as snow
Do the young men still piddle with the thought of growin' rich
And slowly turn to old folks sittin' whittlin' on a stick
Arkansas. . .Arkansas
Where is the place where your heart is rooted, no matter how far away you’ve roamed from there? Start writing~~Fairweather
Ah, the romance of a lover thought lost who finally comes home! One such, of course, is the Greek hero Odysseus, whose return to his wife Penelope after twenty years away (first to the Trojan War, then on wanderings brought on by having offended a god) is recounted, in Nigel Spivey’s 2005 book SONGS ON BRONZE, in a few brief sentences of such sensuality that—ahem. Let’s just say they’re very sexy.
No doubt that ancient tale lies at the root of many of our folk ballads about a lost lover come home. They go by various titles: "John Riley" is one such, while one could argue that "The Demon Lover" is another, with a supernatural twist. My favorite of them is "Pretty Fair Maid in the Garden" which exists in several variants, including this one by Tim O’Brien, from his CD FIDDLER’S GREEN.
Lyrics:
Pretty fair maid was in her garden
When a stranger came a-riding by
He came up to the gate and called her
Said pretty fair maid would you be my bride
She said I've a true love who's in the army
And he's been gone for seven long years
And if he's gone for seven years longer
I'll still be waiting for him here
Perhaps he's on some watercourse drowning
Perhaps he's on some battlefield slain
Perhaps he's to a fair girl married
And you may never see him again
Well if he's drown, I hope he's happy
Or if he's on some battlefield slain
And if he's to some fair girl married
I'll love the girl that married him
He took his hand out of his pocket
And on his finger he wore a golden ring
And when she saw that band a-shining
A brand new song her heart did sing
And then he threw his arms all around her
Kisses gave her one, two, three
Said I'm your true and loving soldier
That's come back home to marry thee
Pretty fair maid was in her garden
When a stranger came a-riding by
He came up to the gate and called her
Said pretty fair maid would you be my bride
That’s only in the folk genre, though. There are others spread across the entire musical spectrum. Do you have a favorite lost-love-returned song? Start writing~~Fairweather
Painting by the English neo-Baroque artist John Godward.
Enough with as Linda says, "Grape Stomped Hearts". Now it's time for the funny side of love. Take your pick this week as both songs are gifts of clever lyrics to take an Oscar home courtesy of Bob Hope.
First up a Frank Loesser lyric and Oscar winner about how to have a happy divorce with "Thanks For the Memories". Sung with Shirley Ross in The Big Broadcast of 1938, it became Hope's signature song.
Thanks for the memory
Of candlelight and wine, castles on the Rhine
The Parthenon and moments on the Hudson River Line
How lovely it was!
Thanks for the memory
Of rainy afternoons, swingy Harlem tunes
And motor trips and burning lips and burning toast and prunes
How lovely it was!
Many's the time that we feasted
And many's the time that we fasted
Oh, well, it was swell while it lasted
We did have fun and no harm done
And thanks for the memory
Of sunburns at the shore, nights in Singapore
You might have been a headache but you never were a bore
So thank you so much.
Thanks for the memory
Of sentimental verse, nothing in my purse
And chuckles when the preacher said "For better or for worse"
How lovely it was
Thanks for the memory
Of lingerie with lace, Pilsner by the case
And how I jumped the day you trumped my one-and-only ace
How lovely it was!
We said goodbye with a highball
Then I got as "high" as a steeple
But we were intelligent people
No tears, no fuss, Hooray! For us
So, thanks for the memory
And strictly entre-nous, darling how are you?
And how are all the little dreams that never did come true?
Aw'flly glad I met you, cheerio, and toodle-oo
And thank you so much.
Next Fish Out of Water with the Oscar winning "Buttons & Bows". Two versions from two films, first with Hope & Jane Russell and then with Hope, Russell, and Roy Rogers.
East is east and west is west
And the wrong one I have chose
Let's go where they keep on wearin'
Those frills and flowers and buttons and bows
Rings and things and buttons and bows.
Don't bury me in this prairie
Take me where the cement grows
Let's move down to some big town
Where they love a gal by the cut o' your clothes
And you'll stand out, In buttons and bows.
I'll love you in buckskin
Or skirts that you've homespun
But I'll love ya' longer, stronger where
Yer friends don't tote a gun
My bones denounce the buckboard bounce
And the cactus hurts my toes
Let's vamoose where gals keep a-usin'
Those silks and satins and linen that shows
And I'm all yours in buttons and bows.
Gimme eastern trimmin' where women are women
In high silk hose and peek-a-boo clothes
And French perfume that rocks the room
And I'm all yours in buttons and bows.
Last night I was warbling along with the studio recording of Emmylou's "Heartbreak Hill" (which is much more energetic than this live version) and thinking about heartbreak as a theme in music. Now as you know, my field of preference is classic country and bluegrass, and we've got a blue goodelin' of songs about heartbreak--but it's also a constant theme in other genres, from jazz, blues, rock, classical/opera.
So--what is your favorite song about heartbreak, and why? Start writing~~Fairweather
Your wacky hosts at Take This Tune have had a severe attack of the sillies. Maybe last year was just a bit too serious. Old man 2009 has left and baby new year 2010 has appeared which put us in mind of relatives, descendants and the family trees that go with them.
The link above will explain this light hearted operetta by Johann Strauss II. Often performed on New Years Eve because the count does like to party and "The Campagne Song" that closes Act II is a wonderful salute to the bubbly.
Despite the German, I'm sure you can figure out that all these folks had one whale of a ball. So What did you do for New Year's Eve?
