Song lyrics

[Alan Palmer]

Some song lyrics can stand on their own; this is one of my favourite songs. The music and singing are so-so, in my opinion, but the lyrics are superb.

Wonderful Tonight
Eric Clapton

It's late in the evening; she's wondering what clothes to wear.
She puts on her make-up and brushes her long blonde hair.
And then she asks me, "Do I look all right?"
And I say, "Yes, you look wonderful tonight."


We go to a party and everyone turns to see
This beautiful lady that's walking around with me.
And then she asks me, "Do you feel all right?"
And I say, "Yes, I feel wonderful tonight."


I feel wonderful because I see
The love light in your eyes.
And the wonder of it all
Is that you just don't realize how much I love you.


It's time to go home now and I've got an aching head,
So I give her the car keys and she helps me to bed.
And then I tell her, as I turn out the light,
I say, "My darling, you were wonderful tonight.
Oh my darling, you were wonderful tonight."

[Alan Palmer]

Maybe I'm an old softy, but I'm a sucker for some (well-written) song lyrics. This is an Ian Dury and the Blockheads song, Wake Up And Make Love With Me

I come awake
with the gift for womankind
you’re still alseep
but the gift don’t seem to mind
rise on this occation
halfway up your back
sliding down your body
touching your behind

you look so self-possessed
I won’t distrub your rest
it’s lovely when you’re sleeping
but wide awake is best

ow, wake up and make love with me
wake up and make love
wake up and make love with me
I don’t wanna make you
i’ll let the fancy take you
and you’ll wake up and make love

you come awake
in a horny morning mood
and we’ll have a proper wriggle
in the naughty, naked nude
roll against my body
get me where you want me
what happens next is private
it’s also very rude

i’ll go and get the post
and make some tea and toast
you have a nother sleep luv
it’s me that needs it most

ow, wake up and make love with me
wake up and make love
wake up and make love with me
I don’t wanna make you
i’ll let the fancy take you
and your’ll wake up and make love

wake up and make love with me
wake up and make love
wake up and make love with me
wake up and make love
wake up
wake up
wake up
wake up

[Alan Palmer]

On the subject of Ian Dury and the Blockheads, this is most definitely not a romantic song. The lyrics are great, though.

Billericay Dickie

Good evening, I'm from Essex
In case you couldn't tell
My given name is Dickie
I come from Billericay
And I'm doing very well

Had a love affair with Nina
In the back of my cortina
A seasoned-up hyena
Could not have been more obscener
She took me to the cleaners
And other misdemeanours
But I got right up between her
Rum and her Ribena

Well, you ask Joyce and Vicky
If candy-floss is sticky
I'm not a blinking thicky
I'm Billericay Dickie
And I'm doing very well

I bought a lot of Brandy
When I was courting Sandy
To aim to make her randy
And all I had was shandy
Another thing with Sandy
What often came in handy
Was passing her and Mandy
She didn't half go bandy

So, you ask Joyce and Vicky
If I ever took the mickey
I'm not a flipping thicky
I'm Billericay Dickie
And I'm doing very well

I'd rendez-vous with Janet
Quite near the Isle of Thanet
She looked more like a gannet
She wasn't half a prannet
Her mother tried to ban it
Her father helped me plan it
And when I captured Janet
She bruised her pomegranate

Oh, you ask Joyce and Vicky
If I ever shaped up tricky
I'm not a blooming thicky
I'm Billericay Dickie
And I'm doing very well

You should never hold a candle
If you don't know where it's been
The jackpot is in the handle
On a normal fruit machine

So, you ask Joyce and Vicky
Who's there favourite brickie
I'm not a common thicky
I'm Billericay Dickie
And I'm doing very well

I know a lovely old toe-rag
Obliging and noblesse
Kindly, charming shag from Shoeburyness
My given name is Dickie
I come from Billericay
I thought you'd never guess

So, you ask Joyce and Vicky
A pair of squeaky chickies
I'm not a flaming thicky
I'm Billericay Dicky
And I'm doing very well

Oh golly, oh gosh
Come and lie on the couch
With a nice bit of posh
From Burnham-on-Crouch
My given name is Dickie
I come from Billericay
And I ain't a slouch

So, you ask Joyce and Vicky
About Billericay Dickie
I ain't an effing thicky
You ask Joyce and Vicky
And I'm doing very well

[Verbivore]

Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy - Television, The Drug Of The Nation Lyrics
(Please don't hold me responsible for the (lack of) punctuation; that's how it was on the record jacket.)


One Nation under God
has turned into
One Nation under the influence
of one drug

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., I.T. satellite links
our United States of unconciousness
Apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
the methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching

T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent of our
Nation reads books daily
Why most people think Central America
means Kansas
Socialism means unAmerican
and Apartheid is a new headache remedy

absorbed in its world it's so hard to find us
It shapes our minds the most
maybe the mother of our Nation
should remind us
that we're sitting to close to ...

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is
the stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods
are chased by Grecian Formula'd
bald eagles

T.V. is mechanized politics'
remote control over the masses
co-sponsored by environmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special

It's the perpetuation of the two party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
Where sound bite politics are served to
the fastfood culture

Where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
Race baiting is the way to get selected
Willie Horton or
Will he not get elected on ...

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is it the reflector or the director?
Does it imitate us or do we imitate it
Because a child watches 1500 murders before he's
twelve years old and we wonder how we've created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than abhor the horror

T.V. is the place where
armchair generals and quarterbacks can
experience first hand
the excitement of video warfare
as the theme song is sung in the background

Sugar sweet sitcoms
that leave us with a bad actor taste while
pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars
You saw the video
You heard the soundtrack
Well now go buy the soft drink
Well, the only cola that I support
would be a union C.O.L.A. (Cost of Living Allownace)
On Television.

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Back again, "New and Improved",
we return to our irregularly programmed schedule
hidden cleverly between heavy breasted
beer and car commericals

CNN ESPN ABC TNT but mostly B.S.
Where oxymoronic language like
"virtually spotless" "fresh frozen"
"light yet filling" and "military intelligence"
have become standard

T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined
like "recession" to "necessary downturn"
"crude oil" on a beach to "mousse"
"Civilian death" to "collateral damages"
and being killed by your own Army
is now called "friendly fire"

T.V. is the place where the pursuit
of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia
Where toothpaste and cars have become sex objects
Where imagination is sucked out of children
by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse
that would create a cripple

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On Television ...

[Alan Palmer]

I feel almost obligated to post these lyrics by Pink Floyd from Shine On You Crazy Diamond since I use part of them in my signature here.

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the cross fire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger,
you legend, you martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Treatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter,
you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

[Verbivore]

And predictably - "Mercedes Benz" (also known as "The Politician"):

Oh lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?

My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.

Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,

So lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?



Oh lord, won't you buy me a colour TV?

Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me.

I wait for delivery each day until three,

So oh lord, won't you buy me a colour TV?



Oh lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?

I'm counting on you, lord, please don't let me down.

Prove that you love me and buy the next round,

Oh lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?



Oh lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?

My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends,

Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,

So oh lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?

Sung by Janis Joplin.
Written by Janis Joplin together with the poet Michael McClure and Bob Neuwirth

[Verbivore]

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS - Queen

I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand
kicked in my face
But I've come through.
We are the champions my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'cause we are the champions
of the world.
I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune
and everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before
the whole human race
And I ain't gonna lose.
We are the champions ...

[Pete]

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be
Done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the
Cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He us with bullets, he rained us with
Shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then started all over again

Now those
In mad world of blood, death and fire
And for weeks I kept myself alive

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was
Dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
the green far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded
Maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
, the blind insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving dreams of past glory

The forgotten heroes a forgotten war
And the young people ask , "What are they
Marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll a-waltzing Matilda with me?

I just find this one very moving, by The Pogues

[Alan Palmer]

In a much darker mood, Strange Fruit, sung by Billie Holliday and others:

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

EDIT: I mean darker than my earlier posts. I'm not referring to the song posted by Pete.

[Pete]

In Piano Man Billy Joel uses the phrase "when I wore a younger man's clothes" to evoke the emotions of a middle-aged man who had never fulfilled the ambitions of his youth.

[Tone]

> Billy Joel uses the phrase "when I wore a younger man's clothes" to evoke the emotions of a middle-aged man who had never fulfilled the ambitions of his youth.<

I'm sure that I've heard that from another (previous?) source to give an impression of having cast away childish, or merely different, attitudes with no sense of loss whatsoever.

Tone

[Pete]

Aug 19, 2008 20:11:01 GMT Tone said:

> Billy Joel uses the phrase "when I wore a younger man's clothes" to evoke the emotions of a middle-aged man who had never fulfilled the ambitions of his youth.<

I'm sure that I've heard that from another (previous?) source to give an impression of having cast away childish, or merely different, attitudes with no sense of loss whatsoever.

Tone

And I can see how. But listen to that song
and then see if you agree with me.

[Dr Mildr]

Are the lyrics from Simon and Garfunkel's 'Leaves that are Green' logical?
I was 21 years when I wrote this song
I'm 22 now, but I won't be for long ...

[Paul Doherty]

Ah, like Barry Manilow's "I Write the Songs".

Which he didn't write.

[Dr Mildr]

The hillside was a patchwork quilt
Neatly stitched with tidy hedge
And crumbling grey stone wall
The trees were bare, but Spring was near
To conjure up its endless strings
Of green magic handkerchieves

The Strawbs