“Well, I woke up Sunday mornin’
With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt,
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad,
So I had one more for dessert”
“When it’s time for your reflection,
As you wait 'til help arrives,
We see our good friend’s face on the dashboard
And I know you cannot leave that cab alive”
“I’m high on the hill, looking over the bridge to the MCG,
And way on high, the clock on the silo say eleven degrees” (bonus point for later referencing Paul Salmon).
Ha! I watched ‘The Maltese Falcon’ for the first time last week (yes, I know …) and it had me dusting off that Al Stewart album for the first time since probably the 1970s,
Edit: 2. With the money from her accident
She bought herself a mobile home
So at least she could get some enjoyment
Out of being alone
No one could say that she was left up on the shelf
It’s you and me against the World kid she mumbled to herself
Edit 2: 3. Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face
With stars to fill my dreams
I am a traveler of both time and space
To be where I have been
Sit with elders of a gentle race
This world has seldom seen
It helps that l spent 23 days in Kashmir including 4 days in Ladakh. It took 2 days in a bus both ways to get to Leh the capital in an alpine desert, a journey of only 400 or so km. The entire journey consisted of going either up or down one of four major mountain passes, with the smell of hot brakes all the way to the bottom.
Early Leaders are Straight Outta Compton, Thunder Rd and Sounds of Silence, very good start for the country between the Gulf of America, the Future America, the East American Ocean (hence the NEATO alliance) and the Southeast Russian Ocean.
So ■■■■■■■ what?
Metallica
Good things come in threes, you don’t have to tell me
Guitar, bass and drums
Hey buddy… sounds like fun
Everybody’s getting a 3-piece together.
The van is beautifully packed - two across the front, one in the back
Suddently three is cool, shed a member here, lose another two
Everyone’s trimming fat - Keyboards? Percussion? Fark that.
Everybody’s getting a 3-piece together.
I do find the difference between opening lyrics, and “first verse” which some seem to be going with as challenging. In some cases the first line can be killer, but in others it makes no sense without the next phrase or the next 3 phrases.
3 - I’m so happy 'cause today I found my friends
They’re in my head
I’m so ugly, that’s okay, 'cause so are you
Broke our mirrors
Sunday morning is everyday, for all I care
And I’m not scared
Light my candles in a daze
'Cause I’ve found God
2 - At home drawing pictures of mountain tops
With him on top, lemon yellow sun
Arms raised in a “V”
And the dead lay in pools of maroon below
1 - White man came across the sea
He brought us pain and misery
He killed our tribes, he killed our creed
He took our game for his own need
Where’s the cut off point of
You are born into this world
Looking down the barrel of a gun
And those who hold the gun want you to
Live fast and die young
Hey Matt
Yeah, Tim?
Hey, you talked to Mark lately?
Uh, haven’t really talked to him but he looks pretty, uh, down
He looks pretty, uh, down?
Yeah, well maybe we should cheer him up then
What do you, uh, suppose we should do?
Well, does he like butter tarts?
One of the things that has attracted me to Country music is the thought (and often humour) in the lyrics. Here’s a few of my top Country song lyrics:
Brad Paisley - Online
I work down at the Pizza Pit
And I drive an old Hyundai
I still live with my mom and dad
I’m 5’3 and overweight
I’m a sci-fi fanatic
Mild asthmatic
Never been to second base
But there’s a whole 'nother me
That you need to see
So go check out Myspace
Joe Nichols - Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off
She said “I’m going out with my girlfriends
For margaritas at the Holiday Inn.”
Oh, have mercy, my only thought
Was tequila makes her clothes fall off
Hardy and Lainey Wilson - Wait In The Truck
I got turned around in some little town
I’d never been to before.
Working my way through a middle of June Midnight thunderstorm.
There was something in the headlights
It stopped me on a dime
Well, she was scared to death
So I said “Climb in”.
And in she climbed.
Steve Earle - Copperhead Road
Well, my name’s John Lee Pettimore
Same as my daddy and his daddy before
You hardly ever saw grandaddy down here
He only come to town about twice a year
He’d buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
Everybody knew that he made moonshine
If you can’t get it into 4 believable lines, it’s out.
When I thought about it, there are plenty of great songs with fairly dull lyrical beginnings. Scene setters rather than attention grabbers. Sometimes we love the first lines more because they remind us of the tune and the upcoming song, rather than their own content.
I love “why don’t you find out for yourself” by Morrissey but it starts like this:
The sanest days are mad
Why don’t you find out for yourself?
Then, you’ll see the price
Very closely
Well “very closely” sounds like a placeholder line he never bothered improving. But the Buzzcocks get the whole conundrum in a tight rhyming pistol start:
You spurn my natural emotions
You make me feel I’m dirt and I’m hurt
And if I start a commotion
I run the risk of losing you and that’s worse
I agree there is a tension when the start goes on a bit, for this comp it needs to stay reasonably tight. Opening lines not First Act.
Monday mornin’ feels so bad
Ev’rybody seems to nag me
Comin’ Tuesday I feel better
Even my old man looks good
Goodbye to you my trusted friend
We’ve known each other since we were nine or ten
Together we climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and A B C’s
Out here in the fields
I farm for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don’t need to fight
Now the end is here and I face my final curtain. - Frankie’s I Did It my Way.
Standing at the limit of an endless ocean. Stranded like a runway lost out at sea. - Icehouse
Give us a 3rd SO
1,2,3…1,2,3.
1, 2, 1, 2, 3 owww
One two three fawh!
I love the opening verse of Reckless by Aussie Crawl:
Meet me down by the jetty landing
Where the pontoons bump and spray.
The others reading, standing
As the Manly ferry cuts its way to Circular Quay
Words like violence break the silence
Come crashing in into my little world
Painful to me peirce right through me
Can’t you understand? Oh my little girl
All I ever wanted all I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnessesary
They can only do harm.
I feel you your sun it shines
I feel you within my mind
You take me there you take me where
The Kingdom comes
You take me to and lead me through
Babylon
Today is gonna be the day
That they’re gonna throw it back to you
By now you should’ve somehow
Realized what you gotta do
Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder
Thunder, thunder, thunder, thunder
Thunder, thunder
I was caught
Now here you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well, who am I to keep you down?
It’s only right that you should
Agree. Too many putting everything up to the chorus practically.
Get back on track , not the whole track, fellas.