Lyrically Speaking....

[mabd]

It won't be clean and easy
There's more to carry than a case or two
I come with a history that I won't forget in a life with you
This man's been true to me and I didn't come by him easy
Shame shame crying shame
Losing more than a family name
Don't let your footsteps falter

history

Maeve

[Siren]

My heart has a HISTORY
Of hurting those who mean the most to me
Before you get too close to me
I think you ought to know
While other hearts are holding on
While other loves are growing strong
My heart has a history of lettin' go

If we can take this one kiss at a time
Maybe we can TAME this heart of mine
I'm telling you the cold, hard truth
I ain't ever been loved by the likes of you
And I ain't ever had this much on the line

from "My Heart Has A History" by Paul Brandt

tame

[Desire]

Mi vida loca-Pam Tillis

If you're coming with me you need nerves of steel
'Cause I take corners on two wheels
It's a never-ending circus ride
The faint of heart need not apply

Mi vida loca over and over
Destiny turns on a dime
I go where the wind blows
You can't TAME a wild rose
Welcome to my crazy life

Sweetheart before this night is through
I could fall in love with you
Come dancing on the EDGE with me
Let my passion set you free

Mi vida loca over and over
Destiny turns on a dime
I go where the wind blows
You can't tame a wild rose
Welcome to my crazy life

Here in the firelight I see your tattoo
Mi vida loco, so you're crazy too

Mi vida loca over and over
Destiny turns on a dime
I go where the wind blows
You can't tame a wild rose
Welcome to my crazy life

We'll go where the wind blows
And I'll be a wild rose
Welcome to my crazy life

Next word-Edge

[fallenangel]

Mary ~ Sarah Mclachlan

Mary walks
down to the water's edge
and there she hangs her head
to find herself faded
a shadow of what she once was
She said "How long have I been sleeping
and why do I feel so old
why do I feel so cold
my heart is saying one thing but my body won't let go''

next word : FADED

[lolapunk]

Gotta go classic...

Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train
And I's feeling nearly as FADED as my jeans.
Bobby thumbed a DIESEL down just before it rained,
It rode us all the way to New Orleans.


diesel

[Desire]

papa loved mama
garth brooks

Well, it was bound to happen and one night it did
Papa came home and it was just us kids
He had a dozen roses and a bottle of wine
If he was lookin' to surprise us, he was doin' fine
I heard him cry for Mama up and down the hall
Then I heard a bottle break against the bedroom wall
That old diesel engine made an EERIE sound
When Papa fired it up and headed into town

Next word: eerie

[Phalon]

Ok - so it's a different definition, and not the right spelling.....but the pronunication is the same. Half-credit, maybe? Anyway - it's the first thing that popped into my head, (and damn, it'll be stuck there all day).



"Low Bridge, Everybody Down (The Erie Canal)"
by Thomas S. Allen, 1905


I've got a mule, and her name is Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
She's a good ol' worker an' a good ol' pal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
We've hauled some barges in our day,
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay,
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo.

Low bridge, everybody down!
Low bridge, for we're comin' through a town!
And you'll always know your neighbor,
You'll always know your pal,
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.

We'd better look around for a job, ol' gal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal!
'Cause you bet your life I'd never part with Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal!
Git up there, mule, here comes a lock,
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock,
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo.

Navigated

[mabd]

Phalon, what a cool song!!

Bang the Drum
Emmylou Harris

I meant to ask you how to fix that car
I always meant to ask you about the war
And what you saw across a bridge too far
Did it leave a scar

Or how you navigated wings of fire and steel
Up where heaven had no more secrets to conceal
And still you found the ground beneath your wheels
How did it feel

Bang the drum slowly play the pipe lowly
To dust be returning from dust we begin
Bang the drum slowly I'll speak of things holy
Above and below me world without end

I meant to ask you how when everything seemed lost
And your fate was in a game of dice they tossed
There was still that line that you would never cross
At any cost

game

Maeve

[Phalon]

"Wonder What's Next?" ~ Chevelle

It sometimes feels like I'm burning
I want you to see
Is this a good quality?

I wonder what's next?

Nothing.

More and more it's an animal
Waiting to be seen
Face of someone's failures
I seek society in need, indeed, indeed

Indeed.

In the beginning it seems
That a known face beyond having fun
Which is why you write music in the first place
Always moving, defining
And pushing forward the art that one's created
Looking to the right time to share it

And then the headaches of criticism
Senior advisors advising people above
Twisting, distorting that which we love
And never ending problems with money
Holding you back, preventing progress
I thought you only started cuz it was fun

We play the blaming game
Yes, I mind
It's not your turn....

It's not your turn!

I wonder
I wonder what's next

Next word: Blaming

[mabd]

Hurt
Christina Aguilera

.....
I'm sorry for blaming you for everything I just couldn't do
And I've hurt myself by hurting you
Someday I feel broke inside but I won't admit
Sometimes I just want to hide 'cause it's you I miss
You know it's so hard to say goodbye when it comes to this.

admit

[Siren]

Yes, I ADMIT I've got a thinking PROBLEM
She's always on my mind
Her memory goes round and round
I've tried to quit a thousand times
Yes, I admit I've got a thinking problem
Fill the glass up to the top
I'll start with loving her
But I don't know when to stop

from "Thinking Problem" by David Ball

next: problem

[fallenangel]

Who Makes You Feel~ Dido

I don't touch you the way I used to
and I don't call and write when Im away
we don't make love as often as we did do
couldn't wait , now waits and it usually goes away
but listen and think when I say it
oh but listen and think when I say it
who makes you feel the way that I make you feel
who loves you and knows you the way I do
who touches you and holds you quite likeI do
who makes you feel like I make you feel
I don't mind if you come home late
I don't ever ask you where you've been
I just assume there's a problem will you tell me
but listen and think when I say it
oh but listen and think when I say it
who makes you feel the way that I make you feel

NEXT WORD : FEEL

[Siren]

It's like just before dark, jump in the car
Buy-an-ICE CREAM-and-see-how-far-we-can-drive-before-it-melts kinda feeling
That's how your love makes me FEEL inside
There's a cow in the road and you swerve to the left
Fate skips a beat and it scares you to death and you laugh until you cry
That's how your love makes me feel inside

from "How Your Love Makes Me Feel" by Diamond Rio

next: ICE CREAM

[Phalon]

I never much cared for Van Halen, and this song is a perfect example of why. Ick. Irritating.

Ice Cream Man ~ Van Halen


Dedicate one to the ladies...

Now summertime's here babe, need somethin' to keep you cool
Ah, now summertime's here babe, need somethin' to keep you cool
Better look out now though, Dave's got somethin' for you
Tell ya what it is
I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
Oh my my, I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by
See now all my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy
Hold on a second baby
I got good lemonade, ah, dixie cups
All flavors and push ups too
I'm your ice cream man, baby, stop me when I'm passin' by....


Next word: flavors

[mabd]

32 Flavors
Ani DiFranco / Alana Davis

Squint your eyes and look closer
I'm not between you and your ambition
I am a poster girl with no poster
I am thirty-two flavors and then some
And I'm beyond your peripheral vision
So you might want to turn your head
Cause someday you're going to get hungry
And eat most of the words you just said

hungry

[Siren]

Ahhh, a chance to quote one of the most powerful songs I've heard. I've tried more than once to perform it, but always cry, and can hardly finish. It's very close to what my parents' childhoods were like. Hats off the mighty Merle.

A canvas-covered cabin in a crowded labor camp
Stand out in this memory I revive
My daddy raised a family there with two hard-working hands
And tried to feed my mama's HUNGRY eyes

Daddy dreamed of something better, and my mama's faith was strong
And us kids were just too young to realize
That another class of people put us somewhere just below
One more reason for my mama's hungry eyes

Mama never had the LUXURIES she wanted
But it wasn't 'cause my daddy didn't try
She only wanted things she really needed
One more reason for my mama's hungry eyes

I remember daddy praying for a better way of life
But I don't recall a change of any size
Just a little loss of courage as their age began to show
And more sadness in my mama's hungry eyes

Mama never had the luxuries she wanted
But it wasn't 'cause my daddy didn't try
She only wanted things she really needed
One more reason for my mama's hungry eyes

"Hungry Eyes" by Merle Haggard, who was born in poverty in an abandoned box car

next: luxuries

[mabd]

You Know I Couldn't Last
Morrissey (cf The Smith's)

The whispering may hurt you,
But the printed word might kill you
The whispering may hurt you,
But the printed word might kill you
So don't let the blue, the blue eyes fool you
They're just gelignite, Loaded and aiming right between your eyes
CDs and T-shirts, promos and God knows,
You know I couldn't last,
Someone please take me home....

So don't let the good days of the gold discs,
Creep up and mug you
With evil legal eagles,
You know I couldn't last...

Then in the end,
Your royalties bring you luxuries,
Your royalties bring you luxuries,
Oh but the squalor of the mind,
The squalor of the mind...

squalor

Maeve

[mabd]

Sorry, I seem to have gotten us stuck....

Just Passing Through
The Kinks

We've been here long enough
In all this filth and dust
And all this dirt and degradation
The squalor and the heat (a superficial state)
The beggars in the street (accepting what is fate)
And so uncivilized
I simply can't believe my eyes

Why is there such a fuss?
Why is there such a rush
With all this mystery around us?
I suspect you must be a man without feeling
Always on the move, always passing
The beggars in the street
The squalor and the heat
Because you're only passing through

street

Maeve

[Phalon]

Yesterday To Tomorrow ~ Audioslave

Beauty is what the eyes behold
And you burn brighter than most
I chased you thru the midnight streets
To be where I could speak freely
I didn't care what tomorrow held
I felt the world turning only for us
Only bliss now for you and me
Rise up let life's kiss send us reeling
And unlike the times before
From yesterday comes tomorrow
When life comes alive the past moves aside
No regrets and no remorse
We have more than everything
More than man or machine
More than luck
More than fiction
Higher than any religion

And unlike the times before
From yesterday comes tomorrow
When life comes alive the past moves aside
No regrets and no remorse
We'll squeeze the blood out of life
And say goodnight to the silver of old
Even when wrong we're right
Far beyond the world of diamonds and gold
I've come to realize
Where happiness lies
I want you to know I know
And unlike the times before
When life comes alive the past moves aside
No regrets no remorse

next word: reeling

[mabd]

Neat, a chance to use Lou....

Set the Twilight Reeling
Lou Reed

Take me for what I am
a star newly emerging
Long simmering explodes
inside the self is reeling
In the pocket of the heart, in the rushing of the blood
in the muscle of my sex, in the mindful mindless love
I accept the new found man
and set the twilight reeling

At 5 am the moon and the sun
sit set before my window
Light glances off the blue glass we set
right before the window
And you who accept, in your soul and your head,
what was misunderstood, what was thought of with dread
a new self is born, the other self dead
I accept the new found man
and set the twilight reeling

A soul singer stands on the stage
the spotlight shows him sweating
He sinks to one knee, seems to cry
the horns are unrelenting
But as the drums beats he finds himself growing hard
in the microphone's face he sees her face growing large
and the swelling crescendo no longer retards
I accept the new found man and set the twilight reeling

As the twilight sunburst gleams
as the chromium moon it sets
As I lose all my regrets
and set the twilight reeling
I accept the new found man
and set the twilight reeling

horns

Maeve

[Siren]

He wore that cowboy hat to cover up his HORNS.
Sweet-talkin' forked TONGUE with a tempting charm.
Before I turned around, that girl was gone.
All I can say is: "Bartender, pour me something strong."

Here's to the past.
They can kiss my glass.
I hope she's happy with him.
Here's to the girl who wrecked my world,
That angel who did me in.
I think the devil drives a Coupe de Ville.
I watched them drive away over the hill,
Not against her will.
Now I've got time to kill,
Down in Brokenheartsville.

from "Brokenheartsville" by Joe Nichols

next: tongue

[mabd]

Coffee Grindin Blues
Lucille Bogan, nom-de-disc, Bessie Jackson

Ain't nobody, it ain't nobody
Ain't nobody in town can grind a coffee¹ like mine

I drink so much coffee, till I grind it in my sleep
I drink so much coffee, I grind it in my sleep
And when it get like that, you know it can't be beat

It's so doggone good that it made me bite my tongue
It's so doggone good it made me bite my tongue
Will keep it for my daddy, ain't gonna give nobody none

I ain't ever loved it this-a way before
I ain't ever loved it this-a way before
And I hope the Lord that I won't love it any more

I've got so now that I can't control my mind
I've got so now that I can't control my mind
I go to bed blue and I get up cryin'

It's so doggone good that it made me talk out of my head
It's so doggone good it made me talk out of my head
And it's better to me than any that I have ever had

Now I grind my coffee, at the 2 and 3 dollars a pound
I grind my coffee, at the 2 and 3 dollars a pound
And it ain't no mo' cheap like mine in town

It's so doggone good until it'll make you bite your tongue
It's so doggone good that it'll make you bite your tongue
And I'm a coffee grindin' mama and won't you let me grind you some?

¹For note, see next post.

GRIND

Maeve

[mabd]

¹In the 1920s, the USA had a sexual revolution. As in later sexual revolutions, new styles of music were created -- Jas or Jazz and the Blues were used to negotiate the thin line between acceptable and proscribed speech. On recordings, metaphors were commonly used to address issues of sexuality.

Just as "train" metaphors were used to claim autonomy and mobility, many metaphors for sex were derived from the process of cooking and other culinary terms (that still obtains today, IMHO).

The unavoidable internalized racism which was inherent in any discourse of the 1920s-30s also informed various metaphors: "honey " was used for a light-skinned person and "coffee" for a darker skinned person. The end result was the use of terms such as "honey dripper" and "coffee grinder" as metaphors for a lover. "Grinding" (coffee or wheat) referred to the act of sex itself.

By 1946, Lucille Bogan, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith were considered to be the three best blues singers. Bogan's songs were mostly thinly veiled, humorous, sexual euphemisms which addressed themes like prostitution, lesbianism, and adultery. She also sang of social ills such as alcoholism, drug addiction and abusive relationships.

In the spring of 1935, Bogan recorded 2 versions of "Shave 'Em Dry." The second version is so explicit, it could not be played even now. In fact, Bogan's recordings, along with the release of Jelly Roll Morton's 1938 Library of Congress recordings are the only record of the sexually explicit content that was as old as the blues itself.

If you want the lyrics, PM me.

Maeve

[Desire]

The Grind-Aersomith

I never thought a first time love would ever last
How could a kiss like that knock me flat on my........ head


Heh hea...


The burning bed
The roses dead
And now I'm dancing with myself


Yeah... I'm missing you
Just like you want me to
You made me trip into the GRIND
Now I can't get'choo off of my mind


Yeah... your sweet talking hip shaking WOBBLE gonna blow a man away
Kiss butt... and guess what
Even double crossin' dogs have their day... hea ha
So forget about... regret about... you're right I ain't afraid to say


Yeah... I'm missing you
Just like you want me to
You made me trip into the grind
Now I can't get'choo off


And you know I tried
Leads to the same old lie
You made me slip into the grind
Now I can't get'choo off of the cloud we was on
And now it's all gone
Tell me why... why... why... why...
Why ain't I getting thorugh
Ain't no lie there out of love... love... love


Tell me was it good... for you


Tell me what'choo want


Yeah... cause I'm missing you
Just like you know I do
You made me trip into the grind
Now I can't get'choo off...
And you know I tried
Leads to the same old why
You made me trip into the grind
Now I can't... can't... can't get you...
Get you...
Get you...
Get you...
Get you...
Get you...
Get you ...
Get you...


Off of my mind...

Next Word-Wobble

[mabd]

Wobble and Ball
van Morrison

Wobble and ball.
Wobble and ball baby.
Do the wobble.
Do the ball.
Do the ball.
Do the wobble.
Boogaloo,
Down broadway baby.
Do the boogaloo
All 'round broadway baby.
Do the ball.
Baby.
All 'round broadway baby.
Do the ball.
Do the ball baby.
All over Broadway baby.

Broadway

Maeve

[Siren]

Maeve, your discussion of sexual euphemism in songs brought this gem to mind. Yup, it's in my own personal collection. I had heard a funny, catchy song in the movie "Bull Durham" - "60 Minute Man" - and had searched for it for a long time, before I found it on this cd:

www.amazon.com/Risque-Rhythm-Nasty-50s-B/dp/B0000032HL/ref=sr_11_1/104-2416015-4674359?ie=UTF8

And the game continues:

I stood on faith, and the corner of AMBITION
I came here to sink or swim,
And to show them all that they were wrong
And though I never thought I’d make it this far

So the curtains are down.
For the moment, I was someone
There were those in the wings who waited who came this way. Now they’re gone.
But there’s always someone at home who never forgets who you are.

And when I’m down and I’m growing old, it won't be long
Or I won't try
I won’t be bound to a life out in the cold
It's been a steady pace, to keep my steps
Between these cracks on BROADWAY
And my stride in rhythm to the beat of home sweet home.

from "Broadway" by Alison Krauss

next: ambition

[lolapunk]

Whoa... I had no idea those were the lyrics. I've always sung it as 'and when I'm down and growing old, it won't be by no railraod tracks' ... I thought the song was about someone famous who was fighting to not become a hobo. Still a beautiful song, even with the right words.

[lolapunk]

9-5 - Dolly Parton

Jump on outta bed and
I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of AMBITION
And yawn and stretch
And try to come to life

Jump in the shower and
The blood starts pumping
Out on the street
The TRAFFIC starts jumping
With folks like me
On the job from 9 to 5

traffic

[Desire]

TERRI CLARK I WANNA DO IT ALL LYRICS
I'm sitting in TRAFFIC
For the 5th year in a ROW
Wasting my time
Just to get
Where I don't even wanna go
I started jotting things down
On a krispy kreme sack
Everything I'd do
If I could leave this place
And never look back

I wanna do it all
Visit Paris in the fall
Watch the Yankees play ball
I wanna take it all in
Catch a few beads
Down at Mardi Gras
Start a tradition
Lay down the law
I wanna do it all

I want to drink tequila
Down in Tijuana
Say why not
When somebody says
Hey do you wanna
I wanna get my heart broke
Once or twice
Settle down with the love of my life
Rock little babies to sleep at night

I wanna do it all
Visit Paris in the fall
Watch the Yankees play ball
I wanna take it all in
Catch a few beads
Down at Mardi Gras
Start a tradition
Lay down the law
I wanna do it all

I wanna spend a day
Every now and then
Just doin what I want to do
When I wanna do it
Anytime I wanna do it

I wanna do it all
Visit Paris in the fall
Watch the Yankees play ball
I wanna take it all in
Catch a few beads
Down at Mardi Gras
Start a tradition
Lay down the law

I wanna do it all
See Niagara falls
Fight city hall
Feel good in my skin
Beating the odds
With my back to the wall
Try to rob Peter
Without paying Paul
I wanna do it all
I wanna do it all
I wanna do it all


Next word: Row

[Siren]

Lola, those lyrics didn't sound right to me, either. But I couldn't remember well enough to argue.

Nobody saw them running
From 16th Avenue
They never found the fingerprints
Or the WEAPON that was used
But someone killed country music
Cut out its heart and soul
They got away with murder
Down on Music ROW

from "Murder On Music Row" by Alan Jackson & George Strait