Song meanings or lyrics that moved/move you whatever the genre.

What do you feel when Johnny Cash sings ‘what have I become’ ? What a gut wrenchingly sad and poignant song! Truly the greatest cover song of all time.
When he shuts the piano in the end , I see a coffin close.


Hurt - Trent Reznor

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
What have I become
My sweetest friend?
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
What have I become
My sweetest friend?
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I will keep myself
I would find a way
 
Last edited:
What do you feel when Johnny Cash sings ‘what have I become’ ? What a gut wrenchingly sad and poignant song! Truly the greatest cover song of all time.
When he shuts the piano in the end , I see a coffin close.


Hurt - Trent Reznor

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
What have I become
My sweetest friend?
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
What have I become
My sweetest friend?
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
If I could start again
A million miles away
I will keep myself
I would find a way
have loved this song...dont ask me to put too many words into why. ailing and towards the end of his life, the visuals tell. theres a bit on the internet somewhere about this video.
 
Yes that is true. Sometimes the pedantry of the internet deflates the greatness of art by its propensity to over-explain. The artfully contrived melancholy visuals of the song doesn’t help with its ton of cliches.
But all that doesn’t detract from the fact that Cash has done something truly remarkable with someone else's words and feelings. He seems to have made it his own. That’s the kind of sincerity , I am willing to be a sucker for .



have loved this song...dont ask me to put too many words into why. ailing and towards the end of his life, the visuals tell. theres a bit on the internet somewhere about this video.
 
Yes that is true. Sometimes the pedantry of the internet deflates the greatness of art by its propensity to over-explain. The artfully contrived melancholy visuals of the song doesn’t help with its ton of cliches.
But all that doesn’t detract from the fact that Cash has done something truly remarkable with someone else's words and feelings. He seems to have made it his own. That’s the kind of sincerity , I am willing to be a sucker for .
I am a sucker who gets moved easily most times. But yes every now and then, I get hit by a sincerity and remarkbility, the kind that you talk of.
 
There are many melodious melancholy numbers (almost perversely sad but beautiful poetry) from Steven Wilson's projects
Maybe not for everyone, but here is a sample:
All Sweet Things - No Man (Project)
Buying New Soul - Porcupine Tree
The Hole In Me - Blackfield (Project with Aviv Geffen)
1000 People - Blackfield (Project with Aviv Geffen)
Routine - Solo Project
The Raven That Refused To Sing - Solo Project

Have purposely not included video links, they are very dark and almost depressing.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
Powerful poetry cast into equally powerful jazz.
Harlem
BY Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?



 
Powerful poetry cast into equally powerful jazz.
Harlem
BY Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?



That's pure gold. Can"t thank you enough. The Weary Blues and Charles Mingus on it. Harlem Renaissance. So much to read and listen to.

I am not taking calls. Cant you see i"m busy.
 

And that's how you introduce the rest of the band. It's fun to watch how each band member does a little flourish.


Joe Cocker"s cover of "The Letter". Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks are a great husband wife duo and the vocal chords on her....man.

Might be difficult in covid times but

"Give me a ticket for an aeroplane
I ain't got time to take no fast train
Oh the lonely days are gone I'm coming home
My baby she wrote me a letter."
 
Last edited:
Neil Young’s Homegrown is such a beautiful album. Here is my favourite song from it.
The 1970s was amazing for Young. On the Beach , Tonight’s The Night, Harvest, Comes a Time, Rust Never Sleeps— there so many stellar albums. And now this , Homegrown from the same era. Great album but seems a bit incomplete , almost like a work in progress.



Try—Neil Young and Emmylous Harris
Darlin', the door is open
To my heart and I've been hopin'
That you won't be the one
To struggle with the key
We got lots of time
To get together if we try

The waitin' time is over
No man sees around the corner
Walkin' in the rain and comin' home dry
There's something missin' there
It's easier to care and try

And I try to wash my hands (Ooh, ooh)
And I try to make amends (Ooh, ooh)
And I try to count my friends (Ooh, ooh)

Ooh, ooh, ooh (Ooh, ooh)
Ooh, ooh, ooh (Ooh, ooh)
Ooh, ooh, ooh (Ooh, ooh)

I'd like to take a chance
But shit, Mary, I can't dance
So here's to lookin' up your old address
Golly what a mess
We gotta take the rest and try
 
John Cale’s ( of The Velvet Underground) Paris 1919 is a beautiful album that grows on you with every listening . The lyrics are at times self referential but they are also derivative of tropes from History ( the title itself) and literature.
Half Past France
I suppose I'm glad I'm on this train
And it's long
Somewhere between Dunkirk and Paris
Most people here are still asleep
But I'm awake
Looking out from here at half-past France
Things are much different here than Norway
Not so cold
Wonder when we'll be in Dundee
Old Hollweg knows his way around
He's no fool
Wish I'd get to see my son again
But from here on it's got to be
A simple case of them or me
If they're alive then I am dead
Pray God and eat your daily bread
Take your time
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away from home
Where we belong
I'm not afraid now of the dark anymore
And many mountains now are molehills
Back in Berlin they're all well fed
But I don't care
People always bored me anyway
From here on it's got to be
A simple case of them or me
If they're alive then I am dead
Pray God and eat your daily bread
Take your time
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
 
There are songs whose visual imageries are so compelling that it feels more like a movie. This is one of them. Written by Bob Dylan and originally featuring in The Band album Cahoots it has been performed by many people including multiple times by the great man himself. Beautiful , beautiful song.
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble
Ancient footprints are everywhere
You can almost think that you're seein' double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs
Got to hurry on back to my hotel room
Where I got me a date
With a pretty little girl from Greece
She promised she'd be there with me
When I paint my masterpiece
Oh, the hours we'd spend inside the Coliseum
Dodging lions and wastin' time
Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle
I could hardly stand to see 'em
Yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb
Train wheels are runnin' through the back of my memory
When I ran on the hilltop
Following a pack of wild geese
Someday, everything is gonna sound like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece
Sailing 'round the world in a dirty gondola
Oh, to be back in the land of Coca Cola
Well, I left Rome and landed in Brussels
On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried
Clergymen in uniform and young girls pullin' muscles
Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside
Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held down by big police
But someday, everything is gonna be diff'rent
When I paint that masterpiece




 
John Cale’s ( of The Velvet Underground) Paris 1919 is a beautiful album that grows on you with every listening . The lyrics are at times self referential but they are also derivative of tropes from History ( the title itself) and literature.
Half Past France
I suppose I'm glad I'm on this train
And it's long
Somewhere between Dunkirk and Paris
Most people here are still asleep
But I'm awake
Looking out from here at half-past France
Things are much different here than Norway
Not so cold
Wonder when we'll be in Dundee
Old Hollweg knows his way around
He's no fool
Wish I'd get to see my son again
But from here on it's got to be
A simple case of them or me
If they're alive then I am dead
Pray God and eat your daily bread
Take your time
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away from home
Where we belong
I'm not afraid now of the dark anymore
And many mountains now are molehills
Back in Berlin they're all well fed
But I don't care
People always bored me anyway
From here on it's got to be
A simple case of them or me
If they're alive then I am dead
Pray God and eat your daily bread
Take your time
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
We're so far away
Floating in this bay
Good stuff.. Cant say I am too familiar with John Cale"s work besides knowing a few Velvet Undergeound tunes. But there"s a song that stayed with me from college days called "Murdering mouth".

Like a typewriter
Tearing through the paper
Your sharks grin teeth
Bite down never smiling
And at the centre
There's always you my darling
Yes at the centre
Always you my dear

Your murdering mouth is forever hungry
Your murdering mouth blaring at me
Your murdering mouth relentlessly pounding
Your murdering mouth takes aim at me

Point blank bullets
Flying straight through me
Shards of light beams
That mirror ball me
Multiple stab wounds and yet no bleeding
No bleeding yet never any healing

These open wounds that fester and rupture
These open wounds under merciless attack
I only asked you if what you say is true dear
I only asked you if what you do is fair

Your murdering mouth is forever hungry
Your murdering mouth glaring at me
Your murdering mouth grinding and snapping
Your murdering mouth pointed at me

I'm lying dead here
Staring at the ceiling
I'm lying dead here
Yet there is no crime scene
Multiple stab wounds
There's always you my darling
White and jagged
Opening closing

At the centre
Always you my darling
At the centre
Always you my dear
 
This ‘grisly‘ song reminds of another The Velvet Underground offering called The Gift. Waldo the protagonist plans to surprise his girlfriend by parcelling himself. The consequences are tragi-comic.
Good stuff.. Cant say I am too familiar with John Cale"s work besides knowing a few Velvet Undergeound tunes. But there"s a song that stayed with me from college days called "Murdering mouth".

Like a typewriter
Tearing through the paper
Your sharks grin teeth
Bite down never smiling
And at the centre
There's always you my darling
Yes at the centre
Always you my dear

Your murdering mouth is forever hungry
Your murdering mouth blaring at me
Your murdering mouth relentlessly pounding
Your murdering mouth takes aim at me

Point blank bullets
Flying straight through me
Shards of light beams
That mirror ball me
Multiple stab wounds and yet no bleeding
No bleeding yet never any healing

These open wounds that fester and rupture
These open wounds under merciless attack
I only asked you if what you say is true dear
I only asked you if what you do is fair

Your murdering mouth is forever hungry
Your murdering mouth glaring at me
Your murdering mouth grinding and snapping
Your murdering mouth pointed at me

I'm lying dead here
Staring at the ceiling
I'm lying dead here
Yet there is no crime scene
Multiple stab wounds
There's always you my darling
White and jagged
Opening closing

At the centre
Always you my darling
At the centre
Always you my dear
 
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers in Red Mahogany finish at a Special Offer Price. BUY now before the price increase.
Back
Top