ALL WE EVER WANTED WAS EVERYTHING
Bauhaus
“Oh to be the cream…”
[b]All we ever wanted was everything
All we ever got was cold
Get up, eat jelly
Sandwich bars, and barbed wire
Squash every week into a day
The sound of drums is calling
The sound of the drum has called
Flash of youth shoot out of darkness
Factorytown
Oh to be the cream…[/b]
Yes, that is a great cover. The ambience it creates is perfect.
Dust In the Wind - Kansas
I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment’s gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes with curiosity
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind
Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
(Aa aa aa)
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Oh, ho, ho
Now don’t hang on
Nothin’ last forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won’t another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
(All we are is dust in the wind)
Dust in the wind
(Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind
(In the wind)
(Ooo)
(Ooo)
(Ooo)
I Am A Rock"
Paul Simon
A winter’s day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
I’ve built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
Don’t talk of love,
But I’ve heard the words before;
It’s sleeping in my memory.
I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.
Bird on the Wire
Leonard Cohen
Like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
Like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.
Like a baby, stillborn,
Like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
And by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
He said to me, “You must not ask for so much.”
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
She cried to me, “Hey, why not ask for more?”
Oh like a bird on the wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Is it philosophy or poetry?
If you choose the right songs you can be hard pressed to make that distinction.
Trust me: You had to have been there.
I’D LOVE TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Ten Years After
[b]Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
Till there are no rich no more
I’d love to change the world
But I don’t know what to do
So I’ll leave it up to you
Population keeps on breeding
Nation bleeding, still more feeding economy
Life is funny, skies are sunny
Bees make honey, who needs money, monopoly
I’d love to change the world
But I don’t know what to do
So I’ll leave it up to you
World pollution, there’s no solution
Institution, electrocution
Just black and white, rich or poor
Them and us, stop the war
I’d love to change the world
But I don’t know what to do
So I’ll leave it up to you[/b]
You are either withering or you are not.
WITHERING TREE
Traffic
[b]Withering tree, bearing no fruit
Never will see an evergreen suit
Reaching right out, out for the sun
Broken old branches, fall one by one
Into the arms of eternity
[bridge]
Fighting the fish up from the deep
Oh how I wish the lake would not sleep
Following dreams into the blue
There you will see, hidden from view
Trees in the arms of eternity
Into the arms of eternity[/b]
Mother father son daughter. Or, as Zorba intimated, “the full catastrophe”.
Or maybe not.
LONELY BOY
Andrew Gold
[b]He was born on a summer day
Nineteen fiftyone
And with the slap of a hand
He had landed as an only son.
His mother and father said
What a lovely boy
We’ll teach him
What we learned
Oh yes
Just what we learned.
We’ll dress him up warmly
And we’ll send him to school.
It’ll teach him how to fight
To be nobody’s fool
Oh
Oh
What a lonely boy
Oh
What a lonely boy
Oh
What a lonely boy
In the summer of fiftythree
His mother brought him a sister
And she told him we must atend to her needs
S.he’s so much younge’r than you
Well
He ran down the hall
And he cried
Oh
How could his parents have lied
When they said he was an only son.
He thought he was the only one
Oh
Oh
What a lonely boy
. . .
Goodbye Mama
Goodbye to you
Goodbye Papa
I’m pushin’ on through
He left home on a winter day
Nineteen sixtynine
And he hoped to find all the love
He had lost in that earlier time
Well his sister grew up
And she married a man
He gave her a son
Oh
Yes a lovely son
They dressed him up warmly
They send him to school
It taught him how to fight
To be nobody’s fool.
Oh Oh Oh what a lonely boy[/b]
A simply beautiful song of love and loss.
“Babe…”
EXPECTING TO FLY
Neil Young [while in Buffalo Springfield]
[b]There you stood
on the edge of your feather,
Expecting to fly.
While I laughed,
I wondered whether
I could wave goodbye,
Knowin’ that you’d gone.
By the summer it was healing,
We had said goodbye.
All the years
we’d spent with feeling
Ended with a cry,
Babe, ended with a cry,
Babe, ended with a cry.
I tried so hard to stand
As I stumbled
and fell to the ground.
So hard to laugh as I fumbled
And reached for the love I found,
Knowin’ it was gone.
If I never lived without you,
Now you know I’d die.
If I never said I loved you,
Now you know I’d try,
Babe, now you know I’d try.
Babe, now you know I’d try,
Babe.[/b]
As philosophy goes this is an acquired taste.
BURN DOWN THE MALLS
Mojo Nixon
Burn down the malls
Burn down the malls
Burn down the shoppin’ malls
I said Burn down the malls
said burn down the shoppin’ malls
burna burna burna burna
down shoppin’ maaalls
Hey you ever get the feelin
that America is turning into
some kinda
sit-com?
lowest common denominator
shopping mall marketing strategy from hell?
You ever get that feeling?
Well I got that feeling right now
and it’s kinda getting under my skin
yeah
so get some gas-o-line
and
Burn down the malls SAY IT
Burn down the malls LOUDER
Burn down the malls
You know it just started out as
a kind of corner store
Then it turned into a shopping center
Oh I remember the shoppin’
center openings man
they used to have those big
lights shinin’ up
but now…
Now, where do the old folks go?
Where do the young kids go?
What’s America, what’s
America turning into?
Mondo-condo-shopping-mall-hell
I say
Burn down the malls
Burn down the malls
Burn down the malls
Nero had the right idea-
fiddle while you burn…
Now another thing is kinda
gettin’ on my nerves…
another thing that’s kinda
gettin’ on my nerves is this
national 21 drinking age
Huh? what do ya think about that?
A bunch of malarky
whatever malarky is man
it’s a whole bunch of it…
you know if Reagan finally gets
the war he’s lookin for
you think he’s gonna be
draftin’ 21 year olds?
No man they’re gonna be
draftin’ 18 and 19 year olds
but ya cant buy beer
you can get married and screw
yourself up real good
but ya can’t buy beer
ya can charge 8 million
dollars on the mastercharge
but ya can’t buy beer
you can vote for one fool or another
but ya can’t buy beer
'cause this is America
America that’s run by the
lowest common denominator
the money
how many units did ya move Mojo?
how many things of apple juice did ya sell?
c’mon suckers- c’mon feel it
Burn down the malls
Burn down the malls
Burn down the malls
Alright all you weirdo’s out there
all you moralistic twisted
evil little icepickers
you say “we wanna censor rock and roll”
we wanna decide what you read
what you watch
what you listen to
ooo ooo ooo Mr. Falwell
oooh Miss Tipper Gore
wait till i got you on the floor
we gonna tie you up inside
of a shopping mall
then we’re gonna then we’re gonna
we’re gonna have a war on drugs
a war on drugs
we outta have a war on war you suckers
we outta have a war on this
senseless condominium
new car helllll
Burn down the malls
Burn down the malls
Burn down the malls
The truly subjunctive stench of philosophy.
Fortunately, as seen only through the eyes of particular daseins.
WORLD OF PAIN
Cream
[b]Outside my window is a tree.
Outside my window is a tree.
There only for me.
And it stands in the grey of the city,
No time for pity, for the tree or me.
There is a world of pain
In the falling rain
Around me.
Is there a reason for today?
Is there a reason for today?
Do you remember?
I can hear all the cries of the city,
No time for pity for a growing tree.
There is a world of pain
In the falling rain
Around me.
Outside my window is a tree.
Outside my window is a tree.
There only for me.
And it stands in the grey of the city,
No time for pity, for the tree or me.[/b]
Indeed, the antidote to a world of pain is to dance the night away.
DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY
Cream
[b]Gonna build myself a castle
High up in the clouds.
There’ll be skies outside my window,
Lose these streets and crowds.
Dance the night away.
Will find myself an ocean,
Sail into the blue.
Live with golden swordfish,
Forget the time of you.
Dance the night away.
Dance myself to nothing,
Vanish from this place.
Gonna turn myself to shadow
So I can’t see your face.
Dance the night away.[/b]
The philosophy of a fist.
“To be insulted by these fascists – it’s so degrading.”
IT’S NO GAME [PART 1]
David Bowie
[b]1
2
1-2-2
Shiruetto ya kage ga
Kakumei o miteiru
Mo tengoku no giyu no kaidan wa nai
Silhouettes and shadows watch the revolution
No more free steps to heaven
It’s no game
Ore genjitsu kara shime dasare
Nani ga okkote irunoka wakara nai
Doko ni kyokun wa arunoka
Hitobito wa yubi o orareteiru
Konna dokusaisha ni iyashime rareru nowa kanashii
I am bored from the event
I really don’t understand the situation
But it’s no game
Documentaries on refugees
Couples 'gainst the target
You throw a rock against the road
And it breaks into pieces
Draw the blinds on yesterday, and it’s all so much scarier
Put a bullet in my brain, and it makes all the papers
Nammin no kiroku eiga
Hyoteki o se ni shita koibito tachi
Michi ni ishi o nage reba
Kona gona ni kudake
Kino ni huta o sureba
Kyohu wa masu
Ore no atama ni tama o buchi kome ba
Shinbun wa kaki tateru
There’s always tomorrow when people have their fingers broken
To be insulted by these fascists - it’s so degrading
And it’s no game
Shutup! Shutu…[/b]
RAIN
Ian Hunter
“And all he’d say was, ‘rain, rain, rain’”
[b]Billy said this town is dying,
It’s dying just to be like me.
He was fighting everything in sight,
Died when he was 23.
I used to meet him down at his cafe,
He had one eye on the door
And the other on the writing on the wall.
He’d get restless and angry and we’d all laugh
'cause we weren’t really scared,
We was his friends, he wouldn’t hurt us at all
And all he’d say was rain, rain, rain
Rain, rain, rain,
Rain, rain, rain,
Rain, rain, rain.
We gotta leave this town.
And glover was a dancer,
Imitating eddie cochran by the jukebox.
In the corner of the room
'till he was lost.
Barry 'n me, we used to escape, playing i go ape
Wearing italian clothes drinking cider talking in the rain
Hey babe, come over here, let me buy you a beer, what’s your name,
She said "boy, it doesn’t really matter, don’t you see?
You ain’t what i want, you ain’t what i need,
You ain’t what i fancy, you ain’t what i dream of 'n i’d silently leave
…you’re ugly.
Rain, rain, rain,
Rain, rain, rain,
Rain, rain, rain,
Rain, rain, rain.
I gotta leave this place.
My history is a cop-out
Somewhere in the dark i got scared 'cause i knew i was gonna lose.
You know that feeling you get in your guts, all that frustration when you know
You’re going nuts.
You gotta make a move.
There was billy and glover and pacer and taylor and valerie and barry
I remember what he said about that town.
He said “i went to london once, came back,
Wiped the tears from my eyes, looked out the window,
And it was still pouring down,
More of that rain, rain, rain,
Rain, rain, rain,
Rain, rain, rain,
Rain, rain, rain.”
I’m gonna get a train,
Never coming back again.
'cause if i did it would be the same.
Boy, you really messed up my brain.
All of that rain rain rain,
Rain rain rain
Rain rain rain
Rain rain rain
Take your washing off the line.
Take your washing off the line.
Take your washing off the line.
Take the washing off the line.
It’s gonna rain.
It’s gonna rain.[/b]
Back to the days of the hippie philosophy…
[Insert sigh here]
HUNG UP ON A DREAM
Zombies
[b]Well, I remember yesterday
Just drifting slowly through a crowded street
With neon darkness shimmering through the haze
A sea of faces rippling in the heat
And through that namesless changing crowd
A sweet vibration seemed to fill the air
I stood astounded staring hard
At men with flowers resting in their hair
(Bridge)
A sweet confusion filled my mind
Until I woke up only finding everything was just a dream
A dream unusual of its kind
That gave me peace and blew my mind
And now I’m hung up on a dream
(Verse 2)
They spoke with soft persuading words
About a living creed of gentle love
And turned me on to sounds unheard
And showed me strange and clouded sights above
Which gently touched my aching mind
And soothed the wanderings of my troubles mind
Sometimes I think I’ll never find
Such purity and peace of mind there[/b]
WHERE IS MY MIND?
Pixies
“Your head will collapse but there’s nothing inside”
[b]With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
But there’s nothing in it
And you’ll ask yourself
Where is my mind
Way out in the water
See it swimmin’
I was swimmin’ in the Caribbean
Animals were hiding behind the rocks
Except the little fish
But they told me, he swears
Tryin’ to talk to me, coy koi.
Where is my mind
Way out in the water
See it swimmin’ ?
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there’s nothing in it
And you’ll ask yourself
Where is my mind
Oh
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Oh
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Oh
Oh [/b]
Well I wish…
I was a catfish
…swimmin’ thru
…the deep blue sea
then I would have all you good lookin’ women
…fishin
fishin after me
fishin after me
sho enough
sho enough
?:what better affirmation of the libido that underlies all our philosophical endeavors
Remember John and Paul? Here’s another long and winding road.
YOU DON’T MOVE ME
Keith Richards
[b]You made the wrong motion
Drank the wrong potion
You lost the feeling
Not so appealing
Why do you think you got no friends
You drove them all around the bend
Oh Yeah
You don’t move me anymore
Now you wanna throw the dice
You already crapped out twice
Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah
You don’t move me anymore
One face so seamy
The other don’t see me
It’s better that you kill the light
You’re giving us all a fright
Oh Yeah
You don’t move me anymore
How you gonna keep your wealth
Can’t even defend yourself
Ah yeah, Ah no
You don’t move me anymore
What makes you so greedy
Makes you so seedy
No matter how you flip that dime
On our side is time
Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah
It’s no longer funny
It’s bigger than money[/b]