Best Song Lyrics (Part XXV)

Over the summer, I spend many evenings on my deck listening to mellow rock.  This is usually done by tuning into the Yacht Rock channel on satellite radio, or something similar on another station or streaming service.

In doing this, you hear a lot of the same artists, like Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers.  But one group I noticed move of this summer was 1970s and 80s icon Chicago.

Chicago has/had such a unique sound, thanks to with the brass horns the band often put out front.  They also had some tunes with unique lyrics, like Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is, and the strangely titled, marching band favorite 25 or 6 to 4.  (It's the time of day, either 3:35 or 3:34.)

For me, however, none of their many hits had lyrics as good as the classic song Saturday In The Park.  It really made you feel like you were spending the day at the park.  [I've edited the following to avoid repetition.]

Saturday in the park

I think it was the Fourth of July

People dancing,

People laughing

A man selling ice cream

Singing Italian songs

Eh Cumpari, ci vo sunari

Can you dig it? (yes, I can)

And I've been waiting such a long time

For Saturday

People talking

Really smiling

A man playing guitar

And singing for us all

Will you help him change the world

Can you dig it? (yes, I can)

And I've been waiting such a long time

For today

Slow motion riders fly the colours of the day

A bronze man still can tell stories his own way

Listen children all is not lost

All is not lost, oh no, no

Funny days in the park

Every day's the Fourth of July

Funny days in the park

Every day's the Fourth of July

Best Song Lyrics (Part XXIV)

It isn’t a good look for this ongoing series that I haven’t included the most successful (female) country artist of all-time – someone who also happens to be the sole writer of over 700 songs, including her own hits.

That person is Dolly Parton.  

Her decades-long career is even more remarkable than that, considering what she’s done outside of country music.  She’s become a national icon, from her movie acting credits, to her own Dollywood theme park, to the attention she’s recently received for her lifelong philanthropic efforts.

On the music side, she’s probably best known for one of her earliest efforts, Jolene.  From a strictly songwriting perspective, I Will Always Love You was her biggest hit, after it was remade as a pop ballad and popularized by Whitney Houston in the movie The Bodyguard. 

For purposes of this entry, let’s include her tremendous popular music crossover success.  Songs like Here You Come Again and 9 to 5 would be chart-toppers, but I think the best lyrics come from the song Two Doors Down.  Consider the variations of the refrain she uses in that song, moving from sad and lonely to happy and friendly:

Two doors down they're laughing and drinkin', and having a party

Two doors down they're not aware that I'm around

Cause here I am crying my heart out, feelin' sorry while

They're having a party just two doors down

I think I'll dry these useless tears and get myself together

I think I'll wonder down the hall and have a look around

'Cause I can't stay inside this lonely room and cry forever

I think I really rather join 'em two door down, yeah

Two doors down they're laughing and drinkin', and having a party

Two doors down they're not aware that I'm around

'Cause here I am no longer crying and feelin' sorry

We're having a party just two doors down

I can't believe I'm standing here dry-eyed, all smiles and talking

Making conversation with the new love I have found

I ask him if he's like to be alone and we start walking

Down the hall to my place waiting two doors down, yeah

Two doors down they're laughing and drinkin', and having a party

Two doors down we're not aware that they're around

'Cause here I am feelin' everything but sorry

We're having our own party two doors down

Best Song Lyrics (Part XXIII)

I've been blogging about what I consider to be the 'best' song lyrics for over ten years now, and I admit it shows my biases.  I've already admitted I don't have enough country songwriters in my entries, and I certainly don't have enough female or minority representation on it either.

I'm going to help rectify that, at least a little bit, by highlighting Alicia Keys.  While their are many other famous black female artists that came before her, like Aretha Franklin or Tina Turner, they and many others are more famous as performers.

Keys is known as much for her songwriting as her singing.  She's either solo wrote or helped to write lots of songs made famous not only by her, but by many other artists.  And to top it off, she's prolific at playing instruments as well, notably the piano.

For my example, let's go with a big hit song she solo wrote and performed, If I Ain't Got You.  In this case, the words don't do justice to the incredible vocal range in her performance:

Some people search for a fountain

Promises forever young

Some people need three dozen roses

And that's the only way to prove you love them

Hand me the world on a silver platter

And what good would it be

With no one to share

With no one who truly cares for me

Some people want it all

But I don't want nothing at all

If it ain't you, baby

If I ain't got you

Some people want diamond rings

Some just want everything

But everything means nothing

If I ain't got you

Wasted Days And Wasted Nights

[Blog title courtesy of the late American Tejano country music crooner Freddy Fender.]

I've never been much of a county music fan.  I didn't grow up listening to it, except for your occasional crossover country/pop/rock song.

Over the past 10 or so years, I've listened to more country music, thanks to a combination of its contemporary performers and music saturation / technology.  Plus, my adult children now listen more to it, so I hear the overflow.

I've long said that when it comes to one-off, clever song lyrics, country music rules.  (Note I said clever lyrics, not necessarily meaningful ones, so this group won't make it on my 'Best Song Lyrics' recurring blog posts.)

This is particularly true in the area of drinking alcohol, which is definitely one of the most popular themes in the genre.  I suppose it has something to do with so many country songs being about partying, or losing a job or a significant other.

What follows is my alphabetical compilation of 10 country music songs and their *contemporary* performers that even a non-country-music-listener like me knows about, with some of their noteworthy lyrics: 

Alcohol / Brad Paisley

'Cause since the day I left Milwaukee, Lynchburg and Bordeaux, France

Been making a fool out of folks just like you

Alcohol

Bartender / Lady A

Hey bartender pour 'em hot tonight

'Til the party and the music and the truth collide

Bring it 'til his memory fades away

Beer Never Broke My Heart / Luke Combs

Longneck, ice cold beer never broke my heart

Like diamond rings and football teams

Have torn this boy apart

Drink In My Hand / Eric Church

No need to complicate it, I'm a simple man

All you got to do is put a drink in my hand

Drunk On A Plane / Dierks Bentley

It's Mardi Gras up in the clouds, I'm up so high, may never come down

I'll try anything to drown out the pain, they all know why I'm getting drunk on a plane

Friends In Low Places / Garth Brooks

Cause I've got friends in low places

Where the whiskey drowns

And the beer chases my blues away

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere / Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett

Pour me something tall and strong, make it a hurricane, before I go insane

It's only half past twelve, but I don't care, it's five o'clock somewhere

Red Solo Cup / Toby Keith

Red solo cup, I fill you up

Let's have a party

Ten With A Two / Kenny Chesney

Last night I came in at 2 with a 10

But at 10 I woke up with a 2

Tennessee Whiskey / Chris Stapelton

You're as smooth as Tennessee whiskey, you're as sweet as strawberry wine.

You're as warm as a glass of brandy, and honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time.

Wine, Beer, Whiskey / Little Big Town

The wine, the beer, the whiskey, are the only things that fix me

I'm not saying it's a problem, I can stop it if I wanna

But the wine, the beer, the whiskey, they always get me

Best Song Lyrics (Part XXII)

A few years ago, I saw the touring production of the Broadway show Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.  Until then, I had no idea how many great songs Carole King had written for herself and for others.

I probably should have known better.  I was a pre-teen in the 1960s and 1970s, so it wasn't as if I cared that much about music during the peak Carole King years.  But I had older brothers and sisters who were listening to her music on the radio.  I just didn't make the connection back then.

Along with her writing partner and future spouse (and later ex-spouse), Gerry Goffin, King turned out several hits that others recorded, like Up On The Roof, The Loco-Motion, and Will You Love Me Tomorrow.  The list of songs credited to King the solo artist is equally impressive, including I Feel The Earth Move, and You've Got A Friend.  (The latter was recorded first by James Taylor, but yes, written by King.)

King's famous album Tapestry alone has several hits on it, but to illustrate her songwriting skills I'll single out her pre-1980s technology break-up song So Far Away:

So far away
Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
It would be so fine to see your face at my door
And it doesn't help to know that you're just time away

Long ago, I reached for you and there you stood
Holding you again could only do me good
Oh, how I wish I could
But you're so far away, yeah

One more song about movin' along the highway
I can't say much of anything that's new
But if I could only work this life out my way
I'd rather spend it bein' close to you

But you're so far away
Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
It would be so fine to see your face at my door
And it doesn't help to know, you're so far away

Best Song Lyrics (Part XXI)

Last week, a list of Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 greatest singers from 2008 resurfaced in the Twitterverse.  Like most things on Twitter, people were complaining about it – the inclusions, omissions, and placing of names on the list.

Buried there at #37, probably a lot higher than he deserved, was Neil Young.  I never thought he was a great singer, and I’m not sure why Rolling Stone magazine thought that, but he was and is a great and prolific songwriter, going back to the early days with the groups Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young.

It’s his solo stuff that most will remember, although it isn’t easy to remember everything given his nearly 50-year long solo career.   Always pushing a message of social justice and change, one of his biggest hits was a song released in the late 1980’s, when he was already (incorrectly) considered to be in the late stages of his career…..

Called Rockin’ In The Free World, it was about a U.S. president whose policies he didn’t agree with at the time,  Imagine what he thinks about the current president, given today’s low standards.

There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
On the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
We'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
But I am to them
So I try to forget it,
Any way I can

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
And she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
And what she's done to it
There's one more kid
That will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
Never get to be cool

(Chorus)

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
And toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
For the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
Says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
Got roads to drive

(Chorus)

Best Song Lyrics (Part XX)

I admit it, I'm a fan of acoustic music.  It doesn't matter if it's original acoustic music (think Norah Jones), or MOST modified acoustic versions of older songs.  (There are major exceptions, for instance, nobody needs to hear an acoustic version of Hey Ya! by OutKast, but I've heard it on the SiriusXM CoffeeHouse channel more than once.)

Earlier this month, one of my favorite acoustic musicians, Jack Johnson, was the musical guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  Colbert was obviously a huge fan, singing a duet with Johnson on his song Sleep Through The Static, and also posting a separate impromptu rehearsal excerpt on the web.

A former champion surfer who still lives in Hawaii, Johnson has been a full-time singer-songwriter for about 15 years.  I've been listening to him on and off for about 10 years.  In my opinion, Johnson is best known for the songs Better Together and Upside Down, but as an acoustic guitarist outside of mainstream popular music, most people would not be able to identify even those tracks.

You get a definite Hawaiian vibe from his music, but he's also great with lyrics, much of them espousing progressive causes.  Let's go back to a verse and chorus from Sleep Through The Static, a 2008 song which uses smart lyrics to spite the reasoning behind the 2003 U.S invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent never-ending war:

Trouble travels fast
When you're specially designed for crash testing
Or wearing wool sunglasses in the afternoon
Come on and tell us what you're trying to prove

'Cause it's a battle when you dabble in war
You store it up, unleash it, then you piece it together
Whether the storm drain running rampant just stamp it
And send it to somebody who's pretending to care

Just cash in your blanks for little toy tanks
Learn how to use them, then abuse them and choose them
Over conversations relationships are overrated
I hated everyone said the sun

And so I will cook all your books
You're too good looking and mistooken
You could watch it instead
From the comfort of your burning beds
Or you can sleep through the static

Who needs sleep when we've got love?
Who needs keys when we've got clubs?
Who needs please when we've got guns?
Who needs peace when we've gone above
But beyond where we should have gone?
We went beyond where we should have gone

Just Name Three

Last year on election day, I wrote about my disgust for bandwagon-ing fans, and, for that matter, bandwagon-ing voters.  Today I'm going to write about a larger offshoot of bandwagon-ers, which essentially includes the bandwagon-ers plus the 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) folks.

To identify, these are people who spend money, sometimes hefty amounts, to attend events for which they have little or no passion.  They go solely because they know other people are going.  You see this all of the time with both sporting and music events.

An example:  Last week, I attended a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert.  The following day at lunch, I overhead a 30-something year-old woman talking to others about it.  She admitted she didn't really know any of his music, but tagged along with friends anyway.  This way she could say she was there, not to mention she could party / drink beer.

Who knows, maybe she didn't have to pay between $60 - $100 to go to the concert like the rest of us.  But probably she did, and regardless, she took away a ticket for a sold out show from a real fan who wanted to go.

I've called people out on this before, and when they get all defensive about it I give them a simple test.  That is, for a big-time concert, can you name three songs (just titles, not even the lyrics!) by that artist?  And for a sporting event, can you name three players on the team for which you're supposedly a fan?

The vast majority of those I ask cannot successfully answer.  If you can't do that, you aren't a fan, and definitely not a passionate one.

However, that isn't going to stop them from paying big bucks to take a seat that a true fan would love to have.  (By and large, the artist or athlete would love for the true fan to have that seat as well.)  But never mind all that.  What's important is being seen as a cool person partying with others at a big event.  And of course, posting their fake superfan-dom on social media.

I suppose it's really not that surprising, in the age of reality TV and social media stars.  People make entire careers out of being seen at events they couldn't care less about.

The difference is, those people get paid, rather then paying for the right to do nothing more than warm a seat.

Best Song Lyrics (Part XIX)

If I said one of the greatest songwriters of all-time had the given name of Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, would you know who that is?  Maybe 1 out of 100 people over the age of 40 (and 1 out of 1000 younger than that) could tell you it was the artist currently known as Sting.

Sting first become famous as the front man for The Police, writing and singing big hits like Every Breath You Take and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic in the late 70s and early 80s,  He started his solo career in the mid-80s, and has been going strong ever since.

At the peak of his powers in the 90s, Sting had a string of great songs that included the hits If I Ever Lose My Faith In You and Fields Of Gold.  But it was one of his earlier efforts, a pre-Cold War ending song called Russians, which had the sharp lyrics that resonated with me both then, and now:

In Europe and America, there's a growing feeling of hysteria,
Conditioned to respond to all the threats, in the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets,
Mr. Krushchev said we will bury you, I don't subscribe to this point of view,
It would be such an ignorant thing to do, if the Russians love their children too

How can I save my little boy, from Oppenheimer's deadly toy,
There is no monopoly in common sense, on either side of the political fence,
We share the same biology, regardless of ideology,
Believe me when I say to you, I hope the Russians love their children too

There is no historical precedent, to put the words in the mouth of the President,
There's no such thing as a winnable war, it's a lie we don't believe anymore,
Mr. Reagan says we will protect you, I don't subscribe to this point of view,
Believe me when I say to you, I hope the Russians love their children too

We share the same biology, regardless of ideology,
What might save us, me, and you, is if the Russians love their children too

Best Song Lyrics (Part XVIII)

I've been listening to a lot more music in the past year or so.  Part of it is because I've started to use headphones (at a low volume level) while biking.  Another reason is because I've had access to a couple of temporary subscriptions to satellite radio, with it vast number of specialty channels.

Regardless, I've heard a lot of old songs that remind me how good music can be.  One artist that I've been listening to more, and only recently gained an appreciation of, is Bob Seger.

It doesn't matter if it's a solo song or more likely with his famous Silver Bullet Band, Seger has a great library of stuff.  Some of it may have gained excessive popularity from a movie (Old Time Rock and Roll from Risky Business) or from a commercial (Like A Rock from Chevy).  However, other stuff probably deserved more popularity than it got.

As an example of his many great songs with great lyrics, I give you one about a romantic proposition between lonely friends, We've Got Tonight.

I know it's late, I know you're weary
I know your plans don't include me
Still here we are, both of us lonely
Longing for shelter from all that we see
Why should we worry, no one will care girl
Look at the stars so far away
We've got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
We've got tonight babe
Why don't you stay?

Deep in my soul, I've been so lonely
All of my hopes, fading away
I've longed for love, like everyone else does
I know I'll keep searching, even after today
So there it is girl, I've said it all now
And here we are babe, what do you say?
We've got tonight, who needs tomorrow?
We've got tonight babe
Why don't you stay?

RIP Glenn Frey

Already this year, two rock music icons have passed away, David Bowie and Glenn Frey.  I was a little too young to appreciate them in their prime years, basically the 1970s.  They both continued to put out new, popular music well into the 1980s, but their best recorded stuff was basically over once we hit the 1990s.

I was never a Bowie fan, he always seemed to me like some strange dude from England, although I will admit that the song Modern Love does take me back to my college days.  Glenn Frey, however – that’s  a different story.

I finally got to see an Eagles concert in person a couple of years ago, on one of their reunion tours.  Frey couldn’t quite make it to the highest notes, but otherwise I thought he (along with Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit) sounded a lot like their recordings from decades ago.

Frey’s solo career wasn’t as good as Henley’s, but it was decent, with saxophone-heavy tracks like The One You Love, The Heat Is On, and You Belong to the City.  Regardless, he’s going to be remembered for all of the classic Eagles stuff, some of which I’m just starting to really appreciate for the first time.

One example of an Eagles tune that I never liked that much until the past few years, one in which Frey sings the lead-vocal, is Lyin’ Eyes.  It was far from their most popular song, but the way the lyrics are laid out to tell the story is as good as it gets:

City girls just seem to find out early
How to open doors with just a smile
A rich old man
And she won't have to worry
She'll dress up all in lace and go in style

Late at night a big old house gets lonely
I guess every form of refuge has its price
And it breaks her heart to think her love is only
Given to a man with hands as cold as ice

So she tells him she must go out for the evening
To comfort an old friend who's feelin' down
But he knows where she's goin' as she's leavin'
She is headed for the cheatin' side of town

[Chorus]
You can't hide your lyin' eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you'd realize
There ain't no way to hide your lyin eyes

On the other side of town a boy is waiting
With fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal
She drives on through the night anticipating
'Cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel

She rushes to his arms; they fall together
She whispers that it's only for awhile
She swears that soon she'll be comin' back forever
She pulls away and leaves him with a smile

[Chorus]

She gets up and pours herself a strong one,
And stares out at the stars up in the sky.
Another night, it's gonna be a long one.
She draws the shade and hangs her head to cry.

She wonders how it ever got this crazy.
She thinks about a boy she knew in school.
Did she get tired or did she just get lazy?
She's so far gone she feels just like a fool.

My oh my, you sure know how to arrange things.
You set it up so well, so carefully.
Ain't it funny how your new life didn't change things?
You're still the same old girl you used to be.

[Chorus]

Best Song Lyrics (Part XVII)

It shames me to realize that in my previous XVI installments about song lyrics, I've listed only caucasian song writers.  A politically incorrect and embarrassing oversight that I will now fix.

There are plenty of great non-white songwriters out there, and today you'll find most of them in the hip-hop genre.  We are definitely not going down that road though -- hip-hop (or 'rap' as it was called when I started this blog) is one of the main reasons I complained about the loss of meaningful lyrics in the first place.

If you go back farther, though, way back, you find Smokey Robinson.  With his backup group The Miracles, he wrote or co-wrote all kinds of hit songs, including The Tracks of My Tears and I Second That Emotion.  He also wrote the famous My Girl for The Temptations.

You could go to any of those songs for an example, but I'll go with the subtle sadness found in the first part of The Tracks of My Tears:

People say I'm the life of the party
Because I tell a joke or two
Although I might be laughing loud and hearty
Deep inside I'm blue

So take a good look at my face
You'll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it's easy to trace
The tracks of my tears

Since you left me if you see me with another girl
Seeming like I'm having fun
Although she may be cute, she's just a substitute
Because you're the permanent one

So take a good look at my face
You'll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it's easy to trace
The tracks of my tears

Post #300

This is my 300th blog post since I started it around six years ago.  As with post #200, let's take a look at some of what I wrote about over the past 100 posts spanning about two years:

I wrote with more practical, real life advice for high school and college graduates.

I wrote about a variety of investment issues, client-approved of course.

I wrote about how a political lackey masquerading as a university president ended VEISHEA.

I wrote more about the best songwriters and lyrics from yesteryear.

I wrote about how pop culture should start ignoring Lolo Jones, well before pop culture came to the same conclusion.

I wrote about major cities I visited.

I wrote more about taxpayers getting fleeced, and the primary non-profit fleecers.

I wrote about how medical doctors are self-centered, not patient-centered.

I wrote about what turning 50 years old meant to me, in a mostly non-philosophical way.

I wrote about a variety of ways that people / politicians / governments refuse to accept the evolution of social issues, such as how dumb it is to oppose both medical marijuana and decriminalization of marijuana, and how dumb it is to allow 2,000+ year-old religious doctrine control all of their secular decisions.

I wrote a little bit about a lot of other things, all in the name of getting things off my mind.

Do You Hear What I Hear (I Hope Not)

It's Christmas time, and as much as I'd like to vent again about the lack of understanding and effort when it comes to Christmas cards, this year I want to say something about Christmas songs.

Generally speaking, I don't have a problem with Christmas songs on the radio or in stores.  Sure, they start too early in the year, but it gets you into the spirit, I can appreciate that.

But why do I keep hearing so many old songs that are sung by long-ago-dead people?

For example, if I hear another Karen Carpenter rendition of Home For The Holidays I'm going to puke.  Same goes for anything by Burl Ives.

In fact, this goes for any artist who's been dead for over 25 years, with the possible exception of Nat King Cole singing The Christmas Song.  I don't think anybody can perform that song any better.  (A quick reminder: Tony Bennett isn't dead yet, so anything by him is also OK.)

To put it another way, I don't really want to hear traditional Christmas songs that were recorded 30 or 40 years ago.  There are plenty of songs that have been recorded by contemporary artists, assisted by the best instrumentation / sound that today's digital recording technology can bring us.

In conclusion, if I'm listening to Christmas music, I want to hear traditional Christmas songs by contemporary recording artists (with Nat King Cole occasionally sprinkled in), and rotate those singers out once they kick the bucket.

Otherwise, make it a Silent Night.

Best Song Lyrics (Part XVI)

Last week I noticed the Songwriters Hall of Fame announced its new inductees.  Along with the songwriter I wrote about way back in Part V of this anthology (Yusaf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens) was the name Tom Petty.

Awesome.

Tom Petty led his band The Heartbreakers onto the rock scene in the late 1970s with a distinctive sound and cool, easygoing lyrics.  Some of the best known songs included The Waiting, Free Fallin’ and , You Don't Know How It Feels (To Be Me).

All of those songs are lyrically terrific, but I'm going with Learning To Fly as my example.  While there is certainly a drug double-meaning, Petty himself said it was really about failing and trying and failing and trying again.  I highly recommend listening to it in its slower, acoustic form:

Well I started out, down a dirty road
Started out, all alone
And the sun went down, as I crossed the hill
And the town lit up, the world got still

I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down, is the hardest thing

Well, the good ol' days, may not return
And the rocks might melt, and the sea may burn

I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down, is the hardest thing

Well, some say life, will beat you down
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I've started out, for God-knows-where
I guess I'll know, when I get there

I'm learning to fly, around the clouds
But what goes up, must come down
I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings
Coming down, is the hardest thing

Best Song Lyrics (Part XV)

It's a little embarrassing to have just realized I haven't included a single female songwriter yet in this continuing series on lyrics.  There are plenty to choose from, although not as many these days as in the 60s and 70s.  In terms of contemporary singer/songwriter/performers, Lady GaGa comes to mind, but not enough history yet.

For my 'best song lyrics' category, I'm going to go with Sarah McLachlan.  Known these days as much for her charity work, she has a great, soulful music library to choose from.  She's also covered a lot of Christmas season songs, my favorite being Gordon Lightfoot's Song For A Winter's Night.

My choice for a great example of her music is Building A Mystery, for which she won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.  It's about keeping certain aspects of our lives hidden from others.  It was a bit unique for the time (1997) in that it was a popular radio song that contained a naughty word, which made for a gap in the radio lyrics.  That part goes like this -- can you see the naughty word?:

You woke up screaming aloud
A prayer from your secret God
To feed off our fears
And hold back your tears
Oh you give us a tantrum
And a know-it-all grin
Just when we need one
When the evening’s thin
Oh you’re so beautiful
A beautiful fucked up man
You’re setting up your
Razor wire shrine
‘Cause you’re working
Building a mystery
Holding on, holding it in
Oh yeah you’re working
Building a mystery
And choosing so carefully

Best Song Lyrics (Part XIV)

Often times when sitting in the quiet of my office, I turn to Pandora to help fill the silence with mello music.  I only have two current 'channels' set up:  Jimmy Buffett Radio, and Jackson Browne Radio.

Why Jackson Browne?  Because it gives me not only good music, but good lyrics.  Plus, on that channel I'll also get a lot of Eagles, a lot of Jim Croce, a lot of Dave Matthews Band, each of whom has already been mentioned in my Best Lyrics anthology.  (Little known fact:  Jackson Browne co-wrote Take It Easy, popularized by the Eagles.)

You probably need to be over 30 (40?) to appreciate Jackson Browne and what he's done for music.  The last half of his career he started to get more politically active, and it comes through in those lyrics.  Either way, he's just a fantastic performer and songwriter.

There are so many songs I could go with as an example - so I'll go with more than one.  First, check out the final verse of The Pretender:

I'm going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Thought true love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But I have to add this, from Rosie, with its beautiful, double-entendre chorus:

She was standing at the load-in

When the trucks rolled up

She was sniffing all around

Like a half grown female pup

She wasn't hard to talk to

Looked like she had nowhere to go

So I gave her my pass

So she could get in and see the show

Well I sat her down right next to me

And I got her a beer

While I mixed that sound on stage

So the band could hear

The more I watched her watch them play

The less I could think of to say

And when they walked off stage

The drummer swept that girl away

But Rosie you're all right - you wear my ring

When you hold me tight - Rosie that's my thing

When you turn out the light - I've got to hand it to me

Looks like it's me and you again tonight Rosie

Best Song Lyrics (Part XIII)

Even though his music career has more or less spanned my lifetime, I've never been a huge Bruce Springsteen fan.  Can't explain it really, because he's always performed good solid rock music with good solid lyrics that mean something.

Strangely, the two albums of his that I listened to the most aren't typical Springsteen albums.  One is Tunnel Of Love, a melancholy set of slower songs set against the time of the real life breakup of his marriage.  It just happened to be great music to rock both me and my baby daughter to sleep.

The other album I've listened to the most is The Rising.  The songs are mostly a reflection of about the 9/11 terror attacks.  The title track is about a firefighter on that day.  I think it would be awesome for him to perform it live when they officially open the new One World Trade Center 1 building:

Can't see nothin' in front of me

Can't see nothin' coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile line

Come on up for the rising
Com on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin' the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin' down here

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Spirits above and behind me
Faces gone, black eyes burnin' bright
May their precious blood forever bind me
Lord as I stand before your fiery light

I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There's holy pictures of our children
Dancin' in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin' on the end of the line

Sky of blackness and sorrow (a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness (a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear (a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow (a dream of life)
Your burnin' wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life (a dream of life)

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Best Song Lyrics (Part XII)

In today's world of 'popular' music, it seems the artist is either an individual or a group.  Back in the day, however, a lot of popular music was composed and/or performed by duos.  (Think Everly Brothers, Righteous Brothers, or more recently, Hall and Oates.)

Not many of the individuals who comprise these duos seem to end up with successful solo careers.  I suppose if they were good enough to be on their own, they'd have started out that way.  There is at least one notable exception: Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel.

It's well-documented that Simon was the songwriter of this duo, while Garfunkel was known for his vocal ability.  After they broke up in the early 1970s, Simon went on to a great solo recording career, with a some very popular songs mixed in with lots of other interesting vocal/instrumental ones.

But the Simon and Garfunkel era carries some of the best lyrical folk music ever made.  There's no denying the meaning of a song like Bridge Over Troubled Water but I will always prefer Sounds of Silence.  With five verses, and no chorus, it's songwriting at its finest:

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

Best Song Lyrics (Part XI)

In my previous ten (X) posts on this topic, I haven't included one (I) country music artist.  It hasn't been because I don't think that genre has great songwriting - there is no question that some of it is great.  It's just that, I don't regularly listen to country music, aside from the pop/rock crossover hits on the radio.

So I'm going to give a nod to country music in this post.  Probably should have done that sooner, because while it wasn't true decades ago, country music now seems to consistently have more meaningful lyrics than rock music.

I'm sure there are lots of contemporary country artists that routinely put out great lyrics.  That said, I'm going to go with an artist that was very popular when I was younger, Garth Brooks.  He may have been too commercial, but his songs seemed to have meaning.  (Full disclosure: I do have an old Garth Brooks CD that I never listen to.)

So let's go with the great, Friends In Low Places:

Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots
And ruined your black tie affair
The last one to know, the last one to show
I was the last one you thought you'd see there
And I saw the surprise, and the fear in his eyes
When I took his glass of champagne
And I toasted you, said honey, we may be through
But you'll never hear me complain 

'Cause I've got friends in low places
Where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away
And I'll be okay
I'm not big on social graces
Think I'll slip on down to the oasis
Oh, I've got friends in low places

Well, I guess I was wrong, I just don't belong
But then, I've been there before
Everything's all right, I'll just say goodnight
And I'll show myself to the door
Hey, I didn't mean, to cause a big scene
Just give me an hour and then
Well, I'll be as high, as that ivory tower
That you're livin' in

'Cause I've got friends in low places
Where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away
And I'll be okay
I'm not big on social graces
Think I'll slip on down to the oasis
Oh, I've got friends in low places