Greatest Song Lyrics

Mad_Malx

Although Tube Station at Midnight is one of my all time favorites, the timeline bothers me.
Why is he buying a takeaway and then getting the tube, and his Mrs getting the wine out at midnight. Is he working shifts or something?
(Yes I have eaten and drunk wine after midnight, but not as part of the ordinary life portrayed).

carbonclem

Mad_Malx said:

Although Tube Station at Midnight is one of my all time favorites, the timeline bothers me.
Why is he buying a takeaway and then getting the tube, and his Mrs getting the wine out at midnight. Is he working shifts or something?
(Yes I have eaten and drunk wine after midnight, but not as part of the ordinary life portrayed).

I assume he’s ‘down in the tube station at midnight’ left incapacitated and reflecting on the attack that has already occurred. I mean, no way were tubes running that late anyway, right?
Wellers lyrical observations via The Jam and his political commentary in the Style Council are still relevant today. Quite amazing given his age - dealing with subjects such as depression in Private Hell for example.

pblakeney

As he hadn’t been married there’s a good chance that it’s all made up just to make a story. A fantasy of a wife at home waiting for her husband and it all goes wrong?
Who’s not had a cheeky takeaway after a night out before getting home?

bonk_king

Mad_Malx said:

Although Tube Station at Midnight is one of my all time favorites, the timeline bothers me.
Why is he buying a takeaway and then getting the tube, and his Mrs getting the wine out at midnight. Is he working shifts or something?
(Yes I have eaten and drunk wine after midnight, but not as part of the ordinary life portrayed).

The timeline works for me. In my eyes he was in the tube station at a decent hour waiting for the tube. He got savagely attacked, possibly to the point of unconsciousness, and lay their for a while.

When he came round it was midnight and then he immediately started thinking if his wife at home worrying where he was. She'd set the table and opened the wine and was just awaiting his arrival with the takeaway.

It's quite chilling when he says, "they took the keys, and she'll think it's me", indicating that the attackers may make their way to his house!

The only thing that doesn't sit well with me is that that indicates he had his address on his keyring! Do people really do that?

I mean it works both ways. Lose your keys and some kind hearted soul may find them and deliver them to you. But also a thief would have a field day if they nicked your keys and found your address attached.

Pross

Could have had some ID on him with an address.

Just had a quick look through the music channels over breakfast and stumbled across Beautiful South singing Song For Whoever which, like many of their songs, has some decent lyrics.

pblakeney

Pross said:

Could have had some ID on him with an address.

Just had a quick look through the music channels over breakfast and stumbled across Beautiful South singing Song For Whoever which, like many of their songs, has some decent lyrics.

That reminds me. Just Checkin' lyrics are a lot more meaningful than the poppy sound.

rick_chasey

pblakeney said:

Who’s not had a cheeky takeaway after a night out before getting home?

Me.

pblakeney

rick_chasey said:

pblakeney said:

Who’s not had a cheeky takeaway after a night out before getting home?

Me.

Sad.
Then again, I don't envisage you as someone who goes out out.

focuszing723

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
The battle outside ragin'
Will soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'

Getting old n' stuff, AI n' things, ummmmm....

rick_chasey

pblakeney said:

rick_chasey said:

pblakeney said:

Who’s not had a cheeky takeaway after a night out before getting home?

Me.

Sad.
Then again, I don't envisage you as someone who goes out out.

Charming.

orraloon

rick_chasey said:

pblakeney said:

rick_chasey said:

pblakeney said:

Who’s not had a cheeky takeaway after a night out before getting home?

Me.

Sad.
Then again, I don't envisage you as someone who goes out out.

Charming.

Prince Charming
Prince Charming
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of

bonk_king

Punctured bicycle on a hillside, desolate.

Will nature make a man of me yet.

And in this charming car....this charming man.

Looks like this thread is turning into song association, lol.

mrb123

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees a bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out, "my God, they killed them all"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done
Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been
The champion of the world
Three bodies lyin' there, does Patty see
And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously
"I didn't do it" he says, and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand"
"I saw them leavin'" he says, and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops"
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene
With their red lights flashin' in a hot New Jersey night
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In Paterson that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'Less you want to draw the heat
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
He said "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
Jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates"
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
Cop said "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him he could identify the guilty men
Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in
They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
Say "Why'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy"
Here's the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done
Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been
The champion of the world
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
"Think it mighta been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?"
"Don't forget that you are white"
Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure"
The cops said "A poor boy like you, could use this break
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
You don't want to have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
You'll be doin' society a favor
That son of a bitch is brave and gettin' braver
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim"
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
"It's my work" he'd say, "and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way"
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched, he was a revolutionary bum
And for the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder one, guess who testified?
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell
Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane
But it won't be over 'til they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done
Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been
The champion of the world

crescent

Good shout, The Beautiful South. The term "genius" is bandied about too much, and mostly unjustifiably so. I think Paul Heaton qualifies. From The Housemartins to his solo/duet stuff (with JA), his material is just incredible.

RichN95.

^^^ Hurricane is Dylan's best song

evil_breakfast

Beneath the old iron bridges, across the Victorian parks
And all the frightened people running home before dark
Past the Saturday morning cinema that lies crumbling to the ground
And the piss stinking shopping centre in the new side of town
I've come to smell the seasons change, & watch the city
As the sun goes down again

Here comes another winter, of long shadows and high hopes
Here comes another winter, waiting for utopia
Waiting for hell to freeze over

This is the land, where nothing changes
The land of red buses & blue blooded babies
This is the place, where pensioners are raped
And the hearts are being cut, from the welfare state
Let the poor drink the milk, while the rich eat the honey
Let the bums count their blessings, while they count their money

So many people, can't express what's on their minds
Nobody knows them and nobody ever will
Until their backs are broken and their dreams are stolen
And they can't get what they want, then they're gonna get angry!

Well it ain't written in the papers, but its written on the walls
The way this country is divided to fall
So the cranes are moving on the skyline
Trying to knock down... this town
But the stains on the heartland, can never be removed
From this country, that's sick, sad, and confused

https://youtu.be/fPSO8pdAX6c

Mad_Malx

RichN95. said:

^^^ Hurricane is Dylan's best song

I really don't like Dylan's singing, but recognise the poetry of his lyrics

webboo

In the days when I couldn’t stand Dylan I always thought the Hurricane was a work of art. These days I’ve mellowed and most music is fine apart from the these falsetto and unmanned male singers that seem to dominate modern music.

tailwindhome

Freedom's just another word for
Nothin' left to lose
Nothin'ain't worth nothin'
But it's free

tailwindhome

See, my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle, that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
His body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?
We gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way

focuszing723

tailwindhome said:

See, my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle, that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
His body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?
We gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way

Tracey Chapman, no Google cheating. Great vocalist.

focuszing723

...

photonic69

"...i'm doing time in a
Maximum security twilight home.. ain't got no pets... all i gets the bone.."

Becomes more and more true.

RichN95.

Mad_Malx said:

RichN95. said:

^^^ Hurricane is Dylan's best song

I really don't like Dylan's singing, but recognise the poetry of his lyrics

I'm not a fan of the singing either. But Hendrix and other showed what a great songwriter he was. Also Rich Hall's Dylan song is hilarious.

Other lyrics I love:

"The Mississippi Delta was shining like a national guitar" (Paul Simon is Dylan's equal)

"I'm as honest as the day is long, The longer the daylight, the less I do wrong"

"You singers are spineless
As you sing your senseless songs to the mindless
Your general subject love is minimal
It's sex for profit"

tailwindhome

The Fureys
The Green Fields of France.

A good an anti-war song as was ever written

webboo

tailwindhome said:

The Fureys
The Green Fields of France.

A good an anti-war song as was ever written

The Men they couldn’t hang do a great version of it.

rick_chasey

Slightly different tone, but I spend too much of my life listening to disney songs and this is easily the best lyrics.

Context for those who don't know frozen, Olaf is the light relief comedy character. He's a snowman who has fallen in love with the idea of summer, having never experienced warm weather.....

Really? I'm guessing you don't have much experience with heat
Nope, but sometimes, I like to close my eyes
And imagine what it'd be like when summer does come, huh

Bees'll buzz, kids'll blow dandelion fuzz
And I'll be doing whatever snow does in summer

A drink in my hand, my snow up against the burning sand
Probably getting gorgeously tanned in summer

I'll finally see a summer breeze blow away a winter storm
And find out what happens to solid water when it gets warm

And I can't wait to see what my buddies all think of me
Just imagine how much cooler I'll be in summer

The hot and the cold are both so intense
Put 'em together, it just makes sense

Winter's a good time to stay in and cuddle
But put me in summer and I'll be a happy... snowman (Best line in it...!!)


When life gets rough, I like to hold on to my dream
Of relaxing in the summer sun, just lettin' off steam


Oh, the sky will be blue, and you guys'll be there too
When I finally do what frozen things do in summer

pblakeney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXgQ3TJJZVQ

[Verse 1]
You are the melting men
You are your situation
There is no time to breathe
And yet one single breath
Leads to an insatiable desire
Of suicide in sex

[Pre-Chorus]
So many blazing orchids burning in your throat
Making you choke, making you sigh, sigh in tiny deaths

[Chorus]
So melt!
My lover, melt!
She said melt!
My lover, melt!

[Verse 2]
You are the melting men
And as you melt
You are beheaded
Handcuffed in lace and blood and sperm

[Pre-Chorus]
Swimming in poison gasping in the fragrance
Sweat carves a screenplay of discipline and devotion

[Chorus]
So melt!
My lover, melt!
She said melt!
My lover, melt!

[Verse 3]
Can you see?
See into the back of a long, black car
Pulling away from the funeral of flowers
With my hand between your legs
Melting

[Chorus]
She said melt!
My lover, melt!
She said melt!
My lover, melt!
So Melt!
My lover, melt!
She said melt!
My lover, melt!

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Slightly different tone, but I spend too much of my life listening to disney songs and this is easily the best lyrics.

Context for those who don't know frozen, Olaf is the light relief comedy character. He's a snowman who has fallen in love with the idea of summer, having never experienced warm weather.....

Really? I'm guessing you don't have much experience with heat
Nope, but sometimes, I like to close my eyes
And imagine what it'd be like when summer does come, huh

Bees'll buzz, kids'll blow dandelion fuzz
And I'll be doing whatever snow does in summer

A drink in my hand, my snow up against the burning sand
Probably getting gorgeously tanned in summer

I'll finally see a summer breeze blow away a winter storm
And find out what happens to solid water when it gets warm

And I can't wait to see what my buddies all think of me
Just imagine how much cooler I'll be in summer

The hot and the cold are both so intense
Put 'em together, it just makes sense

Winter's a good time to stay in and cuddle
But put me in summer and I'll be a happy... snowman (Best line in it...!!)


When life gets rough, I like to hold on to my dream
Of relaxing in the summer sun, just lettin' off steam


Oh, the sky will be blue, and you guys'll be there too
When I finally do what frozen things do in summer

My daughter would approve, she turned up at choir last night in a full Anna costume having been out working at kids parties all afternoon much to the amusement of the other choir members



(from a previous party - the weather wasn't quite that bad here at the weekend!)

rick_chasey

Must be a big money spinner, I've been to about 3 children's birthday parties with frozen princess entertainers!