The Commodores - Sail On...

I gave you my heart
And I tried to make you happy
And you gave me nothin' in return
You know, it ain't so hard to say
"Would you please just go away"

And from tonight...

Well he shot four men
in a cocaine deal
And he left them
lyin' in an open field
Full of old cars
with bullet holes
in the mirrors.

He tried to do his best
but he could not.

Well, it wasn't
supposed to go
down that way.
But they burned his brother,
you know,
And they left him lying
in the driveway.
They let him down with nothin'.

He tried to do his best
but he could not.

Well tell me more,
tell me more,
tell me more
I mean was he a heavy doper
or was he just a loser?
He was a friend of yours.
What do you mean,
he had bullet holes
in his mirrors?

He tried to do his best
but he could not.

Ain't Too Proud Beg...

I know you wanna leave me
But I refuse to let you go
If I have to beg and plead for your sympathy
I don't mind, 'cause you mean that much to me

[chorus] Ain't too proud to beg and you know it (sweet darlin')
Please don't leave me girl (don't you go)
Ain't too proud to plead, baby, baby
Please don't leave me, girl (don't you go)

Now I heard a cryin' man
Is half a man, with no sense of pride*
But if I have to cry to keep you
I don't mind weepin' if it'll keep you by my side**

[chorus]

If I have to sleep on your doorstep all night and day
Just to keep you from walkin' away
Let your friends laugh, even this I can stand
'Cause I wanna keep you, any way I can***

[chorus]

Now I've gotta love so deep, in the pit of my heart
And each day it grows more and more
I'm not ashamed to come, and plead to you baby
If pleadin' keeps you from, walkin' out that door****

...


*this is not a wise observation

**yeah, if.

***maniac alert

****still falling just short of actual threats of physical violence - good for you!

The Cars, 'Drive'

All of it. The soundtrack to a lonely suicide.

A truly lovely song, but...

Billy, we're so different but I think you must agree
That we're both disappointments
To so many folks in this society
So we continue with the task of punishing ourselves
But maybe you don't think I'm weak
And maybe someday soon we'll speak
Just like we used to do
When you were you and I was me

Look out mama, there's a white boat comin' up the river
With a big red beacon and a flag and a man on the rail
I think you better call John
'Cause it don't look like they're here to deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away, I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side and a gun and it's making me brave

Daddy's gone, my brother's out huntin' in the mountains
Big John's been drinkin' since the river took Annie-Lou (away)
So the powers that be left me here to do the thinkin'
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wonderin' what to do
The closer it got the more those feelings grew

Daddy's rifle in my hand felt re-assurin'
He told me, "Red means run son, numbers add up to nothing"
But when the first shot hit the dock I saw it comin'
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why
Then I saw black and my face splash in the sky

Shelter me from the Powder and the Finger
Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger
Just think of me as one who never feared
You fade away so young
There's so much left undone
Remember me for my love, I know I miss her

Two girls ride the blue line
Two girls walk down the same street
One left her sweater sittin' on the train
The other lost three fingers at the cannery

Nightjar wrote:

The other lost three fingers at the cannery

I wonder who found them?

These struck me...

He came from somewhere back in Her long ago
The sentimental fool don't see
Tryin' hard to recreate
What had yet to be created, once in her life
She musters a smile for his nostalgic tale
Never coming near what he wanted to say
Only to realise - it never really was

She had a place in his life
He never made her think twice
As he rises to her apology
Anybody else would surely know
He's watching her go

What a fool believes, He sees
No wise man has the power, to reason away
What seems to be
Is always better than nothing
Than nothing at all...

...keeps sending him somewhere back in her long ago
Where He can still believe there's a place in Her life
Someday, somewhere
She will return...

Sometimes I get so lonely I could shrivel on the vine
And so I take the corkscrew and I uncork the wine
The ashtray's overflowing, did I take all those quaaludes?
And I'm spinning for the umpteenth time Mott the Hoople's All The Young...
Dudes

It's early Friday evening and there's no one I can call
And everyone seems happy - but I'm not happy at all
Should I play a video game, should I take a walk?

Or should I... unzip my fly?

Sparklehorse - Homecoming Queen.


A horse, a horse
My kingdom for a horse
Rattling on magnetic fields
Yes, I did use up
The last box of sparklers
Before they went bad
Got wet or decayed

Homecoming queen
Homecoming queen

Teeth what were sharp
Is grown down and dumb
My crooked spine becoming more brittle
What once grew straight
And tall t'ward the sun
Is absorbing back down
To dirt like a sponge

Homecoming queen
Homecoming queen
Homecoming queen
Homecoming queen

Suzanne Vega - Bad Wisdom.

Mother the doctor knows something is wrong
Cause my body has strange information
He's looked in my eyes and knows I'm not a child
But he doesn't dare ask the right question

Mother my friends are no longer my friends
And the games we once played have no meaning
I've gone serious and shy and they can't figure why
So they've left me to my own daydreaming

Mother you've taught me the laws are so fine
If I'm good that I will be protected
I've fallen through the crack and there's no getting back
And I'll never trust whoever gets elected

Mother your eyes have gone suddenly cold
And it wasn't what I was expecting
Once I did think that I'd find comfort there
And instead you've gone hard and suspecting

Mother I'm cut at the root like a weed
Cause there's no one to hear my small story
Just like a woman who walks in the street
I will pay for my life with my body

What price to pay
For bad wisdom
What price to pay
For bad wisdom
Too young to know
Too much too soon
Bad wisdom
Bad wisdom

Paul McCartney - 1882.

Well, good morning, young master
It's 1882.
And your mother is hungry
What will you do?

There is bread in the kitchen
Of the big house upstairs
But I warn you, don't take it
From there.

You'll be tarred, you'll be feathered.
You'll be hung like a ham.
And I warn you, don't do it
Young man.

Your mother is calling.
She wants you by the bed.
So get ready, young master.
Well, go shake your sleepy head
Darling son, "I am dying
And I leave it to you.
As I'm leaving
Tell me what did I do?
I am dying.
Tell me, what did I do?"

Boy steals the bread, now.
Packs it up and heads for the door.
Man sees him coming
Says "boy you won't be running no more."

Boy gets arrested
And the case is tested that day.
Judge finds him guilty
And the jailer takes him away.

Good morning, young master.
It's 25 to 9.
They'll be coming, to get you
In 20 minutes time.

You'll be drawn, you'll be quartered.
You'll be hung like a ham.
And I warn you, get ready
Young man

Says the boy, "I am dying
And I leave it to you.
As I'm leaving
Tell me, what did I do?
As I'm dying
Tell me, what did I do?"

I can take a joke but my clothes are all soaked
It's too late to be unclear
I'd laugh until I'd die if it wasn't my life
If it wasn't me in the mirror

Am I ever gonna see you again?

Maybe I'm a whistle on a lonely old train
I'm crying all the time
Listen to the sound getting further away
Fading deep into the night

Am I ever gonna see you again?
I'm evicted
From your heart
I deserve it

[bridge]

Black against the shade
Shadow lovers embrace
I look away, I look away
They say heartache
Always fades
I look away, I look away

I'm nevеr gonna see you again
I'm evicted
From your heart
I dеserve it

Oh, I can take a joke but my clothes are all smoke
It's too cold to be unclear
I'd laugh until I'm old if it wasn't my life
If it wasn't me in the mirror

I'm never gonna see you again
I'm evicted
From your heart
I deserve it
I'm evicted
From your heart

I deserve it
I deserve it
I deserve it