...by other song writers (no Dylan allowed) Two examples, one old, one new The Virgin, by Gene Clark (ex-Byrds): She went off to the city To find what she was looking for To identify, to really try To find herself some hope With the summer sun for laughing And the winter rain did pour She was lovelier from learning And from living, loving more From her dancing love and young soul And the gypsies in her dream To the pulse of stark acceptance When the winds began to freeze With no curfews left to hold her And no walls to shield her pain Finding out that facts were older And that life forms are insane. The presence of protection seemed To fade, as did her doubt That she now was no exception Nor was the love who pushed her out Though the streets cried out, Go, homesick Virtues strength of mind would ring In the maladies of meaning The sad song she learned to sing. Now, her teachers and philosophers And the poet's silver throat Are the vessels which on wisdom's karmic ocean she will float. Was this her revolution, Just a child in love's crusade, With the question in her innocence Through the lies her eyes betrayed? Spoiler -------------------- and Built to Fall, by Amos Lee: Mystical, hysterical, radical, tyrannical Cynical, the pinnacle, the pitiful in their pretty wool The gravitas, the lives we've lost, sign your cross to pay the cost You bend the knee quite shakily, and break my heart so tenderly The ringing bells that tell the tales, empires rise, empires fell Charity, catastrophe, the past decree, let the bastards be Hold me now and hold me down, cut me with your thorny crown And bleed me out, let the children shout, so they can see what we're all about Walls were built to fall Our gods and alcohol I refuse the call Walls were built to fall Mystery conspiracy surrounding me in groups of three The trinity that sits with me and pours my tea in symmetry Breaks my bread and keeps my stead, they watch the blood fall from my head And gather like a shadow grows, upon my pillow, fills my nose Until no longer breath I feel, the horse, it bucks and breaks the wheel Laughter rise like clouds of dust, we turn to heroin, to lust And rush the pope with veils and sheaths, scream heresy Bring forth the beast and lead us to our vaunted fate, with bones as beggars dirty plates Fill the streets with rotten meats, with fallen angel wings defeat Bleary eyes terrorize the blindness of our mortal lies Injurious, spurious, incurious, in God we trust To once again cut down our foes, we fill our pails as darkness grows Walls were built to fall Our gods and alcohol I refuse the call Walls were built to fall I sit in Bodhisattva robes, the serpent with the servant rose And hung him in his filthy clothes, the swollen holes sung songs for those Who never had a chance to rise, the golden light of dawn's demise The wind, it lashes, shakes the steel, impales the pines with pain we feel Idolatry, the policy, the coliseum spawned by greed The common creed, the prophecies, the dying mother's final pleas My child, my child, why can't we know the promised land, where we were told Would keep up safely from the cold? Forbidden cities paved with gold But as I keep you at my breast, and guide you to eternal rest With feral faith, I'll stalk the key and face the feckless pharisee To keep your name in full, I'll fight, I'll follow you into the light Forever in my mournful state, I'll rush my death to crash the gate Walls were built to fall Gods and alcohol I refuse the call Walls were built to fall Walls were built to fall Spoiler
two more, one old: Young Americans, by David Bowie They pulled in just behind the bridge He lays her down, he frowns "Gee, my life's a funny thing, am I still too young?" He kissed her then and there She took his ring, took his babies It took him minutes, took her nowhere Heaven knows, she'd have taken anything, but She wants a young American (Young American, young American, she wants the young American) (All right) But she wants the young American Scanning life through the picture window She finds the slinky vagabond He coughs as he passes her Ford Mustang But Heaven forbid, she'll take anything But the freak, and his type, all for nothing Misses a step and cuts his hand, but Showing nothing, he swoops like a song She cries, "Where have all Papa's heroes gone?" She wants a young American (Young American, young American, she wants the young American) (All right) Well she wants the young American All the way from Washington Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor "We live for just these twenty years Do we have to die for the fifty more?" He wants the young American (Young American, young American, he wants the young American) (All right) all right Well he wants the young American Do you remember, your President Nixon? Do you remember, the bills you have to pay? Or even yesterday? Have you been the un-American? Just you and your idol sing falsetto 'Bout leather, leather everywhere, and Not a myth left from the ghetto Well, well, well, would you carry a razor In case, just in case of depression? Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors Blushing at all the Afro-Sheeners Ain't that close to love? Well, ain't that poster love? Well, it ain't that Barbie doll Her heart's have been broken just like you and All night you want the young American (Young American, young American, you want the young American) (All right) You want the young American You ain't a pimp and you ain't a hustler (young American, young American) A pimp's got a Cadi and a lady got a Chrysler (you want the young American) Black's got respect, and white's got his soul train (all right) Mama's got cramps, and look at your hands ache (I heard the news today, oh boy) I got a suite and you got defeat Ain't there a man who can say no more? (All night) And, ain't there a woman I can sock on the jaw? And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging? (young American, young American) Ain't there a pen that will write before they die? (You want the young American) Ain't you proud that you've still got faces? (All right) Ain't there one damn song that can make me Break down and cry? I want the young American Spoiler
one new: I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All, by Father John Misty: Our naked bodies go on trial Just for laughing at the joke Just for saying of the bargain What any salesgirl already knows Most of us old men die in the firing line Just waiting for our number to be called I guess time just makes fools of us all Now the king regales his stepsons When he's loaded as a gun Says, "A real man is like a country You need a map to find your one" Now why do you suppose you must approach the throne With its back up against the wall? I guess time just makes fools of us all The greatish minds of my generation Gladly conscripted in war Of defending any goliath That would deign darken the door Now with your genius for picking battles It's no wonder every helmet is too small I guess time just makes fools of us all, mm I guess time just makes fools of us all My drink is watered down My champion's on his knees He lost the rematch, he lost the comeback He lost for charity But that's the job It's what gets the asses in the hall They came for a beating And he came to brawl Go and serve your client notice That of all the young gods that I have known Yours is easily the least famous To turn down the cover of the Rolling Stone Lily white faces so familiar And yet impossible to recall I guess time just makes fools of us all After a millennia of good times God said hey now, let's have a dream Where we raise the stakes a little Come on, let's make things interesting Parachute into the Anthropocene An amnesiac, a himbo Ken doll I guess time does makes fools of us all I killed a rattlesnake this morning It was coiled up behind the truck Put it in reverse and hit him clean But something he said went in and stuck "Hey I can sell you a million records I mean your image could use an over hall Don't you know time just makes fools of us all" The headlights heading southbound The loser's exodus That's where you'll find me in Las Vegas Doing my greatest hits Me and Dixie we had ourselves a ball I followed my dreams And my dreams said to crawl The groom is a liar And the bride is a shill The priest says, "If these two don't make it Who among us ever will?" Don't ask the love you dare for a prediction Wherein the lovers of tomorrow are involved I guess time just makes fools of us all Oh, I guess time just makes fools of us all Oh, I guess time just makes fools of us all Spoiler
Estelle, by Dan Bern: I was painting a still life this morning Of a throat lozenge sitting on a copy Of Tropic of Cancer The only thing weird about it Is that a year ago, I never thought I’d paint anything again I decided I wasn’t ever gonna paint again It didn’t bother me too much Warhol’s dead, David Hockney’s still alive I don’t need to paint I painted over ten thousand paintings Sad ones, funny ones, dark ones, and light ones I’ve done haystacks And rich old ladies by their pools Wearing nothing but a scarf I’ve painted everything there was to paint Now it was time to sit back Give interviews Hang out at club med Get on the internet Take stock of what I’ve done You know, the best friend I ever had was a dog It sounds like a cliche unless it’s happened to you Some days that dog was the only reason I even got out of bed That dog went everywhere with me And then I heard the crack addicts Were stealin’ dogs and selling them for animal research It sounded like an urban myth to me Like the mouse in the Coke bottle But I started leavin’ her at home after that You know, Paula was my wife for a while She ran off to Paris with the great grandson of Van Gogh A cartoonist who did fashion graphics for Le Monde When Paula left she took my dog I never saw her again Except in the court during the custody battle She won and got to keep the dog And I didn’t speak to anyone for months You know sometimes it feels Like there’s so much that you need Sometimes the world is upside down Sometimes it feels Like the only thing you need Is holdin’ someone’s hand as you walk through town I started hanging around with Dino He used to run a poker game back east Now he sells cappuccino to his old pals Tommy Chicago and Jimmy the Wig and Ugly Rose You know the best person I ever knew Was a Mormon woman named Estelle She still calls me drunk every few months And asks me stuff I don’t want to talk about You can’t talk to her very long unless you’re drunk yourself Then we go all night She says, “Why baby, why baby, why baby, why Have you turned your back on love? You had so many chances Why have you let ’em all go by?” Well, one morning I was sitting in front of Dino’s place with Jake the Shears, a guy from Philly Who gives free mohawks There were a couple of young painters I was hopin’ to come by So I could give ’em some advice Yeah, I was sittin’ there updating my list of enemies When this girl walks in And the universe kind of stops Turned out she drank the same tea as me It don’t take more than that to start a conversation sometimes She believed collage was the greatest of all the arts And was busy pasting pictures of horses Next to ads for laundry soap Next to Mohammed Ali She had a turquoise in her ear And said Rachmaninoff was always in her head Later that day I was trying to describe her to Jimmy the Wig I couldn’t find any words And I realized I’d started to sketch her chin Somehow it didn’t look right I scratched it out and tried it again I filled an entire pad I threw it away, I never even came close For six days I sat at Dino’s place The rain wouldn’t quit and no one came in Finally on the seventh day it cleared And in she walked I asked her to sit with me And ibought her a cup of tea And I asked her to model for me sometime That afternoon I was at a canvas She was wearing a yellow dress I swore if she let me, I’d get it right I’ve painted over ten thousand paintings Sad ones, funny ones, dark ones, and light ones But sitting there, it was like I couldn’t even Write my own name I apologized and said, “It’s been a few months If you have patience, I’ll get the hang of it again” In the next few weeks, I painted her hundreds of times If I get the nose right, the chin’s too long If I get ’em both right, the face is too thin But I keep after it and one day I get it all right I painted a still life this morning Of a throat lozenge sitting on a copy of Tropic of Cancer The only weird thing about it Is I never thought I’d paint anything again I think I might go visit Estelle Those Utah mountains are good for the soul I’ll bring my brushes And some Jack Daniels And we can make up for lost time She said, “Why baby, why baby, why baby why? Have you turned your back on love You had so many chances Why do you let ’em all go by? Why baby, why baby, why baby why? Have you turned your back on love You had so many chances Why do you let ’em all go by?” Sometimes it seems like there’s so much that you need Sometimes the world is upside down Sometimes it seems like the only thing you need Is holdin’ someone’s hand as you walk through town Spoiler Spoiler
Iron & Wine: The Trapeze Swinger Please remember me, happily By the rosebush laughing With bruises on my chin, the time when We counted every black car passing Your house beneath the hill and up until Someone caught us in the kitchen With maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank A vision too removed to mention But please remember me, fondly I heard from someone you're still pretty And then they went on to say that the Pearly Gates Had some eloquent graffiti Like 'We'll meet again' and '**** the man' And 'Tell my mother not to worry' And angels with their great handshakes But always done in such a hurry And please remember me, at Halloween Making fools of all the neighbors Our faces painted white, by midnight We'd forgotten one another And when the morning came I was ashamed Only now it seems so silly That season left the world and then returned And now you're lit up by the city So please remember me, mistakenly In the window of the tallest tower Call, then pass us by but much too high To see the empty road at happy hour Gleam and resonate just like the gates Around the Holy Kingdom With words like, 'Lost and found' and 'Don't look down' And 'Someone save temptation' And please remember me as in the dream We had as rug burned babies Among the fallen trees and fast asleep Beside the lions and the ladies That called you what you like and even might Give a gift for your behavior A fleeting chance to see a trapeze Swinger high as any savior But please remember me, my misery And how it lost me all I wanted Those dogs that love the rain and chasing trains The colored birds above there running In circles round the well and where it spells On the wall behind St. Peter So bright on cinder gray in spray paint 'Who the hell can see forever?' And please remember me, seldomly In the car behind the carnival My hand between your knees, you turn from me And said the trapeze act was wonderful But never meant to last, the clowns that passed Saw me just come up with anger When it filled with circus dogs, the parking lot Had an element of danger So please remember me, finally And all my uphill clawing My dear, but if I make the Pearly Gates I'll do my best to make a drawing Of God and Lucifer, a boy and girl An angel kissin' on a sinner A monkey and a man, a marching band All around the frightened trapeze swinger Nah nah nah Nah nah nah Nah nah nah Spoiler
