Today’s prompt from Long and Short reviews is “Favorite Song Lyrics“, which is ridiculous. If you know me, you know I’m always listening to music and singing, even in the library, which has gotten me in trouble before. (‘Whistle while you work’ does not apply to librarians.)
But first, WWW Wednesday!
WHAT have you finished reading recently? Uhhh, Badlands. Last week. Honestly, in the last week I’ve been doing more writing than anything else: no movies, no books, just scribbling. I wrote two short stories and have been staring at a third from last year in despondence because the Muses refuse to guide me towards its completion.
WHAT are you reading now? I’m halfway through a Connelly novel, halfway through another Box novel, annnnnd Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, full cast audio edition was released yesterday, so I am enjoying it in the car. All the kids have changed voice actors, so I’m still getting used to everyone.
WHAT are you reading next? Something, I hope. I’m a week and a half into February and I’ve read one book. Though, my library did just get a copy of Black Baseball in Alabama. Its author has been researching the topic for years and also covers Montgomery Biscuits minor league ball. (Do you realize how hard it is to cheer for Biscuits?) Oh! and the Classics Club spin resulted in #2, which for me is….Paradise Lost. Looks like I’ll be spending part of Lent with John Milton.
And now, song lyrics! As with yesterday’s post about love songs, I can’t do a ‘top’ ten list, I can only go with what comes to mind. Trying to highlight just the lyrics is difficult when I inevitably hear the sound behind it…
(1) Frank Turner, “I Still Believe”.
In Jerry Lee and in Johnny and all the greats.
And I still believe in the sound
That has the power to raise a temple and tear it down.
And I still believe in the need
For guitars and drums and desperate poetry.
I love those last two lines.
(2) The Orphans, “For an Old Kentucky Anarchist”.
As I brought her garden back to grow
I was rewarded with a warm meal
Tales never to be heard
Some call it poverty, but they’ll never know
She said, all I got’s my stories and this old gee-tar
My crops have all come and gone away
I got a head fulla recipes
Enticing to the taste
And a liking to wake up and greet the day
Got a bad back from raising my children
From hugging my husband so tight
Hell, I never cared much for any government
I got my Jesus when I feel the time is right
Singing, I’m the richest I’ll ever be
I embrace the world I have all around me
So sing a dying song and slap your knee
Have a taste of TRUE ANARCHY!
(3) Billy Joel, “The Piano Man”.
This entire song is a story. I only experienced it for the first time last year and listened to it obsessively.
I’m not really sure how it goes
But it’s sad and it’s sweet, and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man’s clothes”
(4) Billy Bragg, “The Saturday Boy”.
She danced with me and I still hold that memory
Soft and sweet
And I stare up at her window
As I walk down her street
But I never made the first team
I just made the first team laugh
And she never came to the phone
She was always in the bath
In the end, it took me a dictionary
To find out the meaning of unrequited
Bonus Bragg:
And I said “You mean figure.” And she said “No, figment”
Because she could never imagine it happening
But it did
(5) “Not Here for High and Holy Things”.
But for the common things of earth, the purple pageantry
Of dawning and of dying days, the splendor of the sea.
The royal robes of autumn moors, the golden gates of spring,
The velvet of soft summer nights, the silver glistering
Of all the million million stars, the silent song they sing.
This hymn has some of the most beautiful lyrics I know. I’ve yet to find a recording on YT that really does it justice, though.
(6) Morgan Wade. It’s hard to choose one song to spotlight Morgan’s writing.
Even I don’t like who I been lately
I’m well aware
That I might not ever find glory
But like Hemingway and Hadley, it’s not the end of our story
(7) “King Without a Crown”, Matisyahu
Got to give yourself up and then you become whole
You’re a slave to yourself and you don’t even know
You want to live the fast life but your brain moves slow
If you’re trying to stay high then you’re bound to stay low
You want God but you can’t deflate your ego
Who had “Orthodox reggae artist” on their bingo card? Anyone? ….Bueller? I stumbled on this guy years ago when I think I was still fairly secular but the lyrics and sound design spoke to me.
(8) “Tonight We Ride”, Tom Russell
Break my ass out of this prison, leave my teeth there in a jar
You don’t need no teeth for kissing gals or smoking cheap cigars
I’ll sleep with one eye open, ‘neath God’s celestial stars
Tonight we rock, tonight we roll
We’ll rob the Juarez liquor store for the Repasada gold
And if we drink ourselves to death, ain’t that the cowboy way to go?
(9) “Who I’d Be”, Shrek the Musical
One that tells of glory and wipes away the lies
And to the skies I’d throw it, the stars would do the telling
The moon would help with spelling and night would dot the I’s
Shrek the Music is phenom.
10) “Be Prepared!” The Lion King
Be prepared for the murkiest scam
Meticulous planning
Tenacity spanning
Decades of denial
Is simply why I’ll
Be king undisputed
Respected, saluted
And seen for the wonder I am
Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared
Be prepared!
(11) “I Dreamed a Dream”. Including this one just in case. It’s hard to know where my love of this song lies — its lyrics, or Ruthie Henshall’s performance.
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So much different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.
Reading Freely 
Some excellent choices, Stephen. I’m also constantly listening to music and found this one a challenge to choose a few.
Hence why I mostly stuck with the ones that came to mind first. I’d be overwhelmed otherwise.
My first exposure to Piano Man was when Brandy did a cover of it. It’s a great song!
I’ll have to look for that!
WOW! so much here – an avalanche of words (kind of an Olympics’ reference)
I must comment on Piano Man by Billy Joel:
I was a 13 year old piano playing extra awkward girl when I first heard Piano Man. And like you I was instantly obsessed. My life felt validated in a way I did not even know I needed.
Thank you for posting this. 💚
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed. 🙂
Congrats and good luck on your writing!
wow, the lyrics on that reggae song!!
Enjoy Paradise Lost – and then at Easter you will read the sequel!
Last #book I finished: Moi Fadi le frère volé, by #RiadSattouf
#Amreading: The Chinese Maze Murders, by #RobertVanGulik
#Amlistening to: That Hideous Strength, by #CSLewis
#TBR Reading next: Satantango, by #LászlóKrasznahorkai
Hope Hideous Strength is good! The first time I read it, I thought it was weird, but the more the years go by the more NICE seems like a real thing….