Bull In The Heather is a pretty cool song on many different levels. I love the distortion of the guitars on the aural side, the use of maracas to provide additional percussion, and plus Kim Gordon’s voice is really fun to listen to, as she oozes sensuality.
I’m not going to bother trying to figure out exactly what the song is about; it’s obviously about a relationship, but past that the parameters get murky. Besides, the folk at SongMeanings are more than willing to provide all sorts of unique and interesting theories.
And of course, the lyrics:
10, 20, 30, 40
tell me that you wanna hold me
tell me that you wanna bore me
tell me that you gotta show me
tell me that you need to slowly
tell me that yr burning for me
tell me that you can’t afford me
time to tell yr dirty story
time f’r turning over and over
time f’r turning four leaf clover
betting on the bull in the heather
10, 20, 30, 40
tell me that you wanna scold me
tell me that you a-dore me
tell me that you’re famous for me
tell me that yr gonna score me
tell me that you gotta show me
tell me that you need to sorely
time to tell yr love story
time f’r turning over and over
time f’r turning four leaf clover
betting on the bull in the heather
Given their influence and catalog of great songs, I am amazed that Roxy Music isn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. This is just another great song of theirs–great saxaphone, great vocals, great song.
Both Ends Burning is a simple song about a man who has been dumped but still has strong feelings.
And of course, the lyrics:
Please don’t ever let me down
For you know I’m not so sure
Do I have the speed to carry on?
Burn you out of my mind, I know
You’re a flame that never fades
Jungle red´s a deadly shade
Both ends burning, will the fires keep
Somewhere deep in my soul tonight?
Both ends burning
Burning
Burn
Both ends burning
Burning
Burn
Now my course is plain as day
Running bold across to play
Both ends burning with a strange desire
That feeds the fire in my soul tonight
I will dance the night away
Living only for today
Both ends burning while you’re counting sheep
Hell, who can sleep in this heat this night?
Both ends burning
Burning
Burn
Both ends burning
Burning
Burn
Tell me will I ever learn?
It’s too late, the rush is on
Both ends burning and I can’t control
The fires raging in my soul tonight
Oh will it never end?
Put your foot around the bend
Drive me crazy to an early grave
Tell me what is there to save tonight?
Both ends burning
Burning
Burn
Keep on burning ’til the end
Until the end
Both ends burning ’til the end
Until the end
Keep on burning ’til the end, ’til the end
Both ends burning ’til the end
The very end
Kalamazoo is a fairly unique song int he Primus lexicon in that it’s not as bass-centric as most other songs–and it’s a rap song. Personally I love the drums in the opening and it does have a nice, funky beat.
Over at SongMeanings there’s some speculation about the meaning of the song, including that it may be more about a state of mind rather than the city in Michigan. Additionally, the song is potentially based on an old Glenn Miller tune:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H
I got a gal in Kalamazoo
Dont want to boast but I know
Shes the toast of Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)
Years have gone by
My my how she grew
I liked her looks when I
Carried her books in Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)
I’m gonna send away, hoppin
On a plane, leavin today
Am I dreamin?
I can hear her screamin
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, Kalamazoo)
K (K)
A (A)
L-A-M-A-Z-O
(Oh, oh, oh, oh what a gal, a real pipperoo)
(Were goin to Michigan to see the sweetest in Kalamazoo)
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)
(Kalamazoo!!)
Here’s a link to a fan video using footage from the anime FLCL
And of course, the lyrics:
A B C D E F G H I gotta’ gal wears her toenails long
Drives a red Barracuda, singin’ meat packer songs
And she ain’t from Kalamazoo
A B C D E F G H I gotta’ friend lived in a Mercedes-Benz
Then a 55 Chrysler where the trunk never ends
And the plates say Kalamazoo
He had a steady job and watched what he spent
He’d say I don’t believe in payin’ no goddamn rent
I’ll squirrel away every goddamn cent
And buy my own damn house in Kalamazoo
I knew a guy that mangled his hand
And he went from pipe fittin’ to a hot dog stand
They say last year he cleared fifty grand
Selling dogs round Kalamazoo
She turned to the world with a bastard child
Said, “I just can’t handle him he’s too damn wild”
But the years and the liquor have made him mild
And he lays around Kalamazoo
She Said, She Said is an odd little number from the Beatles more experimental period. It’s a pretty interesting song musically, with sitar-like stylings from George Harrison and a fairly interesting drum track from Ringo Starr. It’s pretty much the thing you would expect from the mid-60’s during the height of drug experimentation, but it sounds quite good.
Some background on the song (taken from Worship the Glitch):
“That’s mine. It’s an interesting track. The guitars are great on it. That was written after an acid trip in L.A. during a break in the Beatles tour where we were having fun with the Byrds and lots of girls. Peter Fonda came in when we were on acid and he kept coming up to me and sitting next to me and whispering, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead.’ He was describing an acid trip he’d been on. We didn’t ‘want’ to hear about that. We were on an acid trip and the sun was shining and the girls were dancing, and the whole thing was beautiful and Sixties, and this guy– who I really didn’t know– he hadn’t made ‘Easy Rider’ or anything… kept coming over, wearing shades, saying, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead,’ and we kept leaving him because he was so boring! And I used it for the song, but I changed it to ’she’ instead of ‘he.’ It was scary… I don’t want to know what it’s like to be dead!”
- John Lennon, 1980
Some more information from the usual sources:
And of course, the lyrics:
She said “I know what it’s like to be dead.
I know what it is to be sad”
And she’s making me feel like I’ve never been born.
I said “Who put all those things in your head?
Things that make me feel that I’m mad
And you’re making me feel like I’ve never been born.”
She said “you don’t understand what I said”
I said “No, no, no, you’re wrong”
When I was a boy everything was right
Everything was right
I said “Even though you know what you know
I know that I’m ready to leave
‘Cause you’re making me feel like I’ve never been born.”
She said “you don’t understand what I said”
I said “No, no, no, you’re wrong”
When I was a boy everything was right
Everything was right
I said “Even though you know what you know
I know that I’m ready to leave
‘Cause you’re making me feel like I’ve never been born.”
She said , she said “I know what it’s like to be dead”
(”I know what it’s like to be dead”)
I know what it is to be sad…
I just love this song. Love and adore it.
I really don’t know why Roxy Music aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. They were very influential (ask Duran Duran), had a goodly number of top 40 hits, and were just plain cool.
This song starts out at a frenetic pace that any rock band would be hard-pressed to imitate or appropriate, then suddenly winds into one of the coolest love ballads you’ll ever hear. Additionally, Bryan Ferry’s tortured ‘Oh Mother of Pearl, I wouldn’t trade you for another girl’ at the ending just sends shivers down my spine. Great, great song.
And of course, the lyrics:
Turn the lights down
Way down low
Turn up the music
Hi as fi can go
All the gang´s here
Everyone you know
It´s a crazy scene
Hey there just look over your shoulder
Get the picture?
No no no no …….(yes)
Walk a tightrope
Your life-sign-line
Such a bright hope
Right place, right time
What´s your number?
Never you mind
Take a powder
But hang on a minute what´s coming round the corner?
Have you a future?
No no no no …….(yes)
Well i´ve been up all night again
Party-time wasting is too much fun
Then I step back thinking
Of life´s inner meaning
And my latest fling
It´s the same old story
All love and glory
It´s a pantomime
If youre looking for love
In a looking glass world
Its pretty hard to find
Oh mother of pearl
I wouldnt trade you
For another girl
Divine intervention
Always my intention
So I take my time
I´ve been looking for something
Ive always wanted
But was never mine
But now Ive seen that something
Just out of reach - glowing -
Very holy grail
Oh mother of pearl
Lustrous lady
Of a sacred world
Thus: even zarathustra
Another-time-loser
Could believe in you
With every goddess a let down
Every idol a bring down
It gets you down
But the search for perfection
Your own predilection
Goes on and on and on and on
Canadian club love
A place in the country
Everyones ideal
But you are my favorita
And a place in your heart dear
Makes me feel more real
Oh mother of pearl
I wouldnt change you
For the whole world
Youre highbrow, holy
With lots of soul
Melancholy shimmering
Serpentine sleekness
Was always my weakness
Like a simple tune
But no dilettante
Filigree fancy
Beats the plastic you
Career girl cover
Exposed and another
Slips right into-view
Oh looking for love
In a looking glass world
Is pretty hard for you
Few throwaway kisses
The boomerang misses
Spin round and round
Fall on featherbed quilted
Faced with silk
Softly stuffed eider down
Take refuge in pleasure
Just give me your future
Well forget your past
Oh mother of pearl
Submarine lover
In a shrinking world
Oh lonely dreamer
Your choker provokes
A picture cameo
Oh mother of pearl
So so semi-precious
In your detached world
Oh mother of pearl
I wouldn´t trade you
For another girl
He’s best known for Cars, but my first encounter with Gary Numan is the lovely and sad Are Friends Electric?. It’s a song that anyone who’s ever felt lonely can empathize with. The part that really gets me is this:
You know I hate to ask
But, are `friends’ electric?
Mine’s broke down
And now I’ve no one to love
I think everyone has been there at some point in time.
There’s loads more information at Wikipedia.
I found a nice fan video on Youtube
And of course, the lyrics:
It’s cold outside
And the paint’s peeling off of my walls
There’s a man outside
In a long coat, grey hat, smoking a cigarette
Now the light fades out
And I’m wondering what I’m doing in a room like this
There’s a knock on the door
And just for a second I thought I remembered you
So now I’m alone
Now I can think for myself
About little deals
And S.U.’s
And things that I just don’t understand
Like a white lie that night
Or a slight touch at times
I don’t think it meant anything to you
So I open the door
It’s the `friend’ that I’d left in the hallway
“Please sit down”
A candle lit a shadow on a wall near the bed
You know I hate to ask
But, are `friends’ electric?
Mine’s broke down
And now I’ve no one to love
So I find out your reason
For the phone calls and smiles
And it hurts
And I’m lonely
And I should never have tried
And I missed you tonight
So it’s time to leave
You see this means everything to meGary Numan
This song, from Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love is very uplifting and fun, and I can’t help but dance when I listen.
Apparently, the second side of the album is entitled The Ninth Wave (something I just found out today), and is the story of someone most likely facing death and dealing with the psychological issues at hand. Additionally, there appears to be someone trying to keep the young woman from accepting her death. You can see some additional info at SongMeanings.net
And of course, the lyrics:
Hello, old lady.
I know your face well.
I know it well.
She says,
“Ooh-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na!
I’ll be sitting in your mirror.
Now is the place where the crossroads meet.
Will you look into the future?
“Never, never say goodbye
To my part of your life.
No, no, no, no, no!
Oh, oh, oh,
“Let me live!”
She said.
“C’mon and let me live, girl!”
She said,
“C’mon and let me live, girl!”
(”C’mon and let me live!”)
“This moment in time,”
(She said.)
It doesn’t belong to you,”
(She said,)
It belongs to me,
“And to your little boy and to your little girl,
And the one hand clapping:
Where on your palm is my little line,
When you’re written in mine
As an old memory?
Ooh, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-
“Never, never say goodbye
To my part of your life.
Oh no, no, no, no, no!
Never, never, never!
Never, never let me go!”
She said,
“C’mon and let me live, girl!’
(”C’mon and let me live!”)
She said,
“C’mon and let me live, girl!”
(”C’mon and let me live!”)
I put this
moment……………………………………….here.
I put this moment…………………….here.
I put this moment–
“Over here!
“Over here!
Can’t you see where memories are kept bright?
Tripping on the water like a laughing girl.
Time in her eyes is spawning past life,
One with the ocean and the woman unfurled,
Holding all the love that waits for you here.
Catch us now for I am your future.
A kiss on the wind and we’ll make the land.
Come over here to where When lingers,
Waiting in this empty world,
Waiting for Then, when the lifespray cools.
For Now does ride in on the curl of the wave,
And you will dance with me in the sunlit pools.
We are of the going water and the gone.
We are of water in the holy land of water
And all that’s to come runs in
With the thrust on the strand.”
Adrian Belew is probably best known for his unique guitar style, shrieking and wailing away like a herd of elephants. He’s notably played with Talking Heads, Nine Inch Nails, and spent some time as lead singer for King Crimson. This particular tune is just a good old fashioned balls to the wall rocker, reminiscent of earlier Bowie songs like Jean Genie, Suffragette City or Panic In Detroit. Anyway, it’s just a great song; sit back and enjoy it.
And of course, the lyrics:
Yeah, she’s just been to Russia and they’re dyeing their faces
They’re dying over there
A pretty pink rose
[That rock ‘n’ roll lady takes a space-ship ride
She’s out of this world
A pretty pink rose]
And we’re living for you, my love
We’re living for you
And we’re dying for you, my love
Pretty pink rose
She tore down Paris on the tail of Thom Paine
But the left wing’s broken, the right’s insane
A pretty pink rose
[Ah, have a nice day, it’s a killer, turn a cheek
It’s a Christian code
A pretty pink rose]
And we’re living for you, my love
Yes we’re living for you
And we’re dying for you, my love
Pretty pink rose
Ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh
She’s the poor man’s gold, she’s the anarchist crucible
Flying in the face of the despot cannibal
Pretty pink rose
Never let it rain, never rain
On the heart of the pretty pink rose
Pretty pink rose
And we’re living for you, my love
We’re living for you
And we’re dying for you, my love
Pretty pink rose
Ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh
Get me through the pain, through the pain
Of the thorn of the pretty pink rose
Never let it rain, never rain, never rain
On the pretty pink rose
[Take me to the heart, to the heart, to the heart
Of the pretty pink rose]
Never let it rain, never rain, never rain
[Take me to the heart, to the heart, to the heart]
Never never let it rain, never rain
[Take me to the heart, to the heart, to the heart
Of the pretty pink rose]
Never let it rain on the heart of the
[Take me to the heart, to the heart, to the heart]
Never let, never let it rain, never rain on the heart
[Take me to the heart, to the heart, to the heart
Of the pretty pink rose]
[Take me to the heart, to the heart, to the heart]
Never let it rain, never let it rain, never rain
[Take me to the heart, to the heart, to the heart]
David Bowie’s African Night Flight is the song I want to feature today. I first heard this song back in 1979 in my freshman year of high school and instantly fell in love with it. This particular track goes beyond quirky to downright weird, but I absolutely love it. In fact, I would love to get together a choir and do an a capella version just for fun.
Oh, I do consider The Lodger to be his best album. Period. Feel free to disagree.
I couldn’t find a David Bowie video or live performance, but there is this fan video on YouTube so at least you can hear it if you choose to.
And of course, the lyrics:
African nightmare one-time Mormon
More men fall in Hullabaloo men
I slide to the nearest bar
Undermine chairman I went too far
Bent on a windfall rent a sony
Wonder how the dollar went down
Gotta get a word to Elizabeth’s father
Hey no, he wished me well
Seemed like another day
I could fly into the eye of God on high
His burning eye will see me through
(One of these days, one of these days got get work through one of these days)
His burning eye will see me through
(One of these days, one of these days, got get work through one of these days)
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Getting in mood for a Mombassa night flight
Pushing my luck, gonna fly like a mad thing
Bare strip takeoff skimming over Rhino
Born in slumber less than peace
Struggle with a child whose screaming dreaming
Drowned by the props all steely sunshine
Sick of you, sick of me
Lust for the free life
Quashed and maimed
Like a valuable loved one
Left unnamed
Seemed like another day
I could fly into the eye of God on high
Seemed like another day
I could fly into the eye of God on high
Over the bushland over the trees
Wise like Orangutan that was me
His burning eye will see me through
(One of these days, one of these days got get work through one of these days)
His burning eye will see me through
(One of these days, one of these days, got get work through one of these days)
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti nabana nabana
Asanti habari habari
Asanti