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No, I am not going to talk about Fiona Apple’s cover. That deserves it’s own post.

The original is quite strong in it’s own right. The song starts out slowly and quietly, builds up through anger and sadness, ending with quiet regret. it’s one of Elvis’s best vocal performances as he conveys the feelings of a man who’s lost his love to someone else quite well.

The Attractions, as always, are on top of their game as well. The song isn’t as complex musically as some of the other songs they’re famous for, but they show excellent restraint in building an atmosphere of changes in movement during the song.

Here’s a link to a mashup

And of course, the lyrics:

Oh my baby baby I love you more than I can tell
I don’t think I can live without you
And I know that I never will
Oh my baby baby I want you so it scares me to death
I can’t say anymore than “I love you”
Everything else is a waste of breath
I want you
You’ve had your fun you don’t get well no more
I want you
Your fingernails go dragging down the wall
Be careful darling you might fall
I want you
I woke up and one of us was crying
I want you
You said “Young man I do believe you’re dying”
I want you
If you need a second opinion as you seem to do these days
I want you
You can look in my eyes and you can count the ways
I want you
Did you mean to tell me but seem to forget
I want you
Since when were you so generous and inarticulate
I want you
It’s the stupid details that my heart is breaking for
It’s the way your shoulders shake and what they’re shaking for
it’s knowing that he knows you now after only guessing
I want you
It’s the thought of him undressing you or you undressing
I want you
He tossed some tattered compliment your way
I want you
And you were fool enough to love it when he said
“I want you”
I want you
The truth can’t hurt you it’s just like the dark
It scares you witless
But in time you see things clear and stark
I want you
Go on and hurt me then we’ll let it drop
I want you
I’m afraid I won’t know where to stop
I want you
I’m not ashamed to say I cried for you
I want you
I want to know the things you did that we do too
I want you
I want to hear he pleases you more than I do
I want you
I might as well be useless for all it means to you
I want you
Did you call his name out as he held you down
I want you
Oh no my darling not with that clown
I want you
You’ve had your fun you don’t get well no more
I want you
No-one who wants you could want you more
I want you
Every night when I go off to bed and when I wake up
I want you
I want you
I’m going to say it again ’til I instill it
I know I’m going to feel this way until you kill it
I want you
I want you

This is such a peppy song, I love it. Of course, the subject matter isn’t quite so peppy, but it’s not exactly evil either. A much better than average song about a fickle woman walking all over the hearts of the men she bewitches, it’s still a fun song with some great lyrics (EC=great lyrics? Who knew?).

It is most assuredly a fun song. The jaunty bass line plays against the eager strummed guitar, and Costello’s vocals harry and hector the song along through several key changes, and it’s just a fun song to listen to.

You can listen to the song below:

And of course, the lyrics:

(chorus)
It’s going round the town
It’s going round the town
It’s going round the town
You’re so lovable

(chorus)

That’s right. I said it. Rap. Subterranean Homesick Blues is a rap song. Deal with it.

Oh, and Subterranean Homesick Blues is a great rap song. A great song period. There’s shedloads of info about it on Wikipedia. It’s a good read.

Personally, I love the song for it’s feel and shape, and for the very interesting lyrics. In fact, if I were the sort of pretentious internet blogging types who like to analyze lyrics endlessly and toss out pompous words like “zeitgest”, I would do just that.

Ah, what the hey? Just take these with a grain of salt, as I’m really doing them off the top of my head.

The first four lines of the first verse apparently refer to LSD, at least according to the Wikipedia article.

I believe the next four lines refer to what was once known as the “blue flu”, a phrase I haven’t heard in a long time. Because police were not allowed to strike by law, instead all of the officers would call in sick at the same time, there way of protesting for higher wages.

I believe that the “ducking down the alley” line is a reference to soliciting a male prostitute.

Sadly, no good idea about the man in the coonskin cap.

I believe the first eight lines from verse number two refer to the widespread belief (and possible truth) about the FBI wiretapping pretty much anyone they felt like for whatever reason.

The rest of the verse refers to a handful of different things. The fire hose line is easily a reference to the civil rights movement and the use of fire hoses to dispel peaceful demonstrations. The references to keeping a clean nose and watching the plainclothes likely have more to do with police entrapment than cocaine, and I imagine the ‘No Doz” reference is about amphetamines. Finally, I didn’t realize that the Weathermen took their cue from Dylan and not vice versa, but there you go.

Other than the parking meters possibly being a reference to Cool Hand Luke, I don’t have a good idea as to what most of the third verse is about.

The first part of the fourth verse is sort of a story of life sort of thing, with bitter discontent about some of the realities of being a scholar. The rest deals with the idea that going underground is the best way of life–although that’s said somewhat tongue-in-cheek as well.

Okay, enough of me blathering. Please feel free to add your own opinions. Here’s a link to the famous D.A. Pennebaker film clip

And of course, the lyrics:

Johnny’s in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I’m on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he’s got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It’s somethin’ you did
God knows when
But you’re doin’ it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin’ for a new friend
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don’t steal, don’t lift
Twenty years of schoolin’
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don’t wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don’t wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don’t work
‘Cause the vandals took the handles

I have to admit, this is the only post-Smiths Morrissey song that I like–although, admittedly, I haven’t heard the entirety of his output. Still, let’s focus on the positives.

Suedehead is a really good, highly underrated tune. The song itself is about a broken relationship, with the nature of that relationship being left to question. Was it a passing fancy, a strong friendship? A long term relationship? One of the things I like about this song is that it leaves pretty much all of this in question, allowing the listener to make up his or her own mind.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

Why do you come here?
And why do you hang around?
I’m so sorry
I’m so sorry

Oh, it was a good lay, good lay
It was a good lay, good lay
It was a good lay, good lay
Oh
It was a good lay, good lay
It was a good lay, good lay
Oh, it was a good lay, good lay
Oh
Oh, it was a good lay
It was a good lay
Oh, a good lay
Oh, it was a good lay
Good lay, good lay
Oh
It was a good lay

Me, Myself and I is a great song about the joys of solitude–something I can personally attest to enjoying fairly regularly.

I know I like this song because I think it really sounds good, and because it’s so very simple. It also touches a certain nerve within me, and I’m sure within many other people as well. The crush of everyday life does get overwhelming and annoying over time, and it’s important to get away sometimes.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

I sit here by myself
And you know I love it
You know I don’t want someone
To come pay a visit

I wanna be by myself
I came in this world alone
Me myself I
Me myself I
Me myself and I
Just me myself I

Waitress is a funny song,but also a bit of a warning about letting your work define you. The song is about a woman who’s become obsessed with her job, so much so that she can no longer enjoy parties, has nightmares about her job, and possibly offers extra favors to regulars who are “nice” to her. Of course, I could be completely off base here as well, as it could just be a cute little song.

The song has a nice quirky, slightly jazzy feel, and it flows nicely within itself. It’s a fun listen, and you can check it out below:

And of course, the lyrics:

I have to clear your table
I wipe it
It’s right to keep it clean
So I clean
Yes — I clean
Do you clean?
Yes — I clean it

… And I’d probably
Be famous now
If I wasn’t
Such a good waitress…

This is just your basic, fun little toe-tapping, booty-wagging swing daddy rockers. It’s very straightforward, but it also has some really cool lyrics courtesy of Difford and Tilbrook. It’s a sad tale of a poor girl who’s had bad luck with a man once again, and everything just keeps going wrong. Still, you can’t help smiling while the song plays.

There’s a really nice honky tonk piano solo as well, followed by a neat guitar solo. Just a good old fun song, and I love it.

Here’s a link to a live performance

And of course, the lyrics:

She wants to give up love for good
She kicks the fence and splits the wood,
She cries her eyes out in the rain
She swears aloud and so again,
She feels messed around.
She takes her coat off as it pours
The passing daytime she ignores,
Sits with a problem on a bench
And with her heel she digs a trench,
She feels messed around.
She rips her skirt and tears her dress
Climbing over his garden fence,
Mud on her mourning as tears still fall
She’s in no mood for his love at all,

She left herself open for him all the time
But always kept off of his cloud,
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Have come to mess her around

I fell in love with this song from the first time I heard it. It’s a cool jam with a cool message and I think it’s just cool. Cool?

Okay, it’s got more going for it than that. I think it has a really good rhythm, and the violin really adds some extra flavor.

From Wikipedia

In 1997 Coppola had a big hit with “Legend of a Cowgirl,” a pop hit that mixed a sample lifted from Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” with “with a sassy rap and a catchy hook.”[6] Coppola said at the time she recorded “Legend of a Cowgirl” that it was a fantasy about doing whatever she wanted and that now she was stuck with it.[9] “In ‘Legend of a Cowgirl,’ I talk about riding a horse. It’s a metaphor for doing whatever I want, about having sex with whoever I want and not feeling guilty, and riding on to the next town and starting all over again,” said Coppola.[9] “The song began as an idea for a movie: a fantasy about women who love ‘em and leave ‘em and ride off into the sunset. It was just a fantasy I was having for about a week,” she says with a sly grin, ‘and now I’m stuck with it.’”[9]

Part of Coppola’s marketing included a music video for “Legend of a Cowgirl,” that received heavy rotation on MTV.[7] The video showed Coppola in dream sequences as a a biker chick, a catsuit-wearing alien-type and a diva in heels and a huge afro.[7] In one scene Coppola dismounts her bike, marches up to a hitchhiking cowboy and plants a major kiss on him.[7] “It wasn’t that good of a kiss,” says Coppola.[7] “It was just like a big joke.”[7] In another scene Coppola, clad in a skintight, shiny black catsuit, is surrounded by nearly-naked dancing men in silver bodypaint and Speedos[7]. “It was very uncomfortable ’cause we had no room and their penises and their buns are just flopping around,” says Coppola.[7] “It was like, ‘Whoops, sorry. Didn’t mean to touch you!’ But they were all gay, so it didn’t really matter. They were cute though. It was a shame.

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

I’m gonna drink my whiskey
I’m gonna have my man
I know you got nothing to say
I’m gonna have my man
Gonna steal their hearts
and save them for another day
Ain’t gonna hang my hat
Ain’t gonna take off my boots
Ain’t nothing gonna stop me in my pursuit
My stage, time to rehearse
Gonna see all the wonders of the universe

CH: Pack my bags and mount my horse
I’m gonna ride on into the next town
Spend all my money on absolutely nothing
Need no man to pay for anything
Ain’t got no shame, nobody knows my name
I’m gonna ride on into the next town
Pecos Bill, couldn’t hang for long
A female legend with a song…….

Rich is another of those wonderfully interesting songs from Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. Seemingly a biography of a man wallowing in his own sins, it’s a cool song with some nice horn work,

You can listen to the song below:

And of course, the lyrics:

She left you 1958
When the thought of another fifteen years
Was more than she could face
But did you miss her much well hey
You never gave her too much thought
In your newspaper grey
So waste away to morro bay
You never got around to yesterday
But money is for taking yes
And rich is what to be forsaken grey
And giving it away
And even jesus has a price
You’re making credit card donations to television faith healers
Born again missionaries come to morro bay
They saved your body but your mind hey
And everything you earned
You’re going to throw it all away
And waste away tomorrow
C.a. is where everybody falls down off the wagon under the wheels
Remember 1970
When the thought of a day without a drink
Was more than you could face
But did you miss her much well hey
You never gave her too much thought
In your newspaper grey
So waste away to morro bay
Saved your body but your mind paid
But money is for taking yes
And rich is what to be forsaken
Grey and giving it away
You’re going to hurt somebody if you can
You’re going to make somebody understand
Baby you’re a rich man
Baby you’re a rich man

—————-
Now playing: X - True Love Pt. #2
via FoxyTunes

The first time I heard this song, it was being used as pre-show music for a college production of Vinegar Tom. I loved the way the song sounds and changes time signatures from the verse to the chorus. Also, it’s Kate Bush dude!

A couple of quotes about the song from SongMeanings:

“…a song about epistemology… This song is about how hard it is to obtain knowledge, and how when you get it, it often isn’t as satisfying as you thought it would be … ‘I hold a cup of wisdom, but there is nothing within’ … You achieve some intellectual goal, and you see that it’s just a foothill for a bigger mountain of knowledge behind … ‘I’ve been doing it for years. My goal is moving near. It says, “Look! I’m over here.”, Then it up and disappears’ … (perrific.com).

I must admit, just when I think I’m king (I just begin… to write THE DREAMING…

SAT IN YOUR LAP concerns alienation and the ‘blessing or curse’ to (want to) see deeper. The opening lines express exclusion from the ordered, functioning bourgeois world. Projecting ability onto others but not being able to fit into the “triviality of everydayness”. It ‘hurts’ because it is not real enough. Colin Wilson describes two types of Outsider: the one who feels excluded from knowledge; and the one who Knows (the godlike ‘…I’m King’). The song pendulates between these high and low mental states. (Go see ‘The Outsider’, Colin Wilson, 1956.)

‘When I’m king’ everything fits into place and you see knowledge is Sat In Your Lap. But ‘when I’m dunce’ (see video for SIYL), there is nothing there/within.

SIYL also highlights the dangers of (deluded) knowledge and the knowledge-quest… Adolf Hitler: ‘By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell - and hell, heaven … The greater the lie, the more readily will it be believed’ (Mein Kampf) …
Choose wisely your teachers!

The song regards philosophical enquiry - The Longest Journey - as a religious experience… effort, balance, frustration, realisation…
It reminds me of ANNE SEXTON’S “GODS” …

And maybe the search ends with:
“Ha, ha, ha
Ho, ho, ho
And a couple of tra - la - las
That’s how we laugh the day away
In the Merry Old Land of Oz!”

Here’s a link to the video

And of course, the lyrics:

I see the people working and see it working for them,
And so I want to join in, but then I find it hurts me.
Some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap
Some say that knowledge is something that you never have
I see the people happy, so can it happen for me?
‘Coz when I am unhappy, there is nothing that can move me.
Some say that knowledge is something that you never have
Some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap
Some say that heaven is hell, some say that hell is heaven.
I must admit, just when I think I’m king (I just begin)
Just when I think I’m king, I must admit (I just begin)
Just when I think I’m king
(I just begin.)
I h’ve been doing it for years, my goal is moving near,
I says “Look I am over here,” then it up and disappears.
Some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap
Some say that knowledge is ho ho ho ho.
I want to be a Lawyer, I want to be a scholar,
But I really can’t be bothered, ooh just
Gimme it quick, gimme it, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme.
Some say that knowledge is ho ho ho ho
Some say that knowledge is ho ho ho ho
Some say that heaven is hell, some say that hell is heaven,
I must admit, just when I think I’m king (I just begin)
Just when I think I’m king, I must admit (I just begin)
Just when I think everything’s going great (I just begin)
Hey I get the break
Hey I’m gonna take it all, (I just begin,)
When I’m king, (just begin.)
In my dome of ivory, a home of activity,
I want the answers quickly, but I don’t have no energy,
I hold a cup of wisdom, but there is nothing within,
My cup she never overfloweth and ’tis I that moan and groaneth,
Some grey and white matter, (Give me the Karma Mama
a jet to Mecca, Tibet or Jeddah,
To Salisbury, A monastery,
The longest journey, across the desert,
Across the weather, acaross the elements.
Across the water)