Someone (Mr. B) changed my usual Pandora station to one with a strange, eclectic mix of music (I like it!)
The T-Rex song "Bang a Gong" came on and I was hit by the strange description "you've got a hub cap diamond star halo" so I started thinking about other unusual descriptions in lyrics.
Things like:
And there she was, like disco lemonade (Sex and Candy -- Marcy Playground)
And the thing that you're hearing is only the sound of the low spark of high heeled boys" (LSOHHB -- Traffic)
You know -- lyrics that you understand without having any idea what they mean.
he went and took up with a Salvation Army Band girl
who played dirty water on a swordfishtrombone
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombone
0 Replies
wandeljw
2
Reply
Tue 18 Dec, 2012 02:24 pm
@boomerang,
Do you wanna be the player
Do you wanna be the string
Let me tell you something
It just don't mean a thing
You see it really doesn't matter
When you're buried in disguise
By the dark glass on your eyes
Though your flesh has crystallised
Still...you turn me on
being a guided by voices fan, this thread is my musical experience
cold hands touching my face
don't hide - the snake can see you
old friends you might not remember
fading away from you
the goldheart mountaintop queen directory
the goldheart mountaintop queen directory
and we looked
and we passed
through the hallways of shatterproof glass
she runs through the night as if nobody cares
she screams and she cries and ignores all the stares
she wants me to come, but i'm never going there
the goldheart mountaintop queen directory
the goldheart mountaintop queen directory
0 Replies
Ragman
2
Reply
Tue 18 Dec, 2012 02:56 pm
@boomerang,
Found some more interesting lyrics for that song:
Well you're dirty and sweet, clad in black
Don't look back and I love you
You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah
Well you're slim and you're weak
You've got the teeth of a hydra upon you
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.
[Chorus]
Get it on, bang the gong, get it on
Get it on, bang the gong, get it on
You're built like a car,
You've got a hub cap diamond star halo
You're built like a car, oh yeah
You're an untamed youth that's the truth
With your cloak full of eagles
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.
[Chorus]
You're windy and wild,
You've got the blues in your shoes and your
Stockings
You're windy and wild, oh yeah
You're built like a car,
You've got a hub cap diamond star halo
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.
Not to touch the earth
Not to see the sun
Nothing left to do, but
Run, run, run
Let's run
Let's run
House upon the hill
Moon is lying still
Shadows of the trees
Witnessing the wild breeze
C'mon baby run with me
Let's run
Run with me
Run with me
Run with me
Let's run
The mansion is warm, at the top of the hill
Rich are the rooms and the comforts there
Red are the arms of luxuriant chairs
And you won't know a thing till you get inside
Dead president's corpse in the driver's car
The engine runs on glue and tar
Come on along, not goin' very far
To the East to meet the Czar
Run with me
Run with me
Run with me
Let's run
Whoa!
Some outlaws lived by the side of a lake
The minister's daughter's in love with the snake
Who lives in a well by the side of the road
Wake up, girl, we're almost home
Ya, c'mon!
We should see the gates by mornin'
We should be inside the evenin'
Sun, sun, sun
Burn, burn, burn
Soon, soon, soon
Moon, moon, moon
I will get you
Soon!
Soon!
Soon!
I am the Lizard King
I can do anything
0 Replies
Sturgis
2
Reply
Tue 18 Dec, 2012 04:48 pm
@boomerang,
Blinded By The Light which includes this:
Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder feelin' kinda older I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasing sneezing and wheezing the calliope crashed to the ground
The calliope crashed to the ground
soon after there's this oddness: Some silicone sister with her manager mister told me I got what it takes
She said I'll turn you on sonny to something strong play that song with the funky break
And go-cart Mozart was checkin' out the weather chart to see if it was safe outside
And little Early-Burly came by in his curly-wurly and asked me if I needed a ride.
and of course continues with: Some brimstone baritone anticyclone rolling stone preacher from the east
Says: "Dethrone the dictaphone, hit it in its funny bone, that's where they expect it least"
And some new-mown chaperone was standin' in the corner, watchin' the young girls dance. And some fresh-sown moonstone was messin' with his frozen zone reminding him of romance.
I am the god of hell fire and I bring you: . . .
Fire, I'll take you to burn.
Fire, I'll take you to learn.
I'll see you burn!
You fought hard and you saved and learned,
but all of it's going to burn.
And your mind, your tiny mind,
you know you've really been so blind.
Now 's your time burn your mind.
You're falling far too far behind.
Oh no, oh no, oh no, you gonna burn!
Fire, to destroy all you've done.
Fire, to end all you've become.
I'll feel you burn!
You've been living like a little girl,
in the middle of your little world.
And your mind, your tiny mind,
you know you've really been so blind.
Now 's your time burn your mind,
you're falling far too far behind.
0 Replies
ossobuco
2
Reply
Tue 18 Dec, 2012 05:23 pm
@Sturgis,
@ all
an italian singer I love, the sounds, his voice on a couple of cds, his interesting history - Fabrizio deAndre; he was respected there as a poet and for other reasons.
I've looked up translations, and at least once thought the online translations were so miserable that I tried it myself (I took seven quarters of italian, but later in life with a sieve mind). Took me something like a half hour to "improve" it in english, but it was doable.
But that's not the cut I'm talking about.
One of my favorites, Coda de Lupo*, is found online translated as
When I was a child I fell in love with everything, I ran after dogs
and from March to February my grandpa watched over
the stream of horses and cows,
over my affairs and your affairs:
and never believe in the god of the English
And when I was two hundred moons old, maybe more, maybe less,
I stole my first horse and they made me into a man
I changed my name into Wolftail,
I changed my poney for a dumb horse
and never believe in their losing god
It fell about in the night of the long-tailed star,
we found grandpa crucified on the church,
crucified with forks that are used for dinner,
he was dirty and clean with blood and with cream
and never believe in their greedy god
I was eighteen or so and didn't smell of snake anymore
I had an iron bar a hat and a sling
and one gala soirée, with a sharp-edged stone
I killed a tuxedo and stoled it to him
and never believe in the Scala god
Then we came back to Brianza to open buffalo shooting
they made us breath and urine tests,
we were explained the thing by an Andalusian poet,
"for buffalo shooting", said he, "there's numerus clausus"
and never believe in a happy end god
I was already old when near Rome, in Little Big Horn,
a short-haired general made us a college speech
on our brothers in blue overalls burying their war axes
but we didn't smoke with him, he didn't come in peace
and never believe in a working-hard god
And now that I've burnt twenty children on my marital bed
that I vented my wrath upon a whole studio
that I learnt to fish with hand grenades
that I was graved in tears on the Arch of Trajan,
with a glass spoon I will dig in my story,
but I strike somewhat at random, my memory's gone
and never
and never
and never believe,
and never believe in a breathless god.
*I liked this for years sans knowing the translation, before I looked it up.
Recently, I got this wolfie looking dog, Katy, and played it for her. As I remember, she left the room.
I think I understand it somewhat, and the context.
Golden Earring, a Dutch group which was formed before the Beatles, and which is, the last i knew, still in business, is one of the prime provider of bizarre lyrics. The entire song Twilight Zone is pretty damned odd, but i'll just post the chorus:
Help, I'm steppin' into the twilight zone
Place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned
My beacon's been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go now that I've gone too far?
Soon you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
Soon you will come to know
When the bullet hits the bone
OK, one more from them--they've got a lot of good ones, but these two are the ones that are familiar to the English-speaking world:
I've been drivin' all night, my hand's wet on the wheel
There's a voice in my head, that drives my heel
It's my baby callin', says, "I need you here"
And it's half past four, and I'm shifting gear
When she gets lonely and the longing gets too much
She sends a cable comin' in from above
Don't need no phone at all
We've got a thing that's called radar love
We've got a wave in the air, radar love
The radio's playing some forgotten song
Brenda Lee's coming on strong
The road has got me hypnotized
And I'm speeding into a new sunrise
When I get lonely, and I'm sure I've had enough
She sends her comfort, comin' in from above
Don't need no letter at all
We've got a thing that's called radar love
We've got a line in the sky, radar love
No more speed, I'm almost there
Gotta keep cool, now gotta take care
Last car to pass, here I go
And the line of cars drove down real slow
And the radio played that forgotten song
Brenda Lee's coming on strong
And the newsman sang his same song
One more radar lover gone
Love ELP but they had some of the most terrible lyrics every written
From the same song
"Every day a little sadder,
A little madder,
Someone get me a ladder."
Now those are lousy lyrics.
0 Replies
Finn dAbuzz
1
Reply
Sat 22 Dec, 2012 01:12 am
@boomerang,
In love pool eyes float feathers after the struggle.
The hopes burst and shot joy all through the mind
Sorrow more distant than a star.
Multi colour run down over your body,
Then the liquid passing all into all
Love is hot truth is molten.
True true, true true the song he sang her while the leaves cooked
Ting ting, ting little bell he rang her, sleepily she looked.
He filled, he filled a leather cup, holding her gaze
She took, she took a little sip while this song he sang:
Goo goo, goo goo Barabajagal was my name now,
Goo goo, goo goo Barabajagal was my name now.
Goo goo, goo goo Barabajagal was my name now,
Goo goo, goo goo Barabajagal was his name now.
Donovan
0 Replies
Setanta
1
Reply
Sat 22 Dec, 2012 04:48 am
@boomerang,
From 1967, the Rolling Stones' song, She's a Rainbow:
Have you seen her dressed in blue
See the sky in front of you
And her face is like a sail
Speck of white so fair and pale
Have you seen the lady fairer
She comes in colors everywhere;
She combs her hair
She's like a rainbow
Coming colors in the air
Oh, everywhere
She comes in colors
Have you seen her all in gold
Like a queen in days of old
She shoots colors all around
Like a sunset going down
Have you seen the lady fairer
She comes in colors everywhere;
She combs her hair
She's like a rainbow
Coming colors in the air
Oh, everywhere
She comes in colors
0 Replies
djjd62
1
Reply
Sat 22 Dec, 2012 06:35 am
@Setanta,
radar love is my favourite driving song ever, cruising down a highway late at night with it blasting is the best way to hear it
And you can fly
High as a kite if you want to
Faster than light if you want to
Speeding through the universe
Thinking is the best way to travel
0 Replies
blueveinedthrobber
1
Reply
Sat 22 Dec, 2012 05:56 pm
@boomerang,
A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace,
And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace,
And achieve it all with music that came quickly from afar,
Then taste the fruit of man recorded losing all against the hour.
And assessing points to nowhere, leading ev'ry single one.
A dewdrop can exalt us like the music of the sun,
And take away the plain in which we move,
And choose the course you're running.
0 Replies
Joe Nation
1
Reply
Sun 23 Dec, 2012 04:05 pm
@boomerang,
@all
"In Dreams" by Roy Orbison
A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper:
"Go to sleep, everything is alright"
I close my eyes
Then I drift away
Into the magic night
I softly sway
Oh smile and pray
Like dreamers do
Then I fall asleep
To dream my dreams of you
In dreams...I walk with you
In dreams...I talk to you
In dreams...Your mine