Poetry in Lyrics

I like this one too from Cake, enigmatic but sharp:

Sheep Go To Heaven

I'm not feeling alright today
I'm not feeling that great
I'm not catching on fire today
love has started to fade
I'm not going to smile today
I'm not gonna laugh
You're out living it up today
I've got dues to pay

and the grave-digger puts on the forceps
the stone mason does all the work
the barber can give you a haircut
the carpenter can take you out to lunch

I just want to play on my pan-pipes
I just want to drink me some wine
as soon as you're born you start dying
so you might as well have a good time

sheep go to heaven
goats go to hell

I don't wanna go to sunset strip
I don't wanna feel the emptiness
bold marquees with stupid band names
I don't wanna go to sunset strip

and the grave-digger puts on the forceps
the stone mason does all the work
the barber can give you a haircut
the carpenter can take you out to lunch

I just want to play on my pan-pipes
I just want to drink me some wine
as soon as you're born you start dying
so you might as well have a good time

sheep go to heaven
goats go to hell


and this...


Short Skirt/Long Jacket

I want a girl with a mind like a diamond
I want a girl who knows what's best
I want a girl with shoes that cut
And eyes that burn like cigarettes

I want a girl with the right allocations
Who's fast and thorough
And sharp as a tack
She is playing with her jewelry
She is putting up her hair
She is touring the facility
And picking up slack

I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket......

I want a girl who gets up early
I want a girl who stays up late
I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity
Who uses a machete to cut through red tape
With fingernails that shine like justice
And a voice that is dark like tinted glass

She is fast, thorough
And sharp as a tack
She is touring the facility
And picking up slack

I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnnng.... long jacket

I want a girl with a smooth liquidation
I want a girl with good dividends
And at the city bank we will meet accidentally
We'll start to talk when she borrows my pen

She wants a car with a cup-holder arm rest
She wants a car that will get her there
She's changing her name from Kitty to Karen
She's trading her MG for a white Chrysler Le Baron

I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnng jacket

<sniff> That's my wife....

Fantastic Cav

I don't know whether to laugh or cry, that your wife is SO EFFICIENT, and sharp all the way through. I like the imagery in the song (lyrical poetry) and sleek girls DO look very good in short skirts and long jackets. For so MANY of them- the road is headed toward being an ATTORNEY or a CEO, (or both)

I like the lines in this one too.... I can just feel the staccato pattern of the philosophy being chanted!

The video for that song (Sheep Go to Heaven) is also very cool...animated, and somehow a cartoon version of Kiss show up and there are lots of sheeps and goats....don't know how else to describe it

Also, Mrs. cav is not sleek, in the current definition of the word (too short and busty, lol, but a fine slim waist made for arms around it), but she looks good in anything and nothing IMO....

<sigh> I am a romantic....

Nice compliments for Missus Cav- whether you think she is "sleek" or no.

Nothing like music to put someone in a romantic frame of mind, especially when they're hopelessly "full of it"

I am a bit lonely tonight.. and thinking of an OLD SONG:
(can't think of all the words)

...where are the clowns? There ought to be clowns, Send in the clowns.
guess I will go look it up and have a listen. Goodnight

"Send in the Clowns"
from the musical A Little Night Music (1973)
lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim
as performed by Barbra Streisand
(on The Broadway Album, 1985)

Isn't it rich
Aren't we a pair
Me here at last on the ground
You in mid-air
Send in the clowns

Isn't it bliss
Don't you approve
One who keeps tearing around
One who can't move
Where are the clowns
Send in the clowns

Just when I'd stopped
Opening doors
Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours
Making my entrance again with my usual flair
Sure of my lines
No one is there

Don't you love farce
My fault, I fear
I thought that you'd want what I want
Sorry, my dear
But where are the clowns
There ought to be clowns
Quick, send in the clowns

What a surprise
Who could foresee
I come to feel about you what you felt about me
Why only now when I see that you've drifted away
What a surprise
What a cliché

Isn't it rich
Isn't it queer
Losing my timing this late in my career
And where are the clowns
Quick, send in the clowns
Don't bother, they're here

There ya go Jackie

Cav,
Thanks, "Send in the Clowns" is one of my all time favorites.(although I prefer the Judy collins version)
...and speaking of Judy C. how about this one:

Desperado
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses,
You've been out ridin fences for so long now,
Oh and you're a hard one, but I know that you've got your reasons,
The things that are pleasin you can hurt you somehow.

Don't you draw the queen of diamonds boy, she'll beat you if she's able.
You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet.
Now it seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table,
But you only want the ones you can't get.

Desperado, you ain't gettin no younger,
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin you home,
And freedom, oh freedom, well that's just some people talkin.
Your prison is walking through this world all alone.

Don't your feet get cold in the wintertime,
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine,
It's hard to tell the nighttime from the day.
And you're losin all your highs and lows,
Ain't it funny how the feelin goes away?

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses,
Come down from your fences- open the gates.
It may be rainin, but there's a rainbow above you.
You'd better let somebody love you,
LET SOMEBODY LOVE YOU.
You'd better let somebody love you,
before it's too late..

I've always liked Lou Reed's portraits of New York's underbelly:

Romeo Had Juliette

Caught between the twisted stars the plotted lines the faulty map
that brought Columbus to New York
Betwixt between the East and West he calls on her wearing a leather vest
the earth squeals and shudders to a halt
A diamond crucifix in his ear is used to help ward off the Fear
that he has left his soul in someone's rented car
Inside his pants he hides a mop to clean the mess that he has dropped
into the life of lithesome Juliette Bell

And Romeo wanted Juliette and Juliette wanted Romeo
And Romeo wanted Juliette and Juliette wanted Romeo

Romeo Rodriguez squares his shoulders and curses Jesus
runs a comb through his black pony-tail
He's thinking of his lonely room
the sink that by his bed gives off a stink
Then smells her perfume in his eyes and her voice was like a bell

Outside the street were steaming the crack dealers were dreaming
of an Uzi someone had just scored
I betcha I could hit that light with my one good arm behind my back
says little Joey Diaz
Brother give me another tote those downtown hoods are no damn good
those Italians need a lesson to be taught
This cop who died in Harlem you think they'd get the warnin'
I was dancing when his brains run out on the street

And Romeo had Juliette and Juliette had her Romeo
And Romeo had Juliette and Juliette had her Romeo

I'll take Manhattan in a garbage bag with Latin written on it that says
"It's hard to give a **** these days"
Manhattan's sinking like a rock, into the filthy Hudson what a shock
they wrote a book about it, they said it was like ancient Rome
The perfume burned his eyes, holding tightly to her thighs
and something flickered for a minute and then it vanished and was gone

How about this one?


'Angel'


Spend all your time waiting for that second chance,
for a break that would make it okay
theres always one reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins
let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonite,
In the arms of an Angel
fly away from here
from this cold dark hotel room,
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the Angels
may you find some comfort there
So tired of the straight line and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back
and the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lie
that you make up for all that you lack
it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
It's easier to believe in this sweet madness,oh this glorious sadness,that brings me to my knees....
In the arms of the Angels
fly away from here..
from this cold dark hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear,
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the Angels
may you find some comfort there
you're in the arms of the Angels,
may you find some comfort there..
(Sarah McLachlan)

RAVEN FLY
John Cody

There's nowhere left to fall
This is my resting place
No sorrow on my face
As time unwinds
And you die out in me
There's no one I must be
On this red clay highway
Where the desert meets the mountains
Rolling to the sea

I'm watching the wind blow by
I'm watching the raven fly
I'm waiting for the morning's kiss
Can you picture this?

You were my moon,
I was your restless tide
I crawled away to hide
I held my breath
You listened at my door
What were you hoping for
It's a long horizon
Where the desert meets the sky
And day falls to the sea

No echo no memory
Love's a place we used to live in
You'll go on without me

I trust the sacred sky
Swim in the perfect light
No end in sight
A shadow hawk
Along these canyon walls
I see it all
It's a revelation
The cool and sweet release
As evening covers me

How I can sing that out loud Cav!!! Good one.

(Thanks for the words to Send in the Clowns.)


[this is not friday june 13 is it? . I hope I have not lost 2 days.]

Heh heh, by my calender, it is still the 11th. I'll post more John Cody if you like it. He's a great writer, but a troubled soul. Soon after his album was released, the music publisher he was signed with went belly-up. We have the CD, as my wife was working for the publisher at the time. It is truly a shame though that his music never got out to the public. He did catch the attention of Sharon Stone, however, when he moved to L.A.

Lazy Day, Gene Autry style...




Well, I might-a gone fishin' - I been thinkin' it over

The road to the river - is a mighty long way

It must be the season - no rhyme or no reason

Just takin' it easy ...it's my lazy day.



Well, never mind callin' - 'cause I ain't a-comin'

Just pass on by me - stay out of my way

'Cause a little deep thinkin' - might drive me to drinkin'

Just takin' it easy - it's my lazy day.


I'm findin' it easy - to mind my own business

I'm keepin' my nose out - of ev'ryone's way

I ain't takin' no order Aint givin advices

Just takin' it easy - it's my lazy day.

Just takin' it easy - it's my lazy day.

The FORUM is 'funny' as in ha ha ha

I lost my "page" today, cav and there was NO post on it from you.
By all means post some more John Cody. It is more heart wrenching as "poetry" than a song.
And I have to get off now too. Gotto go somewhere and hurry!!!!
see ya tomorrow, mayhaps.

Share the Same Stage (for Alain)
John Cody

It was your birthday call
And I just took a chance
You might be home for a change
But you were in another new romance
I haven't seen your face
Since the day I came of age
I can accept time tears brothers apart
Can you accept now
All that I ever wanted
Was to share the same stage
You have your own family now
I guess I have one too
I have always wondered why
You separate the two
You used to tear things down
You used to rattle the cage
I fashioned all my footsteps
For your admiration
But all that I ever wanted
Was to share the same stage
I think we tell ourselves the lies
We need to make it through
There's only so much truth we can take
I know that fear is what we hide
Inside our darkest rooms
Can we close the distance that we've made
Now you're lost in some locale
And the continent divides
And every time the day that you were born
Goes by remember
All that I ever wanted
Was to share the same stage


Cav's note: If this doesn't break you up....I dunno....mind you, I am an older brother

cavfancier,

Your posting this is destiny... or some such, whatever they call it,

divine providence??? I love it, and shall copy it. I have not heard this sung, am not too familiar with John Cody

But today, my brother is dying. Inch by inch and breath by breath.
I am with him. And I wont be back on for awhile. He MAY have 24 hours, maybe not- he is not very responsive with all that morphine for pain...

Thanks, and see you later. j

"Old apple tree, we wassail thee, and hope that thou wilt bear.
The Lord doth know where we shall be till apples another year.
To bloom well and to bear well, so happy let us be.
Let everyone take off their hat and call out to the old apple tree.....
[Spoken] Old apple tree we wassail thee and hope that thou will bear,
hatfulls, capfulls two bushel fulls and a little heap under the stair.

Hip hip hooray!"

Thank all of you SO VERY MUCH, for your interest in this topic. j

My cap to the thread, from Hedwig and the Angry Inch:

MIDNIGHT RADIO
Stephen Trask

Rain falls hard
Burns dry
A dream
Or a song
That hits you so hard
Filling you up
And suddenly gone

Breath Feel Love
Give Free
Know in you soul
Like your blood knows the way
From you heart to your brain
Know that you're whole

And you're shining
Like the brightest star
A transmission
On the midnight radio
And you're spinning
Like a 45
Ballerina
Dancing to your rock and roll

Here's to Patti
And Tina
And Yoko
Aretha
And Nona
And Nico
And me

And all the strange rock and rollers
You know you're doing all right
So hold on to each other
You gotta hold on tonight

And you're shining
Like the brightest star
A transmission
On the midnight radio

And you're spinning
Your new 45's
All the misfits and the losers
Yeah, you know you're rock and rollers
Spinning to your rock and roll

Lift up your hands

Jackie -- I'm sorry I didn't read your post about your brother until just now. I'm so sorry to hear the sad news and feel awful I blithely posted a silly song. Can't imagine all being well, but I hope that everything is as well as can be hoped for. Sincere condolences. Here is one of my favorite poems in memory of a man. As it happens, it is also about apple trees.


IF STILL YOUR ORCHARDS BEAR
Edna St. Vincent Millay

Brother, that breathe the August air
Ten thousand years from now,
And smell--if still your orchards bear
Tart apples on the bough--

The early windfall under the tree,
And see the red fruit shine,
I cannot think your thoughts will be
Much different from mine.

Should at that moment the full moon
Step forth upon the hill,
And memories hard to bear at noon,
By moonlight harder still,
Form in the shadow of the trees, --
Things that you could not spare
And live, or so you thought, yet these
All gone, and you still there.

A man no longer what he was,
Nor yet the thing he'd planned,
The chilly apple from the grass
Warmed by your living hand--

I think you will have need of tears;
I think they will not flow;
Supposing in ten thousand years
Men ache, as they do now.

jackie,

I only just noticed your reference to your brother. You have my strongest, most heart-felt sympathies and I'm sending you a huge e-hug.

Cav's song brought tears to my eyes. I have a brother. He's the closest person to me in the world.

Here's the song which says it all for me. I hope it doesn't tug too stongly on the heart-strings.

The Hollies - "He ain't Heavy"

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows when
But I'm strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he to bear
We'll get there
For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another

It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on the way to there
Why not share
And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother