https://helenswordsoflife.com/2018/06/30/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-7-1-18/
Well, this word conjures up too many responses…songs with the word “game” in the title or lyrics but I just cannot post a song by Foreigner! It’s too easy.
I have been a Psychotherapist (that’s one word, not two or three) in private practice for 40 some years now. My original education and training was in Transactional Analysis, a pop psych theory made popular by Eric Byrne in his best selling book Games People Play
Games in this context are defined as Berne defined games as: “an ongoing series of complementary ulterior transactions progressing to a well-defined,predictable outcome. Descriptively, it is a recurring set of transactions… with a concealed motivation… or gimmick.” www.ericberne.com/games-people-play/
Given this definition, I’d wager that MOST songs are about “games”, in one way or another. In my music life, as far back as 1965, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, “The Game of Love”, (another one I just cannot post!), songs have been about one game or another.
So I picked two of my favorite songs, both about a bigger picture kind of Game.
One rings very true for my generation, not that it doesn’t apply to others, but we became so much more aware of this game. “Running on Empty” by Jackson Browne.
And the other, more of a universal game currently being played by too many humans on our planet! “They’re not Here, They’re Not Coming” by Don Henley. (There is some sad irony in the timing of Henley’s song, released in July 2001….)
Both songs are great musically. Just don’t miss the message!
Running on Empty by Jackson Browne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdHg4QEmBvk
with lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq25ZJwZJzU
Lyrics
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-oh-one
I don’t know where I’m running now, I’m just running on
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own
I don’t know when that road turned, into the road I’m on
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Everyone I know, everywhere I go
People need some reason to believe
I don’t know about anyone but me
If it takes all night, that’ll be all right
If I can get you to smile before I leave
Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don’t know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
Look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too
Running on, running on empty
Running on, running blind
Running on, running into the sun
But I’m running behind
Honey you really tempt me
You know the way you look so kind
I’d love to stick around but I’m running behind
You know I don’t even know what I’m hoping to find
Running into the sun but I’m running behind
Songwriters: Jackson Browne
Running On Empty lyrics © Jackson Browne/Swallow Turn Music/Night Kitchen Music/Open Window Music
Released: 1977
Genre: Singer-songwriter
Nominations: Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance
And
They’re Not Here, They’re Not Coming by Don Henley
https://www.lumsvids.com/vid/006-they-re-not-here-they-re-not-coming/
(Only video I could find of this song but it really plays like a trailer for X-Files…what a dark and violent TV Series….that I loved every minute of…)
https://genius.com/Don-henley-theyre-not-here-theyre-not-coming-lyrics
From the Arizona desert
To the Salisbury Plain
Lights on the horizon
Patterns on the grain
Anxious eyes turned upward
Clutching souvenirs
Carrying our highest hopes
And our darkest fears
They swear there was an accident
Back in ’47
Little man with a great big head
Splattered down from heaven
Government conspiracy
Cover-ups and lies
Hidden in the desert
Under endless skies
Well, it’s a cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold
Post, postmodern world
No time for heroes, no place for good guys
No room for Rocky The Flying Squirrel
They’re not here, they’re not coming
Not in a million years
Turn your weary eyes back homeward
Stop your trembling, dry your tears
You may see the heavens flashing
You may hear the cosmos humming
But I promise you, my brother
They’re not here, they’re not coming
Would they pile into the saucer
Find Orlando’s rat and hug it?
Go screaming through the universe
Just to get McNuggets?
Well, I don’t think so, I don’t think so
It’s much too dangerous, it’s much too strange
Here in a world that won’t give Oprah
No home on the range
Well, it’s a cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold
Post, postmodern world
No authenticity, no sign of soul
The radio won’t play George and Merle
They’re not here, they’re not coming
Not in a million years
‘Til we put away our hatred
‘Til we lay aside our fears
You may see the heavens flashing
You may hear the cosmos humming
But I promise you, my sister
They’re not here, they’re not coming
To this garden we were given
And always took for granted
It’s like my daddy told me
“You just bloom where you’re planted.”
Now you long to be delivered
From this world of pain and strife
That’s a sorry substitution
For a spiritual life
Well, it’s a cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold
Post, postmodern world
No place for sentiment, no room for romance
Bring back the Duke of Earl
They’re not here, they’re not coming
Not in a million years
Turn your hopes back homeward
Hold your children, dry their tears
You may see the heavens flashing
You may hear the cosmos humming
But I promise you, my brother
They’re not here, they’re not coming
They’re not here, they’re not coming
Not in a million years
‘Til we put away our hatred
And lay aside our fears
You may see the heavens flashing
You may hear the cosmos humming
But I promise you, my brother
They’re not here, they’re not coming
Jackson Browne and Don Henley in the same post? You’re awesome! Thanks for the shares! 😉
Stayed tuned. I might add Bonnie Raitt for the music trifecta!
Woohoo! YESSS! 👍💯
Skipping the song for a moment, my problem with Byrne’s book was that effectively, he defined virtually every human interchange as a game. And I don’t think it’s true. I didn’t think it was true when the book came out, either, but it’s a very simple, tidy way to explain complex interactions that would otherwise require a lot more explanation — and analysis.
But I like the song 😀
Yes I agree with you completely. And when I came on the scene, it was after 25 years or so of updates and expansions and improvements to Byrne’s original theories. Then I fine tuned even that to fit my particular clientele. All in all, just a foundation, with layers of new thinking that, in the long run, worked well with the biggest variety of people over my years in private practice.
Thanks Marilyn!
Both songs are truly compelling, but Jackson Browne spoke to me today. I truly don’t have an intermediate button. It’s all or nothing and I’m running on empty most days. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!