Tag: Inspiration

Song Lyrics Sunday 10-16-16

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Our challenge this week from the wonderful (and generous with her time) Helen is:

” to post a song you fell in love with that you didn’t expect to like.  Maybe it’s a type of music you used to turn your nose up at, or maybe it’s a band or singer you prejudged without listening to them first (I’m so guilty of this).  I can’t possibly be the only one…”

I think I already did this by confessing the story of my instant dislike of the Goo Goo Dolls just because of their name (and album cover picture). Read more about that one here:

Song Lyric Sunday 7-10-16

But here’s the song I immediately thought of today. I couldn’t tell you if this song is Rap or Hiphop or whatever but the first time I heard it, I burst into tears. It is the song that made me realize there are whole generations out there, AFTER THE SIXTIES, who still use their music to “protest” and “proclaim” their beliefs. We can’t ignore our children and grandchildren, and even our great grandchildren. They are speaking to us through their music! No matter how much we may not like the forms they are choosing, we still need to listen to them!

My choice is What It’s Like by Everlast the video is blurry but it has some pretty haunting and effective pictures. (WARNING: the lyrics are ALL HERE! This is NOT the blanked out, censored version they play on the radio!)

Lyrics

we’ve all seen a man at the liquor store beggin’ for your change
The hair on his face is dirty, dread-locked and full of mange
He asks a man for what he could spare with shame in his eyes
“Get a job, you fucking slob, ” is all he replies

God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes
‘Cause then you really might know what it’s like to sing the blues

Then you really might know what it’s like
Then you really might know what it’s like
Then you really might know what it’s like
Then you really might know what it’s like

Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom that said he was in love
He said, “Don’t worry about a thing, baby doll, I’m the man you’ve been dreaming of.”
But three months later he say he won’t date her or return her call
And she swear, “Goddamn, if I find that man I’m cuttin’ off his balls.”

And then she heads for the clinic and she gets some static walking through the door
They call her a killer and they call her a sinner and they call her a whore
But God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes
‘Cause then you really might know what it’s like to have to choose

Then you really might know what it’s like
Then you really might know what it’s like
Then you really might know what it’s like
Then you really might know what it’s like

I’ve seen a rich man beg, I’ve seen a good man sin, I’ve seen a tough man cry
I’ve seen a loser win and a sad man grin, I heard an honest man lie
I’ve seen the good side of bad and the downside of up and everything between
I licked the silver spoon, drank from the golden cup, smoked the finest green
I stroked the fattest dimes at least a couple of times before I broke they heart
You know where it ends, yo, it usually depends on where you start

I knew this kid named Max, he used to get fat stacks out on the corner with drugs
He liked to hang out late, he liked to get shit-faced and keep the pace with thugs
Till late one night there was a big gun fight and Max lost his head
He pulled out his chrome .45, talked some shit and wound up dead

Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of this pain
You know it crumbles that way, at least that’s what they say when you play the game
God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news
‘Cause then you really might know what it’s like to have to lose

Then you really might know what it’s like
Then you really might know what it’s like
Then you really might know what it’s like to have to lose

Written by Erik Schrody • Copyright © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

 

Wikipedia has an interesting write up about this song and the group Everlast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_It%27s_Like

One thing that stood out is “The song was also unexpectedly and surprisingly a hit to adult contemporary stations since most rap songs or songs with rap verses cannot be played on the format.”

 

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Song Lyric Sunday 7-3-16

I just discovered this great challenge.

https://helenespinosa.wordpress.com/2016/07/02/song-lyric-sunday-theme-for-7316/

It really caught my attention for a few reasons.

  1. I love music, especially lyrics. I actually USE them in my life, especially in my work.
  2. I love that a Mom in Utah takes her children to live music concerts!
  3. I love that the song she chose for today is by Midnight Oil, and that my husband’s band of many years plays it regularly!
  4. I am surrounded by live music in my personal life (partner, son, grandson, daughter-in-law, and many friends) and now my 2 grandsons (10 and 13) live with me so I really want to avoid that generation gap trap about music. I do not ever want to judge today’s music by my old standards.  Michael's Pictures 013

Helen’s specific challenge today was to share the lyrics from a song at one of your very first live concerts. I wrote her and said that I could not actually remember if it was James Brown (with Fontella Bass “Rescue Me”) or Peter, Paul and Mary. Talk about opposites. If I had photos from those early concerts they would be perfect for this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge theme-“Opposites”.

But the more I thought about it the more I realized the concert that really got to me back then was a Simon and Garfunkel show.

Recently my son, with whom I have always been in musical sync, sat me down and made me listen to a song on his elaborate beyond my understanding, sound and visual system.

Coincidentally, it was the following song.

The Sound Of Silence (3:08)  
P. Simon, 1964

Hello darkness, my old friend 
I’ve come to talk with you again 
Because a vision softly creeping 
Left its seeds while I was sleeping 
And the vision that was planted in my brain 
Still remains 
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone 
Narrow streets of cobblestone 
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp 
I turn my collar to the cold and damp 
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light 
That split the night 
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw 
Ten thousand people maybe more 
People talking without speaking 
People hearing without listening 
People writing songs that voices never shared 
No one dared 
Disturb the sound of silence

“Fools,” said I, “you do not know 
Silence like a cancer grows 
Hear my words that I might teach you 
Take my arms that I might reach you” 
But my words like silent raindrops fell 
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed 
To the neon god they made 
And the sign flashed out its warning 
In the words that it was forming 
And the sign said “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls 
And tenement halls 
And whispered in the sound of silence

He made me listen twice, knowing that the first time through I should probably close my eyes as the video is pretty intense and might be distracting. I had no idea what was coming. (He was right. It was hard for this 68 year old not to assume things about the look of the singer or the name of the band, as well as the visual images.) We listened together and were both in tears at the end, just from the sheer power of the artistry.

SO anyway, here’s what he played for me. Crank up the volume. Close your eyes. And stay with it to the end. You might be surprised!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

 

Thanks. I hope it means something to you too.