This morning, on my may to office, I was listening to songs by King's X. It was their best of collection and the last number is a live version of their song "Over my head". Sung by Doug Pinnick the song, like most songs by Doug, seems to come straight from his heart. His voice and delivery always has a lot of feel to it. The number I was listening to was a live rendition and so it had much more of the feel than the studio versions. At around the central point of the song, Doug starts recounting from his experience in a rhythmic manner. What he says touches my heart every time I listen to it. It probably is one of the most affecting statement on parenthood that I have heard and here it is.
"And this is a song about my grandma; she raised me from a child. She was a very religious lady, she went to church every night, she read her bible all the time, yeah.
And, late at night, she'd be in her room, singing and dancing, and shouting, and carrying on like she used to do. Oh my grandma, I remember, yeah.
And I'd be in my room, feeling so alone, wondering my mother left and my dead never came around.
And my grandma, she never said, "I love you". She called herself a Christian and she never said, "I love you". She said, "Nobody wants ya, nobody needs ya, nobody loves ya". Oh, and I grew up so confused. Oh, yeah.
Now, I don't say this for you to feel sorry for me, but I want to say this, if you listen to me for a second: if you plan on having kids, if you have children or you plan on having kids, make sure that your kids know that you love them more than anything in the whole wide world. More than anything in the whole wide world. No matter who they are. No matter what they look like, what they do, what kind of rock 'n' roll they listen to, or if they wear tattoos.
Oh Lord, yeah. 'Cause if you don't...if you don't show your children love, when they grow up, they will grow up fucked up. And I know what I'm taking about, I had to work it out. Some of you know what I'm talking about."
I listen to a lot of music and most of it is hard and heavy. So a lot of lyrics are not something to talk about or sing about. Usually its about death, violence and such pleasant gruesomes. So I don't really memorize them and many a times not even listen to what is being said. To tell the truth, I was never a lyrics and poetry kind of person. I really preferred music with the vocal chords being one of the instruments. But from time to time a few lines come by and catch your attention. Interesting set of words that mean much or nothing, are good or not but they are always good to hear. To take the example of an evil one, there was Metallica singing a medley of Mercyful Fate songs (which sounds better when sung by the original group). It goes like this.
"I was born in the cemetery
Under the sign of the moon
Raised from my grave by the dead
And I was made a mercenary
In the legions of Hell
Now I'm king of pain, I'm insane, yeah
You know my only pleasure is to hear you cry
I'd love to hear you cry
And I'd love to see you die
And I'll be the first to watch your funeral
And I'll be the last to leave
I'd love to hear you cry"
Not very tasteful but is very interesting to listen to. There are a few more interesting covers in that Metallica album. One asked "Am I Evil? Yes I am". Then there was another one called "So fucking what", which is easily the filthiest set of words I have ever heard (in a song that is). I roll with laughter every time I hear it - silly, filthy and funny.
My earliest memory of lyrics is from that song by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.
"Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in-between
How can we be wrong
Sail away with me to another world
And we rely on each other, ah-ah
From one lover to another, ah-ah"
It seems quite cheesy but I still like the sound of it. Pink Floyd also has the knack to put in good words into their songs. The following two stand out in my head from the time I first heard them.
"The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
You shuffle in the gloom of the sickroom
And talk to yourself as you die.
Life is a short, warm moment
And death is a long cold rest."
and
"the time has gone,
the song is over,
thought I had something more to say"
Despair, hopelessness and all other kinds of darkness reside in those lines. The second set of lines come to my mind during many of my most despairing moments. But then Annie Lenox has warned that
"Dying is easy its living that scares me to death"
But when someone is stuck between living and dying there is One song most appropriate - One by Metallica. When I watched the video of that song the music, words and video all came together beautifully. The song structured with its furious end brings out the frustration of helpless person who does not want to live but has no means of dying. He has to wait...
"I Can't Remember Anything
Can't Tell If this Is True or Dream
Deep down Inside I Feel to Scream
this Terrible Silence Stops Me
Now That the War Is Through with Me
I'm Waking up I Can Not See
That There's Not Much Left of Me
Nothing Is Real but Pain Now
Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God,wake Me
Back in the Womb its Much Too Real
in Pumps Life That I must Feel
but Can't Look Forward to Reveal
Look to the Time When I'll Live
Fed Through the Tube That Sticks in Me
Just like a Wartime Novelty
Tied to Machines That Make Me Be
Cut this Life off from Me
Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God,wake Me
Now the World Is Gone I'm Just One
Oh God,help Me Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God Help Me
Darkness
Imprisoning Me
All That I See
Absolute Horror
I Cannot Live
I Cannot Die
Trapped in Myself
Body My Holding Cell
Landmine
Has Taken My Sight
Taken My Speech
Taken My Hearing
Taken My Arms
Taken My Legs
Taken My Soul
Left Me with Life in Hell"
While One was about a live mind in a numb body, Queensryche wrote about a numb mind in a live body (I hope that is not politically incorrect). "Out of Mind" is a very touching song which should have been heard by many more people. It should have been an anthem for a number of specially abled institutions. It is also one of the most melodic songs ever. The sadness always reaches into me.
"Little girl sits in the corner, locked in a stare.
Arms waving madly at something that sadly isn't there.
Dressed in the day's best by a nurse who's nowhere to be
found.
What does she see?
Maybe she's looking at me...
Old man is strapped to the seat of his chair, wearing a
gown.
Shouting and cursing at someone who clearly isn't around.
Father Time has twisted his mind.
The staff says, "He's not well!"
To whom does he speak?
Maybe he's speaking to me...
So we keep these people inside these walls, from society.
Their forgotten lives safe from the crowd, they can't leave.
You've left them there with me.
So we keep these people behind these walls, from society.
Their forgotten lives safe from the crowd, they can't leave.
Through the doors come people like me, good-bye to them.
They see a picture few of us see. They can't leave.
You've left them there with me"
But then not everything is this serious and depressing. There is Faith no more that described indecisiveness as "Droplets of yes and no in an ocean of maybe" in "Falling to pieces". Pet Shop Boys sang about their love for Chihuahua.
"I want a dog,
A chihuahua
When I get back to my small flat
I want to hear somebody bark
Oh, you can get lonely
Don't want a cat,
Scratching its claws all over my
Habitat
Giving no love and getting fat
Oh, (oh oh) you can get lonely
And a cat's no help with that"
All these words and people have inspired me to scratch a few lines on my own. Though I am not personally embarrassed by these, I really don't have the guts to show it to any one else. Hope someday one day I am able say something nearly as interesting as the ones above. Hope, hope, hope, ...
"And this is a song about my grandma; she raised me from a child. She was a very religious lady, she went to church every night, she read her bible all the time, yeah.
And, late at night, she'd be in her room, singing and dancing, and shouting, and carrying on like she used to do. Oh my grandma, I remember, yeah.
And I'd be in my room, feeling so alone, wondering my mother left and my dead never came around.
And my grandma, she never said, "I love you". She called herself a Christian and she never said, "I love you". She said, "Nobody wants ya, nobody needs ya, nobody loves ya". Oh, and I grew up so confused. Oh, yeah.
Now, I don't say this for you to feel sorry for me, but I want to say this, if you listen to me for a second: if you plan on having kids, if you have children or you plan on having kids, make sure that your kids know that you love them more than anything in the whole wide world. More than anything in the whole wide world. No matter who they are. No matter what they look like, what they do, what kind of rock 'n' roll they listen to, or if they wear tattoos.
Oh Lord, yeah. 'Cause if you don't...if you don't show your children love, when they grow up, they will grow up fucked up. And I know what I'm taking about, I had to work it out. Some of you know what I'm talking about."
I listen to a lot of music and most of it is hard and heavy. So a lot of lyrics are not something to talk about or sing about. Usually its about death, violence and such pleasant gruesomes. So I don't really memorize them and many a times not even listen to what is being said. To tell the truth, I was never a lyrics and poetry kind of person. I really preferred music with the vocal chords being one of the instruments. But from time to time a few lines come by and catch your attention. Interesting set of words that mean much or nothing, are good or not but they are always good to hear. To take the example of an evil one, there was Metallica singing a medley of Mercyful Fate songs (which sounds better when sung by the original group). It goes like this.
"I was born in the cemetery
Under the sign of the moon
Raised from my grave by the dead
And I was made a mercenary
In the legions of Hell
Now I'm king of pain, I'm insane, yeah
You know my only pleasure is to hear you cry
I'd love to hear you cry
And I'd love to see you die
And I'll be the first to watch your funeral
And I'll be the last to leave
I'd love to hear you cry"
Not very tasteful but is very interesting to listen to. There are a few more interesting covers in that Metallica album. One asked "Am I Evil? Yes I am". Then there was another one called "So fucking what", which is easily the filthiest set of words I have ever heard (in a song that is). I roll with laughter every time I hear it - silly, filthy and funny.
My earliest memory of lyrics is from that song by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.
"Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in-between
How can we be wrong
Sail away with me to another world
And we rely on each other, ah-ah
From one lover to another, ah-ah"
It seems quite cheesy but I still like the sound of it. Pink Floyd also has the knack to put in good words into their songs. The following two stand out in my head from the time I first heard them.
"The memories of a man in his old age
Are the deeds of a man in his prime.
You shuffle in the gloom of the sickroom
And talk to yourself as you die.
Life is a short, warm moment
And death is a long cold rest."
and
"the time has gone,
the song is over,
thought I had something more to say"
Despair, hopelessness and all other kinds of darkness reside in those lines. The second set of lines come to my mind during many of my most despairing moments. But then Annie Lenox has warned that
"Dying is easy its living that scares me to death"
But when someone is stuck between living and dying there is One song most appropriate - One by Metallica. When I watched the video of that song the music, words and video all came together beautifully. The song structured with its furious end brings out the frustration of helpless person who does not want to live but has no means of dying. He has to wait...
"I Can't Remember Anything
Can't Tell If this Is True or Dream
Deep down Inside I Feel to Scream
this Terrible Silence Stops Me
Now That the War Is Through with Me
I'm Waking up I Can Not See
That There's Not Much Left of Me
Nothing Is Real but Pain Now
Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God,wake Me
Back in the Womb its Much Too Real
in Pumps Life That I must Feel
but Can't Look Forward to Reveal
Look to the Time When I'll Live
Fed Through the Tube That Sticks in Me
Just like a Wartime Novelty
Tied to Machines That Make Me Be
Cut this Life off from Me
Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God,wake Me
Now the World Is Gone I'm Just One
Oh God,help Me Hold My Breath as I Wish for Death
Oh Please God Help Me
Darkness
Imprisoning Me
All That I See
Absolute Horror
I Cannot Live
I Cannot Die
Trapped in Myself
Body My Holding Cell
Landmine
Has Taken My Sight
Taken My Speech
Taken My Hearing
Taken My Arms
Taken My Legs
Taken My Soul
Left Me with Life in Hell"
While One was about a live mind in a numb body, Queensryche wrote about a numb mind in a live body (I hope that is not politically incorrect). "Out of Mind" is a very touching song which should have been heard by many more people. It should have been an anthem for a number of specially abled institutions. It is also one of the most melodic songs ever. The sadness always reaches into me.
"Little girl sits in the corner, locked in a stare.
Arms waving madly at something that sadly isn't there.
Dressed in the day's best by a nurse who's nowhere to be
found.
What does she see?
Maybe she's looking at me...
Old man is strapped to the seat of his chair, wearing a
gown.
Shouting and cursing at someone who clearly isn't around.
Father Time has twisted his mind.
The staff says, "He's not well!"
To whom does he speak?
Maybe he's speaking to me...
So we keep these people inside these walls, from society.
Their forgotten lives safe from the crowd, they can't leave.
You've left them there with me.
So we keep these people behind these walls, from society.
Their forgotten lives safe from the crowd, they can't leave.
Through the doors come people like me, good-bye to them.
They see a picture few of us see. They can't leave.
You've left them there with me"
But then not everything is this serious and depressing. There is Faith no more that described indecisiveness as "Droplets of yes and no in an ocean of maybe" in "Falling to pieces". Pet Shop Boys sang about their love for Chihuahua.
"I want a dog,
A chihuahua
When I get back to my small flat
I want to hear somebody bark
Oh, you can get lonely
Don't want a cat,
Scratching its claws all over my
Habitat
Giving no love and getting fat
Oh, (oh oh) you can get lonely
And a cat's no help with that"
All these words and people have inspired me to scratch a few lines on my own. Though I am not personally embarrassed by these, I really don't have the guts to show it to any one else. Hope someday one day I am able say something nearly as interesting as the ones above. Hope, hope, hope, ...
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