Great Song Lyrics

officerripley

officerripley

Well-known Member
Location
Porlock, Calif
Sometimes, even if you don't much care for the music or the singer, the song's got some great lyrics. For instance, one of my favorite songs, "Smoke from a Distant Fire" by the Sanford-Townsend Band (1977), has these lyrics: "...your eyes have the mist from the smoke of a distant fire."


Do you have some?
 


Along the Road​

Dan Fogelberg

Joy at the start
Fear in the journey
Joy in the coming home
A part of the heart
Gets lost in the learning
Somewhere along the road
Along the road
Your path may wander
A pilgrim's faith may fail
Absence makes the heart grow stronger
Darkness obscures the trail
Cursing the quest
Courting disaster
Measureless nights forebode
Moments of rest
Glimpses of laughter
Are treasured along the road
Along the road
Your steps may tumble
Your thoughts may start to stray
But through it all a heart held humble
Levels and lights your way
Joy at the start
Fear in the journey
Joy in the coming home
A part of the heart
Gets lost in the learning
Somewhere along the road
Somewhere along the road
Somewhere along the road
 

horseless carriage said:

​

"It's Hard to be Humble," by Mac Davis.
Davis’s song is most certainly meant as satire. He sings about narcissism in the best ways. He’s the best, looks the best, and very few compare to him. While it’s not a song you could play daily, it’s certainly one to listen to start-to-finish to see how it turns out.
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That's a fun song. I like to sing that one to myself after I've made a bonehead move, or actually did something the right way for a change.

I think I've posted this before but James Taylor's, 'Something In The Way She Moves' is one that I really enjoy the lyrics.

There's something in the way she moves
Or looks my way, or calls my name
That seems to leave this troubled world behind
If I'm feeling down and blue
Or troubled by some foolish game
She always seems to make me change my mind
And I feel fine anytime she's around me now
She's around me now
Almost all the time
And if I'm well you can tell she's been with me now
She's been with me now quite a long, long time
And I feel fine
Every now and then the things I lean on lose their meaning
And I find myself careening
In places where I should not let me go
She has the power to go where no one else can find me
Yes and silently remind me
The happiness and the good times that I know, but as I had got to know them
It isn't what she's got to say
But how she thinks and where she's been
To me, the words are nice, the way they sound
I like to hear them best that way
It doesn't much matter what they mean
What she says them mostly just to calm me down
And I feel fine anytime she's around me now
She's around me now
Almost all the time
If I'm well you can tell she's been with me now
She's been with me now quite a long, long time
Yes and I feel fine
 
nature boy.jpg
Nat King Cole's first solo hit, in 1948.
Topping the charts for 8 weeks the
song lyrics move me so much.

There was a boy
A very strange, enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far
Very far, over land and sea
A little shy and sad of eye
But very wise was he

And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things
Fools and kings
This he said to me:

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return."

[Instrumental Interlude]

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return."
 

Forever Young​

WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
 
Mind Gardens
Song by The Byrds

Once upon a time there was a garden
On a high hill
Green and blossomin' 'round against the sea
And there the sun came
And the rain pourin' down
Garden grew and flourished
And splattered bits of color on the ground
And it took shape and symmetry
And all of life around
But there came winds
Driven and howling, there came snow
And I feared for the garden
So I built a wall
And I built another and roofed it over
Thick and strong
And kept it from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
The killing cold could not get in
But when the sun came
And the gentle rain of spring
They could not reach the garden behind those walls
It would have died
Safely, securely died
But as I longed and as I learned
I tore the walls all down
The garden still lives
 
"Castles in the Air" (1981) by Don McLean:

And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air
I've got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair

Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky
A dream come true, I'll live there till I die
I'm asking you to say my last goodbye
The love we knew ain't worth another try

Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak, but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain

But how can words express the feel of sunlight in the morning
In the hills, away from city strife
I need a country woman for my wife;
I'm city born, but I love the country life

For I cannot be part of the cocktail generation:
Partners waltz, devoid of all romance
The music plays and everyone must dance
I'm bowing out. I need a second chance

Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak, but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain

And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air
I've got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair

 
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  1. Shooting Star​

    Harry Chapin
    He was crazy of course
    From the first she must have known it
    But still she went on with him
    And she never once had shown it
    And she took him off the street
    And she dried his tears of grieving
    She listened to his visions
    She believed in his believe-ins
    Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle
    And she was the moon shining back his light a little
    He was a shooting star
    She was softer and more slowly
    He could not make things possible
    But, she could make them holy
    He was dancing to some music
    No one else had ever heard
    He'd speak in unknown languages
    She would translate every word
    And then when the world was laughing
    At his castles in the sky
    She'd hold him in her body
    Till he once again could fly
    Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle
    And she was the moon shining back his light a little
    He was a shooting star
    She was softer and more slowly
    He could not make things possible
    But, she could make them holy
    Well, she gave him a daughter
    And she gave him a son
    She was a mother, and a wife,
    And a lover when the day was done
    He was too far gone for giving love
    What he offered in its stead
    Was the knowledge she was the only thing
    That was not in his head
    He took off East one morning
    Towards the rising sun's red glow
    She knew he was going nowhere
    But of course she let him go
    And as she stood and watched him dwindle
    Much too empty to be sad
    He reappeared beside her saying,
    "You're all I've ever had"
    Oh, he was the sun burning bright and brittle
    And she was the moon shining back his light a little
    He was a shooting star
    She was softer and more slowly
    He could not make things possible
    But, she could make them holy
    Holy
 
"Catch the Wind," 1965, by Donvan:

In the chilly hours and minutes
Of uncertainty, I want to be
In the warm hold of your loving mind
To feel you all around me
And to take your hand along the sand
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
When sundown pales the sky
I want to hide a while behind your smile
And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find
For me to love you now
Would be the sweetest thing
That would make me sing
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
When rain has hung the leaves with tears
I want you near to kill my fears
To help me to leave all my blues behind
For standing in your heart
Is where I want to be, and I long to be
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind
Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

 
When I was younger I did not pay too much attention the the lyrics but as I get older I get it.

Time-Pink Floyd


Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way
Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death
Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say
Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells
 
"Calling You," 1988, Jevetta Steele:

A desert road from vegas to nowhere,
Some place better than where you've been.
A coffee machine that needs some fixing
In a little café just around the bend.
I am calling you.
Can't you hear me?
I am calling you.
A hot dry wind blows right through me.
The baby's crying and I can't sleep,
But we both know a change is coming,
Coming closer sweet release.
I am calling you.
I know you hear me.
I am calling you.
Ohhhh.
I am calling you.
I know you hear me.
I am calling you.
A desert road from vegas to nowhere,
Some place better than where you've been.
A coffee machine that needs some fixing
In a little café just around the bend.
A hot dry wind blows right through me.
The baby's crying and I can't sleep
And I can feel a change is coming,
Coming closer sweet release.
I am calling you.
Can't you hear me?
I am calling you.
Ohhhhhhhh
Uhhhhh...


Featured in (or written for?) the movie Bagdad Cafe.
 
Another great post...I can't find any conversation that means more to me than talking[I Can't Find-Smokey Robinson].. Though she's gone to a far wonderous land, for you she'll always be a guiding hand]Little Boy Blue-The Impressions].. As the tears fall from my face, I can't believe I've been replaced[Shake Me Wake Me- The Four Tops].. There was a time if you had cried, I would've laid down my life and died [Crying Won't Help You Now-Clyde McPhatter]- Prove that it won't bother me, to become your used to be[Prove It- Aretha].
 
"Rider, Pass By" (Joan Baez)

Tell me when you see them
Gathered at the shore
Dancing on their broken chains
Ah, the ladies are no more
In their blue jeans and their necklaces
Against an evening sky
But some of them are weeping
Crying rider, please pass by

The ship with all the riders
Has drifted out to sea
Compass cracked and stars unnamed
It's lost to history
And the riders in captivity
Watch ancient waves roll high
And hear the distant voices
Crying rider, please pass by

All you men who should have been
Your fathers beat you down
Your mothers loved you badly
Your teachers stole your crowns
And the wars you fought have taken toll
The price was far too high
You've buried all the images
Of riders passing by

The horses of the riders
Have waited at the tide
But years have passed, they know at last
Their heroes will not ride
So the women oh so gracefully
Mount noble horses high
Shattering the timelessness
Of rider, please pass by

But who can dare to judge us
The women or the men?
If freedom's wings shall not be clipped
We all can love again
So the choice is not of etiquette
Or finding lonesome ways to die
But liberty to ships at sea
And riders passing by

But liberty to ships at sea
And riders passing by
 

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