[gravitas]

This topic lives or dies with you guys, so let's have some feedback.




...Please?



Anyway, I'd like to nominate the last Stanza of Bob Dylan's 115th Dream. It goes:

Well, the last I heard of cap'n A-rab
He was stuck on a whale
That was married to the deputy
Sheriff of the jail
But the funniest thing was
When I was leavin' the bay
I saw three ships a-sailin'
They were all heading my way
I asked the captain what his name was
And how come he didn't drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus
I just said, "Good luck."

It's funnier if you've heard the whole song. If you're interested, I guess you could nab it off of iTunes or just look up the lyrics to the song (try here: http://bobdylan.com/songs/115dream.html)

But for those of you who don't read books...

[mcknett]

I have to throw a couple of John Prine lyrics in here...having to do with clowns.

From "That's the Way That The World Goes Round"..

"Naked as the eyes of a clown"

Think about it.

And then from "The Other Side of Town"

"A clown puts his make-up on upside down
so he wears a smile even when he wears a frown."

Listen to the rest of the song on that one.

[Lcjones]

Folks, those are hard to top. Both world class lyricists.

But my bang for the buck ... (another John Prine line)

Oh the glory of true love
Is a wild and precious thing
It don’t grow on old magnolias
Or only blossom in the spring

from his latest Fair & Square album.

Les

[justinthyme]

For me, the lyric doesn't necessarily need to even make sense - often I have no idea what is being sung. One of my all time favs is 'Suite Judy Blue Eyes', as performed by CS&N at Woodstock. I still have little clue what the words are actually about ... and finding an accurate translation of the Spanish in the closing stanza has not been entirely convincing. But the lyrics undenaibly (for me) add to the beauty of the piece.

I may not be alone in this, but sometimes lyrics in foreign languages are kind of 'mysterious' and somehow much more inspriring than the reality of what is actually being sung. Probably a similar reason the media were not allowed in the past to broadcast the casual spoken word of the British monarchy ... (I have no idea if that is still the case). The reality would be far more boring, I would guess - than the truth.

Just an opinion, folks ...

[Lcjones]

"often I have no idea what is being sung. One of my all time favs is 'Suite Judy Blue Eyes', as performed by CS&N at Woodstock. I still have little clue what the words are actually about"

In regards to SJB at Woodstock, I doubt CSN&Y had too much of a clue either at that moment! I was close by but not at the concert. All the same

Les

[andmoreagain]

My favourite is

Farewell to this lands' cheerless marshes
Penned in like a boar between arches
her very lowness with a head in a sling
I'm truly sorry but it sounds like a wonderful thing
Oh Charles don't you ever crave
To appear on the front of the Daily Mail
dressed in your mother's bridal veil

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

Very resonating growing up in Manchester, England in the 80's!!!

[allthumbs]

"I'm gonna be a Baptist preacher so I don't have to work." Son House. Cracks me up every time I hear it.Love that tune.

[gravitas]

I just heard this one the other day. It's The Clutch off of their recent CD Blast Tyrant:

"Condoleeza Rice is nice, but I prefer A-Roni.
And that man on the T.V. who speaks to the dead, you know that man's a phony."

Which sent me reeling. Anyone who rhymes Condoleeza Rice A-Roni with a jibe at John Edward is okay by me. Needless to say, I looked a little deeper. I got this one off of iTunes, called Texan Book of the Dead. It loses a little something minus its stunning delivery, but I still thought it was worth a read-over.

"Be leary of Timothy,
Clear light and all that.
If you want light go stare at the sun.
Hell, that boy don't know crap!"