From Punk to Classical with Words

Rocks Off

Lenny — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:32:47 +0000

Probablay their grestest album although I do have soft spot for Steel wheels. Rocks off is the opening track on Exile on Main street. Generally not a track performed that often. The performance below is taking from a live concert at Twickenham in England. Where they perform as good as they did on Exile on Mainstreet.

I think the lyrics are pretty good too, though it is not possible to hear them on the track so I have pasted them below. Rolling stones are a unique mix that are pretty cool at what they do. It is kind of interesting to hear Jagger explain at the end of the song that they started their career just across the road at the Richmond rugby club.

Oh yeah!

I hear you talking when I’m on the street,
Your mouth don’t move but I can hear you speak.
What’s the matter with the boy?
He don’t come around no more,
Is he checking out for sure?
Is he gonna close the door on me?

I’m always hearing voices on the street,
I want to shout, but I can’t hardly speak.
I was making love last night
To a dancer friend of mine.
I can’t seem to stay in step,
‘Cause she come ev’ry time that she pirouettes over me.

And I only get my rocks off while I’m dreaming,
I only get my rocks off while I’m sleeping.

I’m zipping through the days at lightning speed.
Plug in, flush out and fire the fuckin’ feed.
Heading for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you’ve kicked before,
I can’t even feel the pain no more.

But I only get my rocks off while I’m dreaming, (only get them off)
I only get my rocks off while I’m sleeping.

Feel so hypnotized, can’t describe the scene.
Its all mesmerized all that inside me.
The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.
Chasing shadows moonlight mystery.
Headed for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you’ve kicked before,
I can’t even feel the pain no more.

But I only get my rocks off while I’m dreaming (only get them off, get them off),
I only get my rocks off while I’m sleeping (only get them off, get them off).

Think It Over

Lenny — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:51:20 +0000

I remember this from years ago. Not one of Lou’s most well known tracks but something of unique beauty. I have to confess that it did make me cry to hear it. So simply yet so profound. In the mist of things we do we sometimes forgot what it is all about and what we are asking from people and offering. Unless it is a two way venture one party will always get hurt. I reckon though on balance a lot of people have no idea what they are asking. :-)

Waking, he stared raptly at her face
on his lips, her smell, her taste
Black hair framing her perfect face
with her wonderful mind and her incredible grace
And so, he woke, he woke her with a start
to offer her his heart
for once and for all, forever to keep
And the words, that she first heard him speak
were really very sweet
he was asking her to marry him, and to
Think it over

baby, think it over
Think it over
baby, why don’t you think it over

She said, somewhere, there’s a faraway place
where all is ordered and all is grace
No one there is ever disgraced
and everyBODY there is wise and everyone has taste
And then she sighed, well la-dee-dah-dee-dah
you and I have come quite far
and we really must watch what we say
Because when you ask for someone’s heart
you must know that you’re smart
smart enough to care for it, so I’m gonna
Think it over

baby, think it over
Think it over
Baby, I’m gonna think it over

Lou Reed Think It Over lyrics

Doing it with style…..Walls Come Tumbling Down

Lenny — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:57:37 +0000

Doing it Style Council style, never the easiest emotion to express and when it is expressed it usually comes out as some uncoordinated distorted sound but not Mr Weller and team. If you going to get pissed about something there is no better way than to do it with this song. It has a go at everyone with incredible beauty. I kind of wondering what it means by “Lights go out - walls come tumbling down” I always kind of imagine that as some kind sexual thing, but who knows.

You dont have to take this crap
You dont have to sit back and relax
You can actually try changing it
I know weve always been taught to rely
Upon those in authority -
But you never know until you try
How things just might be -
If we came together so strongly

Are you gonna try to make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt
You see things can change -
Yes an walls can come tumbling down!

Governments crack and systems fall
cause unity is powerful -
Lights go out - walls come tumbling down!

The competition is a colour tv
Were on still pause with the video machine
That keep you slave to the h.p.

Until the unity is threatend by
Those who have and who have not -
Those who are with and those who are without
And dangle jobs like a donkeys carrot -
Until you dont know where you are

Are you gonna realize
The class wars real and not mythologized
And like jericho - you see walls can come tumbling down!

Are you gonna be threatend by
The public enemies no. 10 -
Those who play the power game
They take the profits - you take the blame -
When they tell you theres no rise in pay

Are you gonna try an make this work
Or spend your days down in the dirt -
You see things can change -
Yes an walls can come tumbling down!

Singapore

Lenny — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:52:58 +0000

I first heard this song when I was about 19, kind of wished that I had heard it about 4 years earlier. It is from the classic album Rain Dogs which includes such classics as ‘Tango in till they’re sore’, ‘Downtown train’ which was covered by Rod Stewart .

I am not sure that I imagine Singapore to be like this any more, but it is kind of an exciting adventure. The album version if my favourite but there is a live version of the song from you tube below.

We sail tonight for singapore,
Were all as mad as hatters here
Ive fallen for a tawny moor,
Took off to the land of nod
Drank with all the chinamen,
Walked the sewers of paris
I danced along a colored wind,
Dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

We sail tonight for singapore,
Dont fall asleep while youre ashore
Cross your heart and hope to die
When you hear the children cry
Let marrow bone and cleaver choose
While making feet for children shoes
Through the alley, back from hell,
When you hear that steeple bell
You must say goodbye to me

Wipe him down with gasoline
til his arms are hard and mean
From now on boys this iron boats your home
So heave away, boys

We sail tonight for singapore,
Take your blankets from the floor
Wash your mouth out by the door,
The whole towns made of iron ore
Every witness turns to steam,
They all become italian dreams
Fill your pockets up with earth,
Get yourself a dollars worth
Away boys, away boys, heave away

The captain is a one-armed dwarf,
Hes throwing dice along the wharf
In the land of the blind
The one-eyed man is king, so take this ring

We sail tonight for singapore,
Were all as mad as hatters here
Ive fallen for a tawny moor,
Took off to the land of nod
Drank with all the chinamen,
Walked the sewers of paris
I drank along a colored wind,
I dangled from a rope of sand
You must say goodbye to me

Changing of the Guards

Lenny — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:03:36 +0000

I actually think the words in this song below are much stronger than the music. though the backing singers do add a nice touch. It draws a picture of struggling psyches in a relationship. Where the pursuit of love has turned sour. It is another Dylan classic. Of course one may like to entertain the highest ideals in the things we pursue, only a truly free man may not be affected with no vested interests and the application of compassion.

Part of the participation in this process is disillusionment. Usually healed by the opposite love. As the song develops there is a no doubt that when belief is lost everything else deteriorates. It is quite possible that our minds can simple not handle the amount of life with out a belief in the way society/life should be ordered. The question is what should that order be if one seeks that in religion or social clubs. This song does fit well in the internalisation or externalisation of processes that one may go through.

It is interesting too how the images of power are played out in the last verses through use of kings and Queens and organisations. We quite often perceive life in relation to what we can do and how we do that. This is the ultimate trick as the song demonstrates that control of a changing reality may not be worth what one once pursued.

Sixteen years,
Sixteen banners united over the field
Where the good shepherd grieves.
Desperate men, desperate women divided,
Spreading their wings ‘neath the falling leaves.

Fortune calls.
I stepped forth from the shadows, to the marketplace,
Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down.
She’s smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born,
On midsummer’s eve, near the tower.

The cold-blooded moon.
The captain waits above the celebration
Sending his thoughts to a beloved maid
Whose ebony face is beyond communication.
The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid.

They shaved her head.
She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo.
A messenger arrived with a black nightingale.
I seen her on the stairs and I couldn’t help but follow,
Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her veil.

I stumbled to my feet.
I rode past destruction in the ditches
With the stitches still mending ‘neath a heart-shaped tattoo.
Renegade priests and treacherous young witches
Were handing out the flowers that I’d given to you.

The palace of mirrors
Where dog soldiers are reflected,
The endless road and the wailing of chimes,
The empty rooms where her memory is protected,
Where the angels’ voices whisper to the souls of previous times.

She wakes him up
Forty-eight hours later, the sun is breaking
Near broken chains, mountain laurel and rolling rocks.
She’s begging to know what measures he now will be taking.
He’s pulling her down and she’s clutching on to his long golden locks.

Gentlemen, he said,
I don’t need your organization, I’ve shined your shoes,
I’ve moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.

Peace will come
With tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire
But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall
And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating
Between the King and the Queen of Swords.

Cash is King

Lenny — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:24:43 +0000

Johnny Cash who dominated music for over 5 decades is one of my great listening pleasures. I only got into him in the nineties. Many people have a slightly skew idea of who he is and what he does. I had a girlfriend who thought he was John Wayne. In my mind Johnny Cash did his best work in the last years of his life. Together with Rick Ruben an American rap producer. They produced music of such depth and intensity that there is nothing quite like it.

Of course I am sure that he is equally well known for his contributions in the other four decades. There are so many situations where his music is suitable . I remember eating turkey at Christmas while having some of his earlier songs playing in the background. He has done many wonderful versions of different songs. The one below is a song written by Nick Lowe for Johnny, a song that he managed to transform. Of course there is lot of Christian imagery but it goes much deeper than that. Music and Art lend themselves to our own interpretations and projections. Which is probably why they are so powerful. Redemption is from the an american recording Cd. If you are not familiar with it I recommend it. Although anything from the american recordings collection should suffice. There is a live version below of this song too.

From the hands it came down
From the side it came down
From the feet it came down
And ran to the ground
Between heaven and hell
A teardrop fell In the deep crimson dew
The tree of life grew

And the blood gave life
To the branches of the tree
And the blood was the price
That set the captives free
And the numbers that came
Through the fire and the flood
Clung to the tree
And were redeemed by the blood

From the tree streamed a light
That started the fight
‘Round the tree grew a vine
On whose fruit I could dine
My old friend Lucifer came
Fought to keep me in chains
But I saw through the tricks
Of six-sixty-six

From his hands it came down
From his side it came down
From his feet it came down
And ran to the ground
And a small inner voice
Said “You do have a choice.”
The vine engrafted me
And I clung to the tree

Jackie Wilson Said……

Lenny — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:51:04 +0000

Of all the songs that are worth singing this has got be my favourite. One can question the misuse of love songs or the importance of them generally. This raises above it, as it is a simple state of being. Jackie Wilson was a soul singer who obviously inspired Mr Morrison to write this number. Reet-petite was one of his biggest selling numbers and is worth a listen too. It is no surprise that Van has just kick off a greatest hits compilation with this number. One of the great little known tracks and words are just fantastic.

Jackie Wilson said (I am in Heaven when you smile)

Da, da, da, da, da,
Jackie wilson said
It was “reet-petite”
Kinda love you got
Knock me off my feet
Let it all hang out
Oh, let it all hang out.
And you know
I’m so wired-up
Don’t need no coffee in my cup
Let it all hang out
Let it all hang out.
Watch this:
Ding-a-ling-a-ling
Ding-a-ling-a-ling-ding
Ding-a-ling-a-ling
Ding-a-ling-a-ling-ding
Do-da-do-da
I’m in heaven, i’m in heaven
I’m in heaven, when you smile
When you smile, when you smile
When you smile.
And when you walk
Across the road
You make my heart go
Boom-boom-boom
Let it all hang out
Baby, let it all hang out
And ev’ry time
You look that way
Honey chile, you make my day
Let it all hang out
Like the man said: let it all hang out.

Born In Time

Lenny — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:59:52 +0000

This is a relative recent track from Bob, although Mr Dylan is probably one of the most significant poets of the last century, I do consider that he writes from a depressed point of view. Still he does have an incredible art with words. This version that has been in my head for a while is from the 1992 album under a blood red sky. Although it was first recordered for a album prior to that.

The meaning that I draw from the song is that it is about relationships and time and how they affect each other. Sometimes if things were to happen in a different order our lives would be quite different. That does not distract though from the fact that now is the most important time of all.

In the lonely night

In the blinking stardust of a pale blue light
You’re comin’ thru to me in black and white
When we were made of dreams.

You’re blowing down the shaky street,
You’re hearing my heart beat
In the record breaking heat

Where we were born in time.
Not one more night, not one more kiss,

Not this time baby, no more of this,
Takes too much skill, takes too much will,
It’s revealing.
You came, you saw, just like the law
You married young, just like your ma,
You tried and tried, you made me slide
You left me reelin’ with this feelin’.

On the rising curve
Where the ways of nature will test every nerve,
You won’t get anything you don’t deserve
Where we were born in time.
You pressed me once, you pressed me twice,
You hang the flame, you’ll pay the price,
Oh babe, that fire
Is still smokin’.
You were snow, you were rain
You were striped, you were plain,
Oh babe, truer words
Have not been spoken or broken.

In the hills of mystery,
In the foggy web of destiny,
You can have what’s left of me,
Where we were born in time.

in the mood for love

Lenny — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:15:28 +0000

This is actually quite an old song, I know there is a version by Johnny Mathis which I have not heard. The one that did it for me was Bryan Ferry’s version (linked here or in the play list on the right) from the film with the same name. A song that expressed all the tenderness of Love. Some times for no reason you are there. Along with words it kind of takes me back to a beautiful place.

I am in the mood for love
Simply because you’re near me
Funny but when you’re near me
I’m in the mood for love

Heaven is in your eyes
Bright as the stars we’re under
Oh, is it any wonder
I’m in the mood for love
Why stop to think of whether
This little dream might fade
We’ve put our hearts together
Now we are one, I’m not afraid

If there’s a cloud above
If it should rain we’ll let it
But for tonight forget it
I’m in the mood for love
Why stop to think of whether
This little dream might fade
We’ve put our hearts together
Now we are one, I’m not afraid

If there’s a cloud above
If it should rain we’ll let it
But for tonight forget it
I’m in the mood for love

Libor Novacek Going To His Concert

Lenny — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:21:00 +0000

Finding time to do things that are personally important to us, is a major part of life to get right. So much that we do is for other people, other causes. Perhaps it is more important these things come first. I have been meaning for a while to write a few things here. I have some case studies to prepare for tomorrow and it is already a quarter to eleven. Still though I am going to find time to write about a concert that I went to recently. Mainly because these small things are important too. I reckon it will make me feel better, than anything else that I can do now.

Last Thursday I saw Libor Novacek as the concert guide describe:

“A formidable Liszt interpreter, the Prague-born Libor Novacek has already been compared to such great pianists as Claudio Arrau and Wilhelm Kempff, his music-making described as being of ‘exceptional poetic verve and inwardness’. The former Young Concert Artists Trust performer follows a delightful sonata from Hadyn’s middle period and eight capriccios and intermezzos from Brahms’s middle years, with the fantastic nine-part product of the Swiss period of Liszt’s colourful years of pilgrimage.”

I am not familiar with his work so it was a first time experience. I can testify that it was an electrifying performance. I have seen quite a number of piano recitals but nothing like this. He was unstoppable even though the stool was squeaking he was not to be deterred or distracted. I was truly moved by his soft delicate interpretation of Liszt in the first half of his performance. After a break of 20 minutes he focused on slightly heavy and less well known pieces. To play dissonance requires impeccable timing and a thorough understanding of the music. Although I could not reach the left cerebral heights enjoyed by the first half. It was an uplifting experience. Performing for over an hour and a half, I was so glad that he choose to play pieces that are not so well known. I believe that we will be able to buy the record soon as that was his last performance before going into the studio to record these songs that he has been performing on this concert tour.