Favorite songs

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Here are a few of my favorite songs, lyrics-wise (okay, maybe the melody doesn't hurt) in roughly the order they became my favorites. (Which is not necessarily the order in which I originally heard them.) See also Other stuff for other ``favorites'' lists.

Love in Vain

And I followed her to the station
    with a suitcase in my hand
And I followed her to the station
    with a suitcase in my hand
Well, it's hard to tell, it's hard to tell
    when all your love's in vain
All my love's in vain

When the train rolled up to the station
    I looked her in the eye
When the train rolled up to the station
    and I looked her in the eye
Well, I was lonesome, I felt so lonesome
    and I could not help but cry
All my love's in vain

When the train, it left the station
    with two lights on behind
When the train, it left the station
    with two lights on behind
Well, the blue light was my blues
    and the red light was my mind
All my love's in vain

Ou hou ou ou ou
    hoo, Willie Mae
Oh oh oh oh oh hey
    hoo, Willie Mae
Ou ou ou ou ou ou
    hee vee oh woe
All my love's in vain

- Robert Johnson

This is take 1 of this song, from Columbia's 1990 box set Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings.

Black

Sheets of empty canvas
Untouched sheets of clay
They spread out before me
As her body once did

All five horizons
Revolved around her sun
(As the earth to the sun)
Now the air I tasted and breathed
Has taken a turn

And all I taught her was
Everything
I know she gave me all
That she wore

And now my bitter hands
Shake beneath the clouds
Of what was everything
All the pictures have
All been washed in black
Tattooed everything

I take a walk outside
I'm surrounded by
Some kids at play
I can feel their laughter
So why do I sear?

And twisted thoughts that spin
'Round my head
I'm spinning
Oh, I'm spinning
How quick a sun can
Drop away

And now my bitter hands
Cradle broken glass
Of what was everything
All them pictures have
All been washed in black
Tattooed everything

All the love gone bad
Turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see
All that I am
All I'll be

I know someday you'll have a beautiful life
I know you'll be a star
In somebody else's sky
But why
Why
Why
Can't it be
Can't it be mine?

- Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)

This is from the excellent album Ten. I've given the lyrics as I hear them, not based on any printed version. I've also taken the liberty of dropping most of the well's, oh's and yeah's.

Hurt

i hurt myself today
to see if i still feel
i focus on the pain
the only thing that's real
the needle tears a hole
the old familiar sting
try to kill it all away
but i remember everything
what have i become?
my sweetest friend
everyone i know
goes away in the end
you could have it all
my empire of dirt
i will let you down
i will make you hurt
i wear this crown of shit
upon my liar's chair
full of broken thoughts
i cannot repair
beneath the stains of time
the feelings disappear
you are someone else
i am still right here
what have i become?
my sweetest friend
everyone i know
goes away in the end
and you could have it all
my empire of dirt
i will let you down
i will make you hurt
if i could start again
a million miles away
i would keep myself
i would find a way

- Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)

This is the final track on The Downward Spiral. The formatting above is as printed in the lyrics booklet, but I have changed some of the lyrics to what he actually sings.

I Miss You

I miss you
But I haven't met you yet
So special
But it hasn't happened yet
You are gorgeous
But I haven't met you yet
I remember
But it hasn't happened yet

And if you believe in dreams
Or what is more important
That a dream can come true
I, I will meet you

I was peaking
But it hasn't happened yet
I haven't been given
My best souvenir
I miss you
But I haven't met you yet
I know your habits
But wouldn't recognize you yet

And if you believe in dreams
Or what is more important
That a dream can come true
I miss you

I'm so impatient
I can't stand the wait
When will I get my cuddle?
Who are you?

I know by now
That you'll arrive
By the time
I stop waiting

I miss you

- Björk

This is from Björk's second solo album (after leaving the Sugarcubes), Post. The lyrics, apart from a few minor formatting changes I've made, are taken directly from Bjork Lyrics.

Jóga

All these accidents,
That happen,
Follow the dot,
Coincidence,
Makes sense,
Only with you,
You don't have to speak,
I feel.

Emotional landscapes,
They puzzle me,
Then the riddle gets solved,
And you push me up to this

State of emergency,
How beautiful to be,
State of emergency,
Is where I want to be.

All that no-one sees,
You see,
What's inside of me,
Every nerve that hurts,
You heal,
Deep inside of me, oo-oohh,
You don't have to speak,
I feel.

Emotional landscapes,
They puzzle me - confuse,
Then the riddle gets solved,
And you push me up to this

State of emergency,
How beautiful to be,
State of emergency,
Is where I want to be.

State of emergency,
How beautiful to be,

Emotional landscapes,
They puzzle me,
Then the riddle gets solved,
And you push me up to this

State of emergency,
How beautiful to be,
State of emergency,
Is where I want to be.

State of emergency,
How beautiful to be,
State of emergency,
State of, state of,
How beautiful,
Emergency,
Is where I want to be.

State of emergency,
How beautiful to be,
State of emergency,
Is where I want to be.

State of emergency,
How beautiful to be.

- Björk

This is from Homogenic. As before, these lyrics are taken from Bjork Lyrics.

The All Music Guide calls this ``a moving song dedicated to her homeland and her best friend''. Um, okay, but I don't think the song is about either of those things. I mean, it's obviously about a lover... right?

Casualties

We're the casualties
No one tells you about us
You'll hear stories
But you have to live to believe
We're the bodies piled up by the roadside
You'll smell us burning
It'll give you bad dreams

Don't run away
We're a cautionary tale
Walk softly and take heed
Don't offer us your sympathy
You don't know what we need

We are the lost and the forsaken
Screaming just to hear a voice
A sound to fill the empty spaces
A hand to hold and still the shaking

We're the spineless
The skinless and the broken
You'll be a crutch
Cause we can't stand on our own
You'll get around us
Comfort and heal us
But the nature of our pain will remain unknown

Don't come to me for happiness
I'm an open pit and you will just fall in
Don't ask me what my problem is
I wouldn't know where to begin

We are the lost and the forsaken
Screaming just to hear a voice
A sound to fill the empty spaces
A hand to hold and still the shaking

We are the wasted and the weary
Giving up and falling down
We are the needy
Sick for your love
A hand to hold and still the shaking

Let it go and lay it down
A drug to take to stop the aching

I get so tired of holding on
I get so cold that I am chilled to the bone
I cry so hard it knocks me down
I just don't want to be alone

We are the lost and the forsaken
Screaming just to hear a voice
A sound to fill the empty spaces
A hand to hold and still the shaking

We are the wasted and the weary
Giving up and falling down
We are the needy
Sick for your love
A hand to hold and still the shaking

Don't offer sympathy
Cause you don't know what I need		          (Let it go and lay it down)
I'm so tired of holding on
That I'm giving up and falling down		          (Let it go and lay it down)
I don't want to be alone
And it chills me to the bone		          (Let it go and lay it down)
So don't ask me what's wrong
It's been going on so long I don't know		          (Let it go and lay it down)
I'm wasted and I'm cold
And I need a hand to hold		          (Let it go and lay it down)
And the nature of my pain
Remains unknown even to me		          (Let it go and lay it down)
I'm screaming for the sound
'Cause I feel like someone's 'round		          (Let it go and lay it down)
Let it go and lay it down
To fill the empty space with love		          (Let it go and lay it down)

- Steven Baca, Rob King and Sara Wallace (Red Delicious)

The second track on the Red Delicious album Emotional Blur. You can hear more of their stuff at MP3.com.

Reason to Believe

Seen a man standing over a dead dog
By a highway in a ditch
He's looking down kind of puzzled
Poking that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open
He's standing out on Highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough
That dog get up and run
Man, it struck me kinda funny
Seemed kinda funny, sir, to me
How at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

Well, Mary Lou loved Johnny
With a love mean and true
She said, Baby, I'll work for you every day
And bring my money home to you
One day up and left her
And ever since that
She waits down the end of that dirt road
For young Johnny to come back
Man, it struck me kinda funny
Seemed kinda funny, sir, to me
How at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

Take the baby to the river
Kyle William they called him
They washed the baby in the water
To take away little Kyle's sins
In a white-wash shotgun shack
An old man passes away
They take his body to the graveyard
And over him they pray
Lord, now won't you tell us
Tell us what does it mean?
Still at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

Congregation gathers
Down by the riverside
Preacher stands with a Bible
Groom stands waiting for his bride
Congregation gone
The sun sets behind a weeping willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on
So effortlessly
Lord, and he's wondering
Where can his baby be
Still at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

- Bruce Springsteen

I first heard this song many years ago -- even before the first song on this page -- on the four-CD set Live/1975-1985, and that's the version these lyrics are based on. But it was only recently, when I was singing it to myself in the shower one day, that I realized what a powerful song it is. It touches on birth and death, loss and abandonment, and the meaning of life itself.

I always thought of it as a pretty simple song about faith, or at least hope. Life is hard, I figured Bruce was saying, but with faith -- and each other -- we can persevere.

Now I see something much more cynical in it. The hope of Mary Lou is foolish, that of the groom futile. The faith of the congregation is, one could argue, naive and desperate. They wash away the (nonexistent?) sins of a newborn baby while an old man dies alone in his home. Then they use the occasion of his funeral to implore their Lord to provide them with the meaning that they haven't been able to find for themselves. (These are the same Good Folks, I assume, who abandon the groom in the final verse.)

And the man in the first verse seemingly can no more comprehend the dog's death than the dog could if he were standing over the man's dead body.

This isn't a song about faith and perseverance. It's about ignorance and self-deception!

Rearviewmirror

I took a drive today
Time to emancipate
I guess it was the beatings
Made me wise
But I'm not about to give thanks
Or apologize

I couldn't breathe
Holding me down
Hand on my face
Pushed to the ground
Enmity gauged
United by fear
Forced to endure
What I could not forgive

I seemed to look away
The wounds in the mirror waved
It wasn't my surface
Most defiled

Head at your feet
Fool to your crown
Fist on my plate
Swallowed it down
Enmity gauged
United by fear
Tried to endure
What I could not forgive

[some unitellibible background vocals]

Saw things
Saw things
Saw things
Saw things
Clearer
Clearer
Once you
Were in my
Rearview mirror

I gather speed
From you fuckin' with me
Once and for all
I'm far away
I hardly believe
Finally the shades are raised
(Raised now)
   
Saw things so much clearer
 		 (Once you, once you)
Rearview mirror  
Saw things so much clearer
 		 (Once you, once you)
Rearview mirror  
Saw things so much clearer
 		 (Once you, once you)
Rearview mirror  
Saw things so much clearer
 		 (Once you)

(Oh, yeah)

- Pearl Jam

Like the previous song, I've been listening to this one for years now and just recently decided to add it to this page.

It comes midway through their second album, Vs..

Under Your Spell

I lived my life in shadow
Never the sun on my face
It didn't seem so sad though
I figured that was my place

Now I'm bathed in light
Something just isn't right

I'm under your spell
How else could it be
Anyone would notice me?

It's magic I can tell
How you set me free
Brought me out so easily

I saw a world enchanted
Spirits and charms in the air
I always took for granted
I was the only one there

But your power shone
Brighter than any I've known

I'm under your spell
Nothing I can do
You just took my soul with you

You worked your charms so well
Finally I knew
Everything I dreamed was true
You made me believe

The moon to the tide
I can feel you inside

I'm under your spell
Searching like the sea
Brought to you so helplessly

I break with every swell
Lost in ecstasy
Spread beneath my Willow tree
You make me complete

You make me complete
You make me complete
You make me complete

- Joss Whedon (performed by Amber Benson)

This was written for the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer called ``Once More, With Feeling''. It appears on the album of the same name (Buffy the Vampire: Once More, With Feeling). Good stuff, if you're a fan of the show.

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Section: Donald Lancon, Jr. / Music, TV & Movies

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Donald Lancon, Jr. [e-mail me]
Last modified: Mon, 05 Jul 2004