This is the song that first came to mind for me. I was only in high school but this song taught me so much. It had never been put into words to me like that. I've always carried the meaning with me and it still breaks my heart to watch the world constantly cut it all right in two.
--Don't these talking monkeys know that
Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys
Where there's one, you're bound to divide it...
Well a teacher of mine once told me
That life was just a list of disappoints and defeats
And you could only do your best,
And I said "That's a fucking cop-out,
you're just washed up and your tired,
and when I get to your age I won't be such a coward"
But these day I sit at home, known to shout at my TV
And Punk Rock didn't live up to what I hoped that it could be
And all the things that I believed with all my heart when I was young
Are just coasters for beers and clean surfaces for drugs
And I packed all my pamphlets with my bibles at the back of the shelf
Well it was bad enough the feeling, and the first time it hit
When you realized your parents had let the world all go to shit
And that the values and ideals for which many had fought and died
Had been killed off in the committees and left to die by the wayside
But it was worse when we turned to the kids on the left
And got let down again by some poor excuse for protest
Yeah by idiot fucking hippies in 50 different factions
Who are locked inside some kind of 60's battle re-enactment
And I hung-up my banner in disgust and I head for the door
Oh but once we were young, and we were crass enough to care
But I guess you live and learn, we won't make that mistake again, no
Oh but surely just for one day, we could fight and we could win
And if only for a little while, we could insist on the impossible
Well we've been a good few hours drinking
So I'm going to say what everyone's thinking
If we're stuck on this ship and it's sinking
Then we might as well have a parade
Cos if it's still going to hurt in the morning
And a better plan's set to get forming
Then where's the harm spending an evening
In manning the old barricades,
So come on old friends to the streets
Let's be 1905 but not 1917,
Let's be heroes, let's be martyrs, let's be radical thinkers
Who never have to test drive the least of their dreams
Let's divide up the world into the damned and safe
And then ride to the valleys like the old life brigade
And straighten our backs and we won't be afraid
And they'll celebrate our deaths with a national parade
So come on let's be young, let's be crass enough to care
Let's refuse to live and learn, let's make all our mistakes again yes
And then darling, just for one day, we can fight and we can win
And if only for a little while, we could insist on the impossible
Leave the mourning the to the morning
Yeah pain can be killed
With aspirin tablets and vitamin pills
But memories of hope, and glorious defeat
Are a little bit harder to beat
They are the last lyrics of Biko, by Peter Gabriel. The way he sings those lyrics as the song builds toward the end hits me every time I hear it. The last line is sung after a slight pause, and it sounds like a veiled threat to the leaders of South Africa that killed Stephen Biko. Also, it didn't take a long time for change to happen in South Africa after the event, but when he wrote the song it was still several years away. So at the time it was still wishful thinking that "the wind would blow the flames higher".
This isn't easy because so many songs have lyrics that I love. But if I absolutely had to choose one, I would choose Don't Let Me Come Home A Stranger by Robin and Linda Williams. The lyrics are hauntingly beautiful.
Girls own the void!
Let's make some noise
Don't leave the house without a party bag, check this!
I'm still a princess, I can curtsy, I can beat you at tetris!
Girls own the void!
Let's make some noise
Don't leave the house without a party bag, check this!
I'm still a princess when there's nothing left to wear
It's impossible to choose a best, so I'll instead share a song whose lyrics I enjoy and connect with. It's "Out of My Depth," by Hot Chip. They're a band whose lyrics are often deep and meaningful, despite having a lot of fun "upper" music. I like this song because I'm prone to wallowing lol and it's a good reminder not to do so too much. It's ultimately a hopeful song.
When I'm in my darkest place, I must be careful not to dwell there
When I'm headed for the ditch, I must be careful not to sleep there
While I might enjoy the peace, there are other lights that call me
And although I'm out of the race, I know that something good must befall me
And when I'm swimming out of my depth, and I can barely see the crest of a wave that might destroy me
I must look for what I can't see
I must reach for what doesn't touch me
I must leave my lonely space and make time my only enemy
I must seek what can't be bought and make choices that support me
And the friends who fall apart from the crumbling walls that divide me
And when I'm swimming out of my depth and I can barely see the crest of a wave that might engulf me
Then I'm in my darkest room, but I'm careful not to enjoy it all too much
But as I leave, it will be helpful to have endured it
I must be careful not to trip, not to fall as I continue
But my darkest place is in me, and there's something there that calls me
He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and he takes a drag
Waiting for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box beneath the underpass
You got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and a gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathing in the city aqueduct
Well the highway is alive tonight
Where it's headed, everybody knows
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light
Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad
One side of me is filled with brightness
No matter what I might say
The days I made with waterfall colors
Could not make you stay
If rain falls down the side of my face,
Must be a rainy day.
Well, I did it for kicks and I did it for hate
I did it for lust and I did it for faith
Did it for need and I did it for love
Addiction stayed on tight like a glove
So I ran with the moon and I ran with the night
And the three of us were a terrible sight
Nipple to the bottle, to the gun, to the cell
To the bottom of a hole of a deeper well
Well
Lookin' for the water from a deeper well
Well
Lookin' for the water from a deeper well
I rocked with the cradle and I rolled with the rage
I shook those walls and I rattled that cage
Took my trouble down a dead end trail
Reachin' out a hand for a holier grail
Hey there, mama, did you carry that load
Did you tell your baby 'bout the bend in the road
'Bout the rebel yell, 'bout the one that fell
Lookin' for the water from a deeper well
Look who's come back home again
Loser looking for his lucky break
This time he says he just needs a friend
Ain't on the run he ain't on the take
Can you unlock this door babe
Will you just undo the chain
Will you take your time before you
Mix up love, his love and pain
Loneliness lays down his head
Wants to get you high, better take it now
A man like that's like an unmade bed
Stained eyes searching for another way out
Light as a feather when I'm floatin' through
Readin' through the daily news
Measuring the hurt within the golden rule
Centimetres of ether I'm heatin' the speaker
Motivational teacher with words that burn people
Seeing the headlines lined with discord
It's either genocide, all the planet in uproar
Never good but rules of paradise are never nice
The best laid plan of mice and men are never right
I'm just a vagabond with flowers for Algernon
The average Joe who knows what the fuck is goin' on
It's the hope of my thoughts that I travelled upon
Fly like an arrow of god until I'm gone
So I'm driftin' away like a feather in air
Lettin' my words take me away from the hurt and despair
So I'm keepin' it vertical forever elevator
Ridin' the escalator to the somethin' that is greater
So I'm driftin' away like a feather in air
Lettin' my words take me away from the hurt and despair
So I'm keepin' it vertical forever elevator
Ridin' the escalator to the somethin' that is greater
Taking chances, word tap dancing with wolves
In an ice arena out there, deep in the woods of Arizona
The sun be high, life's ironic
Ain't tryin' to be Talib when I write
Surreal life I paint it vivid habitat crazy insane
Watch the propaganda six o'clock news that are saying
Cultures clash for black folk and white trash
They revel in the cyberspace that might crash
Dash to millineum a million miles of runnin'
At the speed of now back don't return gunnin'
Rambo style gunho child gunnin'
Ammo blao two times loud stunnin'
Stunnin' when I hit ya lift you off the earth like
Ayo, take you right back to birth
And niggaz wonder why they might wonder why
This shit might happen but it does, they go
Driftin' away like a feather in air
Lettin' my words take me away from the hurt and despair
So I'm keepin' it vertical forever elevator
Ridin' the escalator to the somethin' that is greater
So I'm driftin' away like a feather in air
Lettin' my words take me away from the hurt and despair
So I'm keepin' it vertical forever elevator
Ridin' the escalator to the somethin' that is greater
Treat you better than me because that's the heavenly key
To unlock the inner strength where my essence will be
It's the knowledge of self understanding of the things around me
That becomes the wisdom that I need
Living this life to the best of my ability
Channelling energy to my thoughts into your symmetry
Remember me because my clothes remain gold
I got the gift of gab like them pimps in Kangols
It never ends I keep it rulin' like a cypher
The first caveman bringin' fire
Innovating and higher to blast mistakes I raise the stakes
It's double or nothing in this vacuumless space
I will survive, divine the time to cry
Fuck a hold or hide I'm alive with pride
And I drove the Chevy to the levy
But the levy was dry singin', "This will be the day that I die"
"The white milk dropped down with the blood." The whole song is basically a Cormac McCarthy novel in 6 minutes.
[Intro]
I'm not sure if there's a point to this story
But I'm going to tell it again
So many other people try to tell the tale
Not one of them knows the end
[Verse 1]
It was a junk house in South Carolina
Held a boy the age of ten
Along with his older brother Billy
And their mother and her boyfriend
Who was a triple loser with some blue tattoos
That were given to him when he was young
And a drunk temper that was easy to lose
But thank God he didn't own a gun
[Verse 2]
Well, Billy woke up in the back of his truck
Took a minute to open his eyes
He took a peep into the back of the house
And found himself a big surprise
He didn't see his brother, but there was his mother
With her red-headed head in her hands
While the boyfriend had his gloves wrapped around an old priest
Trying to choke the man
[Verse 3]
Billy looked up from the window to the truck
Threw up, and had to struggle to stand
He saw that red-necked bastard with a hammer
Turn the priest into a shell of a man
The priest was putting up the fight of his life
But he was old and he was bound to lose
The boyfriend hit as hard as he could
And knocked the priest right down to his shoes
[Verse 4]
Well, now Billy knew but never actually met
The preacher lying there in the room
He heard himself say, "That must be my daddy"
Then he knew what he was gonna do
Billy got up enough courage, took it up
And grabbed the first blunt thing he could find
It was a cold, glass bottle of milk
That got delivered every morning at nine
[Verse 5]
Billy broke in and saw the blood on the floor
And he turned around and put the lock on the door
He looked dead into the boyfriend's eye
His mother was a ghost, too upset to cry
Then he took a step toward the man on the ground
From his mouth trickled out a little audible sound
He heard the boyfriend shout, "Get out!"
And Billy said, "Not 'til I know what this is all about"
"Well, this preacher here was attacking your mama"
But Billy knew just who was starting the drama
So Billy took dead aim at his face
And smashed the bottle on the man who left his dad in disgrace
And the white milk dripped down with the blood
And the boyfriend fell down dead for good
Right next to the preacher who was gasping for air
And Billy shouted, "Daddy, why'd you have to come back here?"
His mama reached behind the sugar and honey
And pulled out an envelope filled with money
"Your daddy gave us this," she collapsed in tears
"He's been paying all the bills for years"
"Mama, let's put this body underneath the trees
And put daddy in the truck and head to Tennessee"
Just then his little brother came in
Holding the milk man's hat and a bottle of gin
[Bridge]
Singing; la la la la, la la la la, yeah
La la la la, la la la la, yeah
La la la la, la la la la, yeah
La la la, la la la...
La la la la, la la la la, yeah
La la la la, la la la la, yeah
La la la la, la la la la, yeah
La la la, la la la...
[Outro]
Well now you heard another side to the story
But you wanna know how it ends?
If you must know the truth about the tale
Go and ask the milkman
This song probably has some of the best structure I've ever heard from a song. They build this sort of indecisiveness throughout the song, trying to indicate that they want to share an honest emotion, but its very hard to describe exactly. So the last quarter of the song they kinda go back and forth with the lyrics.