now that i have your attention with that ridiculous title…
i was walking along hindley street thursday evening past the strip clubs, yiros joints, tattoo parlours, internet cafes, bookshops, marijuana paraphernalia outlets and mini-marts on the way to a class at Adelaide Centre for the Arts in Light Square. I was listening to music and bustling along bittersweet-symphony style between hundreds of panicked people rushing the other way towards the mall to buy non-essentials before the good friday shut down (oh no, a full day without commerce, iiee!). It had just started to drizzle with rain, the first break in adelaide’s longest heat wave on record. In my ears a song started, by XTC, and the lyric was “no matter what the weather, you and the clouds will still be beautiful.” For some reason it moved me almost to tears.
Question: Ever get caught off guard by sudden moments of clarity in song lyrics that either
a.) offer amazing insight into life, or
b.) give great advice you always return to time and again, or
c.) make the world seem instantly less foul, exposing the universal beauty everywhere that was hidden but a moment ago?
elvis costello’s “in time you can turn these obsessions into careers” is one of these for me.
anyone? please share them here.
robotsdream, 4 months ago
not sure about the great advice but these are few fave lyrics that offer a little insight into life and soothe my soul because beautiful lyrics and words can do that.
Fruit Tree – Nick Drake
Life is but a memory
Happened long ago.
Theatre full of sadness
For a long forgotten show.
No more Affairs – Tindersticks
Its an impulsive thing
But we caught the other
Climbed into bed with all our previous lovers
It gets crowded in there
Theres no more affairs
Side effect – The Czars
Take a look at me
Give me everything you’ve got
If it’s not enough
Make me everything you’re not
Creep- Radiohead
I want you to notice when i’m not around
gracelouise, 4 months ago
There’s this poem i read two years ago for a poetry assignment we had to do for school, and i had to read quite a lot of poems, but there is this one verse that ive always remembered thats just stuck to me. And so here it is =] :
Addictions aplenty
Way before twenty,
Makes like painful,
Makes like empty.
The poem is called “Addictions” by Suroor and you can find it on this website: http://www.netpoets.com/poems/society/1379001.htm
I’ve had one of those weird music playing moments multiple times as well. Possibly because i never stop listening to music but all the same…
bearhat in reply to robotsdream’s comment, 4 months ago
some great choices, robotsdream.
both nick drake and radiohead are favourites.
lately for me it’s tom waits.
humour: “she’s been married so many times, she got rice marks in her face.”
philosophical: “you know there aint no devil, it’s just god when he’s drunk.”
bizarre: “i’m walking spanish down the hall.”
sinister: “fly away bird, fly away home, your house is on fire, your children are alone.”
and “the ocean doesn’t want me today.”
but my absolute favourite is from ‘make it rain’:
“i want to believe in the mercy of the world again.”
this line pulled me out of a deep emotional pit at a time when all i had was numbness and the shattered dreams of a cynic. it pierced me, and made me tear up. “yes,” my scoured heart replied. “i do. i want to believe in that. i want to believe in the mercy of the world again.” i started to notice beauty again soon after, first in the rain, then in clouds, then in the sound of the wind in the trees. then. slowly, in people. it’s there, you just have to scrunch your eyes up a bit sometimes. or listen for splinters of kindness hidden in the stupid-arse things they say.
bearhat in reply to gracelouise’s comment, 4 months ago
strange what sticks with us. i still remember a poem about middle age being like ice scrolled over by the blades of skaters, read to me seventeen years ago.
robotsdream, 4 months ago
you remembered something from 17 years ago?! Tom Waits is great. You should read his collected interviews “Innocent when you dream” you probably already have it. I love Elvis Costello too. And if you love Nick Drake you really should check out Bonnie Prince Billy (an American folk singer/songwriter/poet) – he’s absolutely amazing. He’s the sort of artist that grows on you slowly then BANG, suddenly you have to have everything they’ve ever produced.
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/bonnie_prince_billy/i_see_a_darkness.html
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/bonnie_prince_billy/after_i_made_love_to_you.html
bearhat in reply to robotsdream’s comment, 4 months ago
yeah, i have the collected interviews.
bonnie prince billy! i love his stuff. only have 2 albums though.
my favourite lyric of his would have to be:
“why can’t i be loved as what i am
a wolf among wolves and not
as a man among men.”
but it’s all gold.
robotsdream, 4 months ago
yeah, it is all gold!