Pithy lyrics that sum it all up

[barracuda]

I used to visit all the very gay places, those come-what-may places where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life to get the feel of life from jazz and cocktails. The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces with distant gay traces that used to be there. You could see where they'd been washed away by too many through the day - twelve o'clock tales. Then you came along with your siren song to tempt me to madness. I thought for awhile that your poignant smile was tinged with the sadness of a great love for me. Ah yes, I was wrong. Again, I was wrong.

Life is lonely again and only last year everything seemed so sure. Now life is awful again. A trough full of hearts could only be a bore. A week in Paris could ease the bite of it. All I care is to smile in spite of it.

I'll forget you, I will, while yet you are still burning inside my brain. Romance is mush, stifling those who strive, so I'll live a lush life in some small dive, and there I'll be while I rot with the rest of those whose lives are lonely too.

[barracuda]

I was saying let me out of here before I was even born - it's such a gamble when you get a face. It's fascinating to observe what the mirror does, but when I dine it's for the wall that I set a place.

To hold the t.v. to my lips, the air so packed with cash then carry it up flights of stairs and drop it in the vacant lot. To lose my train of thought and fall into your arms' tracks and watch beneath the eyelids every passing dot.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

.
No right to more than birth and death
for the privilleged drones of the former West
Their credo dead like Brezhnev's bones
Hemispheres and special malnutrition zones

No deathcamps here, I tell you
Just grey convenience hell
Ten civil wars unended
'neath billboard signs which yell

[AhabsOtherLeg]

.
The model volcano by the giant gas tank
The street corner gun-market next to the robbed bank
The poorhouse next to the Uniroyal palace
A tower of riches, beside it the abyss

[Bruce Dazzling]

The poets down here don't write nuthin' at all, they just stand back and let it all be."

[IanEye]

*

you seem so frail
in the cold of the night
when the armies of emotion
go out to fight

but while the earth
sinks to it's grave
you sail to the sky
on the crest of a wave

*

oh, keep an eye on the sky
will they come
oh, the bombs?

but do you wanna dance?
easy now...


*

[Joe Hillshoist]

There is a crack - a crack in everything
Thats how the light gets in.

- l cohen anthem

All the kings and queens in the bible
They could not turn back time
So what chance have I of a miracle
In this life of mine?
I only want one day
To unsay the things I said
Undo the thing I did
Twenty-four little hours
Oh God, please wipe them all away
And I promise I will change
If I could start today again

I know I'm not the milk and honey kind
Today I proved it true
When the red mist falls around my eyes
I know not what I do
Please give me back today
And I won't say the things I said
Or do that thing I did
Every minute, every hour
The replay's just the same
And I can't stand the shame
Oh let me start today again

I only want one day
One lousy day, that's all
Of every day that's been before
Since time began
I know my prayer's in vain
But for a second I'll pretend
That I can start today again

- p kelly if i could start again today

They're calling time for exercise
Round her Majesty's hotel
The maid'll hose the room out
When I'm gone
I never knew such luxury
Before my verdict fell
Four walls, washbasin, prison bed

Well the Bathurst riots ended
When they clubbed the rebels down
And in every congregation
There was silence
You can hear the Angels singin'
When Christmas comes around
Four walls, washbasin, prison bed

I love to march while some Nazi calls the time
Who'd wanna go home

I can't see
I can't hear
They've burnt out all the feeling
I've never been so crazy
And it's just my second year
Four walls, washbasin, prison bed

- cold chisel four walls

I'm so afraid for my country
There's an ill wind blowing no good
So many lies in the name of history
They want to improve my neighbourhood

I'm so worried about my brother
He just gets sadder every day
We gotta take care of each other
Or else we're gonna have to pay

In the land of the little kings
There's a price on everything
And everywhere the little kings
Are getting away with murder

I was born in a lucky country
Every day I hear the warning bells
They're so busy building palaces
They don't see the poison in the wells

In the land of the little kings
Profit is the only thing
And everywhere the little kings
Are getting away with murder

In the land of the little kings
Justice don't mean a thing
And everywhere the little kings
Are getting away with murder

p kelly little kings

[Nordic]

The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors
And the brown earth bleached white
At the edge of his gravestone
He's gone

When the wars of our nation did beckon
The man, barely twenty, did answer the calling
Proud of the trust
That he placed in our nation
He's gone

But eternity knows him
And it knows what we've done

And the rain fell like pearls
On the leaves of the flowers
Leaving brown, muddy clay
Where the earth had been dry

And deep in the trench
He waited for hours
As he held to his rifle
And prayed not to die

But the silence of night
Was shattered by fire
As the guns and grenades
Blasted sharp through the air

One after another
His comrades were slaughtered
In the morgue of marines
Alone, standing there

He crouched ever lower
Ever lower, with fear
They can't let me die
They can't let me die here.

I'll cover myself
With the mud and the earth
I'll cover myself
I know I'm not brave.

The earth, the earth
The earth is my grave.

The grave that they dug him had flowers
Gathered from the hillsides in bright summer colors
And the brown earth bleached white
At the edge of his gravestone
He's gone

-- Don Mclean - The Grave

[Canadian_watcher]

I cannot resist:

"It was a pretty big year for fashion
A lousy year for rock and roll
The people gave their blessing to crimes of passion
It was a dark, dark night for the collective soul
I was somewhere out on Riverside
By the El Royale Hotel
When a stranger appeared in a cloud of smoke
I thought I knew him all too well

He said, "Now that I have your attention
I got somethin' I wanna say
You may not wanna hear it
I'm gonna tell it to ya anyway
You know, I've always liked you, boy
'Cause you were not afraid of me
But things are gonna get mighty rough
Here in Gomorrah-By-The-Sea"

He said, "It's just like home
It's so damned hot, I can't stand it
My fine seersucker suit is all soakin' wet"

And the hills are burning
The wind is raging
And the clock strikes midnight
In the Garden of Allah

"Nice car.........
I love those Bavarians.....so meticulous
Y'know, I remember a time when things were a lot more fun around here
When good was good, and evil was evil
Before things got so.......fuzzy
Yeah, I was once a golden boy like you
I was summoned to the halls of power in the heavenly court
And I dined with the deities who looked upon me with favor
For my talents; my creativity
We sat beneath the palms in the warm afternoon
And drank the wine with Fitzgerald and Huxley

They pawned a biting phrase
From tongues hot with blood
And drained their pens of bitter ink
Vainly reaching for the bottle of empty Edens
Branded specially for the ones
Who had come with great expectations
To the perfumed halls of Allah
For their time in the sun

We were stokin' the fires
And oilin' up the machinery
Until the gods found out we had ideas of our own"

And the war was coming
The earth was shakiung
And there was no more room
In the Garden of Allah

"Today I made and appearance downtown
I am an expert witness, because I say I am
And I said, 'Gentleman...
And I use that word loosely...I will testify for you
I'm a gun for hire, I'm a saint, I'm a liar
Because there are no facts, no truth, just data to be manipulated
I can get you any result you like....what's it worth to ya?
Because there is no wrong, there is no right
And I sleep very well at night
No shame, no solution
No remorse, no retribution
Just people selling t-shirts
just opportunity t participate in this pathetic little circus
And winning, winning, winning' "

It was a pretty big year for predators
The marketplace was on a roll
And the land of opportunity
Spawned a whole new breed of men without souls
This year, notoriety got all confused with fame
And the devil is downhearted
Because there's nothing left for him to claim

He said, "It's just like home
It's so low-down, I can't stand it
I guess my work around here has all been done

And the fruit is rotten
The serpent's eyes shine
As he wraps around the vine
In the Garden of Allah"

[AhabsOtherLeg]

"I know Khomeini, John Wilkes Booth, and the Jackson 5,"
the old man roared as I poured him into his bed.
"Why, they control the bourbon runs from Bialystok to Brunei!
Brunceling, you're like me," he said,
"They fear us cause we accept no blame
and we're too fucking old to change.
Too many hatreds for making amends.
Too many favours for friends of dead friends.
Oh, their mumbled thanks came cheap to them.
Too many marksmen hid on the knolls,
Too many alibis always to hold,
I'm a sad old joke; forget I spoke..."

Old friends now reject me for misjudgements I've made
Some are in power, some in flyover graves,
Nothing, nothing, nothing is true
And tell me, stiff, whose little baby were you?

[Grizzly]

There's a prophet on a mountain and he's making up dinner
With long division and riding crop
Anybody can feel like a winner
When it's served up piping hot

But the people aren't looking for a handout
They're America's working corps
Can this be what they voted for?

Let them eat war [x2]
That's how to ration the poor
Let them eat war [x2]

There's an urgent need to feed
Declining pride

From the force to the union shops
The war economy is making new jobs
But the people who benefit most
Are breaking bread with their benevolent hosts

Who never stole from the rich to give to the poor
All they ever gave to them was a war
And a foreign enemy to deplore

[MayDay]

Roger Waters is beyond brilliant. My partner is obsessed with him- ok by me. It means I get ((have)) to listen to Waters a lot more than I would otherwise.

Roger Waters. Am on a political trip just now so would like to start with Perfect Sense off Amused to Death:

The monkey sat on a pile of stone
And he stared at the broken bone in his hand
Strains of a Viennese quartet rang out across the land
The monkey looked up at the stars
And he thought to himself
Memory is a stranger
History is for fools
And he cleaned his hands in a pool of holy writing
Turned his back on the garden and set out for the nearest town
Hold on hold on soldier

When you add it all up
The tears and the marrowbone
There's an ounce of gold
And an ounce of pride in each ledger
And the Germans kill the Jews
And the Jews kill the Arabs
And the Arabs kill the hostages
And that is the news
And is it any wonder that the monkey's confused
He said Mama Mama, the President's a fool
Why do I have to keep reading these technical manuals
And the joint chiefs of staff
And the brokers on Wall Street said
Don't make us laugh, you're a smart kid
Time is linear
Memory's a stranger
History is for fools
Man is a tool in the hands
Of the great God Almighty
And they gave him command of a nuclear submarine
Sent him back in search of the Garden of Eden

Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents,
Pounds, shillings and pence
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense



But if by 'it all' you mean 'it all', then some earlier Waters - Time off Dark Side of the Moon:

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

[MayDay]

Edit: Now I know what pithy means.
Definitely not what I originally posted here.

[Joe Hillshoist]

[Jeff]

I love to speak with Leonard
He's a sportsman and a shepherd
He's a lazy bastard living in a suit
But he does say what I tell him
Even though it isn't welcome
He just doesn't have the freedom
To refuse

He will speak these words of wisdom
Like a sage, a man of vision
Though he knows he's really nothing
But the brief elaboration of a tube

Going home without my sorrow
Going home sometime tomorrow
Going home to where it's better than before
Going home without my burden
Going home behind the curtain
Going home without the costume that I wore