Lyrics

I'm starting with some lyrics. The parts I really like are in bold.

Some of the lyrics, some people may find offensive - but I assure you, they were written and performed by some of the most highly regarded and influential artists in the history of rock music, and it is not my intention to offend - so, in the words of Brian May, "Tie Your Mother Down" and strap in, or exit through the gift shop.

Lost Johnny

Ian (Lemmy) Kilminster, Mick Farren

You only get a single chance, the rules are very plain

The truth is well concealed inside the details of the game

You can see it coming, you can hear it from afar

It's pale and it flickers like a faded movie star

And up there in the castle, they're trying to make us scream

By sticking thumbtacks in her flesh and cancelling the dream

Can you find the valium, can you bring it soon?

Lost Johnny's out there baying at the moon

The time has come for you to choose, you'd better get it right

Berlin girls with sharp white teeth are waiting in the night

But you oughta really get some, it surely can't be hard

There's always trouble waiting when you leave your own backyard

And underneath the city, the alligators sing

Of how the puppets cannot dance since someone cut the strings

Run and get the morphine, for God's sake, make it brief

Lost Johnny's out there looking for relief

Now Larry looks so evil and you know, he really tries

But every time he makes a play, that vital number dies

And Sally buys her underwear from a store where no-one goes

She makes it big in photographs on the strength of what she shows

And here inside the waiting room, the radio still screams

And we're all taking Tuenol to murder our young dreams

Run and fetch your credit card, try to make it quick

Lost Johnny's out there trying to turn a trick

Lemmy was originally in Hawkwind and when he formed Motorhead he covered a number of the tracks he had (co)written with Hawkwind, like The Watcher, Lost Johnny and Motorhead.

Drowse

Roger Taylor, Queen

It's the sad-eyed goodbye

Yesterday moments I remember

It's the bleak street, weak-kneed partings

I recall

It's the mistier mist, the hazier days

The brighter sun and the easier lays

There's all the more reason

For laughing and crying

When you're younger

And life isn't too hard at all

It's the fantastic drowse of the afternoon Sundays

That bored you to rages of tears

The unending pleadings to waste all your good times

In thoughts of your middle-aged years

It's a vertical hold, all the things that you're told

For the everyday hero, it all turns to zero

And there's all the more reason

For living or dying

When you're young

And your troubles are all very small

Out here on the street, we'd gather and meet

And scuff up the sidewalk with endlessly restless feet

And half of the time we'd broaden our minds more

In the pool hall than we did in the school hall

With the downtown chewing-gum bums

Watching the nightlife, the lights and the fun

Never wanted to be the boy next door

Always thought I'd be something more

But it ain’t easy for a small-town boy

It ain’t easy at all

Thinkin' it right, doin' it wrong

It's easier from an armchair

Waves of alternatives wash at my sleepiness

Have my eggs poached for breakfast, I guess

I think I'll be Clint Eastwood

Oh no, Jimi Hendrix, he was good

Let's try William the Conqueror

Now who else do I like?

Brian May

Roger Taylor, the drummer with Queen, wrote in a way that, on occasion, managed to capture the dreaminess of one's memories of the mundane aspects of life when you are young - Drowse, on A Day at the Races was one, and below is Tenement Funster from Sheer Heart Attack.

Tenement Funster

Roger Taylor, Queen

My new purple shoes

Been amazin' the people next door

And my rock 'n roll 45's

Been enragin' the folks on the lower floor

I've got a way with the girls on my block

Try my best be a real individual

And when we go down to Smokies and rock

They line up like it's some kind of ritual

Ooh, give me a good guitar

And you can say that my hair's a disgrace

Or just find me an open car

I'll make the speed of light outta this place

I like the good things in life

But most of the best things ain't free

And this same situation, just cuts like a knife

When you're young and you're poor, and you're crazy

Time

David Bowie

Time, he's waiting in the wings

He speaks of senseless things

His script is you and me, boy

Time, he flexes like a whore

Falls wanking to the floor

His trick is you and me, boy

Time, in quaaludes and red wine

Demanding Billy Dolls

And other friends of mine

Take your time

The sniper in the brain, regurgitating drain

Incestuous and vain

And many other last names

Oh, well, I look at my watch, it says nine twenty-five

And I think "Oh God, I'm still alive"

We should be on by now

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

You are not a victim

You just scream with boredom

You are not evicting time

Chimes, goddamn, you're looking old

You'll freeze and catch a cold

'Cause you've left your coat behind

Take your time

Breaking up is hard, but keeping dark is hateful

I had so many dreams

I had so many breakthroughs

But you, my love, were kind, but love has left you dreamless

The door to dreams was closed

Your park was real dreamless

Perhaps you're smiling now

Smiling through this darkness

But all I had to give was guilt for dreaming

We should be on by now

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, yeah, time!

This is one of the tracks where the theatricality of the delivery of the lines is equally as important as the words, so please, listen to the song; there is a live version, from Ziggy's infamous last performance, and further down, the album version.

Zombie

Dolores Mary O'Riordan, The Cranberries

Another head hangs lowly

Child is slowly taken

And the violence caused such silence

Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it's not me

It's not my family

In your head, in your head, they are fighting

With their tanks and their bombs

And their bombs and their guns

In your head, in your head, they are crying

In your head, in your head

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie

What's in your head, in your head?

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie, oh

Do, do, do, do

Another mother's breaking

Heart is taking over

When the violence causes silence

We must be mistaken

It's the same old theme

Since nineteen-sixteen

In your head, in your head, they're still fighting

With their tanks and their bombs

And their bombs and their guns

In your head, in your head, they are dying

In your head, in your head

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie

What's in your head, in your head?

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, eh-eh oh, ya-ya

O’Riordan wrote its biggest hit, 1994’s “Zombie,” about two children killed during a 1993 bombing in England by the Irish Republican Army...

....Island Records urged them not to release it as a single.

It is said, that they offered her a $1 million cheque to work on another song, instead of Zombie, and O’Riordan ripped it up.

Time

Gilmour/Waters/Mason/Wright, Pink Floyd

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day

Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way

Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown

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

And 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

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time

Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way

The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say

Home, home again

I like to be here when I can

And when I come home cold and tired

It's good to warm my bones beside the fire

Far away across the field

The tolling of the iron bell

Calls the faithful to their knees

To hear the softly spoken magic spells

“Time“ is a song from British progressive rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon.

Bassist Roger Waters wrote the lyrics, and it is the only song on the album credited to all four members of the band.

The lyrics of the song deal with Roger Waters's realization that life was not about preparing yourself for what happens next, but about grabbing control of your own destiny.

Oh Well

Peter Alan Green, Fleetwood Mac

I can't help about the shape I'm in

I can't sing, I ain't pretty and my legs are thin

But don't ask me what I think of you

I might not give the answer that you want me to

Oh well

Now when I talked to God I knew he'd understand

He said, "Sit by me, and I'll be your guiding hand"

But don't ask me what I think of you

I might not give the answer that you want me to

Oh well

“Oh Well“ is a song from British rock band Fleetwood Mac. This is the original line-up of Fleetwood mac formed by Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, who have remained with the band throughout its many line-up changes.

"Oh Well" was composed in two parts, with "Part 1" as a fast electric blues song with vocals (lasting 2:19), and "Part 2" as an entirely different instrumental piece with a classical influence (lasting 5:39).

Goodbye Stranger

Richard Davies, Roger Hodgson, Supertramp

It was an early morning yesterday

I was up before the dawn

And I really have enjoyed my stay

But I must be moving on

Like a king without a castle

Like a queen without a throne

I'm an early morning lover

And I must be moving on

Now I believe in what you say

Is the undisputed truth

But I have to have things my own way

To keep me in my youth

Like a ship without an anchor

Like a slave without a chain

Just the thought of those sweet ladies

Sends a shiver through my veins

And I will go on shining

Shining like brand new

I'll never look behind me

My troubles will be few

Goodbye stranger it's been nice

Hope you find your paradise

Tried to see your point of view

Hope your dreams will all come true

Goodbye Mary, goodbye Jane

Will we ever meet again

Feel no sorrow, feel no shame

Come tomorrow, feel no pain

Sweet devotion (Goodby Mary)

It's not for me (Goodbye Jane)

Just give me motion (Will we ever)

To set me free (Meet again)

In the land and the ocean (Feel no sorrow)

Far away (Feel no shame)

It's the life I've chosen (Come tomorrow)

Every day (Feel no pain)

So goodbye Mary (Goodbye, Mary)

So goodbye Jane (Goodbye, Jane)

Will we ever (Will we ever)

Meet again (Meet again)

Now some they do and some they don't

And some you just can't tell

And some they will and some they won't

With some it's just as well

You can laugh at my behaviour

And that'll never bother me

Say the devil is my saviour

But I don't pay no heed

And I will go on shining

Shining like brand new

I'll never look behind me

My troubles will be few

Goodbye, stranger, it's been nice

Hope you find your paradise

Tried to see your point of view

Hope your dreams will all come true

Goodbye Mary, goodbye Jane

Will we ever meet again

Feel no sorrow, feel no shame

Come tomorrow, feel no pain

Sweet devotion (Goodbye, Mary)

It's not for me (Goodbye, Jane)

Just give me motion (Will we ever)

To set me free (Meet again)

In the land and the ocean (Feel no sorrow)

Far away (Feel no shame)

It's the life I've chosen (Come tomorrow)

Every day (Feel no pain)

So now I'm leaving (Goodbye, Mary)

Got to go (Goodbye, Jane)

Hit the road (Will we ever)

I'll say it once again (Meet again)

Oh, yes, I'm leaving (Feel so sorrow)

Got to go (Feel no shame)

Got to go (Come tomorrow)

I'm sorry, I must dash (Feel no pain)

So goodbye Mary (Goodbye, Mary)

So goodbye Jane (Goodbye, Jane)

Will we ever (Will we ever)

Meet again? (Meet again)

Go and believe it

I've got to go

“Goodbye Stranger“ is a song from British rock band Supertramp.

This track is from their 1979 album 'Breakfast in America', which also featured the iconic 'Logical Song'.

I love 'Goodbye Stranger' for the lines that I've highlighted, which convey a gently humourous and philosophic response to how we might best approach the differences between us.

The full 'Breakfast in America' album above.

And if you like this, then their next most successful album, "Crime of the Century' 1974, is below, in true vinyl-style, side 1 then side 2.

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