Music

Your Song

Fandango16 Comments

I have already posted my response to Helen Vahdati’s Song Lyrics Sunday prompt, but when I saw today’s one-word prompt, “song,” I decided to respond with another song. And my choice for this post is Elton John’s “Your Song.”

“Your Song” was composed and performed by Elton John with lyrics by his longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin. It originally appeared on John’s self-titled second studio album, which was released in 1970.

Taupin, who was only 17 when he wrote the lyrics, said he didn’t write it about anyone in particular. He admitted that it “has got to be one of the most naïve and childish lyrics in the entire repertoire of music, but I think the reason it still stands up is because it was real at the time. That was exactly what I was feeling.”

Here are the song’s lyrics.

It’s a little bit funny this feeling inside
I’m not one of those who can easily hide
I don’t have much money but boy if I did
I’d buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show
I know it’s not much but it’s the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one’s for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it’s done
I hope you don’t mind
I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you’re in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they’ve got me quite cross
But the sun’s been quite kind while I wrote this song
It’s for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I’ve forgotten if they’re green or they’re blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it’s done
I hope you don’t mind
I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you’re in the world

Song Lyric Sunday — Stay With Me

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt, Helen Vahdati chose the word, “stay.” There are tons of songs that contain that word, but one of my favorites is Rod Stewart’s “Stay With Me.”

“Stay with Me” was written by Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. It was first recorded by their band Faces for the 1971 album A Nod Is As Good As a Wink…to a Blind Horse.

The song is essentially a tale of sexual debauchery. The lyrics describe a woman — a groupie — named Rita with “red lips, hair, and fingernails” that the singer “found… down on the floor.” He proposes a one-night stand on the condition that she must be gone when he wakes up, although he does offer to pay her cab fare home.

The song reached number 17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Here are the song’s lyrics.

In the morning
Don’t say you love me
Cause I’ll only kick you out of the door

I know your name is Rita
Cause your perfum smelling sweeter
Since when I saw you down on the floor,
guitar

Won’t need to much pursuading
I don’t mean to sound degrading
But with a face like that
You got nothing to laugh about

Red lips hair and fingernails
I hear your a mean old jezabel
Lets go up stairs and read my tarot cards

Stay with me
Stay with me
For tonight you better stay with me

Stay with me
Stay with me
For tonight you better stay with me

So in the morning
Please don’t say you love me
Cause you know I’ll only kick you out the door

Yea I’ll pay your cab fare home
You can even use my best colonge
Just don’t be here in the morning when I wake up

Stay with me
Stay with me
Cause tonight you better stay with me
Sit down, get up, get down

Stay with me
Stay with me
Cause tonight your going stay with me
Hey, whats your name again
oh no, get down, wooo

Running on Empty

Fandango6 Comments

4898493E-2189-4F90-A3C4-A7FA15DAF6CFWhen I saw today’s one-word prompt, “deplete,” the first thing that came to mind was an empty gas tank depleted of the fuel that keeps the car on the road. And that reminded me of the Jackson Browne song, “Running on Empty.”

And so, since my brain today seems to be running on empty, depleted of any remaining creative energy, I thought I’d just post a video of his song here. Enjoy.

Song Lyric Sunday — Lights Go Out On Broadway

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When Helen Vahdati chose “lights” as the theme for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt, I had to go with Billy Joel’s “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway).”

This song, written and originally recorded by Billy Joel, appeared as the final song on his Turnstiles album in 1976. Several of his live performances, including his very emotional performance at The Concert for New York City for victims of the September 11 attacks in 2001, have been recorded.

According to Joel, it’s a “science fiction song” about an apocalypse occurring in New York as a result of concerns that the city was failing in the 1970s. He explained that he wrote the song while living in Los Angeles in 1975, when New York City was on the verge of bankruptcy and the federal government declined to bail the city out.

Joel stated that the song is titled “Miami 2017” because many New Yorkers retire to Miami and the narrator is telling his grandchildren in the year 2017 about what he experienced in the destruction of New York.

Here are the lyrics to the song.

Seen the lights go out Broadway
I saw the Empire State laid low
And life went on beyond the Palisades
They all bought Cadillacs
And left there long ago

They held a concert out in Brooklyn
To watch the island bridges blow
They turned our power down
And drove us underground
But we went right on with the show

I’ve seen the lights go out on Broadway
I saw the ruins at my feet
You know we almost didn’t notice it
We’d seen it all the time on Forty second street

They burned the churches down in Harlem
Like in that Spanish civil war
The flames were everywhere
But no one really cared
It always burned up there before

I’ve seen the lights go out on Broadway
I saw the mighty skyline fall
The boats were waiting at the battery
The union went on strike
They never sailed at all

They sent a carrier out from Norfolk
And picked the Yankees up for free
They said that Queens could stay
And blew the Bronx away
And sank Manhattan out at sea

You know those lights were bright on Broadway
That was so many years ago
Before we all lived here in Florida
Before the Mafia took over Mexico
There are not many who remember
They say a handful still survive
To tell the world about
The way the lights went out
And keep the memory alive

Song Lyric Sunday — These Days

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The theme that Helen Vahdati picked out for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday is “days.” The first song that came to mind for me was the Jackson Browne song, “These Days.”

Yes, I know that my last week’s pick for this prompt was another Jackson Browne song, “Doctor My Eyes.” What can I say? I am a Jackson Browne fan and Helen keeps picking themes that match his songs.

Anyway, “These Days” was written by Jackson Browne when he was only 16. It’s a simple, sad, and profound song that deals with loss and regret.

Even though Browne wrote it, he wasn’t the first to record it. It was first recorded by German model and singer, Nico, for release on her October 1967 album Chelsea Girl.

It wasn’t until Jackson Browne released his second album, For Everyman, in 1973, that he recorded his song. And even then, he used an arrangement that he credited to Gregg Allman that Allman included on his 1973 solo album, Laid Back.

Here are the lyrics to Jackson Browne’s “These Days.”

Well I’ve been out walking
I don’t do that much talking these days
These days-
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
For you
And all the times I had the chance to

And I had a lover
It’s so hard to risk another these days
These days-
Now if I seem to be afraid
To live the life I have made in song
Well it’s just that I’ve been losing so long

I’ll keep on moving
Things are bound to be improving these days
These days-
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend
Don’t confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them