Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday — And In The End

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80A69B27-D003-4F86-969E-80ACA8702C0AFor this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams gave us Bottom/End/Middle/Side/Top as the theme. The song that came to mind for me was “The End” from the Beatles eleventh studio album, Abbey Road, which was released in September 1969.

Personally, I don’t care what anyone else says. In my opinion, Abbey Road is the best of all of the Beatles albums. To me, it is pure musical and lyrical genius.

“The End” was composed by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It features one of the few drum solos recorded by Ringo Starr. It was the last song recorded collectively by all four Beatles. While it was initially intended to be the final track on Abbey Road, it ended up being followed by “Her Majesty.” Still, it is the final song in the suite of songs on “side two” of the album, which consists mostly of a medley of song fragments edited together to form a single piece. “The End” starts over the end of “Carry That Weight.”

The line, “And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make,” one of my personal favorite lines in all of rock music, was essentially the Beatles closing statement. It was the last lyric on the last album they recorded. Let It Be was the last album they released, but it was actually recorded earlier than Abbey Road. It was the end of the band and they knew it, though it wasn’t spoken. The love they collected from everybody was the same intense love that they invested in the band’s work. “The End” was the Beatles’ last message of love.

Here are the lyrics to “The End.”

Oh yeah, all right
Are you going to be in my dreams
Tonight?

[Drum solo]

[Guitar solos]

And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love
You make

Song Lyric Sunday — La Te Da

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has given us more of a sound than a word. That sound is “la.” For the first time since I’ve been responding to the Song Lyric Sunday prompt, first when Helen Vahdati was hosting it, and since Jim took it over, I’m featuring the same artist two weeks in a row. Last week the theme was “crazy,” and I chose Van Morrison’s song “Crazy Love.” This week I’m choosing Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” not only because it’s a great song, but because “la” appears in it 66 times!

“Brown Eyed Girl” was written and performed by Van Morrison as a track on his first solo album, Blowin’ Your Mind! It was released as a single in June 1967 and spent sixteen weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 10.

The song was originally titled “Brown-Skinned Girl,” and it was about an interracial relationship, but Morrison changed it to “Brown Eyed Girl” when he recorded it in order to make it more palatable for radio stations. Morrison remarked of the title change, “That was just a mistake. It was a kind of Jamaican song. Calypso. It just slipped my mind that I changed the title.”

Some stations banned the song anyway for the line, “Making love in the green grass.” A radio-edit of the song was released which removed the lyrics, “Making love in the green grass,” and replaced them with an overdub of “Laughin’ and a-runnin’, hey hey” from a previous verse to make it more radio-friendly.

Here are the lyrics to the song.

Hey where did we go
Days when the rains came
Down in the hollow
Playin’ a new game
Laughin’ and a-runnin’ hey, hey
Skippin’ and a-jumpin’
In the misty morning fog with
Our hearts a thumpin’ and you
My brown eyed girl
You’re my brown eyed girl

Whatever happened
To Tuesday and so slow
Going down the old mine
With a transistor radio
Standing in the sunlight laughing
Hiding behind a rainbow’s wall
Slippin’ and slidin’
All along the water fall, with you
My brown eyed girl
You’re my brown eyed girl

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
Just like that
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da, la te da

So hard to find my way
Now that I’m all on my own
I saw you just the other day
My how you have grown
Cast my memory back there, Lord
Sometime I’m overcome thinking ’bout
Making love in the green grass
Behind the stadium with you
My brown eyed girl
You’re my brown eyed girl

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (lying in the green grass)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (sha la la la la la)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da

Song Lyric Sunday — Crazy Love

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has given us the theme “crazy.” As soon as I saw the prompt, one song popped into my head: “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison.

“Crazy Love” was is a romantic ballad written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. The song was included on his 1970 album, Moondance.

D083C344-21B2-4EC6-8638-B4857D2B06A5Morrison wrote this song shortly after he had married his girlfriend, Janet “Planet” Rigsbee, who appeared with Morrison on the cover of the single release.

It’s about a love that makes the bad times good and the good times better. It’s a soothing love that makes you complete, and the song caught on as a way for lovers to express just these emotions.

“Crazy Love” has been one of Van Morrison’s most covered compositions. Helen Reddy had a hit with the song on the adult contemporary chart in 1971, as did a Aaron Neville in 1996. Cassandra Wilson sang the track on the tribute album No Prima Donna: The Songs of Van Morrison, released in 1994. He also famously performed live duets of the song with Ray Charles and with Bob Dylan. Michael Bublé used the song’s name for the title off his fourth studio album, released in 2009 Bublé’s cover version was released as the fourth single from that album.

Here are the lyrics to “Crazy Love.”

I can hear her heart beat from a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her that’s where I belong
Yet I’m running to her like a river’s song

She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love

She’s got a fine sense of humor when I’m feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down
Take away my trouble, take away my grief
Take away my heartache in the night like a thief

She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love

Yes I need her in the daytime
I need her
Yes I need her in the night
I need her
Yes I want to throw my arms around her
I need her
Kiss and hug her, kiss and hug her tight

And when I’m returning from so far away
She gives me some sweet lovin’ brighten up my day
Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me whole
Yes it makes me mellow down into my soul

She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love

Song Lyric Sunday — Summer Holiday

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has given us the words of Christmas, Holiday, and Snowman for a “Christmassy” theme. Personally, I’ve already heard enough Christmas songs over the past four or five weeks to last me for the rest of the year. And I live in a part of the country where it doesn’t snow, so forget about a song about a snowman. Thus, I’m going to focus on the word “holiday” for my song choice, and a summer holiday at that — the Fourth of July!

“Saturday in the Park” was written by Robert Lamm, a member of the group Chicago. It was recorded for the group’s 1972 album Chicago V. The song was released as a single and reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was the band’s highest-charting single at the time, helping lift the album to number 1.

Lamm wrote the song after spending the Fourth of July in New York’s Central Park, where there were steel drum players, singers, dancers, and jugglers. Lamm and Peter Cetera sang lead on the track. Lamm admitted that he based the song’s melody on “You Won’t See Me” by The Beatles.

According to the Songfacts site, after Lamm sang the line, “Singing Italian songs,” he allegedly sang some made up words, “Eh cumpari, ci vo sunari,” that he thought sounded Italian. But it turned out that the line is actually the first line of the song “Eh Cumpari” sung by Julius La Rosa in 1953. The line translates loosely to “Hey friend, let’s make some music.”

Here are the song’s lyrics.

Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Saturday in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
People dancing, people laughing
A man selling ice cream
Singing Italian songs
Eh cumpari, ci vo sunari
Can you dig it (yes, I can)
And I’ve been waiting such a long time
For Saturday

Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
Another day in the park
I think it was the Fourth of July
People talking, really smiling
A man playing guitar (play a song, play a song, play on)
Singing for us all (singing for us)
Will you help him change the world
Can you dig it (yes, I can)
And I’ve been waiting such a long time
For today

Slow motion riders fly the colors of the day
A bronze man still can tell stories his own way
Listen children all is not lost, all is not lost
Oh no, no

Forty days in the park
And every day’s the Fourth of July
Forty days in the park
Every day’s the Fourth of July
People reaching, people touching
A real celebration
Waiting for us all (waiting for us all)
If we want it, really want it
Can you dig it (yes, I can)
And I’ve been waiting such a long time
For the day
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Song Lyric Sunday — Hey! Baby

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has given us the theme “baby.” I engaged the Wayback Machine to dig up the song “Hey! Baby” from Bruce Channel.

“Hey! Baby” was written around 1959 by Bruce Channel and his friend Margaret Cobb. He performed the song for two years before recording it for Fort Worth record producer Bill Smith in 1961. It was issued originally on Smith’s LeCam label, but as it started to sell well, it was acquired for distribution by Smash Records, a subsidiary of Mercury. Channel’s roots were primarily in country music, but this song broke into the pop music charts and it went to number one in the U.S. in March 1962 and held that position for three weeks.

“Hey! Baby is a simple song about a guy who sees a girl walking down the street and asks her to “be his girl,” but she turns around and walks away, at which points he pleads with her to give him a whirl.

In 1987, “Hey! Baby” was featured in the popular movie Dirty Dancing. By the way, Bruce pronounced his last name, Channel, not like a TV channel, but like the French couturier Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, as in sha-NEL.

Here are the lyrics to Hey! Baby.

Hey, hey baby
I want to know if you’ll be my girl
Hey, hey baby
I want to know if you’ll be my girl

When I saw you walking down the street
I said that’s a kind of girl I’d like to meet
She’s so pretty, Lord, she’s fine
I’m gonna make her mine, all mine

Hey, hey baby
I want to know if you’ll be my girl

When you turned and walked away
That’s when I want to say
“C’mon baby, give me a whirl
I want to know if you’ll be my girl”

Hey, hey baby
I want to know if you’ll be my girl

When you turned and walked away
That’s when I want to say
“C’mon baby, give me a whirl
I want to know if you’ll be my girl”

Hey, hey baby
I want to know if you’ll be my girl
Hey, hey hey hey hey, baby c’mon, baby now