From the posthumously released album ‘Black Star’, the haunting, deeply moving and, yes, disturbing ‘Lazarus’. Look up here, I’m in heavenI’ve got scars that can’t be seenI’ve got drama, can’t be stolenEverybody knows me now Look up here, man, I’m in dangerI’ve got nothing left to loseI’m so high, it makes my brain whirlDropped my…
‘Blood On The Tracks’, released in 1975, is widely considered to be one of Dylan’s finest studio albums and this is certainly one of the highlights. In the accompanying video here it’s performed by the Jerry Garcia Band in a gentle stretched-out version – ideal for a Sunday morning. Jerry died on August 9th 1995.…
Way back in 1984, when Morrissey was almost normal…. Punctured bicycleOn a hillside desolateWill Nature make a man of me yet? When in this charming carThis charming man Why pamper life’s complexitiesWhen the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat? I would go out tonightBut I haven’t got a stitch to wearThis man said “It’s…
Song Lyric Sunday this week is all about automobiles, be they limousines, jalopies or anything in between. Or, in this case, any that happen to be passing by outside a cheap motel room. From the ‘L.A. Woman’ album and with writing credits for all four band members, this is just a very simple, traditional 12-bar…
This week’s topic for Song Lyric Sunday is breaking up. Famously hard to do – according to Carole King at any rate – and (almost) always a sad occasion: one that can generate overwhelming emotions of grief and misery in the party on the receiving end, as it were. However, here it’s Dylan doing the…
This week’s shudder-inducing theme for Song Lyric Sunday is insects and other creepy things that most right-minded people find utterly horrible. It must be said that such creatures are not typical subjects for your average songsmith. There again, The Who’s bass guitarist, John Entwistle, was far from typical. ‘Boris The Spider’ is obviously a novelty…
On Independence Day, Jim’s theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is entirely appropriate – any music by an American artiste or artistes. Even from this side of the Atlantic it’s very clear that one of the most influential groups representing American culture (and, indeed, counter-culture) must be the Grateful Dead. Many of their songs…
The theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week is any of the three square meals that mark the typical day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Once again I’ve had to resort to a reference to one of these in the lyrics rather than the title of a song. This bouncy little number is best known in…
Well. the prompts for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday are a bit out of the ordinary (thankfully): sheer nastiness – ‘brutal; ‘cruel’; ‘violent’. Rather than find a song whose title includes one of these words (and the only one that came to mind was ‘Don’t Be Cruel’), I tried some lateral thinking and came up…
Jim’s theme for Song Lyric Sunday this week consists of words intended to attract someone’s attention – including the ever-popular ‘Hey’. I completely overlooked what is arguably the most well-known song featuring that word in its title – The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’, which I suspect will be – quite rightly – a popular choice and…
