lyrics of the week

AMERICA
Tracy Chapman

You were lost and got lucky
Came upon the shore
Found you were conquering America
You spoke of peace
But waged a war
While you were conquering America

There was land to take
And people to kill
While you were conquering America
You served yourself
Did God's will
While you were conquering America

The ghost of Columbus haunts this world
'Cause you're still conquering America
The meek won't survive
Or inherit the earth
'Cause you're still conquering America

America
America
America

Your found bodies to serve
Submit and degrade
While you were conquering America
Made us soldiers and junkies
Prisoners and slaves
While you were conquering America

America
America
America

You hands are at my throat
My back's against the wall
Because you're still conquering America
We're sick and tired hungry and poor
'Cause you're still conquering America

You bomb the very ground
That feeds your own babies
You're still conquering America
Your sons and your daughters
May never sing your praises
While you're conquering America

America
America
America

I see you eyes seek a distant shore
While you're conquering America
Taking rockets to the moon
Trying to find a new world
And you're still conquering America

America
America
America

The ghost of Columbus haunts this world
'Cause you're still conquering America
You're still conquering America
You're still conquering America

lyrics of the week

Clampdown
(J. Strummer/M. Jones)

What are we gonna do now?
Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
'Cause they're working for the clampdown
They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
When we're working for the clampdown
We will teach our twisted speech
To the young believers
We will train our blue-eyed men
To be young believers

The judge said five to ten-but I say double that again
I'm not working for the clampdown
No man born with a living soul
Can be working for the clampdown
Kick over the wall 'cause government's to fall
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D'you know that you can use it?

The voices in your head are calling
Stop wasting your time, there's nothing coming
Only a fool would think someone could save you
The men at the factory are old and cunning
You don't owe nothing, so boy get runnin'
It's the best years of your life they want to steal

You grow up and you calm down
You're working for the clampdown
You start wearing the blue and brown
You're working for the clampdown
So you got someone to boss around
It makes you feel big now
You drift until you brutalize
You made your first kill now

In these days of evil presidentes
Working for the clampdown
But lately one or two has fully paid their due
For working for the clampdown
But ha! Gitalong! Gitalong!



one of my all time favorite songs.

lyrics of the week

I Need to Wake Up By Melissa Etheridge
From the film An Inconvenient Truth


Have I been sleeping?
I’ve been so still
Afraid of crumbling
Have I been careless?
Dismissing all the distant rumblings
Take me where I am supposed to be
To comprehend the things that I can’t see

Cause I need to move
I need to wake up
I need to change
I need to shake up
I need to speak out
Something’s got to break up
I’ve been asleep
And I need to wake up
Now

And as a child
I danced like it was 1999
My dreams were wild
The promise of this new world
Would be mine
Now I am throwing off the carelessness of youth
To listen to an inconvenient truth

That I need to move
I need to wake up
I need to change
I need to shake up
I need to speak out
Something’s got to break up
I’ve been asleep
And I need to wake up
Now

I am not an island
I am not alone
I am my intentions
Trapped here in this flesh and bone

And I need to move
I need to wake up
I need to change
I need to shake up
I need to speak out
Something’s got to break up
I’ve been asleep
And I need to wake up
Now

I want to change
I need to shake up
I need to speak out
Oh, Something’s got to break up
I’ve been asleep
And I need to wake up
Now

lyrics of the week

This is a song very loosely based on Free's All Right Now. But the tempo is much slower and only the first verse follows the lyrics of the song at all. The verse chords are G to C to G to C and so on. The chorus chords are G to C to F repeated. I capo it on the third fret but it's not necessary. This song is about Alice in Wonderland and the author is, well, me.


All Mad Here
Rock4Ever95


He sat there smiling from his head to his feet
I walked up and said hey there
what's your name
are you insane
maybe we can see things the same
so let's move down and find a new cup
before time passes by

Chorus
They're all mad here
they're all mad here
they're all mad here
oh they're all mad here

My day started with a fall down a hole
I chased a white rabbit with a waistcoat
he said he was very very late
but I don't know for what date.

chorus

I met a hatter and a march hare
i met a dormouse asleep in his chair
I met a duchess and her pig a babe
I met a lot of freaky people on my travels today
because

Chorus

I met the cheshire cat
and he smiled so wide
and the rest disappeared
I asked him which way to go
and he said go this or go that
it doesn't matter because

chorus

I found the queen
playing croquet with hedgehogs and flamingos
she said off with her head
and I started running
and I never stopped because

chorus

It's not great art or anything but I Like it.

The rebirth of rock

In the past several years there has been a slew of bands and artists who are a lot like classic bands from the 60s and 70s. Here are a few examples:


Buddy Holly: Bruce Springsteen, they don't sound particularly alike, but they are both singer-songwriters in the same vain.

The Clash: Green Day they have many songs that are similar like Train in Vain and Good Riddance, White Riot and Know the Enemy, Should I Stay or should I go and American Idiot, ect

The Kinks: Van Halen

Bob Dylan: John Mellencamp they both have folk sensibilities and similar lyrics

Joan Baez : the Indigo Girls, really they are almost exactly alike)

The Eagles: The Counting Crows both of them are county rock, but with folk influences and the occasional rocker and a ton of "story songs"

Bob Dylan: James McMurtry almost everything by him is like Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan: Bruce Springsteen, almost everything he sings has dylan-like
lyrics

Janis Joplin: Melissa Ethridge they have the same voice and are strong female rockers

The list just goes on and on. It makes one wonder what Bands will be like thirty years from now. How will they emulate popular bands if all the popular bands are emulating others. On the other hand, Bob Dylan emulates Woody Guthrie and bands still manage to emulate him, so maybe there is hope.