<p>Best song ever? </p>
<p>Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear…</p>
<p>Simple, direct, to-the-point, timeless, and everyone knows it. You can even sing it in other languages, same tune:</p>
<p>Cumpleanos feliz,
Cumpleanos feliz…</p>
<p>Bonni Anni-versaire
Bonni Anni-versaire…</p>
<p>Oh okay, serious now. Sorry for double-posting, but I CAN’T BELIEVE NOBODY SAID THIS.</p>
<p>Sunrise, Sunset, from Fiddler on the Roof</p>
<p>(Tevye)
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?</p>
<p>(Golde)
I don’t remember growing older
When did they?</p>
<p>(Tevye)
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?</p>
<p>(Golde)
Wasn’t it yesterday
When they were small?</p>
<p>(Men)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze</p>
<p>(Women)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears</p>
<p>(Tevye)
What words of wisdom can I give them?
How can I help to ease their way?</p>
<p>(Golde)
Now they must learn from one another
Day by day</p>
<p>(Perchik)
They look so natural together</p>
<p>(Hodel)
Just like two newlyweds should be</p>
<p>(Perchik & Hodel)
Is there a canopy in store for me?</p>
<p>(All)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears</p>
<p>(are we all weeping now, or is it just me?)</p>
<p>Lyrics, really great lyrics, stay with you. For example I was out with my wife late last night, and it was drizzly and misty, and what popped into my head?</p>
<p>In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
**I turned my collar to the cold and damp **
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence</p>
<p>And Landslide, by Stevie Nicks, gets mentioned on the “empty nest” threads. Brings a tear to my eye…</p>
<p>Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
ohhh…</p>
<p>Well I’ve been afraid of changing
Cause I built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
And I’m getting older, too.</p>
<p>Ramones:
I don’t wanna be a pinhead no more. I just met a nurse that I could go for. (Repeat)</p>
<p>Grateful Dead–Touch of Grey</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Billy Bragg “She’s Got a New Spell”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>emphasis mine, cuz I think they’re such neat lines.</p>
<p>This Land Is Your Land–Woody Guthrie</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Last one, I promise! (I think :))</p>
<p>U2–Beauiful Day
</p>
<p>Breathe 3am</p>
<p>But we can’t jump the track
We’re like cars on a cable
And life’s like an hourglass
Glued to the table
And no one can find the rewind button…</p>
<p>KJOFKW: As a parent I have always found that an extraordnarily profound song.
To me, the saddest lyric is from Bobby McGee:
“I’d trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday.”</p>
<p>Yes! Cat in the Cradle always gets me. What’s the one where it starts with mom or dad holding baby, and ends with the son holding the parent? Is that the same song?</p>
<p>CURRENT fave…(some of it I find objectionable, but hey, it’s “hip hop”…</p>
<p>Maino : All The Above</p>
<p>[MAINO</a> - ALL THE ABOVE LYRICS](<a href=“http://www.metrolyrics.com/all-the-above-lyrics-maino.html]MAINO”>http://www.metrolyrics.com/all-the-above-lyrics-maino.html)
Tell me what do you see
When you looking at me
(woooahhhh)
On a mission to be
What I’m destined to be
(woooahhhh)
I done been through the pain and the sorrow
The struggle is nothing but love (nothing but love)
I’m a soldier, a rider, a ghetto survivor
And all the above
All the above (x7)</p>
<p>Verse 1 [Maino]:
Listen
Really what do you see
When you looking at me?
See me come up from nothing,
To me living my dreams
I done been to the bottom,
I done suffered a lot,
I deserve to be rich,
Headed straight to the top
Thank you for making me struggle,
Thank you for making me grind
I perfected my hustle,
Tell me the world ain’t mine
You’ve been seein’ me lately,
I’m a miracle baby
I refuse to lose
This what the ghetto done made me
I put that on my father
Tryna hope for tomorrow
When I think that I can’t,
I envision Obama,…</p>
<p>Okay, one more. I first heard Joe Strummer’s “Johnny Appleseed” sung by an apple farmer friend of mine, at the dedication of a park in memory of the love of his life, my sister-in-law and best friend…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yup…If you’re after getting the honey
Then you don’t go killing all the bees</p>
<p>I do love Me and Bobby McGee and In My Life and Hallelujah and Four Strong Winds and The Boxer; what a like-minded crew of parents we are. I was just trying to explain The Boxer to my son recently… No luck, we were on the road, and I needed the internet.</p>
<p>Here’s my vote for Most Romantic Lyrics Ever:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I just love The Platters. Seriously.</p>
<p>And two choices, perhaps tied, for Saddest Lyrics Ever (I am pathetically sentimental):
and of course
oddly recently overdone by Garrison Keillor… Ridiculous spoof on last week’s show.</p>
<p>Really? we missed the spoof! The Long Black Veil is S2’s favorite song! (When he’s not listening to Finnish Metal).</p>
<p>I haven’t thought about the spider web song for thirty plus years!</p>
<p>Actually Levon Helm says in his autobiography that the Band recorded Long Black Veil because they “thought it was funny”…so their version, anyway, was something of a spoof from the beginning, though a pretty convincing one.</p>
<p>Speaking of those guys, one of my favorite lyrics is “Acadian Driftwood.” I particularly love the opening lines, which have an almost Homeric feel to them:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>For a very different kind of poetry, I adore “The Shape I Found You In” by Ty Greenstein of Girlyman:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Speaking of Christmas, one of my favorite songs is the Pretenders’ “2000 Miles,” especially the second verse, which captures something about the beauty of deep winter that I’ve never seen expressed quite so well.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>All I ask of you(Phantom of the Opera):</p>
<p>RAOUL:
No more talk of darkness
Forget these wide-eyed fears
I’m here
Nothing can harm you
My words will warm and call you</p>
<p>Let me be your freedom
Let daylight dry your tears
I’m here
with you, beside you
to guard you and to guide you</p>
<p>CHRISTINE:
Say you’ll love me every waking moment
Turn my head with talk of summertime
Say you need me with you now and always
Promise me that all you say is true
That’s all I ask of you</p>
<p>RAOUL:
Let me be your shelter
Let me be your light
You’re safe
No one will find you
Your fears are far behind you</p>
<p>CHRISTINE:
All I want is freedom
A world with no more night
And you,
always beside me
to hold me and to hide me</p>
<p>RAOUL:
Then say you’ll share with me one love one lifetime
Let me lead you from your solitude
Say you need me with you, here beside you
Anywhere you go let me go too
Christine,
that’s all I ask of you</p>
<p>CHRISTINE:
Say you’ll share with me one love one lifetime
Say the word and I will follow you</p>
<p>BOTH:
Share each day with me,
each night, each morning</p>
<p>CHRISTINE:
Say you love me</p>
<p>RAOUL:
You know I do</p>
<p>Both:
Love me,
that’s all I ask of you</p>
<p>Anywhere you go let me go to
Love me,
that’s all I ask of you</p>
<p>That’s just one of the shorter songs that I enjoy(I didn’t want to post some of the longer ones). I love all of the songs though.</p>
<p>“Dear Abby”</p>
<p>Dear Abby, Dear Abby …
My feet are too long
My hair’s falling out and my rights are all wrong
My friends they all tell me that I’ve no friends at all
Won’t you write me a letter, Won’t you give me a call
Signed Bewildered.
Bewildered, Bewildered…
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain’t what you ain’t
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood</p>
<p>Dear Abby, Dear Abby…
My fountain pen leaks
My wife hollers at me and my kids are all freaks
Every side I get up on is the wrong side of bed
If it weren’t so expensive I’d wish I were dead
Signed Unhappy.
Unhappy, Unhappy
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain’t what you ain’t
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood</p>
<p>Dear Abby, Dear Abby…
You won’t believe this
But my stomach makes noises whenever I kiss
My girlfriend tells me It’s all in my head
But my stomach tells me to write you instead
Signed Noise-maker.
Noise-maker, Noise-maker
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain’t what you ain’t
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood</p>
<p>Dear Abby, Dear Abby…
Well I never thought
That me and my girlfriend would ever get caught
We were sitting in the back seat just shooting the breeze
With her hair up in curlers and her pants to her knees
Signed Just Married.
Just Married, Just Married…
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain’t what you ain’t
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood.</p>
<ul>
<li>John Prine</li>
</ul>