The Lyrics Thread

[Batty]

Did anyone see my last marble
As it rolled out and over the floor?
It fell through a hole in the corner
Of a room in a town on a tour
It's lonely without your last marble
I miss it not rattling around
As I lie in my bed there's a space in my head
Where there used to be colours and sound..

When I was a child I had marbles
They brought admiration and fame
They were pretty to look at and marbles
Was always my favourite game
We played all the summer days
In the stony alleyways
In the playground after class
We would trade the coloured glass
More valuable than diamonds
More magical than diamonds
Did anyone see..
Did anyone see..
Does anyone see?

There were almost four hundred until the black day
I discovered how high they would fly to the sky
If you used them for tennis instead of a ball..
Zinging glass satellites crueller than fate
Whacked with a racket up into the blue
I'd smashed all the greenhouses on the estate
And a crowd formed a queue at the gate..

That was almost the end of my marbles
Confiscated, I choked back the tears
I hung onto a handful of favourites
That disappeared over the years
Did anyone see my last marble
I swear that I had it before
Sometimes I think I should go see a shrink
In case he can find me some more

Did anyone see my last marble?
I'd saved it to give it away
Since I was a youth
Now I don't have no proof
Only words
Only words
Only words.

Marbles I to IV

[Batty]

Three hundred miles an hour on water
In your purpose-built machine
No one dared to call a boat
Screaming blue
Out of this world
Make history
This is your day
Blue Bird
At such speeds, things fly

What did she say?
I know the pain of too much tenderness
Wondering when or if you'll come back again
Wanting to live for you
And being banned from giving

But only love will turn you around
Only love will turn you around
Only love
Only love will turn you around

So we live you and I
Either side of the edge
And we run and we scream
With the dilated stare
Of obsession and dreaming
What the hell do we want
Is it only to go
Where nobody has gone
A better way than the herd
Sing a different song
Till you're running the ledge
To the gasp from the crowd
Spinning round in your head
Everything that she said


Out of this World, A tribute to Donald Campbell.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Ian Dury & the Blockheads - 'You'll See Glimpses'

You'll see.
They think I'm off my crust as I creep about the gaff.
But I'm really getting ready to surprise them all.
Because I'm busy sorting out the problems of the world.
And when I reveal all, I may get a crinkly mouth.
I've given my all to the task at hand unstintingly.
And when it's all over, I'll rest on my laurels.

Here for a moment is a glimpse of my plan:
All the kids will be happy learning things.
The wind will smell of wild flowers.
Nobody will whack each other about, or nasty things.
All the room in the world.

They take me for a mug because I smile.
They think I'm too out of tune to mind being patronised.
All in all, it's been another phase in my chosen career,
And when my secrets are out, they'll bite their silly tongues.
All I want for my birthday is another birthday.
When skies are blue, we all feel the benefit.

Glimpse Number 2 for the listener.
Everyone will feel useful in lovely ways.
Trees will be firmly rooted in town and country.
Illness and despair will be dispensed with.
All the room in the world.

They ask me if I've had the voices yet.
They don't think I know any true answers.
It's true that I haven't quite finished yet.
When it all comes out in the wash, they'll eat their words.
I've got all their names and addresses.
Later on I'll write them each a thank you letter.

Before I stop, here's a last glimpse into the general future.
Home rule will exist in each home, forever.
Every living thing will be another friend.
This wonderful state of affairs will last for always.
This has been got out by a friend.

[Techno Commander]

Aqualung - Jethro Tull

Stiring stuff.

Sitting on a park bench
eyeing little girls with bad intent.
Snot running down his nose
greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes.
Drying in the cold sun
Watching as the frilly panties run.
Feeling like a dead duck
spitting out pieces of his broken luck.

Sun streaking cold
an old man wandering lonely.
Taking time
the only way he knows.
Leg hurting bad,
as he bends to pick a dog-end
he goes down to the bog
and warms his feet.

Feeling alone
the army's up the rode
salvation à la mode and
a cup of tea.
Aqualung my friend
don't start away uneasy
you poor old sod, you see, it's only me.
Do you still remember
December's foggy freeze
when the ice that
clings on to your beard is
screaming agony.
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
with deep-sea-diver sounds,
and the flowers bloom like
madness in the spring.

[Jac Hawk]

For me the lyrics from simon & garfunkle's track "The Boxer" are hard to beat, plus they make me think of Cornwall in the 70's very happy times indeed.

BTW if anyone plays there music collection from PC there is a great plugin for media player that gets all the lyrics for you.

[Barry]

For me the lyrics from Simon & Garfunkle's track "The Boxer" are hard to beat, plus they make me think of Cornwall in the 70's very happy times indeed.

BTW if anyone plays there music collection from PC there is a great plugin for media player that gets all the lyrics for you.

Hello Jac,

Agreed - it's a fine song. For those that don't know it:

"I am just a poor boy
Though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocket full of mumbles such are promises
All lies and jests
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest

When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station running scared
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know

Lie la lie ...

Asking only workman's wages
I come looking for a job
But I get no offers,
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there

Lie la lie ...

Then I'm laying out my winter clothes
And wishing I was gone
Going home
Where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me
Bleeding me, going home

In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of ev'ry glove that layed him down
Or cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains

Lie la lie ..."

Regards

[Bazil]

Just the last verse of Paranoid Eyes:-

you believed in their stories of fame fortune and glory
now you're lost in a haze of alcohol soft middle age
the pie in the sky turned out to be miles too high
and you hide hide hide
behind brown and mild eyes

Classic Waters

[YNWaN]

Four pails of water and a bagfull of salts.

That is all we are, that is all a man comprises,
chemicals alone, with no spirit, soul or ghost -

_________________________________

I'm gonna call her on the telephone
Have her over 'cause i'm all alone
I need excitement oh i need it bad
And she's the best, i've ever had

__________________________________

Please don't call me Reg, it's not my name
__________________________________

I can read your mind like a magazine
I see where you're at
I know what you mean
__________________________________

shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather

whiplash girlchild in the dark

comes in bells, your servant, don't forsake him

strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart

[DSJR]

Two for the season...

Nick Drake, River Man - extract

"Gonna see the river man
Gonna tell him all I can
About the ban
On feeling free

If he tells me all he knows
About the way his river flows
I don’t suppose
It’s meant for me"

and...

Led Zep, Ramble On

"Leaves are falling all around, It's time I was on my way.
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay.
But now it's time for me to go. The autumn moon lights my way.
For now I smell the rain, and with it pain, and it's headin' my way.
Sometimes I grow so tired, but I know I've got one thing I got to do...

*Ramble On, And now's the time, the time is now, to sing my song.
I'm goin' 'round the world, I got to find my girl, on my way.
I've been this way ten years to the day, Ramble On,
Gotta find the queen of all my dreams.

Got no time for spreadin' roots, The time has come to be gone.
And to' our health we drank a thousand times, it's time to Ramble On.

* Chorus

Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear.
How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air.
T'was in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair.
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her, her, her....yeah.

* Chorus

Gonna ramble on, sing my song. Gotta keep-a-searchin' for my baby...
Gonna work my way, round the world. I can't stop this feelin' in my heart
Gotta keep searchin' for my baby......"

[Barry]

Would posters to this thread please name the song whose lyrics they are quoting? Lyrics are not the same as poetry; one needs to have some idea of the tune or rhythm against which the lyrics are sung.

Thank you