LITTLE BOY SOLDIERS - Paul Weller

Its funny how you never knew what my name was,
Our only contact was a form for the election.

These days I find that you don't listen,
These days I find that we're out of touch,
These days I find that I'm too busy,
So why the attention now you want my assistance -
What have you done for me.

You've gone and got yourself in trouble,
Now you want me to help you out.

These days I find that I can't be bothered,
These days I find that its all too much,
To pick up a gun and shoot a stranger,
But I've got no choice so here I come - war games.

I'm up on the hills, playing little boy soldiers,
Reconnaissance duty up at 5:30.
Shoot shoot shoot and kill the natives,
You're one of us and we love you for that.

Think of honour, Queen and country,
You're a blessed son of the British Empire,
God's on our side and so is Washington.

Come out on the hills with the little boy soldiers.

Come on outside - I'll sing you a lullaby,
Or tell a tale of how goodness prevailed.

We ruled the world - we killed and robbed,
The lot - but we don't feel bad.

It was done beneath the flag of democracy,
You'll believe and I do - yes I do - yes I do -
yes I do -

These days I find that I can't be bothered,
To argue with them well what's the point,
Better to take your shots and drop down dead,
then they send you home in a pine overcoat

With a letter to your mum

Saying find enclosed one son - one medal and a note -
to say he won.

Bryan Adams - Remembrance Day


For our king and our country and the promise of glory
We came from Kingston and Brighton to fight on the front line

Just lads from the farms and boys from the cities
Not meant to be soldiers we lay in the trenches

We'd face the fighting with a smile - or so we said
If only we had known what danger lay ahead

The sky turned to grey as we went into battle
On the fields of Europe young men were fallin'

I'll be back for you someday - it won't be long
If I can just hold on 'til this bloody war is over

The guns will be silent on Remembrance Day
There'll be no more fighting on Remembrance Day

By October of 18 Cambrai had fallen
Soon the war would be over and we'd be returnin'

Don't forget me while I'm gone far away
Well it won't be long 'till I'm back there in your arms again

One day soon - I don't know when
You know we'll all be free and the bells of peace will ring again

The time will come for you and me
We'll be goin' home when this bloody war is ended

The guns will be silent on Remembrance Day
We'll all say a prayer on Remembrance Day

On Remembrance Day - say a little prayer
On Remembrance Day

Well the guns will be silent
There'll be no more fighting
Oh we'll lay down our weapons
On Remembrance Day

(CBS/AP) Rock music played lead in giving Hungarian baby boomers the resolve to bring down their communist state, says one of those reformers who today is a government official.

Andras Simonyi, Hungary's ambassador to the United States, spent an hour Saturday night discussing the impact of Western songs on Eastern European politics before an invitation-only audience of 250 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Let me ask you, how many of you have ever played an air guitar?" he asked as he began his talk.

Quite a few hands went up in the invitation-only crowd of 250 Saturday night, indicating shared experiences with an imaginary instrument.

Simonyi, 51, was a devoted fan of the Beatles, Cream, Traffic and Jimi Hendrix when their releases weren't officially permitted in Hungary. Records and tapes sometimes were smuggled in or recorded from foreign radio broadcasts.

Hungary became a democracy in 1990 — after more than 40 years of communism. The nation of 10 million joined NATO in 1999 and will formally join the European Union on May 1, 2004.

"By keeping in touch with the music scene in the West, it kind of kept me sane and with the feeling I was part of the free world," said Simonyi, an economist by training.

The ambassador was introduced by defense and anti-terrorism consultant Jeff Baxter, who once played guitar with The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan.

Baxter and Simonyi said they would like to establish an institute to study rock music's global influences.

"There is a commonality to the music and freedom," Baxter said. "To Andras, Western music was an open window of fresh air in a very repressive society."

"It was like a window to the free world," agreed Simonyi, in an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"Most Hungarians didn't understand what these guys were singing about," Simonyi said. "The real power was in the music.

Simonyi impressed an audience member from Hungary.

"He represents quite well his generation," said Judit Gerencser, a 27-year-old student at Cleveland State University. "I have heard about this from my parents, but I never really heard about just how much this music was influential."

Simonyi formerly played guitar for Hungarian rock bands Locomotive GT and the Heavy Levy Marklin Blues Band. He said the bands would sometimes have their lyrics changed by authorities if it was determined that the songs were too negative about Hungarian life.

I just heard about this before I saw your post.Very interesting thanks.I loved those songs.

(CBS/AP) Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield, who with partner Bill Medley pioneered "blue-eyed soul" with hits including "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," has died of undetermined causes at a hotel in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Hatfield was 63.

David Cohen, manager of the duo, says Hatfield's body was discovered in his bed at 7 p.m., a half hour before the rock and roll legends were to perform at Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus.

"It's a shock, a real shock," says Cohen, adding that Medley, who teamed up with Hatfield over 40 years ago, is "broken up. He's not even coherent."

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports Hatfield's body was taken from the Radisson Plaza Hotel directly to Lansing, where an autopsy will be done.

Miller Auditorium executive director Bill Biddle told the audience at 7:05 p.m. that the 7:30 p.m. show had been canceled because of "a personal emergency of an unspecified nature."

A hotel executive says Hatfield had been sleeping most of the day in his room. When he didn't answer a wakeup call at about 6 p.m., hotel staff and authorities entered the room and found Hatfield's body.

Robert Lee Hatfield was born Aug. 10, 1940 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. His family moved to Anaheim, California, when he was 4.

Hatfield organized singing and instrumental groups in high school while helping his parents with their dry cleaning business.

An avid athlete, Hatfield considered a career in professional baseball, but found his true calling in music - a love he pursued while attending Long Beach State University, where he formed a band and performed at bars and proms.

In 1962, he met Bill Medley, with whom he later formed the group The Righteous Brothers, whose lasting popularity and strong impact on music was recognized last spring with the duo's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Their signature 1964 single, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" - produced by Phil Spector - has been cited by numerous sources as the most-programmed song in radio history: played at least 8 million times - so far. Later 1960s hits included "Soul and Inspiration" and "Unchained Melody," which found a new audience in 1990 and earned a Grammy nomination as part of the soundtrack of the hit movie "Ghost."

After splitting up in 1968, they reunited in 1974 and returned to the top of the charts with "Rock and Roll Heaven."

Medley and Hatfield's songs resonated among other entertainers, as well as the public, and both "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" were Elvis Presley favorites during his last concerts in the 1970s.

Like Elvis, Medley and Hatfield owed a musical debt to black music.

The name of the Righteous Brothers dates back to Medley and Hatfield's very earliest performances, when they were part of a group called the Paramours. As the story goes, the guys were doing a gig in a bar when a black Marine in the audience shouted out his approval, saying: "That was righteous, brothers!"

In the past 20 years, the Brothers picked up new fans who heard their songs for the first time on the soundtracks of "Top Gun," "Naked Gun," and "Dirty Dancing."

"Movies," Hatfield once said, "introduced our music to a whole new generation of fans, for whom we are truly grateful."

Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young

If I had ever been here before I would probably know just what to do
Don't you?
If I had ever been here before on another time around the wheel
I would probably know just how to deal
With all of you.
And I feel
Like I've been here before
Feel
Like I've been here before
And you know
It makes me wonder
What's going on under the ground

Do you know?
Don't you wonder?
What's going on down under you.

We have all been here before
We have all been here before
We have all been here before
We have all been here before

Ok I understand your point but...why criticize the Moderator of the DB and someone who is nice enough to have this DB set up so that people can share thier love of music and debate the differet views. I thought it was an excellent post and no you don't have to agree with what is posted here. But at least be respectful of others posts. It is ok to disagree, but to undermind the purpose and the simple fact that it is information, not someone trying to impose thier way of thinking onto anyone is in my opinion very disrepecful.

Keep up the great work A M KM :)

My posting on “Worst Career Moves” was meant just to be humorous, showing some of the stupid choices that musicians have made. More trivial than socially significant.

I was not offended by your post and your objections were worded kindly which I appreciate. It shows that you do have consideration for people with other opinions which is all too rare.

As far as being discordance noise makers I must disagree, although everyone is entitled to their view. If you want to call musicians rapists I strongly suggest that honor should go to our sports heroes who are much more deserving of that title.

As far as drug abuse goes I do agree with you that it is rampant in the music industry as much of the arts, as well as society all the way to the White House as was pointed out. I think it is a topic worth discussing as to why this is, but it’s not my intention at the moment, although anyone is welcome to bring it up.

I think your main objection is that the people I have been discussing are not familiar to you, you don’t like them and you are not interested in them anyways. Feel free to post on musicians that you are familiar with and that you do like. I’m sure we have some common ground and your input would be welcome, whether I or anyone else is familiar with them or not.

I feel that the musicians I have been talking about do make positive contributions, and they shouldn’t be written off with a broad brush saying they have negative attitudes. Righteous anger has its place, as well as rebellion and even sometimes giving the finger to “proper society”.

Whew. I thought for a second there you were referring to George W. Bush. lol. Perhaps next week we will do an indepth analysis of Strauss waltzes. :o)

To my friend A M K M,
I in no way mean to be critical or insulting or in any way derogatory, but I am sincerely surprised that anybody would have any interest in the people ane/or their goings on that you write about. I realize that the fault lies within me, but I have never heard of some of these people and of the one's that I have heard of I couldn't be less impressed. Again, I will readily admit that it is I that is out of step with the universe that encompass those people. However, I don't have any feeling of loss and I'm surely not sorry about any loss that others might think that I suffer. There are hundreds of substantial people who make positive contributions that I believe deserve greater recognition. And none of them are drug abusers or rapist or discordance noise makers or otherwise noted for negative attributes.. I'm putting my soap box away now and I don't mean any offense toward anyone that has an opposite view.

1. MICHAEL JACKSON INVITES HIS PLAYMATES TO SPEND THE NIGHT. Apparently, it never occurred to Jackson and many renowned advisers that it's one thing for a thirty-four-year-old man to dote on preteen and adolescent boys, quite another to sleep in the same bed with them.
2. MARVIN GAYE TELLS HIS FATHER WHAT HE REALLY THINKS. On April 1, 1984, Marvin informed his dad that he'd had enough of his s... and that he planned to f... him up. His father, Marvin Sr., replied by shooting him to death.
3. BUDDY HOLLY CONVINCES RITCHIE VALENS AND HE BIG BOPPER TO FLY AHEAD TO FARGO, TO GET THEIR LAUNDRY DONE. Actually, Buddy, Ritchie, and the Bopper had better reasons for trying to skip ahead of the rest of promoter Irving Feld's Winter Dance Party. For one thing, the heater on the tour bus didn't work; for another, they all needed some sleep. They found a lot more of it than they'd bargained for when their chartered prop plane smacked down in a cornfield just outside Clear Lake, Iowa, where they'd just played the Surf Ballroom. Others who've made similar errors include Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose plane crashed because it ran out of gas; Otis Redding, where bad weather may also have been the culprit; Stevie Ray Vaughan, who flew in a helicopter on a foggy night; Harry Chapin, who overestimated his own driving skills, despite a significant clue (his driver's license had been revoked); and Marc Bolan, who let his girlfriend drive.
4, JOHN LENNON MAKES ALLEN KLEIN THE REPLACEMENT FOR BRIAN EPSTEIN; GEORGE HARRISON AND RINGO STARR AGREE. Lennon once said that his pal Mick logger, who'd been involved with Klein for several years, told him "it's awfully hard to get your money." John took that to mean nothing more than that Klein kept his charges on a tight allowance. Eventually, even after Klein went to jail for selling copies of George Harrison's Bangladesh benefit album off the books, the Beatles regained control of their masters only after extensive, and expensive, litigation with Klein. The determination of Paul McCartney to avoid represented by Klein (he favored his brother-in-law John Eastman) broke up the band, killing the goose and the golden eggs that came with it in one fell swoop.
5. BILLY JOEL DIVORCES HIS WIFE-MANAGER, THEN DECIDES THE IDEAL REPLACEMENT WOULD BE HER BROTHER. It's one thing when Pat Benatar demolishes her career by insisting on having her husband Neil Geraldo produce her records It's another when Joel, having come out of a traumatizing divorce, decides the best possible choice to guide his career would be his ex-brother-in-law, Frank Webber, whose principal previous experience had been selling real estate. When the dust finally cleared, Joel alleged he was out millions and Webber went bankrupt, making them noncollectable.
6. MICK TAYLOR QUITS THE ROLLING STONES. Taylor, the guitarist who replaced Brian Jones, apparently concluded he'd acquired enough profile for a solo career after a doing a couple of tours and playing on Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. He should have thought again, because while he never disappeared, Taylor never again came close to claiming anybody's full attention, either,
7. THE CLASH FIRE MICK JONES. For some bizarre reason, almost as soon as the world's premier punk band made its U.S. commercial breakthrough with "Rock the Casbah," singer Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon decided they'd be better off without guitarist Mick Jones. Jones went on to nothing more than the reggafied mediocrity of Big Audio Dynamite. Strummer and Simonon, on the other hand, have yet to accomplish that much, either on their own or as the Clash. Unless there's a late nineties reunion tour in the offing, this qualifies as one of the biggest wastes in rock history. The parallel case (it even took place around the same time) saw the J. Geils Band fire frontman Peter Wolf, just as their career arced to the top. It descended far more rapidly than it had arisen when keyboardist Seth Justman, the new lead singer, proved he couldn't sing, a process that took all of an album.
8. PROFESSOR GRIFF GIVES AN INTERVIEW TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES. The Times, a right-wing Washington, D.C., newspaper, sent David Mills, a young black reporter, to query Griff, then Public Enemy's Minister of Information, about P.E.'s politics. Mills had heard Griff make anti-Semitic remarks at earlier speaking appearances, and without much prompting, Griff repeated them. The ugly, indefensible comments kicked off a farcical set of PR maneuvers that found Griff first fired then rehired, then fired again by P.E. leader Chuck D, Chuck D was blamed for what his sidekick said and for not getting rid of Griff quickly or decisively enough, Griff was never invited to defend himself by the major media outlets that attacked him, and P.E.'s career was virtually destroyed by the whole mess. At least it was a good career move for somebody, Mills wound up at The Washington Post, the respectable D.C. daily.
9. SLICK RICK DEALS WITH HIS COUSIN'S PERFIDY ALL BY HIMSELF. According to the story he told in court, Slick Rick found himself being exploited by his cousin, Mark Plummer So Rick shot Plummer, then tried to elude the cops in a high-speed chase that wound up with him crashing his Jeep, badly injuring himself, then being found guilty of attempted murder and be given a long jail sentence. Though Def Jam's Russell Simrm shrewdly got him out on bail long enough to stockpile a few albums worth of material, Slick Rick's career as one of the original street tough rappers closed out in consequence.
1O. OZZY OSBOURNE BITES A BAT. Actually, Ozzy didn't know he was biting off the head of a bat. He thought he'd been thrown a fake and bit its head off as a gag in the heat of a gig. The joke went down badly: He had to go through an extremely painful series of rabies shots. Ozzy did, however, deliberately bite the head off a dove at an Epic Records staff meeting, in an effort to make some sort of point now lost to history. These legends pursue him to this day, rendering ridiculous the career of one of heavy metal's most interesting record-makers.

More to come, From "The New Book Of Rock Lists" 1994

I never believed in things that I couldn't see
I said if I can't feel it then how can it be
No, no magic could happen to me
And then I saw you

I couldn't believe it, you took my heart
I couldn't retrieve it, said to myself
What's it all about
Now I know there can be no doubt

You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
Magic, and you know
You're the one who can put out the fire

You know darn well
When you cast your spell you will get your way
When you hypnotize with your eyes
A heart of stone can turn to clay
Doo, doo, doo ...

And when the rain is beatin' upon the window pane
And when the night it gets so cold, when I can't sleep
Again you come to me
I hold you tight, the rain disappears
Who would believe it
With a word you dry my tears

You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
Magic, and you know
You're the one who can put out the fire

You know darn well
When you cast your spell you will get your way
When you hypnotize with your eyes
A heart of stone can turn to clay
Doo, doo, doo ...

And If I wanted to
I could never be free
I never believed it was true
But now it's so clear to me

You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
Magic, and you know
You're the one who can put out the fire

You know darn well
When you cast your spell you will get your way
When you hypnotize with your eyes
A heart of stone can turn to clay
Doo, doo, doo ...

You're the one who can put out the fire
(You're the one who can put out the fire
You're the one who can put out the fire ...)

*** America
.

Ahhh Neil!! Pure Canadian!! LOL :-)

"I once went down to Neil Young's ranch and he rowed me out into the middle of a lake - putting my life in his hands once again. He waved at someone invisible and music started to play, in the countryside. I realized Neil had his house wired as the left speaker, and his barn wired as the right speaker. And Elliot Mazer, his engineer, said 'How is it?' And Neil shouted back 'More barn!'

- Graham Nash


"Crime In The City (Sixty To Zero Part 1)"
Neil Young


Well, the cop made the showdown
He was sure he was right
He had all of the lowdown
From the bank heist last night
His best friend was the robber
And his wife was a thief
All the children were killers
They couldn't get no relief
The bungalow was surrounded
When a voice loud and clear
Said, Come on out
with your hands up
Or we'll blow you out of here.
There was a face in the window
The TV cameras rolled
Then they cut to the announcer
And the story was told.

The artist looked at the producer
The producer sat back
He said, What we have got here
Is a perfect track
But we don't have a vocal
And we don't have a song
If we could get
these things accomplished
Nothin' else could go wrong.
So he balanced the ashtray
As he picked up the phone
And said, Send me a songwriter
Who's drifted far from home
And make sure that he's hungry
Make sure he's alone
Send me a cheeseburger
And a new Rolling Stone.
Yeah.

There's still crime in the city,
Said the cop on the beat,
I don't know if I can stop it
I feel like meat on the street
They paint my car like a target
I take my orders from fools
Meanwhile some kid
blows my head off
Well, I play by their rules
That's why I'm doin' it my way
I took the law in my hands

So here I am in the alleyway
A wad of cash in my pants
I get paid by a ten year old
He says he looks up to me
There's still crime in the city
But it's good to be free.
Yeah.

Now I come from a family
That has a broken home
Sometimes I talk to Daddy
On the telephone
When he says that he loves me
I know that he does
But I wish I could see him
I wish I knew where he was
But that's the way
all my friends are
Except maybe one or two
Wish I could
see him this weekend
Wish I could walk in his shoes
But now I'm doin' my own thing
Sometimes I'm good, then I'm bad
Although my home has been broken
It's the best home I ever had
Yeah.

Well, I keep gettin' younger
My life's been funny that way
Before I ever learned to talk
I forgot what to say
I sassed back to my mom
I sassed back to my teacher
I got thrown out of Bible school
For sassin' back at the preacher
Then I grew up to be a fireman
Put out every fire in town
Put out anything smokin'
But when I put the hose down
The judge sent me to prison
He gave me life without parole
Wish I never put the hose down
Wish I never got old.

the man in black anda great comedic actor will be greatly missed by many including myself...and they will continue entertaining for eternity,

may they both rest in peace :)

Thanks Red Dragon! Appreciate your time!

Omega Lady

Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream....

Bye Bye Johnny Cash..the epitome of a Cool Dude.. And to John Ritter, damn...these guys will be missed here.

Hear hear!!! I enjoyed Johnny Cash very much.
RIP

Meet Me In Heaven

We saw houses falling from the sky Where the mountains lean down to the sand We saw blackbirds circling 'round an old castle keep And I stood on the cliff and held your hand

We walked troubles brooding wind swept hills And we loved and we laughed the pain away At the end of the journey, when our last song is sung Will you meet me in Heaven someday

(Chorus) Can't be sure of how's it's going to be When we walk into the light across the bar But I'll know you and you'll know me Out there beyond the stars

We've seen the secret things revealed by God And we heard what the angels had to say Should you go first, or if you follow me Will you meet me in Heaven someday

Living in a mansion on the streets of gold At the corner of Grace and Rapture Way In sweet ecstasy while the ages roll Will you meet me in Heaven someday

In sweet ecstasy while the ages roll Will you meet in Heaven someday

The dangerous kitchen
If it aint't one thing it's another
In the middle of the night when you get home
The bread things are all dry 'n' scratchy
The meat thing
Where the cats ate trough the paper
The can things with the sharp little edges
That can cut your fingers when you're not looking
The soft little things on the floor that you step on
They can all be DANGEROUS

Sometimes
The milk can hurt you
(If you put it on your cereal
Before you smell the plastic container)
And the stuff in the strainer
Has a mind of its own
So be very careful
In the dangerous kitchen
When the night time has fallen,
And the roaches are crawlin'
In the kitchen of danger
You can feel like a stranger

The bananaes are black
The got flies in the back
And also the chicken
In the dish with the foil
Where the cream is all clabbered
And the salad is frightful
Your return in the evening
Can be less than delightful

You must walk very careful
You must not lean against it
It can get on you clothing
It can follow you in
As you walk to the bedroom
And you take all your clothes off
While you're sleeping
It crawls off
It gets in your bed
It could get on your face then
It could eat your complexion
You could die from the danger
Of the dangerous kitchen

Who wants to clean it?

It's disgusting and dirty
The sponge on the drainer
Is stinky and squirty
If you squeeze it when you wipe up
What you get on your hands then
Could un-balance your glands and
Make you blind or whatever
In the dangerous kitchen
At my house tonight

Some people’s hot
Some people’s cold
Some people’s not very
Swift to behold
Some people do it
Some see right through it
Some wear pyjamas
If only they knew it

The pyjamas people are boring me to pieces
They make me feel like I am wasting my time
They all got flannel up ’n down ’em
A little trap-door back aroun’ ’em
An’ some cozy little footies on their mind

Po-jama people!
Po-jama people, people!
Lawd, they make you sleepy
With the things they might say
Po-jama people!
Po-jama people, people!
Mother, mary ’n jozuf, wish they’d all go away!

Po-jama people!
It’s a po-jama people special...
Take one home with you & save a dollar today
Po-jama people!
Po-jama people, people!
Wrap ’em up
Roll ’em out
Get ’em out of my way ...

*** francesco as well

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together"
"I've got some real estate here in my bag"
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And we walked off to look for America

"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now"
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera"

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all gone to look for America
All gone to look for America
All gone to look for America

* Simon and Garfunkel

Where were you when the world stopped turning

Alan Jackson

Where were you when the world stopped turnin'
that September day?
Out in the yard with your wife and children;
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Rising against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?

Did you weep for the children
that lost their dear loved ones?
Did you pray for the ones who don't know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
and sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out in pride for the red white and blue
And the heroes who died just doin' what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer?
And look at yourself for what really matters?

(Chorus)
I'm just a singer of simple songs;
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN, but I'm not sure I can tell you the difference
in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, Hope and Love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is Love.

Where were you when the world stopped turning
That September day?
Teaching a class full of innocent children;
Driving down some cold interstate?
Did you feel guilty 'cause you're a survivor
in a crowded room did you feel alone?
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her?
Did you dust off that bible at home?

Did you open your eyes hope it never happened;
And close your eyes and not go to sleep?
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages;
Or speak to some stranger on the street?
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow;
Go out and buy you a gun?
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns?

Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers?
Stand in line and give your own blood?
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love?

(Chorus)
I'm just a singer of simple songs;
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN, but I'm not sure I can tell you the difference
in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, Hope and Love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is Love.

I'm just a singer of simple songs;
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN, but I'm not sure I can tell you the difference
in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, Hope and Love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is Love.
And the greatest is Love.
And the greatest is Love.

Where were you when the world stopped turnin'
that September day?

What an amazing way to get in shape! LOL...

I never had the opportunity to hear it - should not be bad...
I like Joan Baez...

Ha ha ha ha, well yes, I guess that could put a person off a song for life!!! :oD

No, the song's okay. Maybe it's the thought of you singing and gyrating to it!! (only joking harleyconga)
If a song creates great fun and great memories, you can't ask for much more from it!

Ooooh!!! Ha ha ha, its not that bad! We used to have loads of fun with that song!!!! great fun and great memories!! :oD

True. A better description would be a 4-letter word (with a 7-letter descriptive adjective) which I can't put on the board.

Of course I am, MM!!

Bumble, you obviously have no taste in music!! ROFL!! Its not an 'infernal ditty'!!! :oP

*hastily reduces the page size from 100 messages to 50, thus getting rid of that infernal ditty more quickly*

harley, hope you doing it in time with me lol

RiffRaff:
It's astounding;
Time is fleeting;
Madness takes its toll.
But listen closely...

Magenta:
Not for very much longer.

RiffRaff:
I've got to keep control.
I remember doing the time-warp
Drinking those moments when
The Blackness would hit me

RiffRaff:
And the void would be calling...

Transylvanians:
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.

Narrator:
It's just a jump to the left.

All:
And then a step to the right.

Narrator:
With your hands on your hips.

All:
You bring your knees in tight.
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.

Magenta:
It's so dreamy, oh fantasy free me.
So you can't see me, no, not at all.
In another dimension, with voyeuristic intention,
Well secluded, I see all.

RiffRaff:
With a bit of a mind flip

Magenta:
You're into the time slip.

RiffRaff:
And nothing can ever be the same.

Magenta:
You're spaced out on sensation.

RiffRaff:
Like you're under sedation.

All:
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.

Columbia:
Well I was walking down the street just a-having a think
When a snake of a guy gave me an evil wink.
He shook-a me up, he took me by surprise.
He had a pickup truck, and the devil's eyes.
He stared at me and I felt a change.
Time meant nothing, never would again.

All:
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.

Narrator:
It's just a jump to the left.

All:
And then a step to the right.

Narrator:
With your hands on your hips.

All:
You bring your knees in tight.
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.

David: my 10 reasons were a general statement, not aimed at anything you said. The time-frame in which they were written does not effect my point. :o)

NORTH

( Music by Joan Baez, Lyrics by Nina Duscheck )

Where icicles hung the blossoms swing,
but in my heart there is no spring.
You were my spring, my summer too,
it's always winter without you.

The flocks head north and the lilacs bloom,
at night they scent my moonlit room.
You were my spring, my summer too,
I'm going north to look for you.

Like a windblown bird my heart goes forth,
sent by the spring to the shining north.
You are my spring, my summer too,
and I won't rest till I find you.

*

Magenta, when I first read your letter I perceived it as a personal attack, then I reread it and saw that perhaps it wasn't, You seem to be railing against the human race (myself included?) because of the fact that I stated Lennon was only truly appreciated when he was dead. To a large extent this is true. You weren't born yet when he died so you weren't around to see it but the world went into shock for precisely this reason. He had been ignored and now he was gone.

I was a fan of his before but as I stated I became a bigger fan after. There isn't so much as you say a sickness in people it was the fact that Lennon hadn't been putting out music as good as he had done previously for years. Plus his relationship with Yoko soured a lot of people, blaming it for the breakup of the Beatles etc. After he died though there was more perspective-such as how he lived his whole life instead of what he had been doing the past few years. I don't see this as being unnatural or sick, I think it could be seen as very logical.


To put in some perspective this is from "The New Rolling Stone Record Guide" 1979. The period from Imagine up until before Double Fantasy.

* * * Imagine / Apple (1971) If JL/POB was sparked by the cry "The dream is over," the message of Imagine, a much more accessible pop album, was "Long live the dream": as a popular artist, the angry man simply could not endure without a dose of utopianism in his music, his sense of romance and his politics. Imagine, despite its notorious attack on Paul McCartney ("How Do You Sleep?"), felt like a breath of fresh air in 1971; "Gimme Some Truth," a nasty rocker, "Oh Yoko," an almost girl-groupish ditty and the lovely "Jealous Guy" still do. At this point, John seemed to know where he was going, and to be going in a good direction.
* Some Time in New York City / Apple (1972) * * Mind Games / Apple (1973)* * Walls and Bridges / Apple (1974)
It didn't seem that way after Some Time, a disastrous collaboration between John, Yoko and the leftish rock band Elephant's Memory. This was a two-LP set divided between horrendous Phil Spector-produced protest epics and live recordings (some with Frank Zappa): the politics were witless and the live jams mindless. After John's ideological flip-flops of the previous years (from the Maharishi to "peace" to primal therapy, each em­braced as an absolute Answer), it was hard to take his new political commitments seri­ously; here the question of taking his music seriously never came up.
Both Mind Games and Walls and Bridges were drastic retreats from the anti-pop stance of Some Time, and both produced hits: "Mind Games," the trendy "Whatever Gets You thru the Night" and "#9 Dream." The sound was lush and conven­tional, the singing assured, but there was no real point of view at work—no point at all, in fact, save for continuing a career for its own sake; only "Going Down on Love" (Walls) recalled the gutty realism of JL/ POB, which seemed very far away. Like so many veterans of the Sixties trapped in the Seventies, Lennon (by then the subject of a brutal but accurate parody on the National Lampoon's Radio Dinner LP) had no idea of how to relate to his audience: with what ap­peared to be panic, he substituted production techniques for soul, building a bridge to his listeners with his sound but erecting a wall around himself with empty music.
* * Rock & Roll / Apple (1975) Lennon knew it; he just didn't know what to do about it, and so, again like many others, he tried to escape a dead end by going back to his roots with an oldies album. Rock & Roll (1975, a year that also saw John pop­ping up on a couple of Elton John 45s) began as a collaboration with Phil Spector, who needed a shot of rhythm & blues as much as John did, but the partnership soon came to grief—as did most of the album. Remakes of "Stand by Me" and "Just Be­cause" were deeply touching, but with the rest of the tunes—mostly classic hard rock­ers—John never found a groove. And so, no doubt tired of his helpless drift back and forth between adventure (JL/POB, Some Time) and retreat (Imagine, Mind Games, Walls, R'n'R), Lennon shut up, his battle with Paul McCartney apparently conceded.


Now of course anyone can disagree with these reviews but I am just trying to show that he was not held in nearly the reverence he is today and why.

While he was alive he had 2 number one albums "Imagine" and "Walls and Bridges". Each one stayed at the number one spot for one week. After he died "Double Fantasy" stayed at the number one spot for eight weeks. His best album "Plastic Ono Band" only reached number 6.

PS. I noticed in the "10 reasons" list every song was from 1971 or earlier-none from the time period I have been talking about.

Woodstock
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

(Written by: Joni Mitchell)

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
When I asked him, "where are you going?"
This he told me

I'm going down to Yasgur's farm
Gonna join a rock and roll band
I'm going to camp out on the land
And try and get my soul free

We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
I feel just like a cog
In something turning

Well maybe it's the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who I am
But life is for learning

We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

By the time I got to Woodstock
They were half a million strong
Everywhere there was song and celebration

I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
Turning into butterflies above our nation

We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

We are stardust
We are golden
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden

How come Julian Lennon does not record anymore??I guess he just eat those sandwiches now days

rank has its privileges (nanner samiches!!! yummy) lol

oooooooh ok (huff) but only because it is you otherwise i would keep em all to myself lol

the serenades just for you baby. but you gotta share the nanner samiches. lol

awwwwww honey.....that was supposed to be our little secret..sheesh lol i wanted to keep the midnight serenades all to myself and the peanut butter and nanner samiches too lmao

Nobody told me there'd be days like these. Strange days indeed! lol