Song that rings so true

[Buftex]

I am a huge Dylan fan. There are certain songs of his that I just have always sort of taken for granted...seemed like I knew them the first time I heard them, and never really thought about them....I heard this song the other night, after a particularly distressing phone call from my older brother. I have this song hundreds, maybe a thousand times, but the words never made more sense to me. My borther and me, we are complete polar opposites on nearly everything, except the Buffalo Bills, and Buffalo pizza and wings. He is a proud redneck (code for racist) who seems to blame all of his problems on somebody else... he's my brother, I love him, care a lot about him, but in all the years I have known him, I have never been able to get him to see/accept what is in front of him.... this song nails it...and it was written almost 50 years ago...it is big a cliche as there is in popular music, but oh so relevant. I wanted to call my brother back, and play him this Dylan cut, but, I realized, he would just say, "Dylan is a friggin' jew"

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8-nTDZ6D7M

 

Any song just absolutely nail out of the park for you?

[Astrojanitor]

Speaking of Dylan:

There are lines in Positive Fourth Street which are so truthful it's almost painful to listen to. For some reason the Johnny Rivers version is the one that kills me the most. Actually I do know the reason--but it's far too personal to bulletin board about. The Johnny Rivers goofily psychedelic album (Realization) is a bit of a guilty pleasure--but the 4th St cover slays me

 

On the flip side:

When I was a college DJ I started every single show with Chartered Trips by Husker Du off of Zen Arcade. Lyrically it's impressionistic gibberish, but the vibe of the song strikes me as the most honest piece of music I've ever heard. To me the song is like a Jackson Pollack canvas--it's pure unbridled emotion. rage, angst, frustration: can all be summed up by this blast of pure punk fury. Situationally (not a word) it may be meaningless, but emotionally it feels like absolute truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFE5o0rjDPc

 

Somewhere in the middle:

Drive by Gaslight Anthem. I spent a lot of years either playing in terrible bands or helping terrible bands. Many times I quit a job in order drive some go nowhere punk band up and down the east coast. Drive feels exactly like it is to go from one gig playing in front of 9 people to another in front of 12. The exhaustion and exhilaration that comes from doing something you find to be both noble and criminally under appreciated--especially when you love and get along with the other guys in the band--is perfectly articulated in Drive. I never want to do it again, but the song feels exactly like some really great wasted time.

[/dev/null]

The Fish Heads song.

 

A timeless ballad that transcends generations, race, gender, time, and space

[Delete This Account]

my theme song: Bastards of Young by The Replacements.

it was and remains the anthem of my youth, which still hasn't ended.

and one of the better lyrics penned that drives the whole discontented with society and the establishment theme home is this:

 

The ones who love us best

are the ones we'll lay to rest

and visit their graves on holidays at best.

The ones who love us least

are the ones we'll die to please.

If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them

 

We are the sons of no one

bastards of young.

 

-- Paul Westerberg and the 'Mats.

[Buftex]

my theme song: Bastards of Young by The Replacements.

it was and remains the anthem of my youth, which still hasn't ended.

and one of the better lyrics penned that drives the whole discontented with society and the establishment theme home is this:

 

The ones who love us best

are the ones we'll lay to rest

and visit their graves on holidays at best.

The ones who love us least

are the ones we'll die to please.

If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them

 

We are the sons of no one

bastards of young.

 

-- Paul Westerberg and the 'Mats.

 

JW- great song...a crime to not provide a link to the greatest music video ever!

 

 

BTW- the line right before the instrumental break...what is it? I used to always think he was saying "Willie Nelson claim us, cuz we got no whore to name us"...it kind of made sense in a rock -n-roll kind of way...but now, I am sure he is saying something else...

[Buftex]

Speaking of Dylan:

There are lines in Positive Fourth Street which are so truthful it's almost painful to listen to. For some reason the Johnny Rivers version is the one that kills me the most. Actually I do know the reason--but it's far too personal to bulletin board about. The Johnny Rivers goofily psychedelic album (Realization) is a bit of a guilty pleasure--but the 4th St cover slays me

 

On the flip side:

When I was a college DJ I started every single show with Chartered Trips by Husker Du off of Zen Arcade. Lyrically it's impressionistic gibberish, but the vibe of the song strikes me as the most honest piece of music I've ever heard. To me the song is like a Jackson Pollack canvas--it's pure unbridled emotion. rage, angst, frustration: can all be summed up by this blast of pure punk fury. Situationally (not a word) it may be meaningless, but emotionally it feels like absolute truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFE5o0rjDPc

 

Somewhere in the middle:

Drive by Gaslight Anthem. I spent a lot of years either playing in terrible bands or helping terrible bands. Many times I quit a job in order drive some go nowhere punk band up and down the east coast. Drive feels exactly like it is to go from one gig playing in front of 9 people to another in front of 12. The exhaustion and exhilaration that comes from doing something you find to be both noble and criminally under appreciated--especially when you love and get along with the other guys in the band--is perfectly articulated in Drive. I never want to do it again, but the song feels exactly like some really great wasted time.

 

Great tunes. I go through phases with Dylan where I kind of "rediscover" him...I guess I am in one of them now...more free time on my hands...Husker Du is always a revelation as well...

 

Not familiar with the Gaslight Anthem song (one of those bands I keep meaning to check out), but I can completely appreciate the situation. I am kind of doing that right now, in a small way...after pretty much "retiring" from the music business (not a good term, as business implies money is being made by someone....never the case for me) for 8 years and taking a "real 9to 5" job, I find myself thrust back into that world, in my mid 40's. Unemployment makes you go for what you know...it isn't as exciting as it used to be, but my expectations are so minimal, it isn't as hard either...if that makes sense! Just need to get a regular paycheck from somewhere. Beats picking cotton and waiting to be forgotten!

[DC Tom]

Any song just absolutely nail out of the park for you?

 

Werewolves of London.

[Steely Dan]

The Logical Song

[Pete]

You Get What You Give

[HopsGuy]

Werewolves of London.

 

As a bald man, I'm offended. "His hair was perfect"? Puhleeeze!

 

/not really

//Love the G-D-F-C-G-C-G

 

[Booster4324]

This will seem an odd entry, Hotel California. It meant something to me other than what they intended.

[Terry Tate]

Speaking of Dylan:

There are lines in Positive Fourth Street which are so truthful it's almost painful to listen to.

When I hear this song, other than Dylan, I always think of George Doran playing it.

[HopsGuy]

This will seem an odd entry, Hotel California. It meant something to me other than what they intended.

 

They never meant it to mean anything. Don Henley said it was "Junk Sculpture". Do with that what you will.

[The Poojer]

harry nilsson..."you're breaking my heart, tearing it apart so f*** you"

[Booster4324]

They never meant it to mean anything. Don Henley said it was "Junk Sculpture". Do with that what you will.

 

He also said it was about the underbelly of the LA society and said it had to do with the music industry. The steely knives reference was to Steely Dan. Still, means nothing as, I took my own meaning from the song.

[The Senator]

[Wacka]

Denis Leary:

[Steely Dan]

He also said it was about the underbelly of the LA society and said it had to do with the music industry. The steely knives reference was to Steely Dan. Still, means nothing as, I took my own meaning from the song.

 

I always took it to be about drugs and addiction. The Steely reference is a nod to Steely Dan for mentioning them in the song "Everything You Did" (Turn up the Eagles the neighbors are listening)

[Delete This Account]

JW- great song...a crime to not provide a link to the greatest music video ever!

 

 

BTW- the line right before the instrumental break...what is it? I used to always think he was saying "Willie Nelson claim us, cuz we got no whore to name us"...it kind of made sense in a rock -n-roll kind of way...but now, I am sure he is saying something else...

 

there is a debate on that, and even the official/unofficial lyrics site hedges on it by referring to the line as:

"Unwillingness to claim us, ya got no word (war? no one?) to name us."

i think it's "war" because many generations last decade were defined by wars, and Westerberg refers to a war in at least one other 'Mats song: "Someone Take the Wheel."

 

and he at 50, like i at 47, are generally considered to be on the latter cusp of the boomer generation, though i prefer to be considered what's awkwardly referred to as a Gen-Xer (really hated that book), which is a group not of Boomer movement because i was not old enough to appreciate the 1960s and all the love/psychodelic baloney.

my formative years, like the 'Mats, were that of the mid-1970s and their musical excesses.

 

so in making my point and sticking to the theme of this thread, The 'Mats spoke for me in their disenfranchized anthem.

 

'Mats Lyrics site

 

jw

[ricojes]

In heaven there is no beer...