I think that trying to discern meaning in Jon Anderson lyrics is a fast track to insanity.
The man himself once said that the sound, rhythm and pace of the words was / is far more important than any meaning.
Yesterday a morning came a smile upon its face, Caesar’s palace, morning glory, silly human race… Or some such.
One that springs to mind…because we all have moments like this.
This Is The Day. The The.
Well you didn’t wake up this morning 'cause you didn’t go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red
The calendar on your wall was ticking the days off
You’ve been reading some old letters
You smile and think how much you’ve changed
All the money in the world couldn’t buy back those days
You pull back the curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day, your life will surely change
This is the day, when things fall into place
You could have done anything, if you wanted
And all your friends and family think that you’re lucky
But the side of you they’ll never see
Is when you’re left alone with your memories
That hold your life together, like glue
You pull back the curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day, your life will surely change
This is the day, when things fall into place
…and one for its pure simplicity but enormous political statement…and being completely joyous all at the same time.
Nina Simone. Ant Got No, I got Life.
Ain’t got no home, ain’t got no shoes
Ain’t got no money, ain’t got no class
Ain’t got no friends, ain’t got no schooling
Ain’t got no wear, ain’t got no job
Ain’t got no money, no place to stay
Ain’t got no father, ain’t got no mother
Ain’t got no children, ain’t got no sisters above
Ain’t got no earth, ain’t got no faith
Ain’t got no touch, ain’t got no god
Ain’t got no love
Ain’t got no wine, no cigarettes
Ain’t got no clothes, no country
No class, no schooling
No friends, no nothing
Ain’t got no god
Ain’t got one more
Ain’t got no earth, no ?
No food, no home
I said I ain’t got no clothes
No job, no nothing
Ain’t got long to live
And I ain’t got no love
But what have I got?
Let me tell ya what I’ve got
That nobody’s gonna take away
I got my hair on my head
I got my brains, I got my ears
I got my eyes, I got my nose
I dot my mouth, I got my smile
I got my tongue, I got my chin
I got my neck, I got my boobies
I got my heart, I got my soul
I got my back, I got my sex
I got my arms, I got my hands
I got my fingers, got my legs
I got my feet, I got my toes
I got my liver, got my blood
Got life, I got my life
“No sooner had I hit the streets when I met the fools that a young fool meets”
Jackson Browne
Many many years back I was driving my daughter back from a ballet lesson and as The Crystal Ship was playing she said “Dad you and Mum had a wonderful soundtrack to your youth”.
The Doors formed the soundtrack to my teenage years in Edinburgh, although they were not hugely popular in the UK while the poor old Lizard King was alive. Oliver Stone’s film, plus the earlier use of ‘The End’ in ‘Apocalypse Now’ had a big effect on changing that. (That extraordinary scene with the ‘whoop whoop’ of the helicopter blades, intercut with the spectral music of ‘The End’, as they lay down a firestorm of napalm, has remained long in my memory.)
There was a record shop called Rose Street Records, just behind Princes Street in Edinburgh, where I used to buy my Doors LPs. In fact, the shop used to import certain LPs from the US, including those issued by The Doors, before they had their official UK release, so I must have been amongst the first in the UK ever to hear them. Of course, this was in the days before the internet, so you had to be resourceful to find out about impending releases.
Ah, memories…!
A perceptive young lady! I hope that she has her own copies of The Doors albums in some medium or other.
(I’ve posted elsewhere that I’m having Grahams in London put together an LP12 for my son, using bits from all over the shop, including my own old black plinth.)
Graham55 - will you adopt me?
Back to lyrics - wonderful, poignant lines from Springsteen - “My Hometown”:
‘65, tensions were running high, in my high school
There was a lot of fights, between the black and whites, there was nothing you could do
Two cars in a line, Saturday night, back seat there was a gun
Words were passed, shotgun blast
Troubled times had come, to my hometown.
Probably my favourite Boss song.
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