Jackson Browne - Standing in the Breach - YouTube
âStanding In The Breachâ - Jackson Browne
And though the earth may tremble and our foundations crack
We will all assemble and we will build them back
And rush to save the lives remaining still within our reach
And try to put our world together standing in the breach
So many live in poverty while others live as kings
Though some may find peace
In the acceptance of all that living brings
I will never understand however theyâve prepared
How one life may be struck down and another life be spared
And though the earth may tremble and cast our works aside
And though our efforts resemble the fluctuating tide
We rise and fall with the trust and belief
That love redeems us each
And bend our backs and hearts together standing in the breach
You donât know why itâs such a far cry
From the world this world could be
You donât know why but you still try
For the world you wish to see
You donât know how it will happen now
After all thatâs come undone
But you know the change the world needs now
Is there, in everyone
The unpaid debts of history
The open wounds of time
The laws of human nature always tugging from behind
I want to think that the earth can heal
And that people might still learn
How to meet this worldâs true challenges
And that the course weâre on could turn
And though the earth may tremble and the oceans pitch and rise
We will all assemble and we will lift our eyes
To the tasks that we know lie before us
And the power our prayers beseech
And cast our souls into the heavens, standing in the breach
You donât know why itâs such a far cry
From the world this world could be
You donât know why but you still try
For the world you wish to see
You donât know how itâs going to happen now
After all thatâs come undone
And you know the world youâre waiting for may not come
No it may not come
But you know the change the world needs now
Is there, in everyone
"Long Road Out Of Eden" - The Eagles
Moon shining down through the palms
Shadows moving on the sand
Somebody whispering the twenty-third psalm
Dusty rifle in his trembling hands
Somebody trying just to stay alive
He got promises to keep
Over the ocean in america
Far away and fast asleep
Silent stars blinking in the blackness of an endless sky
Cold silver satellites, ghostly caravans passing by
Galaxies unfolding, new worlds being born
Pilgrims and prodigals creeping toward the dawn
But itâs a long road out of eden
Music blasting from an suv
On a bright and sunny day
Rolling down the interstate
In the good olâ usa
Having lunch at the petroleum club
Smokinâ fine cigars and swappinâ lives
He said: âgimme ânother slice oâ that barbecued brisket!â
âgimme ânother piece oâ that pecan pie!â
Freeways flickering, cell phones chiming a tune
Weâre riding to utopia, road map says weâll be arriving soon
Captains of the old order clinging to the reins
Assuring us these aches inside are only growing pains
But itâs a long road out of eden
Back home i was so certain
The path was very clear
But now i have to wonder: "what are we doing here?"
Iâm not counting on tomorrow
And i canât tell wrong from right
But iâd give anything to be there in your arms tonight
Weaving down the american highway
Through the litter and the wreckage and the cultural junk
Bloated with entitlement, loaded on propaganda
And now weâre driving dazed and drunk
Been down the road to damascus,
The road to mandalay
Met the ghost of caesar on the appian way
He said, âitâs hard to stop this bingeing, once you get a taste.â
âbut the road to empire is a bloody stupid waste.â
Behold the bitten apple - the power of the tools
But all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools
And itâs a long road out of edenâŚ
"Three Flights Up" - Don McLean
On the first floor⌠On the first floorâŚ
On the first floor thereâs a young girl reeling
Her bodyâs numb and without feeling
As illusions dance on the midnight ceiling
Now sheâs falling, now sheâs kneeling
Itâs almost like sheâs bowed in prayer
A savior sheâs about to bear
She screams for help, but no oneâs thereâŚ
On the first floorâŚ
On the first floor people walk the halls
But none can hear her desperate calls
There is no sound beyond the walls
So to the telephone she crawls
She telephones her only friend
The one on whom she can depend
But the phone rings on without an end
Then rings no moreâŚOn the first floorâŚ
Thereâs a party on the second floor
And through the picture window you can see them all
Theyâre laughing and theyâre dancing
Admiring the Renoir thatâs hanging on the wall
But in the master bedroom where the coats are piled high
A silent, saddened lady thinks of what itâs like to die
And as she dwells on all the years she still has left to face
She wonders how sheâll ever find someone to take his place
Then suddenly sheâs jarred by the ringing of the phone
Oh, why do you ring now, just when I want to be alone?
So she walks into the bathroom and drinks some water from a cup
But the telephone stops ringing just before she picks it upâŚ
My family was very poor
So I worked hard to be secure
I married one I had to wed
And not the one I loved instead
When I was young my blood ran wild
But we stayed married for the child
Now three flights up, Iâm all alone
My wife is dead, my child is grown
My daughter leads a wayward life
Sheâs been a failure as a wife
And though she lives just one floor down
She never calls or comes aroundâŚ
Step off the platform and onto the train
Look out your window and into the rain
Watch all the buildings that pass as you ride
And count all the stories that go on inside
And then ask yourself if it must be this way
Should walls and doors and plaster ceilings
Separate us from each othersâ feelings?
âAcute Schizophrenia Paranoia Bluesâ - The Kinks
Iâm too terrified to walk out of my own front door,
Theyâre demonstrating outside I think theyâre gonna start the third world war,
Iâve been to my local head shrinker,
To help classify my disease,
He said itâs one of the cases of acute schizophrenia he sees.
Well the milkmanâs a spy, and the grocer keeps on following me,
And the woman next doorâs an undercover for the K.G.B.,
And the man from the Social Security
Keeps on invading my privacy,
Oh there ainât no cure for acute schizophrenia disease.
Iâve got acute schizophrenia, paranoia too,
Schizophrenia, schizophrenia,
Iâve got it, youâve got it, we canât lose,
Acute schizophrenia blues.
Iâm lost on the river, the river of no return,
I canât make decisions, I donât know which way Iâm gonna turn,
Even my old dad, lost some of the best friends he ever had,
Apparently, his was a case of acute schizophrenia too.
I got acute schizophrenia, paranoia too,
Schizophrenia, schizophrenia,
Iâve got it, youâve got it, we canât lose,
Theyâre watching my house and theyâre tapping my telephone,
I donât trust nobody, but Iâm much too scared to be on my own
And the income tax collectorâs got his beady eye on me,
No there ainât no cure for acute schizophrenia disease.
No there ainât no cure for
Schizophrenia disease.
love this track.
"Desperados Under The Eaves" - Warren Zevon
I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel
I was staring in my empty coffee cup
I was thinking that the gypsy wasnât lyinâ
All the salty margaritas in Los Angeles
Iâm gonna drink 'em up
And if California slides into the ocean
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill
Donât the sun look angry through the trees
Donât the trees look like crucified thieves
Donât you feel like Desperados under the eaves
Heaven help the one who leaves
Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands
And Iâm trying to find a girl who understands me
But except in dreams youâre never really free
Donât the sun look angry at me
I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel
I was listening to the air conditioner hum
It went mmmmmmâŚ
Look awayâŚ
(Look away down Gower Avenue, Look awayâŚ)
"Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)" - Tom Waits
Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight,
And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the marquees werenât weeping, they went stark-raving mad,
And the cabbies were the only ones that really had it made
And his cold trousers were twisted, and the sirens high and shrill,
And crumpled in his fist was a five-dollar bill
And the naked mannequins with their Cheshire grins,
And the raconteurs and roustabouts said âBuddy, come on in, 'cause
âCause the dreams ainât broken down here now, theyâre walking with a limp
Now that Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eightâ
And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the burglar alarmâs been disconnected,
And the newsmen start to rattle
And the cops are telling jokes about some whorehouse in Seattle
And the fire hydrants plead the Fifth Amendment
And the furniture is bargains galore
But the blood is by the jukebox on an old linoleum floor
And what a hot rain on Forty-Second Street,
And now the umbrellas ainât got a chance
And the newsboyâs a lunatic with stains on his pants, 'cause
âCause Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight
And no oneâs gone over to close his eyes
And thereâs a racing form in his pocket,
Circled âBlue Bootsâ in the third
And the cashier at the clothing store didnât say a word
As the siren tears the night in half, and someone lost his wallet
Well, a surveillance of assailance, if thatâs what you want to call it
And the whores hike up their skirts and fish for drug-store prophylactics
With their mouths cut just like razor blades and their eyes are like stilettos
And her radiatorâs steaming and her teeth are in a wreck, and nah,
She wonât let you kiss her, but what the hell do you expect?
And the Gypsies are tragic and if you want to buy perfume,
Well, theyâll bark you down like carneys, sell you Christmas cards in June, but
But Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight
And his headstoneâs a gumball machine,
No more chewing gum or baseball cards or overcoats or dreams
Someoneâs hosing down the sidewalk, and heâs only in his teens, 'cause
âCause Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight
And a fistful of dollars canât change that,
And someone copped his watch fob, and someone got his ring
And the newsboy got his porkpie Stetson hat
And the tuberculosis old men at the Nelson wheeze and cough
And someone will head south until this whole thing cools off, 'cause
âCause Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight, yeah,
Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight
Read an article the other day about the lyrics of Queenâs Bohemian Rhapsody, that alluded to it being about Freddie Mercury coming out as gay. Reading it again, I can see passages that definitely fit with this idea, though open to interpretation. What do you think?
âBohemian Rhapsodyâ - Queen
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
Iâm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because Iâm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows doesnât really matter to me, to me
Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now heâs dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now Iâve gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooh (any way the wind blows)
Didnât mean to make you cry
If Iâm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Bodyâs aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody, Iâve got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, ooh (any way the wind blows)
I donât wanna die,
I sometimes wish Iâd never been born at all
I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning
Very, very frightening me
(Galileo) Galileo
(Galileo) Galileo
Galileo Figaro
Magnifico-o-o-o-o
Iâm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Heâs just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go (let him go!)
Bismillah! We will not let you go (let him go!)
Bismillah! We will not let you go (let him go!)
Will not let you go (let him go!)
Never, never let you go
Never let me go, oh
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh, mama mia, mama mia (mama mia, let me go)
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye? (Yeah!)
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh, baby, canât do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows
I donât think itâs that obvious tbh.
"Weâve decided to risk melting our guns
As a show of strength, as a show of strength!
Weâve decided to start melting our guns
As a show of strength, as a show of strength!
Will there come a time when we believe
The only way ahead is to put down our arms
When we finally know
The bitter consequence of not doing soâŚ
What a waste of time,
The great wall of China,
What a waste of time,
The Maginot Line,
What a waste of time,
The Berlin Wall,
What a waste of timeâŚ
Iâm thinking of all the kids that died in school shootingsâŚ
âFar Afghanistanâ - James Taylor
Back home Indiana, we just learn to get along
Civilized and socialized they teach you right from wrong
How to hold your liquor and how to hold your tongue
How to hold a woman or a baby or a gun
But nothing will prepare you for the far Afghanistan
You can listen to their stories and pick up what you can
You listen to their stories maybe read a book or two
Until they send you out there, man you havenât got a clue
Oh the Hindu Kush, the Band-e Amir, the Hazara
They tell you a tradition in the hills of Kandahar
They say young boys are taken to the wilderness out there
Taken to the mountain alone and in the night
If he makes it home alive they teach him how to fight
They fought against the Russians, they fought against the Brits
They fought old Alexander, talking âbout him ever since
And after 9/11 here comes your Uncle Sam
Another painful lesson in the far Afghanistan
I was ready to be terrified and ready to be mad
I was ready to be homesick, the worst Iâve ever had
I expected to be hated and insulted to my face
But nothing could prepare me for the beauty of the place
No matter what they tell you all soldiers talk to God
Itâs a private conversation written in your blood
The enemyâs no different, badass holy wind
That crazy bastard talks to God and his God talks back to him
First time Iâve heard this Tom Waits track tonight, and was immediately sucked into it. I love songs that tell great storiesâŚ
"Big Joe And Phantom 309" - Tom Waits
See, I just happened to be back on the East coast a few years back
I was trying to make me a buck like everybody else
Iâll be damned if times didnât get hard, and Christ I got down on my luck
And I got tired of just roaming and bumming around
So I started thumbing my way back to my old hometown
And you know, I made quite a few miles in the first couple of days
You know, I figured Iâd be home in a week if my luck held out this way
You know, it was the third night, oh and I got stranded
And it was out at a cold lonely crossroads
And as the rain came pouring down, man I was hungry
Yeah, I was hungry, tired and freezing, caught myself a chill
But it was just about that time
Yeah, it was just about that time that the lights of an old semi topped the hill
You shouldâve seen me smile when I heard them air brakes come on
Yeah, and I climbed up into that cab where I knew itâd be warm
At the wheel⌠well, at the wheel sat a big man
And Iâd have to say he mustâve weighed two ten
As he stuck out a big hand and he said with a grin
âBig Joeâs the name, and this here rig is called Phantom 309â
Well, I asked him why he called his rig such a name
And you know, he turned to me and said
âWhy son, donât you know this here rigâll be putting 'em all to shame
Nah, there ainât a driver
No, there ainât a driver on this or any other line for that matter that
Thatâs seen nothing but the taillights of Big Joe and Phantom 309â
So we rode and we talked the better part of the night
And I told my stories and Joe told his
And I smoked up all his Viceroys as we rolled along
Pushed her ahead with ten forward gears
Man, that dashboard was lit like the old Madame La Rue pinball
Serious semi-truck
'Til almost mysteriously
Well, it was the lights of a truck stop that rolled into sight
Joe turned to me, said 'Iâm sorry son, but Iâm afraid this is just as far as you go, you see
You see, I kinda gotta be making a turn just up the road a pieceâ
Iâll be damned if he didnât toss me a dime as he threw her in low and said
âGo on in there son, and get yourself a hot cup of coffee on Big Joeâ
I mean to tell you, when Joe and his rig pulled off into the night
Man, in nothing flat they was clean outta sight
So I walked into this stop, well I ordered me up a cup of mud
Saying 'Big Joeâs setting this dude upâ
But it got so deadly quiet in that place
Yeah, it got so deadly quiet in that place, you couldâve heard a pin drop
And as the waiterâs face turned kind of pale I said
âWhatâs the matter, did I say something wrong?'
I kind of said with a half way grin
He said, 'No son, you see itâll kinda happen every now and then
âCause every driver in here knows Big Joe, son, but
But let me tell you what happened just ten years ago out there
Yeah, it was years ago, out there at that cold lonely crossroads
And there was a whole busload of kids
And then they were just coming from school
And they were right in the middle when Joe topped the hill and
They couldâve been slaughtered except Joe turned his wheels
And he jackknifed, yeah he jackknifed, and he went into a skid
And you know, folks around here, well
They say he gave his life to save that bunch of kids
And out there at that cold lonely crossroads
Well, theyâre saying it was the end of the line for Big Joe and Phantom 309
But itâs funny you know, cause⌠cause every now and then
Yeah, every now and then when the moonâs holding water
Well, they say that old Joeâll stop and give you a ride
It seems, just like you, some hitchhiker will be coming byâ
âSo here, son,â he said to me, âyou get yourself another cup of coffee
Itâs on the house, I kind of want you to hang on to that dime
Yeah, I kind of want you to hang on to that dime as a souvenir
I want you to keep that dime as a souvenir of Big Joe
Of Big Joe and Phantom
Big Joe and Phantom 309â
"House Where Nobody Lives" - Tom Waits
Thereâs a house on my block
Thatâs abandoned and cold
Folks moved out of it a
Long time ago
And they took all their things
And they never came back
Looks like itâs haunted
With the windows all cracked
And everyone calls it
The house, the house where
Nobody lives
Once it held laughter
Once it held dreams
Did they throw it away
Did they know what it means
Did someoneâs heart break
Or did someone do somebody wrong?
Well the paint was all cracked
It was peeled off of the wood
Papers were stacked on the porch
Where I stood
And the weeds had grown up
Just as high as the door
There were birds in the chimney
And an old chest of drawers
Looks like no one will ever
Come back to the
House where nobody lives
Once it held laughter
Once it held dreams
Did they throw it away
Did they know what it means
Did someoneâs heart break
Or did someone do somebody wrong?
So if you find someone
Someone to have, someone to hold
Donât trade it for silver
Donât trade it for gold
I have all of lifeâs treasures
And they are fine and they are good
They remind me that houses
Are just made of wood
What makes a house grand
Ainât the roof or the doors
If thereâs love in a house
Itâs a palace for sure
Without loveâŚ
It ainât nothing but a house
A house where nobody lives
Without love it ainât nothing
But a house, a house where
Nobody lives
Frank Turner - 1933
âStop asking musicians what they think,â
He slurred softly as he poured himself a second drink,
And outside, the world slipped over the brink.
âWe all thought we had nothing to lose,
That we could trust in crossed fingers and horseshoes,
That everything would work out, no matter what we choose.â
The first time it was a tragedy, the second time itâs a farce.
Outside itâs 1933, so Iâm hitting the bar.
And I donât know whatâs going on anymore.
The world outside is burning with a brand new light,
But it isnât one that makes me feel warm.
Donât go mistaking your house burning down for the dawn.
If I was of the greatest generation, Iâd be pissed,
Surveying the world that I built slipping back into this.
Iâd be screaming at my grandkids, âWe already did this!â
Be suspicious of simple answers -
That shitâs for fascists (and maybe teenagers).
You canât fix the world if all you have is a hammer.
Arenât you ashamed of this? I surely hope that you are;
Living in a society thatâs maybe heading for Mars,
While down here we still have a shower of bastards
Leading the charge.
Outside itâs 1933 so Iâm hitting the bar.
âCasino Nationâ - Jackson Browne
In a weapons producing nation under Jesus
In the fabled crucible of the free world
Camera crews search for clues amid the detritus
And entertainment shapes the land
The way the hammer shapes the hand
Gleaming faces in the checkout counter at the Church of Fame
The lucky winners cheer Casino Nation
All those not on TV only have themselves to blame
And donât quite seem to understand
The way the hammer shapes the hand
Out beyond the ethernet the spectrum spreads
DC to daylight, the cowboy mogul rides
Never worry where the gold for all this gloryâs gonna come from
Get along dogies, itâs coming out of your hides
The intentional cultivation of a criminal class
The future lit by brightly burning bridges
Justice fully clothed to hide the heart of glass
That shatters in a thousand Ruby Ridges
And everywhere the good prepare for perpetual war
And let their weapons shape the plan
The way the hammer shapes the hand