Favourite Song lyrics

Other bands and gigs
330

‘Books Are Burning’ - XTC

Books are burning
In the main square, and I saw there
The fire eating the text
Books are burning
In the still air
And you know where they burn books
People are next
I believe the printed word should be forgiven
Doesn’t matter what it said
Wisdom hotline from the dead back to the living
Key to the larder for your heart and your head
Books are burning
In our own town, watch us turn 'round
And cast our glances elsewhere
Books are burning
In the playground
Smell of burnt book is not unlike human hair
I believe the printed word is more than sacred
Beyond the gauge of good or bad
The human right to let your soul fly free and naked
Above the violence of the fearful and sad
The church of matches
Anoints in ignorance with gasoline
The church of matches
Grows fat by breathing in the smoke of dreams
It’s quite obscene
Books are burning
More each day now, and I pray now
You boys will tire of these games
Books are burning
I hope somehow, this will allow
A phoenix up from the flames

331

‘The Crossing’ - Big Country

Maps on the back of your hands
Point to the cross
Scratches on walls in a room
Draw out your loss
Your islands are conquered and you are returned
To the throne
Martyrs take penance and fill up the mattress
With stones

Pull straws with holy men
Stain all the atlas pink
And let us find a beach
Where we can cross our hearts

Stand in the wind as the carousels spin
Wear out your welcome again
Stand in the silence of mountains and
Wear out your welcome again

Mornings hit hard with an uncontrollable light
Piercing the senses that click deep in the night
Crouched in a pillow of straw feet on the floor
Creeping a path to the mat that holds back the door

Pull straws with holy men
Stain all the atlas pink
And let us find a beach
Where we can cross our hearts

Build up great railways that run through the horns of the moon
Hold up a city with cast-iron museum walls
Explain your machines to the boys feed them with tools
Bring out the skill in your skin polish your hair

Pull straws with holy men
Stain all the atlas pink
And let us find a beach
Where we can cross our hearts

Stand in the wind as the carousels spin
Wear out your welcome again
Stand on the silence of mountains and
Take your rib down to the sea

Stand in the wind as the carousels spin
Wear out your welcome again
Stand on the silence of mountains and
Take your rib down to the sea

332

‘Man At The Gate’ - Ron Sexsmith

The man at the gate
Seems to be waiting
For someone or something
To enter the scene

The man at the gate
Appears in the distance
To prove his existence
In 1913

With the man at the gate
There is no way of knowing
If he’s coming or going
He’s caught in between

The man at the gate
It appears at a distance
Could use some assistance
In 1913

His silhouette has been captured unknowingly
Trapped in a postcard for all eternity

This photograph from the turn of the century
Snapped by a photog at a moment in history

The man at the gate
Stands like a statue
Not somebody that you
Would notice it seems

The man at the gate
He was living and well once
At Trinity Bellwoods
In 1913

333

Such simple lyrics, but they hit me.

334

​​i/o (Bright-Side Mix) Lyrics
[Verse 1]
I’m just a part of everything
I stand on two legs and I learn to sing
It’s not what were said
It’s not what I heard
I walk with my dog and I whistle with a bird

[Refrain]
Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I’m just a part of everything
Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I’m just a part of everything

[Verse 2]
So we think we really live apart
Because we’ve got two legs, a brain, and a heart
We all belong to everything
To the octopus suckers and the buzzard’s wing
To the elephant’s trunk and buzzing bee’s sting

[Refrain]
Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I’m just a part of everything
I’m just a part of everything

[Chorus]
​​i/o, i/o
Coming out, I’m going in
​​i/o, i/o
I’m just a part of everything

[Verse 3]
I learn like a baby, I learn like a seed
Spread out my tubers wherever I need
I find any way to attach and connect
And I run like water, no cause or effect

[Refrain]
Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I’m just a part of everything
Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I’m just a part of everything

[Verse 4]
When the panting is over and the warmth has run out
Love will be flowing, I have no doubt
With the vehicle in neutral and the ground to be faced
I’ll be all laid to rest in my proper place
Into the roots in the old oak tree
Where life can move freely in and out of me

[Refrain]
Stuff coming out, stuff going in
I’m just a part of everything

[Chorus]
​​i/o, i/o
Coming out, I’m going in
​​i/o, i/o
I’m just a part of everything

[Chorus]
​​i/o, i/o
Coming out, I’m going in
​​i/o, i/o
I’m just a part of everything

‌i/o (2023)
Peter Gabriel

1 Like
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337

Love the philosophical lyrics on this track. Released earlier this year, first new material from Crash Test Dummies in 13 years. Makes me want a new album.

1 Like
338

Walter Becker was such an underrated guitarist. Just had a wonderful feel for what the song needed.

339

Absolutely one of the best opening lines ever here:

“Well I woke up Sunday morning,
With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad,
So I had one more for dessert…”

2 Likes
340

Good Morning People. I was going to write something in the General Chat Thread after the posts / comments about us all ageing earlier this week because it had kind of stuck with me. I think Peter says it better than I can. :slightly_smiling_face:

Playing For Time by Peter Gabriel

Far, far away
Out amongst the stars
There’s a planet spinning slowly
We call it ours
Any time, any day
Any moment that we bring to life
Will never fade away

Oh, all the moments come and go
While the memories ebb and flow
And play again, play again
Oh, there’s a hill that we must climb
Climb through all the mist of time
It’s all in here what we’ve been through

Down, I’m getting it down
Sorting it out
So everything I care about
Is held in here
All of those I love, inside
Everybody’s playing for time
You and I still playing for time

There goes the sun
Back from where it came
The young move to the center
The mom and dad, the frame
Any space, any time
Any moment that we bring to life
Ridiculous, sublime

Oh, all the moments come and go
While the memories ebb and flow
And play again, play again
Oh, there’s a hill that we must climb
Climb through all the mist of time
It’s all in here what we’ve been through

Down, I’m getting it down
Sorting it out
So everything I care about
Is held in here
All of those I love, inside

The future shines a sunny day
Unpacked memories stored away
All the while, the clock keeps ticking
You and I still playing for time

One by one the voices silenced
For they know that time will tell
It’s time that wears the crown
And time that rings the bell
All cards on the table
All hands are down
Everybody’s playing for time
Everyone’s still playing for time

Looking for a flicker in the face of the clock
Hidden in the mountain, in the body of the rock
No one seems to notice or to feel the aftershock
They’re all too busy playing for time
Everybody’s playing for time
You and I still playing for time

1 Like
341

Belting song. Shades of early Springsteen, in the lyrics at least.

‘Lawless Avenues’ - Jackson Browne

Papa hit him, Mama kissed him
Made him go to Catechism
With the sisters in their black and white
And all the time those city streets
Were teaching him another kind of wisdom
When to run and when to fight
Up at the playground after school
Listening to tales of the prison system
And those lawless avenues

Dawn on a half darkened street
A child’s footsteps repeat
And something there turns them
Down those lawless avenues

Silent Joe went down so bad
He was the strongest fighter the avenues had
Stabbed in the chest he went down swinging
Someone from some other part of town
No one even seen it coming down
And you don’t hear no church bells ringing
And in the violent night the police light
Sweeps across the lots and the yards
Following those lawless avenues

Down on a half darkened street
Armies advance and retreat
And struggle to take control
From those lawless avenues

Manuelito’s sister Rosa
Ran away with a surfer from Hermosa
Manuelito, cuida a Rosa
Hay mira como estan las cosas
(Manuelito take care of Rosa
Look at how things are)

But who could blame her after she saw
Every boy die who could have gotten close to her
Rosa es joven you solo quiere
Ver la belleza del mundo
(Rosa is young and only wants
To see the beauty of the world)

Manuel said
“You gotta fight for what you want in this life”
Just before they shipped him overseas to 'Nam
Otra guerra sin razon
Otra guerra sin fin, sin honor
(Another war without reason
Another war without end, without honor

And she was fighting to understand
When they shipped Manuelito’s body home
All she heard was one more shot
Echoing down lawless avenues

Hoy amigo, tal igual como ayer
La lucha en el barrio no cambia
Nuestros hijos son los que han de crecer
Por ley de la calle, viviendo entre abrazos
Why chingazos
(Today my friend, just like yesterday
The struggle in the barrio doesn’t change
Our children are the ones to grow up
By the law of the street
Living between hugs and blows)

Down on a half darkened street
Fathers’ and sons’ lives repeat
And something there turns them
Down those lawless avenues

En el calor de la calle
(In the heat of the street)
Buscan valor en la calle
(Looking for valor in the street)
Hasta final de la calle
(Till the end of the street)

342

Can’t help thinking the ‘brightest star fell’ lyric is a reference to David Longden’s death, since the song seems to be about lost friendships and moving on with life. Maybe I read into things too much?

‘Bookmarks’ - Big Big Train

Rising with the sun
Racing down that steep hill
Faster still
Out there as the night falls
Sneaking home to bed

Hiding in the long grass
Stealing sweets and
Sweetheart kisses
Late back home for tea-time
With keepsakes and dreams
Might-have-beens

One day we rode out
Side by side
For the last time
Nobody there
Knew we’d not
Ride together again

Some of us remained
We fashioned all our hopes into music
Then, running out of time
We moved along
Drifting far from sight
But held in place like circling satellites
Or bookmarks on a page
You can find once again
Stories and old friends

Turned more pages
Moved further along
Got our skates on
Found a new home
For our words
For our songs
For our hopes
Then late in the night
Came a storm
And the brightest star fell
And everything is gone now

Time is a river
The shore out of reach
Heading downstream
Where the water is too deep
Life is an ocean
I am lost out at sea
Looking for safe harbour
A light that’s calling me
Out of the darkness
Out of the night
I knew you’d shine
Be there at my side
Riding to the rescue once again
My dear old friends