When I first heard this song, I was searching for Jesus Christ and belonged to a Catholic charismatic group. At that same time, I came across a Christian tract entitled, you guessed it… FREE RIDE! It was about acceptIng Jesus Christ and a “ FREE RIDE to eternal life. THIS has always been the meaning of the song for me. The timing of the song and the appearance in my life of that tract was much more than coincidental. And, furthermore, over the years, God has used the song at just the right time to build me up. Different...
When I first heard this song, I was searching for Jesus Christ and belonged to a Catholic charismatic group. At that same time, I came across a Christian tract entitled, you guessed it… FREE RIDE! It was about acceptIng Jesus Christ and a “ FREE RIDE to eternal life. THIS has always been the meaning of the song for me. The timing of the song and the appearance in my life of that tract was much more than coincidental. And, furthermore, over the years, God has used the song at just the right time to build me up. Different strokes for different folks. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I came here to read others' thoughts about this beautiful song. I have some thoughts of my own.
I came here to read others' thoughts about this beautiful song. I have some thoughts of my own.
But first, let's get the lyrics up, eh?
But first, let's get the lyrics up, eh?
[The version above is full of holes. When I try to edit the lyrics (to fill in yawning elipses), this site insists I "must be logged in" - which I am.
[The version above is full of holes. When I try to edit the lyrics (to fill in yawning elipses), this site insists I "must be logged in" - which I am.
When I agree to log in again (though my name appears top right), it takes me to some other page, inviting me to view random songs.
When I agree to log in again (though my name appears top right), it takes me to some other page, inviting me to view random songs.
When I search for Commune, it takes me back here but still insists I "must be logged in to edit" - which I am.]
So here, in the comments, are the full lyrics as I hear them.
Someone please put them in.
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COMMUNE
by Roy Harper
I thought I heard the sound of my name
And I looked back down behind me
And with hair like the ripened wheat she came
Sure as the west wind to find me
And just for a moment I wished my life
To see our friends all around us
And I turned to her but I held my breath
In the far Norwegian mountains
For there we stood, two children of spring
As everything seemed to be gleaming
Her looking breathless clean out of my mind
And me with my crazy dreaming
To think of my friends underneath the same roof
In one common destination
When all we do is remain aloof
Like we have no close relation
[Chorus 1]
And love is my torment
And I'll take when I can
But I'll give in the moment
When you are my woman and I am your man
And I watched her makin' her first daisy chain
As her nipples hung hard and suggestive
And naked, gnat-bitten we drifted the plain
In the hazy desert of sensation
And we dreamed of all the loves we'd known
And we never never thought of the sorrow
With forelocks wound over primrose down
In the wood by the empty long barrow
Two silver greenflies to flicker the backdropping lush
Of the emerald springtime
To lust for a moment in love of another's dust
On a dragonfly's wing
[Chorus 2]
And love is no torment
For we'll give when we can
And we'll live in the moment
When you are my woman and I am your man
And the blackcap sings and the forest rings
With the nettles tall around me
With shafts of sun and moving things
And poems fast and slowly
And fantasies of luscious thirst
For new lust and fresh waters to seek it
Like diamonds set in realities
Of skies drawn back in secret
But somewhere out there with my heart in her care
And her prayers in the breezes that caught them
She sits like the earth as I fly to her arms
Like the showering yellows of autumn
[Chorus 3]
And love is no torment
For we'll give when we can
And we'll live in the moment
When she is my woman and I am her man
This song truly is the one🥹😫
This song truly is the one🥹😫
IDK if this is related to his breaking up with his ex-GF JJ. Gonson, which, as far as I know, was reluctant to let Elliott go...
IDK if this is related to his breaking up with his ex-GF JJ. Gonson, which, as far as I know, was reluctant to let Elliott go...
Possibly it refers to when Gonson was still hurt by Elliott's rejection so she tried to send the message that she was better off with another relationship.
Possibly it refers to when Gonson was still hurt by Elliott's rejection so she tried to send the message that she was better off with another relationship.
Anyway, this is a great song to talk about those kinds of difficult ruptures where you give up and one of the people in the relationship is that kind of self-attention ho*s that wants to spit on your face how much they are better off without the other... but then the cold answer and the most logical one is "who TF cares".
The sand and the sea grows I close my eyes Move slowly through drowning waves Going away on a strange day My head falls back And the walls crash down And the sky and the impossible explode Held for one moment, I remember a song An impression of sound Then everything is gone forever
The sand and the sea grows I close my eyes Move slowly through drowning waves Going away on a strange day My head falls back And the walls crash down And the sky and the impossible explode Held for one moment, I remember a song An impression of sound Then everything is gone forever
"it's not about suicide" Sure thing.
"it's not about suicide" Sure thing.
This song is absolutely brilliant. The lyrics are appropriately generic enough so that different people see distinct, oftentimes deeply personal, meanings in it; it depicts a person in a incredibly fragile position, suffering from an unamed evil, bellowing that he/she will do something nasty about it but incapable of escaping a terrible ordeal (which is also something quite different from the usual output of Metallica). This is the rock'n'roll equivalent to the Book of Job, or the final moments of Christ on the cross (... "So tell me why you've chosen me"). I keep coming back to it on difficult...
This song is absolutely brilliant. The lyrics are appropriately generic enough so that different people see distinct, oftentimes deeply personal, meanings in it; it depicts a person in a incredibly fragile position, suffering from an unamed evil, bellowing that he/she will do something nasty about it but incapable of escaping a terrible ordeal (which is also something quite different from the usual output of Metallica). This is the rock'n'roll equivalent to the Book of Job, or the final moments of Christ on the cross (... "So tell me why you've chosen me"). I keep coming back to it on difficult times.
The lyrics currently posted here are wrong; they belong to a different (and lesser) Jackson Browne song called "The Road and The SKY."
The lyrics currently posted here are wrong; they belong to a different (and lesser) Jackson Browne song called "The Road and The SKY."
The correct lyrics for this song (2 words) start with "...Highways and dance halls, A good song takes you far..."
The correct lyrics for this song (2 words) start with "...Highways and dance halls, A good song takes you far..."
Song Meanings, please restore the proper lyrics. Thanks!
Song Meanings, please restore the proper lyrics. Thanks!
Danny's song became a huge hit for Jackson Browne. Touring musicians everywhere recognize this limbo of transitory fame.
Danny's song became a huge hit for Jackson Browne. Touring musicians everywhere recognize this limbo of transitory fame.
The biggest problem about the song supposedly being about civil rights is the fact that that angle wasn't mentioned or brought up until decades after the fact. If it was about the plight of black people it was never discussed by McCartney at the time or even for years and years after. I get that Brits call women birds and you could easily make the case that it is about civil rights and wanting to be free, but I'm saying none of that was considered until many, many years later. When McCartney acknowledges that it is about...
The biggest problem about the song supposedly being about civil rights is the fact that that angle wasn't mentioned or brought up until decades after the fact. If it was about the plight of black people it was never discussed by McCartney at the time or even for years and years after. I get that Brits call women birds and you could easily make the case that it is about civil rights and wanting to be free, but I'm saying none of that was considered until many, many years later. When McCartney acknowledges that it is about civil rights I see that as revisionist history. Sounds good and makes himself look even better. I love the song, McCartney and The Beatles- but there is no record of its meaning until years, even decades after the fact.
That when you love someone and you don't know yourself then you get scared and chicken out and if you have secrets then they will be like demons that drag you down
That when you love someone and you don't know yourself then you get scared and chicken out and if you have secrets then they will be like demons that drag you down