submissions
| Guy Clark – Fort Worth Blues Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Totally about Townes Van Zandt. Townes was a huge influence on the Austin crowd - Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Jerry Jeff, Emmylou. Steve Earle does the best version of this song. |
submissions
| Phil Ochs – When In Rome Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I first heard this song when I was a "lost" teenager in the early 70s. I think it is a history of the USA, but only the negatives - slavery, war (WW2 and Vietnam), the collapse of democracy(?). I admit to getting lost in Ochs lyrics - not sure what he's getting at in some of the verses. But I do think the song is about the rise and fall of the American empire. Phil was not exactly someone who lived to pump sunshine up your ass. |
submissions
| Tom Waits – (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I don't see a hooker here at all. Have you ever heard Jerry Jeff Walker's cover? This is a song about small-town Saturday night. You work all week (pocket's are jinglin'), car/truck's gassed up, cruisin', combed your hair...really, looking for a good time, wondering maybe what it is you're looking for. You are young, single (though you've got your arm around your sweet one) - it's wistful - you are looking for the heart of Saturday night! Nothing to do with hookers! |
submissions
| Jerry Jeff Walker – Follow Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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I'm a little surprised that there are no comments for JJW songs. Okay, so the lyrics are usually pretty obvious..."follow" - a Jerry Merrick penned tune - is a little deeper. I've never heard the Richie Havens version (though I'm going to try to find it) - I think a song about young love - she's young, he's older - he wants her to move on. He wants her to experience life much more broadly - put him in the past, "nothing but a dream". This is a pretty old song, but the line "...church bells and school bells toll their one-note songs" still packs a pretty good punch.
I guess the song resounds for me - been there. Still one of the all-time best JJW songs, can't believe it didn't get more of a reaction than it did - great song by one of my favorite all-time singers. |
submissions
| Tom Waits – Muriel Lyrics
| 16 years ago
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Muriels are, as you probably know, cheap cigars with a picture of a girl with her "hair tied back" on the ring (the paper ring around a cigar - "the only wedding ring I'll ever buy you"). The line is pretty obvious - "i'll light another cheap cigar, and see you every night" - but great nonetheless.
Tom Waits has some of the most profound lyrics in modern music. They take some digging most of the time. Muriel is a great song, but I think Tom is having a little fun here. Did he buy a cheap Muriel ("in a penny arcade") one night and find a song in it? |
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