submissions

Tears for Fears – Woman In Chains Lyrics

12 years ago

I just recently saw, and more importantly heard, a cover of this song by Lind, Nilsen, Fuentes and Holm, from Norway. It quite literally will stop your heart and start your tears. While Tears did a marvelous job- LNFH absolutely stun. The subject is so painful. At least I find it so as a woman. I had hoped that there would come a time when women would no longer be in chains, but it has not come to pass. I do find it very encouraging when male performers sing this song, with genuine emotion and empathy.

submissions

Mark Knopfler – Piper to the End Lyrics	12 years ago
Hearing Mark tell the story of his uncle , and of the Black Watch during WW2 is very poignant. He remarks that lots of us have uncles we never met, due to their dying in the war. So true. What better job to have? Being a piper to the end.

submissions

Mark Knopfler – Our Shangri-La Lyrics

13 years ago

Given that the song was recorded at Shangri-La Studios in southern California, I think some folks feel it's about that specific place. To me, it's a statement made to a soul mate- that night is their heaven, and should they never have another, what they do have will sustain them. I think it is about the passage of time, the wheel of heaven turns without end, and so does their love. To me 'tonight your beauty burns into my memory' ranks right on up there with 'kiss you through the bars of a rhyme'. I also think ' I think my heart would break in two- I kiss your cheek and keep my self from waking you'. A master of lyrical revelations.

submissions

Mark Knopfler – What It Is Lyrics	13 years ago
Just reading the lyrics out loud and not muffing them is a task! I love this song, in part because of the wonderful word pictures it paints. The tollgate, the moon shining down on the legless and asleep, Caledonian blues, on and on. A history recounted in a few minutes time. Clever, complicated and always so rich in meaning- wrapped up in a lovely melody. Class. Pure class.

submissions

Mark Knopfler – Haul Away Lyrics

13 years ago

As with everything that Mark writes, there are so many layers to this piece. Lots of superstitions abound among seafarers. One of them is that a member of the crew could be 'bad luck' for the ship and other crew members. Thus the idea that if the one who had brought the doldrums on, were to remove himself, then the winds would pick up again. The narrator is much devoted to his wife, and is eager to return to her, and the sooner the winds return, the sooner the ship can haul away for home.

submissions

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover) Lyrics

13 years ago

The first time I heard Jeff Buckley's' version, I was just left speechless. I had heard Cohen's version- the one most often performed and was not all that enamored with it . Then I heard Buckley's, the k.d. Langs, and Jon Bon Govi's. Celtic Thunder does a good rendition too. To me there is very little that is actually religious to the piece. Far more about not only personal, intimate relationships, but also how we each much move through the world. And in in doing that 'Hallelujah' in some form or another is drawn from our lips.

submissions

Mark Knopfler – Prairie Wedding Lyrics

13 years ago

Mark released this song in 2000, Rogers recorded it in 2003. The prairie of North America is truly a most beautiful and often barren place. Mail order brides took huge leaps of faith that the man they were going to marry would be a good one. Love them, be kind, etc. The men took a risk too- would she stay, be a good wife and mother, etc. Two people really taking a leap of faith. Such a lovely picture Mark paints. A wedding , simple, but proper. Two people hoping that they have made the right choice. One of my favorite Knopfler songs- the lyrics are so evocative- how anxious the man is and how much he hopes she finds what he has to offer her of value. And, he holds her and wispers her name. Sigh.

submissions

Mark Knopfler – Prairie Wedding Lyrics

13 years ago

Mark released this song in 2000, Rogers recorded it in 2003. The prairie of North America is truly a most beautiful and often barren place. Mail order brides took huge leaps of faith that the man they were going to marry would be a good one. Love them, be kind, etc. The men took a risk too- would she stay, be a good wife and mother, etc. Two people really taking a leap of faith. Such a lovely picture Mark paints. A wedding , simple, but proper. Two people hoping that they have made the right choice. One of my favorite Knopfler songs- the lyrics are so evocative- how anxious the man is and how much he hopes she finds what he has to offer her of value. And, he holds her and wispers her name. Sigh.

submissions

Mark Knopfler – A Place Where We Used to Live Lyrics	13 years ago
I think this is such a poignant song. The neighborhood they grew up in. Married, lived their lives. That ended, and she moved away, re-married. He's in the house, empty now, where they had lived and he's immersed in the memories of their childhood, marriage and then life moving on. Bittersweet, and a bit of a revelation of just how much he still cares for her.

submissions

Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms Lyrics

13 years ago

The song addresses the war in the Falklands~ yet, in reality, war is war and we are all the poorer for that. My Dad was of ' The Greatest Generation', having fought in WW2 at Iwo Jima. Those who survived, as he did, were as much his brother as the man who was his brother by blood. While Shakespeare used the phrase 'We few, we happy few, We Band of Brothers', taken from Henry V, it is certainly not a new concept to denote those who have been in battle together. The bonds that war creates, for whatever reason, are very strong indeed. And, in time, those who may have survived, will indeed return to valleys', farms, lowlands, highlands, mountains etc~ each to their homeland. To me the song is poignant on so many levels. One stanza in particular speaks to me 'for it's written in the starlight, and every line in your palm- we are foolish to make war on our brothers in arms' Brilliant writing, transcending any particular war, and encompassing the futility as the same time.

submissions

Dire Straits – Your Latest Trick Lyrics

13 years ago

I think it's a commentary on the life of a musician. The scene is set - late night when a gig is done, and the only other people working are garbagemen, cabbies and whores. The time when the illusion that performing creates is pierced and the less that attractive parts of the life come to the fore. Being cheated by club owners, maybe groupies/girlfriends- or fellow musicians , leaving the narrator shaking his head- 'how the hell did that happen?' sort of thing. And given the cheater credit for pulling off a trick; albeit not a nice one.

submissions

Dire Straits – Romeo And Juliet Lyrics

13 years ago

The first time I heard this song 'All I can do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme'~ That blew me away. The picture of the discarded lover, left with only words to try and change her mind is stunning. 'I dreamed your dream for you, and now your dream is real' and her attitude is 'oh, Romeo, I used to have a scene with him- a 'scene' as from a play. It's a play, old as time, playing out either by lamplight or streetlight. Yet, he knows that it was folly~ 'just that the time was wrong'.

submissions

Dire Straits – Romeo And Juliet Lyrics

13 years ago

The first time I heard this song 'All I can do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme'~ That blew me away. The picture of the discarded lover, left with only words to try and change her mind is stunning. 'I dreamed your dream for you, and now your dream is real' and her attitude is 'oh, Romeo, I used to have a scene with him- a 'scene' as from a play. It's a play, old as time, playing out either by lamplight or streetlight. Yet, he knows that it was folly~ 'just that the time was wrong'.

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