| Don McLean – Crossroads Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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If all roads lead to where we stand, then it's a matter of indifference which ones we take. We all travel the 'wrong direction,' committing ourselves (since we have no choice) to lives and histories whose final meanings can never be known to us. What matters are our intersections with other lives along the winding way. I'm surprised no-one has pointed out the affinities between Crossroads and the Beatles' Long and Winding Road: 'You left me standing here, a long, long time ago.' If there's anything we should be striving to get right in our existence it's to not lose touch with those we care about. Even when we do, they remain part of us... which seems to me the theme of Crossroads. We can't turn back, and life escapes our plans. But we will re-intersect, if not with people, time, or the person we used to be, then with our memories... and the only wholeness to be found there stems from the moments we assented to walk together. |
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| Cat Stevens – King of Trees Lyrics | 10 years ago |
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'Now they've come to cut you down'--the anonymous 'they,' from the 'hustling town,' now encroaching on the 'forest and the evergreens' from which they've severed themselves and no longer understand or respect, to the extent that they can casually 'burn the leaves.' The artist desires a return to 'days we held the same;' i.e., the good old days when he and his young friends saw eye to eye and understood each other. At first he sounds bravely confident he isn't simply indulging in nostalgia: 'The forest and the evergreens are coming to take me back.' But he knows better, and the lyric quickly becomes a plea: 'Please take me back'--I'm begging you. 'Now they've come to lay the road,' and there's no stopping them. The final line is a plea, too: 'Don't lay the road;' i.e., don't go in that direction. You're heading completely the wrong way, not back to nature but ahead to a desolate future in which even the 'king of trees' can be cut down, sacrificed to a road to nowhere. It's a hopeless cry of despair. |
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| Cat Stevens – 18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare) Lyrics | 10 years ago |
| When you're in your twenties and think your launch into life has been too long delayed, you can become more than a little impatient: you feel desperation and despair. I clearly recall that "Made it just in time! Boy, you made it just in time!" feeling when I at last escaped on a flight to Europe. | |
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