| Gene Clark – Strength Of Strings Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Gene Clark was a founding member of the Byrds, and the title of this incredible song is a reference to the chorus "Lay Down Your Weary Tune," a Bob Dylan song covered by the Byrds on "Turn! Turn! Turn!" The lyrics of "Lay Down" (full Dylan version) are copied below. Both "Lay Down" and "Strength of Strings" were written as their respective authors were spending time on the California coast, observing the power and wonder of the ocean. In "Lay Down" Dylan seems to urge recognition of the profound beauty and power of nature, reverence to the music it creates, and a softening of the heart to "weary tunes" and entrapments that really do not matter in the scheme of things. He asks his listener to rest herself 'neath the "strength of strings" of nature, too powerful for any human voice to "hope to hum." Written years later, "Strength of Strings" seems both tortured and ecstatic. Clark is brought words and sounds that are "not" the strength of strings he once advised others to rest beneath. The lyrics and the building emotional swell do not encourage "rest," but perhaps a breaking free, and a realization that his life has "only just begun." __________________________________ Lay down your weary tune, lay down Lay down the song you strum And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings No voice can hope to hum Struck by the sounds before the sun I knew the night had gone The morning breeze like a bugle blew Against the drum of dawn Lay down your weary tune, lay down Lay down the song you strum And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings No voice can hope to hum The ocean wild like an organ played The seaweed wove its strands The crashing waves like cymbals clashed Against the rocks and the sand Lay down your weary tune, lay down Lay down the song you strum And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings No voice can hope to hum I stood unwound beneath the skies And clouds unbound by laws The crying rain like a trumpet sang And asked for no applause Lay down your weary tune, lay down Lay down the song you strum And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings No voice can hope to hum The last of leaves fell from the trees And clung to a new love's breast The branches bare like a banjo moan To the winds that listen the best I gazed down in the river's mirror And watched its winding strum The water smooth ran like a hymn And like a harp did hum Lay down your weary tune, lay down Lay down the song you strum And rest yourself 'neath the strength of strings No voice can hope to hum |
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