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Mohammed's Radio Lyrics
Everybody's restless and they've got no place to go
Someone's always trying to tell them
Something they already know
So their anger and resentment flow
But don't it make you want to rock and roll
All night long
Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Mohammed's Radio
You know, the Sheriff's got his problems too
He will surely take them out on you
In walked the village idiot and his face was all aglow
He's been up all night listening to Mohammed's Radio
Don't it make you want to rock and roll
All night long
Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Mohammed's Radio
Everybody's desperate trying to make ends meet
Work all day, still can't pay the price of gasoline and meat
Alas, their lives are incomplete
Don't it make you want to rock and roll
All night long Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Mohammed's Radio
You've been up all night listening for his drum
Hoping that the righteous might just might just might just come
I heard the General whisper to his aide-de-camp
"Be watchful for Mohammed's lamp"
Don't it make you want to rock and roll
All night long Mohammed's Radio
Someone's always trying to tell them
Something they already know
So their anger and resentment flow
All night long
Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Mohammed's Radio
He will surely take them out on you
In walked the village idiot and his face was all aglow
He's been up all night listening to Mohammed's Radio
All night long
Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Mohammed's Radio
Work all day, still can't pay the price of gasoline and meat
Alas, their lives are incomplete
All night long Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio, Mohammed's Radio
Hoping that the righteous might just might just might just come
I heard the General whisper to his aide-de-camp
"Be watchful for Mohammed's lamp"
All night long Mohammed's Radio
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According to "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead", it was Halloween, and WZ saw a mentally challenged man dressed as an Arab with a radio to his ear. He wrote Mohammed's Radio right afterwards.
Mohammed's Radio is the wavelength we all tune in to when we get as close as we are able to get to the Infinite Compassion. It's the wavelength Mohammed heard when he first dreamed up his version of Allah, before all the argybargy set in; the same station that Jesus and his fellow-messiahs were locked into at night while cruising for angels. It's the wavelength of Buddha, Zoroaster, the Delphic oracle and the non-frequency of the Tao. There's no missing it when you hear it, and no finding it if you are missing it. It is Gawd's own frequency, coming to you through the night sky at thirty billion teravolts of AM transmission, this morning and every AM to come. DON'T touch that dial....
@Amosagain, you my dear man, are an epic wordsmith and with your wise god insight you’ve offered up here, you’re an overly qualified poet turned lyrical transcriptionist if I’ve ever read one! Epic review!
@Amosagain, you my dear man, are an epic wordsmith and with your wise god insight you’ve offered up here, you’re an overly qualified poet turned lyrical transcriptionist if I’ve ever read one! Epic review!
@Amosagain \r\n\r\nIt\'s about torture.\r\n\r\nMohammed\'s Radio is that radio they hook someone up to when they are interrogating them.\r\n\r\nIf they ask a question, and you don\'t give them the answer they want, they turn on the radio, completing a circuit normally attached to you balls.\r\n\r\nIn walks the village idiot and his face is all aglow\r\nHe\'s been up all night listening to Mohammed\'s radio.\r\n\r\nThe sherrif\'s got hos problem too\r\nHe will surely take them out on you...
@Amosagain \r\n\r\nIt\'s about torture.\r\n\r\nMohammed\'s Radio is that radio they hook someone up to when they are interrogating them.\r\n\r\nIf they ask a question, and you don\'t give them the answer they want, they turn on the radio, completing a circuit normally attached to you balls.\r\n\r\nIn walks the village idiot and his face is all aglow\r\nHe\'s been up all night listening to Mohammed\'s radio.\r\n\r\nThe sherrif\'s got hos problem too\r\nHe will surely take them out on you
no comments? such a beautiful tune.
in it he combines his predilection toward modern politics with a moving understanding of the struggles of the middle and lower classes. Just as in "Johnny Strikes Up the Band" he revels in the power music has to unite a community, despite their apparent hardships.
The Robin Hood-esque nature of MOhammed's Radio in this circumstance reminds me a bit of the Christian Slater flick Pump Up the Volume. A renegade radio show that the authorities disapprove of, and yet it brings an entire community together because of its uplifting if brutal earnestness.
And it speaks volumes about WZ that his powerful friends are so close to him that Stevie Nicks is willing to provide a minor background vocal for an album track. spectacular.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSXgXDMm5fc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSXgXDMm5fc&feature=related
His wife explains it here.
His wife explains it here.
Yeah, the title was inspired by that incident with the person dressed as an Arab, but the meaning...
People are frustrated, and they're not getting relief from anyone they're supposed to be able to trust (in the "Some Things Never Change" department, "You know, the Sheriff's got his problems too, He will surely take them out on you..." yeah, never seen that on the news, have we?).
But that guy dressed like an Arab... the "village idiot..." He actually looks happy, just walking by listening to the radio. You know, it's like in Shakespeare, maybe that "mentally challenged" bloke has the right idea... turn on the radio and let everything else go because you can't do a damned thing about the Sheriff, the President, the General or his aide de camp.
Okay, but why "Mohammed's Radio"?
Good assessment, DrLorenzo.
I used to have a Jackson Browne live (from Bryn Mawr?) bootleg titled "On the Road" where he performed this song and claimed that Zevon said it came from his "60's Apocalyptic Meaningless period."
I used to have a Jackson Browne live (from Bryn Mawr?) bootleg titled "On the Road" where he performed this song and claimed that Zevon said it came from his "60's Apocalyptic Meaningless period."
..at my angle from the ingenuity of zevon\'s script..... religious suppression against urban awakening in poverty times.....
Mohammed being an inspirational figure to the Muslims - the religion is irrelevant (it isn't about religion) it could be anyone, just an inspirational figure. The fact its radio shows how updated they are.
Then again, there's a lot of sadness in the song, and maybe that's what the title means: it is just that, a radio. No real hope.
It's about televangelists