So, since this is about the music, I present you with the first song, along with a short bit of elaboration and lyrics:
1. Stop This Train - John Mayer/Continuum
First off, you must buy this album. It's honest to goodness worth every cent. Here I'll even give you a link to Amazon to make it even easier for you. It's really that good. One of the few albums where just about every song is audio gold. Mayer has previously only rounded the pop rock fare, and if he'd continued down that road he would have easily went off the map for me. But this, this is a serious departure from his earlier work. He's been hanging out with the likes of Eric Clapton, and B.B. King, musical giants of soul and blues.
What's happened is they've corrupted him into something indellible, where now you can see/hear a young legend in the making. I don't know what Clapton did to him, but John's skill with a guitar is becoming better and better, he even might rival Clapton, one of all time greats one of these days. And with all these greats influencing Mayer, he's created an modern blues album, one that deals with the war, with heartache and growing up within it. It's an album you need to sit down and just listen to all the way through.
But this song, Stop This Train, is about growing pains. Something that lately, I know all too well. So seep this one in, and tell me this aint some seriously great stuff:
No I'm not color blind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind; I just can't sleep on this tonight
Stop this train I want to get out and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can
But honestly will someone stop this train
Don't know how else to say it, don't want to see my parents go
One generation's length away
From fighting life out on my own
Come on stop this train
I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can but honestly won't someone stop this train
So afraid of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game to find away to say that life has just begun
Had a talk with my old man
Said help me understand
He said turn 68, you'll renegotiate
Don't stop this train
Don't for a minute change the place you're in
Don't think I couldn't ever understand
I tried my hand
John, honestly we'll never stop this train
See once in a while when it's good
It'll feel like it should
When you're all still around
And you're still safe and sound
And you don't miss a thing so you cry when you're driving away in the dark.
Singing stop this train I want to get out and go home again
I can't take this speed it's moving in
I know I can
Cause now I see I'll never stop this train
(think I got 'em now)
Next up,
2. Boston - Augustana
What else can I say but I feel like doing this. Starting over, starting fresh somewhere.
In the light of the sun, is there anyone? Oh it has begun...
Oh dear you look so lost, eyes are red and tears are shed,
This world you must've crossed... you said...
You don't know me, you don't even care, oh yeah,
You said
You don't know me, and you don't wear my chains... oh yeah,
Essential yet appealed, carry all your thoughts across
An open field,
When flowers gaze at you... they're not the only ones who cry
When they see you
You said...
You don't know me, you don't even care, oh yeah,
You said
You don't know me, and you don't wear my chains... oh yeah,
She said I think I'll go to Boston...
I think I'll start a new life,
I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name,
I'll get out of California, I'm tired of the weather,
I think I'll get a lover and fly em out to Spain...
I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice... oh yeah,
Boston... where no one knows my name... yeah
Where no one knows my name...
Where no one knows my name...
Yeah Boston...
Where no one knows my name.
3. Dear Mr. President - Pink
Let me get this clear first, Pink is not exactly my taste. Not much at all, but this song is. Politically, I don't think I've ever been as interested as I am now. I'm worried about America, about the state we're in. I'm worried about the War. I have a cousin out there, and I'n not able to distance myself from it because of it. That's not to say I blame our President for America's problems, but there is a mess that he didn't intend to make, that I hope can be cleaned by those who follow him, like hopefully this guy
This song is a letter to him about those worries, of connecting all our worries to the one who leads this country.
Come take a walk with me
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly
What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep
What do you feel when you look in the mirror
Are you proud
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why
Dear Mr. President
Were you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
Are you a lonely boy
How can you say
No child is left behind
We're not dumb and we're not blind
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pay the road to hell
What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye
How do you walk with your head held high
Can you even look me in the eye
Let me tell you bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh
How do you sleep at night
How do you walk with your head held high
Dear Mr. President
You'd never take a walk with me
Would you
4. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
This song will probably stay with me for the rest of my life. It's a cover of Leonard Cohen's fantastic work. Buckley died tragically, just as his star was rising, and it adds some depth to an already deep song. There something stirring and somber about it. There's a story even beyond the story the song paints. You can feel every note.
Well I heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Well Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
And she tied you to her kitchen chair
And She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Well baby I've been here before
I`ve seen this room and I've walked this floor
(You Know)I used to live alone before I knew you
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Well there was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me do you?
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy ghost was moving too
And every breath we drew is Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Well maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot someone who outdrew you
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
5. Chinese Translation - M. Ward
Now for a little something more upbeat. Ward is dang cool, he's got a rich unique sound with a crackly rasp. This song plays out in an interesting way. Tells a story about a young man that climbs and mountain and asks advice from an old man who'd done the same thing as the guy before him and so on. My interpretation? You can ask people the same question and never find the answer. Because some questions have no right answer. You can only answer them yourself.
I sailed a wild, wild sea
climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met a old, old man
beneath a weeping willow tree
He said now if you got some questions
go and lay them at my feet
but my time here is brief
so you'll have to pick just three
And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
and how can a man like me remain in the light
and if life is really as short as they say
then why is the night so long
and then the sun went down
and he sang for me this song
See I once was a young fool like you
afraid to do the things
that I knew I had to do
So I played an escapade just like you
I played an escapade just like you
I sailed a wild, wild sea
climbed up a tall, tall mountain
I met an old, old man
he sat beneath a sapling tree
He said now if you got some questions
go and lay them at my feet
but my time here is brief
so you'll have to pick just three
And I said
What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart
and how can a man like me remain in the light
and if life is really as short as they say
then why is the night so long
and then the sun went down
and he played for me this song
6. John Legend's Coming Home
A change of genre. This song simply makes me think about my cousin.
A father waits upon a son
A mother prays for his return
I just called to see
If you still have a place for me
We know that like took us apart
But you're still within my heart
I go to sleep and feel your spirit next to me
I'll make it home again
I pray you'll fall in love again
Just say you'll entertain the possibility
I learned enough from my mistakes
Learned from all I didn't say
Won't you wait for me
It may be long to get me there
It feels like I've been everywhere
But someday I'll be coming home
Round and round the world will spin
Oh, the circle never ends
So you know that I'll be coming home
We fight to stay alive
But somebody's got to die
It's so strange to me
A new year, a new enemy
Another soldier gone to war
Another story told before
Now it's told again
It seems the wars will never end
But we'll make it home again
Back where we belong again
We're holding on to when
We used to dare to dream
We pray we live to see
Another day in history
Yes we still believe
It may be long to get me there
It feels like I've been everywhere
But someday I'll be coming home
Round and round the world will spin
Oh, the circle never ends
So you know that I'll be coming home
I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming…
You know that I'll be coming home
It may be long to get me there
It feels like I've been everywhere
But someday I'll be coming home
Round and round the world will spin
Oh, the circle never ends
So you know that I'll be coming home
And there ya have it. Hope you discovered some good songs. I'll be back for more next month.
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