Culmnated Ruins Domino
If you think about it, there are a lot of ways to write song lyrics. There's the straightforward narrative, the confessional, the screed, the boast, the joke, the deceptively dumb joke, the list. Artists with longevity eventually try them all, and the best invent new ones. My approach is squarely with practitioners of...hmm...I guess I'll call it "oblique evocation." Our lyrics rarely address a subject directly, rather we prefer to conjure a sense of a mood or a story through syntax driven by suggestion, tone, and especially phonics. These are songs that some people look at and say "what the hell does this mean?"
Naturally, some of my favorite songs are written this way, and I was reminded this morning of how integral the lyrics are to the success of the song. I heard the following two songs back to back this morning thanks to Pandora's Quick Mix feature, and after looking up the lyrics, I decided to post them here. If you've never heard one or either song, look 'em up. They're awesome.
Naturally, some of my favorite songs are written this way, and I was reminded this morning of how integral the lyrics are to the success of the song. I heard the following two songs back to back this morning thanks to Pandora's Quick Mix feature, and after looking up the lyrics, I decided to post them here. If you've never heard one or either song, look 'em up. They're awesome.
"Letter From An Occupant"And...
The New Pornographers
I'm told the eventual downfall
is just a bill from the restaurant.
You told me I could order the moon, babe,
just as long as I shoot what I want.
What the last ten minutes have taught me:
bet the hand that your money's on.
Where the hell have the '70s brought me?
You trade me away long gone.
For the love of a god, you say,
not a letter from an occupant.
The time that your enemy gives you,
good times are not the ones you want.
I cried five rivers on the way here,
which one will you skate away on?
The tune you'll be humming forever,
all the words are replaced and wrong,
with a shower of yeahs and whatevers,
you trade me away long gone.
For the love of a god, you said,
not a letter from an occupant.
Where have all sensations gone?
Where have all sensations gone?
Where have all sensations gone?
Where have all sensations gone?
The song is shaking me.
"Surf's Up"
The Beach Boys (lyrics by Van Dyke Parks)
A diamond necklace played the pawn
Hand in hand some drummed along, oh
To a handsome man and baton
A blind class aristocracy
Back through the op'ra glass you see
The pit and the pendulum drawn
Columnated ruins domino
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping?
Hung velvet overtaken me
Dim chandelier awaken me
To a song dissolved in the dawn
The music hall a costly bow
The music all is lost for now
To a muted trumperter swan
Columnated ruins domino
Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping, Brother John?
Dove nested towers the hour was
Strike the street quicksilver moon
Carriage across the fog
Two-Step to lamplight cellar tune
The laughs come hard in Auld Lang Syne
The glass was raised, the fired rose
The fullness of the wine, the dim last toasting
While at port, adieu or die
A choke of grief hard hardened I
Beyond belief a broken man too tough to cry
Surf's Up
Aboard a tidal wave
Come about hard and join
The young and often spring you gave
I heard the word
Wonderful thing
A children's song
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