Mama, You Been on My Mind

by Bob Dylan

Perhaps it's the color of the sun cut flat
And covering the crossroads I'm standing at
Or maybe it's the weather or something like that
But mama, you been on my mind

I don't mean trouble please don't put me down or get upset
I am not pleading or saying I can't forget you
I do not pace the floor bowed down and bent, but yet
Mama, you been on my mind

Even though my eyes are hazy and my thoughts, they might be narrow
Where you been don't bother me or bring me down with sorrow
I don't even mind who you'll be waking with tomorrow
Mama, you're just on my mind

I'm not asking you to say words like yes or no
Please, understand me, I have no place I'm calling you to go
I'm just whispering to myself, so I can't pretend that I don't know
Mama, you are on my mind

When you wake up in the morning, baby look inside your mirror
You know I won't be next to you, you know I won't be near
I'd just be curious to know if you can see yourself as clear
As someone who has had you on his mind

All Things Must Pass

by George Harrison

A sunrise doesn't last all morning
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

A sunset doesn't last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this, my love is up and must be leaving
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day

Now the darkness only stays the nighttime
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It's not always going to be this grey

All things must pass
All things must pass away

Common People

by Jarvis Cocker

She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at St Martin's College
That's where I caught her eye.

She told me that her dad was loaded
I said, 'In that case I'll have a rum and coca-cola.'
She said, 'Fine,' and in thirty seconds time

She said,
'I want to live like common people
'I want to do whatever common people do
'I want to sleep with common people
'I want to sleep with common people like you'
Well, what else could I do?
I said, 'I'll see what I can do'

I took her to a supermarket
I don't know why but I had to start it
Somewhere, so it started there

I said, 'Pretend you've got no money'
She just laughed and said, 'Oh, you're so funny'
I said, 'Yeah? I can't see anyone else smiling here'

Are you sure you want to live like common people?
You want to see whatever common people see
You want to sleep with common people
You want to sleep with common people like me
But she didn't understand
She just smiled and held my hand

Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Smoke some fags and play some pool
Pretend you never went to school

But still you'll never get it right
'Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your dad, he could stop it all

You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And then dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do

Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get you through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they're laughing at you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is cool

Like a dog lying in a corner
They will bite you and never warn you
Look out, they'll tear your insides out

'Cause everybody hates a tourist
Especially one who thinks it's all such a laugh
Yeah and the chip stain's grease
Will come out in the bath

You will never understand
How it feels to live your life
With no meaning or control
And with nowhere left to go

You are amazed that they exist
And they burn so bright
Whilst you can only wonder why

Pretzel Logic

by Donald Fagen

I would love to tour the Southland
In a travelling minstrel show
Yes, I'd love to tour the Southland
In a traveling minstrel show

Yes, I'm dying to be a star and make them laugh
Sound just like a record on the phonograph
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago

I have never met Napoleon
But I plan to find the time
I have never met Napoleon
But I plan to find the time

'Cause he looks so fine upon that hill
They tell me he was lonely, he's lonely still
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago

I stepped up on the platform
The man gave me the news
He said, 'You must be joking, son
'Where did you get those shoes?'

Well, I've seen them on the TV, the movie show
They say the times are changing, but I just don't know
These things are gone forever
Over a long time ago

How Soon Is Now?

by Steven Morrissey

I am the son and the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular

You shut your mouth
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way?
I am human, and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does

There's a club, if you'd like to go
You could meet somebody who really loves you
So you go, and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home, and you cry, and you want to die

When you say it's gonna happen now
Well, when exactly do you mean?
See, I've already waited too long
And all my hope is gone

If We Were Vampires

by Jason Isbell

It's not the long flowing dress that you're in
Or the light coming off of your skin
The fragile heart you protected for so long
Or the mercy in your sense of right and wrong

It's not your hands, searching slow in the dark
Or your nails leaving love's watermark
It's not the way you talk me off the roof
Your questions like directions to the truth

It's knowing that this can't go on forever
Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone
Maybe we'll get forty years together
But one day I'll be gone or one day you'll be gone

If we were vampires and death was a joke
We'd go out on the sidewalk and smoke
And laugh at all the lovers and their plans
I wouldn't feel the need to hold your hand

Maybe time running out is a gift
I'll work hard 'til the end of my shift
And give you every second I can find
And hope it isn't me who's left behind

It's knowing that this can't go on forever
Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone
Maybe we'll get forty years together
But one day I'll be gone or one day you'll be gone

Dreams & Songs

by Warren Haynes

My whole life's been filled with song and dreams
When I was a child I had a time machine
Little did I know it would go to fast
Little did I know I could see the future
But not the past

Leave it all behind, come what may
Always thought I'd be coming home some day
Little did I know that life is hard
Here I am now, staring out a window
To my old back yard

Is there any comfort to be derived
In knowing that most of our lives
Could never be the same, could never go back home
And those that can, are lucky, I guess
To somehow escape from this mess
Me, I can only do it, in dreams and songs

Trying to feel the hope of running a race
Leaves an even bigger empty space
A moving target is harder to kill
Never was one for taking it easy
Or standing still

Nowadays I find myself again
Throwing stones and caution to the wind
Nothing's really changed but the scenery
Staring into my child's eyes, I realize
What it all means to me

Donal Óg

by Aoife O'Donovan

Black as night is this heart within me
Black as coal is this grief that drives me
Black as bootprints on polished hallways
And it's you who have blackened it forever and always

For you've taken what's before and behind me
East and west when you would not mind me
Sun, moon, and stars from the sky you've taken
And God, as well, if I'm not mistaken

Oh, Donal Óg, you'll not find me lazy
Not like some high-born expensive lady
I'll do your milking, and I'll nurse your baby
And if you were set upon, I'll defend you bravely

When all beside a vigil keep
The West's asleep, the West's asleep
Alas! and well may Erin weep
When Connaught lies in slumber deep
There lake and plain smile fair and free
'Mid rocks their guardian chivalry

Speed Trap Town

by Jason Isbell

She said, 'It's none of my business, but it breaks my heart'
Dropped a dozen cheap roses in my shopping cart
Made it out to the truck without breaking down
Everybody knows you in a speed trap town

It's a Thursday night, but there's a high school game
Sneak a bottle up the bleachers and forget my name
These 5A bastards run a shallow cross
It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss

And it never did occur to me to leave 'til tonight
And there's no one left to ask if I'm alright
I'll sleep until I'm straight enough to drive, then decide
If there's anything that can't be left behind

The doctor said Daddy wouldn't make it a year
But the holidays are over, and he's still here
How long can they keep you in the ICU?
Veins through the skin like a faded tattoo

Was a tough state trooper 'til a decade back
When that girl who wasn't Mama caused his heart attack
He didn't care about us when he was walking around
Just pulling women over in a speed trap town

But it never did occur to me to leave 'til tonight
When I realized he'll never be alright
Sign my name and say my last goodbye, then decide
That there's nothing here that can't be left behind

The road got blurry when the sun came up
So I slept a couple hours in the pickup truck
Drank a cup of coffee by an Indian mound
A thousand miles away from that speed trap town

Stanley Park

by Aoife O'Donovan

See that gull on the old sea wall
Songbirds fly and others fall
I sleep to the beating of their wings
The wind sings

See that babe at her mother's breast
If I could, I'd take my rest
Back in the belly from where I came
Nobody knows my name

Half-asleep in a bowl of gruel
No one told me life was cruel
My home is in this valley now
But it's burning down

If I find a fire escape
I'll break the past and put on my cape
I'll pretend I'm Superman
Where are my friends?

I'm a poor wayfarer, and I've
Got no one to dry my eyes
Time to lay this body down
In the frozen ground

When I die, though it bring me back
As a snow-white gull I'll make my tracks
On the sandy beach of the English bay
And I'll fly away

I Just Wasn't Made for These Times

by Tony Asher

I keep looking for a place to fit in
Where I can speak my mind
And I've been trying hard to find the people
That I won't leave behind

They say I got brains
But they ain't doing me no good
I wish they could

Each time things start to happen again
I think I got something good going for myself
But what goes wrong

Sometimes I feel very sad
Sometimes I feel very sad
(Ain't found the right thing I can put my heart and soul into)
Sometimes I feel very sad
(People I know don't wanna be where I'm at)
I guess I just wasn't made for these times

Every time I get the inspiration
To go change things around
No one wants to help me look for places
Where new things might be found

Where can I turn
When my fair-weathered friends cop out
What's it all about?

I guess I just wasn't made for these times

from Hamlet, Act III

by William Shakespeare

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would these fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action

Spots of Time

by Warren Haynes

Spots of time flash before my eyes
Like ribbons of light
Helplessly I try to touch them
Before they disappear into the night

Running fearlessly as in a dream
Headlong into the wind
Cool night air, blowing through our hair
Moonlight dancing on your skin

Do you remember
How young we were, or is it just me?
Imagining like I always do
When we were once wild and free

Young man yearning for days gone by
Innocence once removed
Familiar feeling of a front porch swing
And a song: always soothes

Spots of time like windows appear
You can look out or in
But you can't get to the future I regret
Without going through the past, my friend

A mother's tears, a sparrow's wing
A lover's eyes softly glistening
Memories that to me are everything
But to someone else maybe only ashes and dust

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

by Steven Morrissey

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or I die?

Two lovers entwined pass me by
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or I die?

What she asked of me at the end of the day
Caligula would have blushed
'Oh you've been in the house too long,' she said
And I naturally fled
In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I'd much rather kick in the eye?

My November Guest

by Robert Frost

My sorrow, when she's here with me,
      Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
      She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
      She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted grey
      Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
      The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
      And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
      The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
      And they are better for her praise.

First Air of Autumn

by Mike Cooley

First air of autumn up your nose
Popcorn, heavy hairspray, nylon pantyhose
Please stand and bow your heads
And pray you don't get old

The nurture and the admonition of your kind
The rules of 'only strong survive'
Cross-shaped swimming pools down in the blood and lifted up
Forever seeking favor from the light

Schoolhouse hallway like a prairie highway sprawls
The drop-off spins away the sun
The getting-there just proves it's nothing but a ball
Pray the horizon never comes

The hearts of the daughters of the men
Won by the softness of the sons of women's hands
To leave it up to love
Would leave it left to chance

Memory only shows the promise beauty broke
Of beauty ageless in its time
Light attracts the same
You glance away and the glory fades
And being on your arm has lost its shine

School house hallway like a prairie highway sprawls
The drop-off spins away the sun
Like eyes that once could cut through candle power on autumn nights
First air of autumn leaves me numb

Glad to Be Unhappy

by Lorenz Hart

Look at yourself
If you had a sense of humor
You would laugh to beat the band
Look at yourself
Do you still believe the rumor
That romance is simply grand?

Since you took it right on the chin
You have lost that bright toothpaste grin
My mental state is all a-jumble
I sit around and sadly mumble

Fools rush in, so here I am
Very glad to be unhappy
I can't win, but here I am
More than glad to be unhappy

Unrequited love's a bore
And I've got it pretty bad
But for someone you adore
It's a pleasure to be sad

Like a straying baby lamb
With no mammy and no pappy
I'm so unhappy
But oh, so glad!

A Rose for Emily

by Rod Argent

The summer is here at last
The sky is overcast
And no one brings a rose for Emily

She watches her flowers grow
While lovers come and go
To give each other roses from her tree
But not a rose for Emily

Emily, can't you see
There's nothing you can do?
There's loving everywhere
But none for you

Her roses are fading now
She keeps her pride somehow
That's all she has protecting her from pain

And as the years go by
She will grow old and die
The roses in her garden fade away
Not one left for her grave
Not a rose for Emily

Brokedown Palace

by Robert Hunter

Fare thee well, my honey
Fare thee well, my only true one
All the birds that were singing
Are flown except you alone

Going to leave this brokedown palace
On my hands and my knees I will roll
Make myself a bed by the waterside
In my time, in my time, I will roll

In a bed, in a bed
By the waterside I will lay my head
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

River going take me
Sing me sweet and sleepy
Sing me sweet and sleepy
All the way back home

It's a far-gone lullaby
Sung many years ago
Many worlds I've come
Since I first left home

Going home, going home
By the waterside I will rest my bones
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Going to plant a weeping willow
On the bank's green edge it will grow
Sing a lullaby beside the water
Lovers come and go, the river roll

Fare thee well, fare thee well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Farther On

by Jackson Browne

In my early years I hid my tears
And passed my days alone
Adrift on an ocean of loneliness
My dreams like nets were thrown
To catch the love that I'd heard of
In books and films and songs
Now there's a world of illusion and fantasy
In the place where the real world belongs

Still I look for the beauty in songs
To fill my head and lead me on
Though my dreams have come up torn and empty
As many times as love has come and gone

To those gentle ones my memory runs
To the laughter we shared at the meals
I filled their kitchens and living rooms
With my schemes and my broken wheels
It was never clear how far or near
The gates to my citadel lay
They were cutting from stone some dreams of their own
But they listened to mine anyway

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say
It could be I've lost my way
Though I keep a watch over the distance
Heaven's no closer than it was yesterday
And the angels are older
They know not to wait up for the sun
They look over my shoulder
At the maps and the drawings of the journey I've begun

Now the distance leads me farther on
Though the reasons I once had are gone
I keep thinking I'll find what I'm looking for
In the sand beneath the dawn
But the angels are older
They can see that the sun's setting fast
They look over my shoulder
At the vision of paradise contained in the light of the past

And they lay down behind me
To sleep beside the road till the morning has come
Where they know they will find me
With my maps and my faith in the distance moving farther on