Opening Day

by Dan Bern

We're all undefeated, it's Opening Day
Everybody's shoulder feels ok
Legs are fresh as young ponies at play
And everyone could be MVP on Opening Day

The uniforms shine, the grass is bright green
No one's made an error, ERA's are pristine
Pennant hopes simmer from Wrigley to Yawkey Way
And if you're lucky your grandpa will take you to Opening Day

Opening Day, Opening Day
The visitors take the diamond
In their traveling grays
Opening Day, Opening Day
A single up the middle
And you're batting a thousand, hooray

Opening Day, Opening Day
Gentlemen, start your engines
Up up and away
Opening Day, Opening Day
This is the year
It's gonna be ok

You called in sick, got you a ticket
Can't wait to see the painted lines and the bricks
Popcorn or peanuts, you get your choice
Scully's had six months to rest that Golden Voice

Winter coats and gloves and boots are put away
It's Opening Day
That rookie could be the next Willie Mays
Opening Day
It's really, truly finally here
Opening Day

Pale Blue Eyes

by Lou Reed

Sometimes I feel so happy
Sometimes I feel so sad
Sometimes I feel so happy
But mostly you just make me mad
Linger on, your pale blue eyes

Thought of you as my mountain top
Thought of you as my peak
Thought of you as everything
I've had but couldn't keep
Linger on, your pale blue eyes

If I could make the world as pure
And strange as what I see
I'd put you in the mirror
I put in front of me
Linger on, your pale blue eyes

Skip a life completely
Stuff it in a cup
She said money is like us in time
It lies but can't stand up
Down for you is up
Linger on, your pale blue eyes

It was good what we did yesterday
And I'd do it once again
The fact that you are married
Only proves you're my best friend
But it's truly, truly a sin
Linger on, your pale blue eyes

Handle with Care

by George Harrison, et al.

Been beat up and battered around
Been sent up, and I've been shot down
You're the best thing that I've ever found
Handle me with care

Reputation's changeable
Situation's tolerable
But baby, you're adorable
Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?

Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on

I've been fobbed off, and I've been fooled
I've been robbed and ridiculed
In day care centers and night schools
Handle me with care

Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized
Overexposed, commercialized
Handle me with care

I've been uptight and made a mess
But I'll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh, the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care

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

Atlantis

by W.H. Auden

Being set on the idea
Of getting to Atlantis,
You have discovered of course
Only the Ship of Fools is
Making the voyage this year,
As gales of abnormal force
Are predicted, and that you
Must therefore be ready to
Behave absurdly enough
To pass for one of The Boys,
At least appearing to love
Hard liquor, horseplay and noise.

Should storms, as may well happen,
Drive you to anchor a week
In some old harbour-city
Of Ionia, then speak
With her witty sholars, men
Who have proved there cannot be
Such a place as Atlantis:
Learn their logic, but notice
How its subtlety betrays
Their enormous simple grief;
Thus they shall teach you the ways
To doubt that you may believe.

If, later, you run aground
Among the headlands of Thrace,
Where with torches all night long
A naked barbaric race
Leaps frenziedly to the sound
Of conch and dissonant gong:
On that stony savage shore
Strip off your clothes and dance, for
Unless you are capable
Of forgetting completely
About Atlantis, you will
Never finish your journey.

Again, should you come to gay
Carthage or Corinth, take part
In their endless gaiety;
And if in some bar a tart,
As she strokes your hair, should say
"This is Atlantis, dearie,"
Listen with attentiveness
To her life-story: unless
You become acquainted now
With each refuge that tries to
Counterfeit Atlantis, how
Will you recognise the true?

Assuming you beach at last
Near Atlantis, and begin
That terrible trek inland
Through squalid woods and frozen
Thundras where all are soon lost;
If, forsaken then, you stand,
Dismissal everywhere,
Stone and now, silence and air,
O remember the great dead
And honour the fate you are,
Travelling and tormented,
Dialectic and bizarre.

Stagger onward rejoicing;
And even then if, perhaps
Having actually got
To the last col, you collapse
With all Atlantis shining
Below you yet you cannot
Descend, you should still be proud
Even to have been allowed
Just to peep at Atlantis
In a poetic vision:
Give thanks and lie down in peace,
Having seen your salvation.

All the little household gods
Have started crying, but say
Good-bye now, and put to sea.
Farewell, my dear, farewell: may
Hermes, master of the roads,
And the four dwarf Kabiri,
Protect and serve you always;
And may the Ancient of Days
Provide for all you must do
His invisible guidance,
Lifting up, dear, upon you
The light of His countenance.