Wednesday, August 27, 2008

335 : 3/11/99 : Dissection

Come step up to the show
It’s nothing like you’ve seen or know
Another session in the effortless dissection of verse
Oh but I’ve done worse
I slide it around with the best of them
Forget about the rest of them
Send up Steely Dan
Phil Spector and his band
Set up a wall of glass
smooth as alabaster
Cocktail glasses and diamond rings
Next week’s winning girl and shiny things
Just give me a sway sway rhythm and a gunmetal suit
Dress me up and do my hair like Donald Sutherland in Klute
Make me stop cause I can’t take it any more
This revolving door

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

334 : 3/10/99 : Wouldn’t It Be Pleasant

How I long for the days of yore
When the song of the land greeted the ships on the shore
And everything was simpler, life was what it had to be
Wouldn’t it be pleasant to live back then by the sea
Wouldn’t it be pleasant to walk along the sand
I’d offer you my arm and you’d take my hand
We would work to satisfy our needs and be content
To follow in the footsteps our forebears went
Toodle oo that’s that old timey nifty tune
And boy I tell ya I can’t get back to soon
And work like an animal in some lice infested hole
Wouldn’t it be pleasant to die from mining coal
Wouldn’t it be pleasant to be anywhere but here
trying to rush something that can only just appear
That’s okay my daily bread is rich enough
I always go to ground when the going gets rough

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Monday, August 25, 2008

333 : 3/9/99 : Song of the Universe

1,212 : 11 ?


Song of the universe
One more day one more hour one more verse
The thoughts the words the saying
The going or the leaving or the staying
We tried so hard to pull it all off with a chart
We understood our goal but did not know where to start
Looking for that primal song buried deep in stone
The perfect resonance the final tone
We sent a gold record into outer space
Such an arrogant innocent race
Immortality the nature of the song
There’s nothing to find it’s always there to sing along

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Saturday, August 23, 2008

332 : 3/8/99 : Four Walls

A blue shade of gray
I sought I thought more from the so-called new day
Thought I'd gotten something more I could say
Four gray walls that hold my thoughts at bay
The windows shut the blinds are drawn
Suffer in silence, keep your peace little pawn
Or march to Washington, camp out on the White House lawn
Protest my four walls; march at dawn
Pain is relative, time is twelve by twelve
And four walls just another idea to shelve
Who can deny we choose our walls ourselves
The secret caves we delve

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Friday, August 22, 2008

331 : 3/7/99 : The New Day

Thank you for sharing the new day with me
Thank you Mr. Carnegie
Thank you for reminding me
That my treasure’s not stored up in vaults
That despite all my faults
I continue to resist this world’s assaults
Thank you for turning me down
You deserve your crown
You deserve to be the toast of the town
There is no need for my begging hand
Since the new day began
There’s a whole new order in the land
And I’ll make it through on my own
harvest the seed I’ve sewn
Just wait and see how my garden’s grown

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Thursday, August 21, 2008

330 : 3/6/99 : In the Cathedral

In the trees where none have been
for a thousand years
There are a few places
Left like that on earth
I walk in sunset as
Shadows throw down cathedrals among the fallen leaves
Seeing the halls of the titans
Seeing the forest for the trees
In the cathedral the bell tolls
for me I always knew it would one day
I hear my dreams breaking on the shore of waking
we walk in that forest but we never get to stay
And every dream of yesterday is cast in bitter bronze
The maker’s on vacation so we get by as best as we can do
And if you think your solitary journey is the only one
All the lemmings launched from the same cliff that you ran to
In the forest dark in dreams we might
find something to lead us up out of the dark
we dare not go we fear to tread
where even angels have not left a mark
Either my treasure’s stored up there
or I have left it far behind
Either I’m on my way inside
Or I’ve completely lost my mind
In the cathedral will I find
The answer to lead me out into the light
will I find the maker’s mark
A sigil to guide me up out of the night

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

329 : 3/5/99 : Fortune’s Fool

Ain’t I just fortune’s fool then
On a voyage in a tin boat taking on water
Trying to win wisdom a golden apple the king’s daughter
Ain’t I just the great Narrator’s tool then

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

328 : 3/4/99 : Step Out On the Water

You’re walking on the water you’re walking in the moonlight
You’re telling me the storm will calm and everything will be all right
I don’t know I believe you don’t know that I believe my eyes
This boat is tossing crazy I try to speak but words fail me
I see you gesturing to me and fear and doubt assail me
out in the middle of the sea under stormy skies
You’re asking an awful lot of some poor fisher’s son
Who never guessed he’d see a new thing underneath the sun
What will support me if I step out of the boat
I never heard a soul who moved me like I do
You’re walking on the water but that’s not me it’s you
I try to call out but the words stick in my throat
I step out on the water my mind is fixed completely
on you standing out there and your voice is saying sweetly
Peter come across the water all the old rules are changed now
I’m stepping and not thinking of the cold depth below
I feel the fear returning but I’ve got to got to show
My faith in you is strong enough to wipe the fear from my brow
In a moment the storm again began to rise
I looked to see you bu the fear blinded my eyes
A wave rose and I was suddenly part of the sea
And in a moment when I knew I couldn’t survive
I knew that you were really him I knew I was alive
That’s when I felt your hand take hold of me

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Monday, August 18, 2008

327 : 3/3/99 : March

1,205 : 7 ?


Nothing’s going to happen by itself
No one’s going to come and save you
And you’ve no right to complain
You haven’t cracked the book I gave you
Faith is not the same as trust
trust will never get you through
Faith is acting as if
everything was up to you
when trust fails you turn to hope
Hope’s a blessing from above
But even hope and faith are nothing
If not bound and fixed with love
Love’s the center of it all
The keystone that holds the arch
only love will get you on your feet
when the orders come to march

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here