Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I think it was just substance-induced eccentricity, Brian....... whatever that substance might have been! It might not have been drugs or alcohol, either....... perhaps they were high on life or simply smelling the roses!!

Paul did manage to write some whacky stuff - Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey is my favourite, if only for the line: "Ther's no-one left at home and I believe I'm gonna to rain". My current favourite is David Byrne, as I'm listening to Brian Eno period Talking Heads. I'm not sure if it's brilliantly poetic or just plain looney... "Buring Down the House, "Born Under Punches and "Crosseyed and Painless" are classic examples...

Crosseyed and Painless

Lost my shape - trying to act casual
Can't stop - I might end up in the hospital
Changing my shape - I feel like an accident
They're back - to explain their experience

Isn't it weird?
Looks too obscure for me
Wasting away
That was their policy

I'm ready to leave - I push the fact in front of me
Facts lost - facts are never what they seem to be
Nothing there - no information of any kind
Lifting my head - looking for the danger signs

There was a line
There was a formula
Sharp as a knife
Facts cut a hole in us

I'm still waiting

The feeling returns
Whenever we close our eyes
Lifting my head
Looking around inside

The island of doubt - is like a taste of medicine
Working by hindsight - got the message from the oxygen
Making a list - find the cost of opportunity
Doing it right - facts are usless in emergencies

The feeling returns
Whenever we close our eyes
Lifting my head
Looking around inside

I'm still waiting

Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don't do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
Facts are nothing on the face of things

I'm still waiting

According to a documentary that I happened upon in my not many excursions into the world of television these days, the rest of Procul Harem had no idea what the lyrics to Whiter Shade of Pale meant. They just sounded cool and out there and really only the writer knew what he was writing about. They were certainly effective in painting a picture in the minds eye, but were we all seeing the same picture? No one will ever know the answer to that question I suspect.

Paul McCartney has written his fair share of ditties that are also in the same vein. How do we break the code of the writer is the big question. I am convinced that every writer has an underlying message, some just hidden deeper than others.

winston wrote: the rest of Procul Harem had no idea what the lyrics to Whiter Shade of Pale meant. They just sounded cool and out there and really only the writer knew what he was writing about. .

MMnnnn sounds like one of my posts! even i dont know what im on about

Brian,

This is a very interesting topic. Personally. I am always hooked by the "sound" of the music:
Like:
-the "urgency" of the intro to Cream's Crossroads
-the opening chords to Quicksilver Messenger Service's Mona
-same with the intro to TPs The Waiting
-again the start of Cream's Tales of Brave Ulysses
-the start of SRV doing Jimi's Voodoo Child

Once I am caught up in those "sounds" I am willing to hear just about any lyric that plays clever tricks with words. To me the lyrics just flow
out of the "sound" of the music as secondary reinforcement. As a matter of fact, I go over more music in my head than I "sing" the words.
There are certain note combinations and emphasis' that stay with me much stronger than any words.

Recently, the intro to Rory Gallagher's (Irish Tour CD) Cradle Rock. The WAY notes are combined and PLAYED is how I "hear" the artist speaking;
the words could almost be anything. Sound by itself is a perfectly adequate communicator, but I will listen to even somebody's grocery list
if its delivered with an energized sonic envelope.

Here= I am literally making this up as I write it: (more "Creamish" verses to Tales

The ice of solemn silver
in the quiver of the quickly
is a childish errant soothing
in the womb of Genghis Khan

And the taste of salty slivers
on the iron door just knocking
is the fuse to fascination
while the compass screams; "away!" (time-probably less than a minute)

What does it "mean?" Who knows? But knowing the music behind it makes it SEEM like something is there. I think that music sets up am atmoshere and that words start to arrive once a musical groove is set. Just imagine what Metallica would do with
the "Jack and Jill" nursery rhyme. People would listen, one way or another. Anyway, my thoughts.

The DVD about the making of the Disrali Gears album, has a interesting interveiw with Pete Brown the lyrisist who did a lot Cream stuff. He was an expert at creating mistical jibberish which I just loved back then and now too. Among his great work, the classic Sunshine of Your Love.

Donnell,

I really enjoyed your thoughtful post. I agree with your view that music is the medium that delivers the lyrics and it is the music that attracts us and invites us to dig deeper into the hidden depths of the minds of the artists who present the overall tapestry of sound and lyrical content.

Thank you for that well conceived notion. It certainly works for me.

Hank,

Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I will look to see if that interview is on You Tube