• 180 Proof
    15.3k
    :fire:

    ... We're gettin' tired
    of hangin' around
    Waitin' around
    with our heads to the ground
    I hear a very gentle sound
    Very near yet
    very far
    Very soft, yeah,
    very clear
    Come today, come today
    What have they done to the earth?
    What have they done to our fair sister?
    Ravaged and plundered and
    ripped her and bit her
    Stuck her with knives
    in the side of the dawn
    And tied her with fences
    and dragged her down
    I hear a very gentle sound
    With your ear down
    to the ground ...
    — James Douglas Morrison, 1967

    :death: :flower:
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Old pirates, yes, they rob I
    Sold I to the merchant ships
    Minutes after they took I
    From the bottomless pit

    But my hands was made strong
    By the hand of the Almighty
    We forward in this generation
    Triumphantly

    Won't you help to sing
    These songs of freedom?
    'Cause all I ever have
    Redemption songs
    Redemption songs

    Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
    None but ourselves can free our minds
    Have no fear for atomic energy
    'Cause none of them can stop the time

    How long shall they kill our prophets
    While we stand aside and look?
    Uh, some say it's just a part of it
    We've got to fulfill the book

    Won't you help to sing…


    Bob Marley & The Wailers - Redemption Song


    (beautiful video)
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Here is the story of Layla and Majnun - an Arab pre-Islamic tale of love and solitude. Very contemplative music. I gather that it's an old poem that Souad Massi put in music. If anyone can try and translate the lyrics, that'd be great.


    Sand drawings by Nadia Amlou

    تَذَكَّرتُ لَيلى وَالسِنينَ الخَوالِيا
    وَأَيّامَ لا نَخشى عَلى اللَهوِ ناهِيا
    وَيَومٍ كَظِلِّ الرُمحِ قَصَّرتُ ظِلَّهُ
    بِلَيلى فَلَهّاني وَما كُنتُ لاهِيا
    بِثَمدينَ لاحَت نارُ لَيلى وَصُحبَتي
    بِذاتِ الغَضى تُزجي المَطِيَّ النَواجِيا

    فَيا لَيلَ كَم مِن حاجَةٍ لي مُهِمَّةٍ
    إِذا جِئتُكُم بِاللَيلِ لَم أَدرِ ماهِيا

    فَقالَ بَصيرُ القَومِ أَلمَحتُ كَوكَباً
    بَدا في سَوادِ اللَيلِ فَرداً يَمانِيا
    فَقُلتُ لَهُ بَل نارُ لَيلى تَوَقَّدَت
    بِعَليا تَسامى ضَوءُها فَبَدا لِيا
    فَلَيتَ رِكابَ القَومِ لَم تَقطَعِ الغَضى
    وَلَيتَ الغَضى ماشى الرِكابَ لَيالِيا

    فَيا لَيلَ كَم مِن حاجَةٍ لي مُهِمَّةٍ
    إِذا جِئتُكُم بِاللَيلِ لَم أَدرِ ماهِيا
  • 180 Proof
    15.3k
    irie, mon :fire:
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    irie, mon :fire:180 Proof

    Beg you pardon?

    Edit:

    irie
    /ˈʌɪriː/
    adjective
    (chiefly in Jamaican English) nice, good, or pleasing (used as a general term of approval).
    "the place is jumping with irie vibes"
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    June is on the run
    For so long
    Pushed and pulled then shunned
    It was so wrong
    These four walls crashing in
    Won't stop me now
    Cause I'm alive
    I'm out tonight
    All night

    Everybody needs to know
    It's the year of the rat
    Everyday we've got to hold on
    Cause if we hold on
    We could find some new energy

    Streets with flags unfurled
    Like treasure
    Thank me for my words
    It's a pleasure
    Just don't ask me to stay
    Cause I'll be gone
    But it's alright, I'm okay
    Always

    Everybody needs to know
    It's the year of the rat
    Everyday we've got to hold on
    Cause if we hold on
    We could find some new energy

    One
    Plus one is one
    Together

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Freedom

    My teacher told me one day about something called freedom
    I asked the teacher to kindly speak Arabic
    Is freedom a Greek word for some historical epoch?
    Or something we import... Is it a local product?
    Our teacher answered with sadness and tears flowing forth:
    You have forgotten all your history and all the lofty values
    How I regret that this generation does not understand the meaning of freedom
    Does hold neither sword nor pen; does carry nor thought nor identity

    Never
    Would Pharaoh dare to raise his head
    If the people resisted and fought back

    I learned of our teacher’s death in solitary confinement
    I vowed that as long as God keeps me alive I will not rest
    Until I roamed the whole earth in search for the meaning of freedom
    And I stood at the niche of history to ask her what freedom is
    [History said] You cannot beg freedom from the international monetary markets
    Freedom cannot be granted by any charitable organization
    Freedom is a plant that grows watered by free and pure blood
    So that the youth, the girls and the boys will arise, who adore freedom (x3)

    Never
    Would Pharaoh dare to raise his head
    If the people resisted and fought back

    The people
    The people
    The people want freedom!

  • 180 Proof
    15.3k
    Some "deep"-ish (old sko0l) lyrics from an old post:

    https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/comment/384134
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    What Are You Dreaming?
    -- Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn Al-Ḥusayn Al-Mutanabbī Al-Kindī (ca.915 – 965 CE)

    What is there to feel happy about?
    I have neither family, country, friend, wine nor confidant
    What can I hope from this time I am living in?
    Can it give me what it cannot give itself?
    Expect nothing from time, you are only its passenger
    So long as your soul is imprisoned in your body
    If it is a joyful time, the joy will not last
    And if it is a time of misfortune, it too shall pass

    How many times have they told you I was truly dead?
    But as soon as I shook, the shrouds would disappear
    No man can achieve all his hopes
    As no wind blows according to the ship's desire

    It is the tragedy of lovers, blinded in their infatuation
    Ignorant of the fact that love is ephemeral
    Their eyes and souls soon tire
    Deceived by false appearances
    Go! May the wary camels carry you far from me
    There is no distance that can touch me now
    I died at your lovely soirée
    Which of your souls could replace the one I lost?

    How many times have they told you I was truly dead?
    But as soon as I shook, the shrouds would disappear
    No man can achieve all his hopes
    As no wind blows according to the ship's desire

    Just try to understand this
    You, whom I address from afar [Fortune?]
    Nothing can escape its own limitations
    Thanks to you, no neighbor can keep his honor
    After feeding on your grass,
    His animal's milk run dry
    Whoever spends time with you will only reap fatigue
    And receive nothing but hatred but jealousy from you

    How many times have they told you I was truly dead?
    But as soon as I shook, the shrouds would disappear
    No man can achieve all his hopes
    As no wind blows according to the ship's desire

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    A Woman's Purse

    A woman's purse weighs like her whole life was inside it
    Between a book she never finished reading and some makeup to stop the flow of time
    There's her picture taken a year ago that she put aside because she didn't like it
    But looking at it again now she realizes she was beautiful, though she didn't know it

    A woman's purse recognizes her hands and only hers can get in
    Hidden in a pocket there's an ad for a journey she's been wanting to go on forever
    Millions of receipts, as useless analgesics for her pains
    And for her stupid guilt for wanting to please

    And if she could go back to those days
    Of caresses in her hair
    For only two minutes of it
    She would pay one thousand years
    Years spent to find again
    The things that one managed to lose
    The longing to smile, to forgive
    The weakness to still be
    Like the others want her to be

    A woman's purse never matches what she's living
    It hides her phone, jealous of who's calling her
    Next to her keys, the same obsession to forget them again
    And in that apparent mess, the fear of being lonely
    A woman's purse can reveal her secrets instantly
    And maybe her life has distractedly strayed into yours
    You, who thought there was still room for another love
    But in a woman's purse, there's no place for forgetting

    And go where your heart brings you
    Another cut in your driving license
    You've been there a thousand times, but
    You've never understood anything about it
    Nothing there helps you understand
    The meaning of a night that cannot enchant
    The meaning of you recalling and making plans
    Forgetting to live in the moment
    Now that a wind rises that blows away the clouds
    That takes away the winters
    The dust, the doubts, the miracles
    After having waited for a thousand years
    Years spent to find again
    The things that one managed to lose
    The longing to smile, to forgive
    The weakness to still be
    Like others want you to be

    A woman's purse weighs like my whole life was inside it

  • 180 Proof
    15.3k


    "... That old sayin them that's got are them that gets
    Is somethin I can't see
    If ya gotta have somethin
    Before you can get somethin
    How do ya get your first is still a mystery to me ...
    "

    "Them That Got" - (2:47)
    Ray Charles Greatest Hits, 1962
    performed by Ray Charles
    written by Ricci Harper
  • Mayor of Simpleton
    661


    With this knife I cut the cake
    Who will be my bride today
    **Sweet Fanny Adams
    Watch her climb the step ladder
    A present from her step father
    Sweet Fanny Adams
    See her reaching out and stripping down the muslin drapes
    A cover for her nakedness, a veil for her face
    With curtains for your wedding dress
    You must take your place amongst
    The Proper Little Madams
    And now because I love you
    I must take my place too

    Amongst the...

    Murderers, The Hope of Women
    Death in every new beginning
    I must take this woman for my sentence of life
    And she must take my knife

    I will buy a ring of gold
    And you will practice birth control
    Sweet Fanny Adams
    Like a puppet upon a throne
    Of o estrogen and progesterone
    Sweet Fanny Adams
    This is where your misery starts
    This is where your mystery stops
    We'll rent a television
    To replace Pandora's Box
    And I will wear a business face
    And you will learn your proper place
    From those Proper Little Madams
    And in my world of cut and thrust
    I will learn that my place

    My place must be with the...

    Murderers, The Hope of Women
    Death in every new beginning
    I must take this woman for my sentence of life
    And she must take my knife

    In my pipe and slippers
    Do I look like Jack The Ripper
    Sweet Fanny Adams
    But I poisoned you with every kiss
    Smothered you with domestic bliss
    Sweet Fanny Adams
    Underneath the suntan from the sun lamp that we bought
    Your face is paler than the pale face of a corpse
    And from the seventh floor of our bungalow
    You flung yourself down to where they stood below
    Those Proper Little Madams
    But in white hair, wrinkles and false teeth
    I escaped detection by the police

    One of the...

    Murderers, The Hope of Women
    Death in every new beginning
    I must take this woman for my sentence of life
    And she must take my knife


    (**Fanny Adams was an eight year old girl brutally murdered in 1867 in Hampshire ,England. The expression “sweet Fanny Adams” refers to her and has come to mean “nothing at all” in British Naval slang.)
  • Mayor of Simpleton
    661
    For what it's worth is the likely my favorite song for the past 16 years...

    ... I'm not sure if it's deep, but it does seem to articulate a Zeitgeist that's long overdue for a stage.





    I want my money back
    I'm down here drowning in your fat
    You got me on my knees praying for everything you lack
    I ain't afraid of you
    I'm just a victim of your fear
    You cower in your tower praying that I'll disappear
    I got another plan, one that requires me to stand
    On the stage or in the street, don't need no microphone or beat
    And when you hear this song, if you ain't dead then sing along
    Bang and strum to these here drums 'til you get where you belong


    I got a list of demands, written on the palm of my hands
    I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand
    We're living hand to mouth! You wanna be somebody?
    See somebody? Try and free somebody?
    I gotta list of demands written on the palm of my hands
    I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand
    We're living hand to mouth!
    Hand to mouth!



    I wrote a song for you today while I was sitting in my room
    I jumped up on my bed today and played it on a broom
    I didn't think that it would be a song that you would hear
    But when I played it in my head, I made you reappear
    I wrote a video for it, and I acted out each part
    And then I took your picture out and taped it to my heart
    I've taped you to my heart, dear girl, I've taped you to my
    Heart and if you pull away from me you'll tear my life apart


    I got a list of demands, written on the palm of my hands
    I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand
    We're living hand to mouth! You wanna be somebody?
    See somebody? Try and free somebody?
    I gotta list of demands written on the palm of my hands
    I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand
    We're living hand to mouth!
    Hand to mouth!


    Ecstasy, suffering
    Echinacea, buffering
    We aim to remember what we choose to forget
    God's just a baby
    And her diaper is wet


    Call the police!
    I'm strapped to the teeth, and liable to disregard your every belief
    Call on the law!
    I'm fixin' to draw a line between what is and seems and call up a brawl
    Call'em now! Cause it's about to go pow!
    I'm standing on the threshold of the ups and the downs
    Call up a truce! Because I'm about to break loose
    Protect ya neck, cause, son, I'm breaking out of my noose



    ** Saul Williams commented on his own lyrics by stating:

    "I’m tired of the bullshit. I’m tired of the hustle and the make-believe hustle. I’m tired of buying into ideas that divorce me from my potential. I’m tired of having my potential explained in terms of money. I’m tired of the bullshit and if you feel the same way throw your computer against the wall.

    Well, maybe not the wall (Prince, “adore” voice)." https://genius.com/1539217
  • Pinprick
    950
    :up: Did you happen to see my earlier Saul Williams posts? I think you basically can consider all of his songs as deep.
  • Mayor of Simpleton
    661

    I fully agree with you about all of Saul's work.

    I'm just never sure about my notion of what is actually 'deep'. In many ways I feel that my life is quite trivial, but oddly enough I find things that I think might be profound and deep, but do to my deeply trivial nature I'm never quite sure enough.

    Then again... my user name 'Mayor of Simpleton' is not an accidental choice. ;)
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Now that's deep, and deserves context.

    I've gotten down to my last pair of shoes
    Can't even win a nickel bet
    Because, ah them that's got are them that gets
    And I ain't got nothin' yet

    I'm sneakin' in and out duckin' my landlord
    All I seem to do is stay in debt
    Because, ah them that's got (yeah) are them that gets
    And I tell you all I ain't got nothin' yet

    That old sayin' them that's got are them that gets
    Is somethin' I can't see
    If ya gotta have somethin' before you can get somethin'
    How do ya get your first is still a mystery to me

    I see folk with long cars and fine clothes
    That's why they're called the smarter set
    Because they manage to get
    When only them that's got supposed to get
    And I ain't got nothin' yet
    Whoa, I tell you all
    I ain't found nothing yet

    That old sayin' them that's got are them that gets
    Is somethin' I can't see
    If ya gotta have somethin' before you can get somethin'
    How do ya get your first is still a mystery to me

    You know I just don't understand it
    I can't seem to get a nickle or a dime for a cup of coffee
    I need a hamburguer in fact a hot dog wouldn't be too bad
    I would just be grateful if I could get my hands on most anything

    Ray Charles
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    I'm just never sure about my notion of what is actually 'deep'. In many ways I feel that my life is quite trivial, but oddly enough I find things that I think might be profound and deep, but do to my deeply trivial nature I'm never quite sure enough.Mayor of Simpleton
    Allow me a piece of facile and utterly useless advice: what is deep to you is what is deep. It's doesn't need to be heavy and political, or protest oriented. It can be contemplative, it can be introspective, whatever rocks your boat.

    At worst, this thread is a place to share songs we like.

    At best, it's a useful reminder that popular music is more than just a business. Songs have lyrics. There is poetry in them, that can help open mental doors. This poetry is literally all around us, in the lyrics of our most beloved songs.

    So keep it coming, trivial as it may be.
  • Mayor of Simpleton
    661

    Thanks!

    To tell the truth I could nearly post 'Safety Dance' by Men without Hats, but that would be me reading into the lyrics, as it's not really about what it is I'm reading into it. ;)
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    I posted one on the purse of a woman... Women's purses are deep, aren't they?

    At the begining of the thread, posted Puff the Magic Dragon. I initially thought it was a joke, as the title doesn't evoke much depth to me. But I wasn't about to act as some Torquemada of Lyrical Depth, so I thanked him for the entry and left it there. Then the next day he explained (to my shame) that this song meant a lot to him, so evidently it was no joke at all. So there's that.
  • Mayor of Simpleton
    661
    I posted one on the purse of a woman... Women's purses are deep, aren't they?Olivier5

    ... and I posted one on the Murders, of the Hope of Women.

    Perhaps I can post this one as a balance...
    ... she has a good philosophy I can fully endorse (at times).

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    hmm hmm... Her clivage is pretty deep alright.

    Let me refocus... St James Brown, pray for our souls.



  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    The way he delivers this. The flow, the tone... kills me.
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    ... and I posted one on the Murders, of the Hope of Women.Mayor of Simpleton
    And I liked it a lot.
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    My exact state of mind at the moment, captured by this oh-so-trivial song:

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful
    A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
    And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily
    Oh joyfully, playfully watching me
    But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible
    Logical, oh responsible, practical
    And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable
    Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical

    There are times when all the world's asleep
    The questions run too deep
    For such a simple man
    Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
    I know it sounds absurd
    Please tell me who I am

    I said, watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical
    Liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
    Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're acceptable
    Respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!
    Oh, take it take it yeah

    But at night, when all the world's asleep
    The questions run so deep
    For such a simple man
    Won't you please tell me what we've learned
    I know it sounds absurd
    Please tell me who I am, who I am, who I am, who I am
    'Cause I was feeling so logical
    D-d-digital
    One, two, three, five
    Oh, oh, oh, oh
    It's getting unbelievable

  • Pinprick
    950
    The obvious choice for anyone that’s aware of it...



    Here’s why.



    Black then white are all I see in my infancy
    Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me
    Lets me see

    As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
    Drawn beyond the lines of reason
    Push the envelope, watch it bend

    Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind
    Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
    Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines

    Black then white are all I see in my infancy
    Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me
    Lets me see
    There is so much more
    And beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities

    As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
    Drawn outside the lines of reason
    Push the envelope, watch it bend

    Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind
    Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind

    Feed my will to feel this moment
    Urging me to cross the line
    Reaching out to embrace the random
    Reaching out to embrace whatever may come

    I embrace my desire to
    I embrace my desire to
    Feel the rhythm, to feel connected
    Enough to step aside and weep like a widow
    To feel inspired
    To fathom the power
    To witness the beauty
    To bathe in the fountain
    To swing on the spiral
    To swing on the spiral to

    Swing on the spiral
    Of our divinity
    And still be a human

    With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
    Between the sounds and open wide to suck it in
    I feel it move across my skin
    I'm reaching up and reaching out
    I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me
    What ever will bewilder me
    And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been
    We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been

    Spiral out, keep going
    Spiral out, keep going
    Spiral out, keep going
    Spiral out, keep going
  • Mayor of Simpleton
    661
    Music I played to death as a youth... that pissed off my sister and she'd leave me alone. At the time that made it work for me twice as well as hoped. ;)
  • Mayor of Simpleton
    661
    From the band who gave me my user name...




    The last balloon is leaving
    The last balloon from fear
    The last balloon is leaving
    Form that line right here

    Climb aboard, climb aboard, you menfolk
    You won't need any bombs or knives
    Climb aboard, climb aboard, you menfolk
    Leave all that to your former lives
    Drop it all

    The last balloon is leaving
    The last balloon of all
    The last balloon is leaving
    Undress, discard, let fall

    Climb aboard, climb aboard, you women
    You won't need any gems or furs
    Climb aboard, climb aboard, you women
    Leave all that to the bad old years
    Drop it all

    The last balloon is leaving
    The last balloon, they'll fly
    The last balloon is leaving
    And we won't qualify

    Climb aboard, climb aboard, you children
    Move aloft while your fleet and fast
    Climb aboard, climb aboard, you children
    We're weighed down by our evil past

    Drop us all, you should drop us all
    Drop us all and free your hand
    Drop us all, you should drop us all
    Drop us all like so much sand
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