Favorite Lyrics / Poems

weishaupt1776 · #1 03-30-2005, 08:20 PM

I tell ya, bein' an 80's kid from way back, I can recall these lyrics being the most penetrating as far as making it on to the Top 40. I don't see how the managed media could allow lyrics like this on the radio today because the record industry promoters aren't snortin' whiskey and drinkin' cocaine anymore. I get goosebumps just reciting these lyrics in my head and reflect back to my testosterone charged teen years when this tune came out.
For all the young guns out there, Weis presents to you . . .

Cult of Personality by Living Colour
Look into my eyes, what do you see?
Cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I’ve been everything you want to be
I’m the cult of personality
Like mussolini and kennedy
I’m the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality
Neon lights, a nobel prize
The mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You don’t have to follow me
Only you can set me free
I sell the things you need to be
I’m the smiling face on your t.v.
I’m the cult of personality
I exploit you still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three
I’m the cult of personality
Like joseph stalin and gandi
I’m the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality
Neon lights a nobel prize
A leader speaks, that leader dies
You don’t have to follow me
Only you can set you free
You gave me fortune
You gave me fame
You me power in your god’s name
I’m every person you need to be
I’m the cult of personality
Look into my eyes, what do you see?
Cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I’ve been everything you want to be
I’m the cult of personality
Like mussolini and kennedy
I’m the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality
Neon lights, a nobel prize
The mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You don’t have to follow me
Only you can set me free
I sell the things you need to be
I’m the smiling face on your t.v.
I’m the cult of personality
I exploit you still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three
I’m the cult of personality
Like joseph stalin and gandi
I’m the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality
Neon lights a nobel prize
A leader speaks, that leader dies
You don’t have to follow me
Only you can set you free
You gave me fortune
You gave me fame
You me power in your god’s name
I’m every person you need to be
I’m the cult of personality

Oh yeah, the memories. Man, we need to hook Corey Glover, Vernon Reid, Muzz Skillings, and Will Calhoun up over here.
Imagine the lyrics they could get off of this site!

KaosTheory · #2 03-31-2005, 07:18 AM

Now there was an out of the ordinary band. Good tune but a little repetitive and what was the deal with that lead guitarist? It was almost like he was making fun of heavy metal leads or something. Maybe it's me, I dunno but it just sounded like noodling.

I agree about the lyrics in this tune though.

weishaupt1776 · #3 03-31-2005, 08:55 AM

It's just pure genius that you could mention Joseph Stalin, Mussolini, Ghandi, and Kennedy in One tune and also on the Top 40 at that.

I love that solo! It's just total abandon and aggressive expression.

Burnin' Vernon.

SJ members, post your favorite lyrics/poems here.

scottinalaska · #4 04-01-2005, 12:24 PM

Growing up, I was told this song was from the devil, now I think it is contains more truth than the devil would want us to know. Not necessarily my favorite, but a current revisit because of its unashamed truth.
The Hotel California song used to just be odd words and good guitar! The truth is most people never bother to check the "man behind the curtain", because they are convinced they can never leeeave, anyways.
"I guess we're just prisoners here of our own device"(invisible contracts/trusts that we never know we entered into...but we did!)
Here are the closing lyrics of the song:
They stab it with their steely knives (dishonorable actions)
But they just can't kill the beast (that's true)
Last thing I remember
I was running for the door (lost in the flury of my paperwork)
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before (and before I was issued my SS number, a sovereign memory)
Relax, said the nightman (Hello, I am from the government, I am here to help you, sign here.)
We are programed to recieve (Please sign here for your "freedom" at the barrel of a gun)
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave.

scott

weishaupt1776 · #5 04-01-2005, 02:50 PM

SIA, I love it!
Definitely an unexplored angle on the tune.

Life in the Fast Lane leaves no room for allegory or metaphor, though. That's for sure

KaosTheory · #6 04-01-2005, 05:07 PM

Hotel California....great tune. I had always thought that song was about drug addiction and living a life of debauchery.

If you think about it, there is no way around being a servant in this life.

scottinalaska · #7 04-05-2005, 01:52 PM

Now Queen definitely had it goin' on with this tune.
I revisited it a couple years ago as an object lesson on the futility of existentialism with some Christian kids(I hate boring church lessons).

Is this the real life-(now there's a good question!)
Is this just fantasy-
Caught in a landslide- (of misdirecting information. Here, read this IRS manual and then go back to sleep)
No escape from reality-
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see-
I’m just a poor boy,I need no sympathy- (It's important to make people FEEL like they are sovereign)
Because I’m easy come,easy go,
A little high,little low, (Oh yeah, we're all cool, man)
Anyway the wind blows,doesn’t really matter to me,
To me (THAT is what we are led to think in the Public Fool system. After all, reality is what you make it. No absolutes. Just cruise, man.)

Mama,just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head,
Pulled my trigger,now he’s dead, (Only now do I understand that that kind of "killer" action was just a natural outgrowth to acting out what "nothing really matters". Hey, let's see what would happen! And we wonder about violence in our schools!)
Mama,life had just begun,
But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away- (yup, go home to mama, or your new jail mate that will really make you cry "mama!")
Mama ooo,
Didn’t mean to make you cry-
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow-
Carry on,carry on,as if nothing really matters- (though we know it ALL really matters, but maybe my Public Defender will help me shortly.)

Too late,my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine-
Body’s aching all the time,
Goodbye everybody-I’ve got to go-
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth- (Why does the truth often become revealed too late?)
Mama ooo- (any way the wind blows)
I don’t want to die,
I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all- (Don't most slaves come to this conclusion eventually...especially when they were taught that they were free or sovereign? Some of us kill ourselves, some of us are doing something about it(SJ members), and others drift back to sleep so not to make waves.)

I see a little silhouetto of a man, (Ah, all CAPITAL letters kind of guy, eh?)
Scaramouche,scaramouche will you do the fandango- (Paperwork is the only thing that gives this "man" a life)
Thunderbolt and lightning-very very frightening me- (Who is the real me?)
Galileo,galileo,
Galileo galileo (Sure, look to the heavens, maybe someone will take pity.)
Galileo figaro-magnifico-
But I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me-
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family-
Spare him his life from this monstrosity- (Ah, let the public relations scheme give the impression of "Due Process")
Easy come easy go-,will you let me go-
Bismillah! no-,we will not let you go-let him go- (Bismillah means, "In the name of Allah" thus, a higher authority determines the fate, not a jury of peers)
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let him go
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go let me go
No,no,no,no,no,no,no-
Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go-
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,for me,for me- (In the end, Satan's goal is to collect as many souls as possible)

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye-
So you think you can love me and leave me to die-
Oh baby-can’t do this to me baby-
Just gotta get out-just gotta get right outta here- (There you go! Fight and argue so your fate can be sealed. Too bad your first presumption was wrong but as the closing lines indicate, some folks will not release faulty theories and reasoning, right down to their inevitable demise.)

Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see,
Nothing really matters-,nothing really matters to me,

Any way the wind blows....

There is your music lesson, kids. NOW, go turn it up and sing at the top of your lungs because you KNOW this is a fun one whatever the message!
scottinalaska

weishaupt1776 · #8 04-05-2005, 01:57 PM

Now there's an education that you just can't get in school

KaosTheory · #9 04-07-2005, 07:42 AM

Run, rabbit run
Dig that hole in the sun
When at last the work is done
Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one

Long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide

Balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave

I never get tired of Pink Floyd.

KaosTheory · #10 05-09-2005, 12:12 PM

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way

Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain
But you are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today

And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun

(cool guitar lead)

Verse two