Song Lyric Sunday – 25 July 2021 – Chasing Cars

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is to find a song that may include, or reference, one of the following: Automobile, Car, Jalopy, Vehicle.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

This week I offer you a really lovely and haunting song, Chasing Cars.

This is a song by Scottish-Northern Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol. It was released as the second single from their fourth studio album, Eyes Open (2006). It was recorded in 2005 and released on 6 June 2006 in the United States and 24 July 2006 in the United Kingdom.

Lead singer Gary Lightbody said he wrote the song when he became sober after a binge of white wine. The song has a plain melody over sparse guitars, which has an ever-building crescendo. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said “It’s the purest love song that I’ve ever written.” The phrase “Chasing Cars” came from Lightbody’s father, in reference to a girl Lightbody was infatuated with, “You’re like a dog chasing a car. You’ll never catch it and you just wouldn’t know what to do with it if you did.” True of so many young men! 

In 2019 this song was noted as the most played song of the 21st century on UK radio.

You don’t get much purer or simpler love than that expressed in the words: 

“If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?”

I’m offering a choice of three versions, and it’s difficult for me to choose a favourite. If you only have time to look at one then I would suggest you listen to the reworked version Live at the Albert Hall from November 2011. 

This is a great example of why live music matters. See the joy on the musicians faces and the power of audience participation.

Read the comments on YouTube to see how people are affected by this song.

Lara Mitchell

“When this song came out….I was in prison….this song would take me away….away…and I’m just now exploring his other music..I love this man! OMG! His smile! How can one not smile back.”

Julie Dean

“This was our favourite song. And I whispered it to my husband as he was dying.  I cry every time I hear it.  But it is still my favourite song.”

Kelly Murphy-Stevens

“When my dog was at the end of life and he did not know what was going on. He was as thin as when we rescued him from the streets many years earlier. I did not want to let go. I would lay down with him on my chest and we chase cars. He made me so human.”

The second video is an acoustic version from The Quay Sessions in Glasgow from August 2018. This, again, shows the joy of the artists (only three this time), and the total absorption of the audience.  They know they will be invited to join in, in fact they were invited to do so at the beginning, but they are so engrossed by the performance that they almost miss their cue!

The final version is the Official US release video. This is included just to show how it started out.  Although it is still beautiful, and moving, it is almost a disappointment compared to the live versions.  What am I saying? No version of this song could disappoint. I’ve been listening to all three, and others, for over a week now.  You know what? I rather like this song!

Chasing Cars

Snow Patrol

We’ll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don’t need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

I don’t quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
They’re not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life

Let’s waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see

I don’t know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Natah Connolly / Gary Lightbody / Jonathan Quinn / Tom Simpson / Paul Wilson

Chasing Cars lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Song Lyric Sunday – 18 July 2021 – Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is to find a song that is about Breakup.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

I have chosen Judy Collins and Leonard Cohen singing Hey, That’s no way to say Goodbye . This rather poor quality video was recorded in 1976 but the sound quality is good. The song was first recorded by Judy in November 1967 with Leonard’s version following shortly afterwards. The two had a little bit of history as is intimated in the introduction.

There is more information after the lyrics for those who may be interested. I do hope that you enjoy the music.

Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye

Leonard Cohen

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you
But now it’s come to distances and both of us must try
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye

I’m not looking for another as I wander in my time
Walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
You know my love goes with you as your love stays with me
It’s just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea
But let’s not talk of love or chains and things we can’t untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm
Yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new
In city and in forest they smiled like me and you
But let’s not talk of love or chains and things we can’t untie
Your eyes are soft with sorrow
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Leonard Cohen

Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Leonard Cohen seemed such a troubled soul. He was so mixed up with sex and love. He fell in love almost too easily, but he also fell out of love easily. Basically, he was a lonely man who felt complete only with a female counterpart, but he could not settle into some form of conventionality. He needed to be and to feel free, so he repeated the same cycle over and over again.

In this instance the girl is leaving and the singer is watching her pack her things, not knowing quite what he should do.

He described the genesis of this song as follows:

“This song arises from an overused bed in the Penn Terminal Hotel in 1966. The room is too hot. I can’t open the windows. I am in the midst of a bitter quarrel with a blonde woman. The song is half-written in pencil but it protects us as we manoeuvre, each of us, for unconditional victory. I am in the wrong room. I am with the wrong woman”.

In November 2016, the singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, renowned for his plaintive ballads, died a few months after the woman who inspired many of them, his Norwegian lover and muse, Marianne Ihlen. Theirs had been a large and chaotic romance that was in many respects a product of the particular times (the 1960s) and the specific place (the Greek island of Hydra) in which they met. The relationship’s legacy was a catalogue of classic songs, a great deal of heartache, but also a lasting sense of the creative power of love. His final goodbye to Marrianne was sublime:

Dearest Marianne,

I’m just a little behind you, close enough to take your hand. This old body has given up, just as yours has too. I’ve never forgotten your love and your beauty. But you know that. I don’t have to say any more. Safe travels old friend. See you down the road. Endless love and gratitude.

your Leonard

She died aged 81 on 28 July 2016, in Oslo. Cohen died later that year on 7 November 2016.

Song Lyric Sunday – 11 July 2021 – Butterfly

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is to find a song that includes Bugs or Insects.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

It is 3 weeks since I posted anything, the longest break since I started my blog. Various reasons which I will not list here but, hopefully, I’m back.

This week I’ve chosen a song by The Hollies, a favourite group of mine. The song is Butterfly which appeared on their second studio album (also called Butterfly) released in 1967.

This was their seventh album in England overall and It was also the last new Hollies album to feature Graham Nash until 1983’s What Goes Around. This album, like its predecessors For Certain Because and Evolution, featured songs written solely by Allan Clarke, Graham Nash, and Tony Hicks. The album was a Nash-led project, and he featured as the lead vocalist more than on any prior album.

I do hope you enjoy it.

Butterfly

Hollies

We met on the shore of the Lemonade Lake
Weeping willows looked down where we lay
Orange blossoms I smell in your hair
Butterfly, flutter by, butterfly by

Waterfalls, send your ripples to us
Here on the shore of the Lemonade Lake
Pond lilies play hide and seek with the fish
Rabbit run, run rabbit, rabbit run by

Roaring mountain is standing close by
Covered with snowdrops and glistening with dew
I hear the sound of a small hummingbird
I took your hand and I waltzed off with you

Come to the top of the mountain with me
Jump on a cloud and we’ll float to and fro
Seeing the countryside covered with grass
And the top of the mountain with candy-floss snow

Butterfly lazily drinking the sun
Lavishly sprinkled and painted with gold
Here in the land of the mist and the lake
Me and my true love will never grow old

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: G. Nash

Butterfly lyrics © Gralto Music Ltd.

Song Lyric Sunday – 20 June 2021 – April

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is to find a song that includes one of the words Brutal, Cruel, Frenzy, Savage, or Violent, or fits in with the general theme.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

This week I am offering a song by Deep Purple, called “April”.

“April” is the 8^th and final track from their album Deep Purple, released in 1969

This was the least commercially successful of the three albums released by the band’s Mark I line-up and was ignored by critics upon its release. Modern reviews are generally positive, and remark on the variety of styles within the album and the boldness of the song arrangements.

“April” was a tune written by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore about his birthday month before the recording sessions had begun; it was later augmented with a long middle section of classical music written by Jon Lord who was a classical composer at heart, becoming the album’s 12-minute-plus final track and Deep Purple’s longest ever studio recording.

Most of “April” was recorded on 28 February, but the orchestral part, played by hired musicians was the last to be recorded and, by that time, Deep Purple were on their way to perform in America.

This song is about the month of April. A Ritchie Blackmore/Jon Lord composition, the first section is played solely by Lord and Blackmore; Lord plays piano and organ; Blackmore plays electric and acoustic guitars. The second section, orchestrated by Lord, uses flutes, clarinets, a string section and other instruments; the third section adds vocals. As the band wrote in the liner notes, “As a whole we hope April hangs together as a personal evocation of a beautiful, but sad (to us) month.”

The track, as I’ve said, is over 12 minutes long and it is 8 minutes 50 seconds before a single word is uttered! “Cruel” appears in the first line and that is the one and only appearance!

A reserve video in case of unavailability

April

Deep Purple

April is a cruel time
Even though the sun may shine
And world looks in the shade as it slowly comes away
Still falls the April rain
And the valley’s filled with pain
And you can’t tell me quite why
As I look up to the gray sky
Where it should be blue
Grey sky where I should see you
Ask why, why it should be so
I’ll cry, say that I don’t know

Baby once in a while I’ll forget and I’ll smile
But then the feeling comes again of an April without end
Of an April lonely as a girl
In the dark of my mind I can see all too fine
But there is nothing to be done when I just can’t feel the sun
And the springtime’s the season of the night

Grey sky where it should be blue
Grey sky where I should see you
Ask why, why it should be so
I’ll cry, say that I don’t know
I don’t know

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Nicola Schultz / Ben Aylward / Jon Lord

April lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

As a bonus I am including April Part 2, It is a bizarre, avant garde and arty film, by Werner Schretzmeier and Juergen Schmidt-Oehm, which also includes Steppenwolf and Savage Rose and was filmed near to Stuttgart in early October ’69.

Song Lyric Sunday – 13 June 2021 – White Wedding

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is to find a song that includes Greet, Hey, or Howdy.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

Last week was wedding related in that the prompt words were Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue. Since I never approached anything near a wedding it seems appropriate that this week I should try to catch up and go for White Wedding. It is a bride’s privilege to be late. I just hope the groom waited!

This is a song by Billy Idol that was released as the second single from his self-titled studio album in 1982. Although not his most successful song it is probably his most recognisable one. It certainly contains many Hey’s! I hope you enjoy it.

White Wedding

Billy Idol

Hey little sister, what have you done
Hey little sister, who’s the only one
Hey little sister, who’s your superman
Hey little sister, who’s the one you want
Hey little sister, shotgun

It’s a nice day to start again
It’s a nice day for a white wedding
It’s a nice day to start again

Hey little sister, who is it you’re with
Hey little sister, what’s your vice and wish
Hey little sister, shotgun (oh yeah)
Hey little sister, who’s your superman
Hey little sister, shotgun

It’s a nice day to start again
It’s a nice day for a white wedding
It’s a nice day to start again

Take me back home, yeah

Hey little sister, what have you done
Hey little sister, who’s the only one
I’ve been away for so long (so long)
I’ve been away for so long (so long)
I let you go for so long

It’s a nice day to start again
Come on, it’s a nice day for a white wedding
It’s a nice day to start again

There is nothin’ fair in this world, baby
There is nothin’ safe in this world
And there’s nothin’ sure in this world
And there’s nothin’ pure in this world
Look for something left in this world
Start again

Come on
It’s a nice day for a white wedding
It’s a nice day to start again
It’s a nice day to start again
It’s a nice day to start again

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Billy Idol

White Wedding lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Song Lyric Sunday – 6 June 2021 – Heartbeats

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is to find a song that includes the words Old, New, Borrowed, or Blue amongst the title or lyrics.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

Unusually, today I am chosing a cover version of a song. It was written by The Knife, a Swedish electronic music duo which consisted of siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer. They formed in 1999 and disbanded in 2014. If you look up some of their music I’m willing to bet that you will find some that you really like!

The group toured little and gained stronger international recognition when José González covered their song “Heartbeats” on his 2003 album, Veneer. The cover was used by Sony in a commercial for BRAVIA television sets, and released as a single in 2006.

Here is Heartbeats with lyrics, and fantastic graphics that mimic those of the official video of The Knife original. The word “BLUE” appears only once!

Lyrics

One night to be confused
One night to speed up truth
We had a promise made
Four hands and then away

Both under influence
We had divine sense
To know what to say
Mind is a razor blade

To call for hands of above, to lean on
Wouldn’t be good enough for me, no

One night of magic rush
The start, a simple touch
One night to push and scream
And then relief

Ten days of perfect tunes
The colours red and blue
We had a promise made
We were in love

To call for hands of above, to lean on
Wouldn’t be good enough for me, oh

To call for hands of above, to lean on
Wouldn’t be good enough for me

And you
You knew the hand of the devil
And you
Kept us awake with wolves’ teeth
Sharing different heartbeats in one night

To call for hands of above, to lean on
Wouldn’t be good enough for me

To call for hands of above, to lean on
Wouldn’t be good enough for me

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Olof Bjorn Dreijer / Karin Elizabeth Dreijer Andersson

Heartbeats lyrics © Bert’s Songs Ltd.

…..and here is the fantastic Bravia colour TV advert

San Francisco’s steep hills proved to be the perfect setting for Sony’s iconic Balls ad. The electronics company wanted to celebrate colour in order to promote their Bravia high-definition LCD televisions. This was the brief Fallon was tasked to visualise. And to do so, they hurled 250,000 bouncy, coloured balls down the rolling hills of the Golden City, which results in a glorious cascade of colour.

The ad was directed by Nicolai Fugslig (MJZ), who insisted on everything being shot live in camera.

The striking visuals are accompanied by the gentle acoustic sounds of José González which, along with the graceful slow-motion, gives the ad a daydream-like quality that remains with you well after the ad finishes. In fact, the music is so powerful that many people simply refer to the ‘Sony Balls’ TV commercial as the ‘José González advert’.

What you discover:

• The shoot took three days
• Around 50 students on roller skates were required to use brooms to clear all the balls at the foot of the hill at the end of each take

Agency: Fallon
Creative: Richard Flintham
Director: Nicolai Fugslig
Production Co: MJZ 

Song Lyric Sunday – 30 May 2021 – The Streets of London

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is to find a song that includes a City, Country, County, State, or Town.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

If I tell you that you are going to listen to the greatest song written by Ralph May you may well be a little confused. It is an enduring song that has been covered by over 200 artists all around the world and, sadly, is as relevant today as it was when it was written in 1969.

The song was inspired by Ralph McTell’s experiences busking and hitchhiking throughout Europe, especially in Paris. He was originally going to call the song “Streets of Paris, but eventually London was chosen, because he realised he was singing about London and, also, there was another song called “The Poor People of Paris.”

McTell’s song contrasts the common problems of everyday people with those of the homeless, lonely, elderly, ignored, and forgotten members of society. They are still there!

This video tracks The Streets of London, and Ralph Mc Tell, through the years, and has a great interview with the singer telling the background to the song. He tells it far better than I could.

This one shows some great views of London streets, the people inhabiting them, and great street art, including a Banksie!

and this one is Ralph Mc Tell’s 70^th birthday performance accompanied by John Williams. Still fantastic after all those years!

There are so many covers of this song, all with their various merits. The very sad fact that the problems that caused this song to be written 52 years ago still exist show how inept mankind is at fixing inequality! 

Streets of London

Have you seen the old man in the closed down market
Kicking up the papers with his worn out shoes?
In his eyes you see no pride, hand held loosely by his side
Yesterday’s paper telling yesterday’s news

So how can you tell me you’re lonely
And say for you that the sun doesn’t shine?
Oh, let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl who walks the streets of London?
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She’s no time for talkin’, she keeps right on walkin’
Carrying her home in two carrier bags

So how can you tell me you’re lonely
And say for you that the sun doesn’t shine?
Oh, let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

In the all night café at a quarter past eleven
Same old man sitting there on his own
Looking at the world over the rim of his teacup
Each tea lasts an hour then he wanders home alone
So how can you tell me you’re lonely
And say for you that the sun doesn’t shine?
Oh, let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old man outside the seaman’s mission?
Memory fading with the medal ribbons that he wears?
In our winter city the rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero and a world that doesn’t care

Oh, how can you tell me you’re lonely
And say for you that the sun doesn’t shine?
Oh, let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ralph Mc Tell

Streets of London lyrics © Kmr Music Royalties Ii Scsp, Westminster Music Ltd

Song Lyric Sunday – 23 May 2021 – Comparisons

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is Comparisons.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

Jim asks us to take two songs and discuss an association between them. Well, off I set and I wrote about One Direction’s “Best Song Ever” and the Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” and the fact that the former song seemed to have copied a large chunk of the classic music of Baba O’Reilly.

There were two major problems with my write up. The first being that I don’t like One Direction’s music, the second was that their video of this track was abysmal.

Then, on Thursday, Jim wrote about Blow Away by George Harrison and so I abandoned my original idea and decided to write this instead. Apologies, and thanks to Jim!

It is hardly surprising that often we hear a song and think we’ve heard it before. There are, in Western music, only 12 different notes to play and, with all the variations, there are only 4017 chords available (many of which are hardly ever used) so it is not unusual for different songs to have the same sequences of notes.

Firstly, I offer George Harrison’s Blow away . Taken from George’s eponymous 1979 album, BLOW AWAY was the lead single released on 14th February, 1979. 

At 51 seconds you will hear the refrain “Blow away, Blow away, Blow away.“

Blow Away

George Harrison

Day turned black, sky ripped apart
Rained for a year ’til it dampened my heart
Cracks and leaks
The floorboards caught rot
About to go down
I had almost forgot

All I got to do is to love you
All I got to be is, be happy
All it’s got to take is some warmth to make it
Blow Away, Blow Away, Blow Away

Sky cleared up, day turned to bright
Closing both eyes now the head filled with light
Hard to remember what a state I was in
Instant amnesia
Yang to the Yin

All I got to do is to love you
All I got to be is, be happy
All it’s got to take is some warmth to make it
Blow Away, Blow Away, Blow Away

Wind blew in, cloud was dispersed
Rainbows appearing, the pressures were burst
Breezes a-singing, now feeling good
The moment had passed
Like I knew that it should

All I got to do is to love you
All I got to be is, be happy
All it’s got to take is some warmth to make it
Blow Away, Blow Away, Blow Away

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: George Harrison

Blow Away lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC

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Now compare this with Enya’s – Orinoco Flow

“Orinoco Flow“, also released as “Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)”, was released on 15 October 1988

At 55 seconds you will hear the refrain 

Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away

Does it sound familiar?

Orinoco Flow

Enya

Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away

From Bissau to Palau, in the shade of Avalon
From Fiji to Tyree and the Isles of Ebony
From Peru to Cebu hear the power of Babylon
From Bali to Cali, far beneath the Coral Sea

Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, up, adieu. Ooh ooh
Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, up, adieu. Ooh ooh
Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, up, adieu. Oh

Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away

From the North to the South, Ebudæ into Khartoum
From the deep sea of Clouds to the island of the moon
Carry me on the waves to the lands I’ve never been
Carry me on the waves to the lands I’ve never seen
We can sail, we can sail with the Orinoco Flow
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)

We can steer, we can near
With Rob Dickins at the wheel
We can sigh, say goodbye Ross and his dependencies
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)

We can reach, we can beach
On the shores of Tripoli
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
From Bali to Cali, far beneath the Coral Sea
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
From Bissau to Palau, in the shade of Avalon
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
We can reach, we can beach
Far beyond the Yellow Sea
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
From Peru to Cebu hear the power of Babylon
We can sail, we can sail
(Sail away, sail away, sail away)
We can sail, we can sail

Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away
Sail away, sail away, sail away

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Eithne Ni Bhraonain / Nicky Ryan / Roma Ryan

Orinoco Flow lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management

I’m not suggesting any skulduggery or intention to copy. There are bound to be similarities occasionally. So long as there is no deliberate intention to defraud, and the songs are enjoyable, I don’t care!

Song Lyric Sunday – 16 May 2021 – Uplifting

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week the prompt is Elevator Music.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.

Now, I have a big problem with this week’s prompt.  We do not have elevators in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and I understand that Elevator Music does not have lyrics.  Furthermore, Elevator Music is deemed to have ceased to exist with effect from 2009 when Muzac filed for bankruptcy, however they were rescued by Mood Media in 2011, although they ceased trading as Muzac in 2013.  

We do have Lifts in the UK but most of our buildings have so few floors that it is hardly worth listening to just a few bars of indeterminate music.  Instead, we like to stand silently ignoring all other lift occupants! 

So, if you’ll forgive me, I shall interpret Elevator Music as something that lifts the spirits and, thus, I have chosen to offer you the peculiar internet phenomenon of Where the Hell is Matt? 

Matt Harding quit his job in 2003 and travelled the world on a minimum budget whilst filming himself dancing, often in front of a famous landmark. Initially just sending videos to his family and friends, he soon became an Internet phenomenon.

His first successful video, in 2005, featured him dancing a “jig” in many different places around the world. The video garnered popularity on the video sharing site YouTube. There are now five major videos plus two outtakes and several background videos on YouTube. Matt dances alone in the first videos. In 2008 others join with him doing the dance “jig”; in 2010 he does the Diski Dance in South Africa. In 2012, the video shown here, he works with other dancers, sometimes using a local dance or another dance step.

On July 22, 2008, and again on July 25, 2010, and July 10, 2012, and June 14, 2020, NASA featured Harding’s videos on the APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) Web site. Text accompanying these videos, under the heading “Happy People Dancing on Planet Earth,” claims that humans worldwide share a common love of dance, stating that “few people are able to watch the above video without smiling.” Harding himself has joked that he is impressed by his appearances on APOD, especially since his videos have nothing to do with astronomy, nor are they pictures.

They are, however, uplifting, and they show how everyone dances, irrespective of age, gender, colour, ethnicity, beliefs, you name it – it makes no difference.  Even the youngest of children will start moving rhythmically to music, I’ve even seen birds and animals joining in.

Wouldn’t it be marvellous if the Israelis and Palestinians were dancing instead of fighting, or if any other conflict could be settled by a dance?

Here, for your pleasure, is Where the hell is Matt? 2012.  There are lyrics below, and all the credits are at the end of the video. Sit back and enjoy!

Trip the Light

Garry Schyman

If all the days come to pass
Are behind these walls
I’ll be left at the end of things
In a world kept small

Travel far from what I know
I’ll be swept away
I need to know I can be lost
And not afraid

We’re gonna trip the light
We’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes
When we trip the light

Remember we’re lost together
Remember we’re the same
We hold the burning rhythm in our hearts
We hold the flame

We’re gonna trip the light
We’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes
When we trip the light

We’re gonna trip the light
We’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes
When we trip the light

I’ll find my way home
On the western wind
To a place that was once my world
Back from where I’ve been

And in the morning light I’ll remember
As the sun will rise
We are all the glowing embers
Of a distant fire

We’re gonna trip the light
We’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes
When we trip the light

Come on and trip the light
We’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes
We’re gonna trip the light

Come on and trip the light
We’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes
When we trip the light

We’re gonna trip the light
We’re gonna break the night
And we’ll see with new eyes
We’re gonna trip the light

Source: Musixmatch

Song Lyric Sunday – 9 May 2021 – Heaven Knows – I’ve used this before!

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Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs. This week Jim asks us for a song with a title, or lyrics, containing one of the words Heaven, or Hell.

If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries here.

This week I’m cheating because I’m reusing a song that I used in August 2020 for a prompt of “below”. However, it is a corker and well worth watching again, and again!

Some of you may remember that it featured video of Jim’s dance instructor because he spotted the secret camera that I’d installed in the dance studio and destroyed all images of his dancing!

First though, here is The Pretty Reckless with Heaven Knows. The song is from their second studio album, Going To Hell, released in 2014.

Heaven Knows – Isle of Wight festival 2014

And here is Jim’s dance instructor dancing to the official recording of the original release. Jim swears that he wore a simple leotard for all his lessons!

Heaven Knows

The Pretty Reckless

Jimmy’s in the back with a pocket of high
If you listen close
You can hear him cry
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Sing it
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below

Judy’s in the front seat picking up trash
Living on the dough
Gotta make that cash
Won’t be pretty
Won’t be sweet
She’s just in here on her feet

Sing it
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Go
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Sing
Tell her so
We belong way down below
Oh oh, tell her so
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

I’ve got what it takes, man
I see every day
I’ve got a better wise man
I know that I worth

One, two, three and four
The devil’s knocking at your door
Caught in the eye of a dead man’s wife
Show you life with your head up high
Now you’re on your knees
With your head down low
Big mental, she wear it to go
Tell her it’s good
Tell her okay
Don’t do a God thing they say

Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh oh, tell her so
We belong way down below
Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

I’ve got a better wise man
I know that I worth
I’ve got what it takes, man
I see every day

Jenna’s in the back with a pocket of high
If you listen close
You can hear the crying
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh oh, tell her so
We belong way down below
Oh oh, heaven knows
We belong way down below
Oh oh, tell her so
We belong way down below

Way down below, way down below
Way down below, way down below

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Ben Phillips / Taylor Momsen

Heaven Knows lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group