An even match!

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: Delightful, Pleasant, Sweet

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’ve chosen a song by Gabriella Cilmi. You may well have never heard of her! I hadn’t until I started looking for a song to offer this week.

Her surname is of Albanian origin although the family trace their descent to Pallagorio, Italy. She was born in Dandenong, a Melbourne suburb and moved to London, with her family, at the age of 15.

Her first album, Lessons to Be Learned takes its title from a line in the song that I’m offering this week, Sweet About Me.

This song was the most played song in the United Kingdom during 2009 and Gabriella was only 16 when this was recorded. I do hope that you enjoy it.

Lyrics

You, watching me
Hanging by a string this time
Don’t, easily
The climax of the perfect life
And you, watching me
Hanging by a string this time
Don’t, easily
My smile’s worth a hundred lies

And if there’s lessons to be learned
I’d rather get my jamming words in first, so
I’ll tell you something that I’ve found
That the world’s a better place
When it’s upside down, boy

And if there’s lessons to be learned
I’d rather get my jamming words in first, so
Oh when you’re playing with desire
Don’t come running to my place
When it burns like fire, boy

Ooh, nothing sweet about me, yeah
Sweet about me

Ooh, nothing sweet about me, yeah

Blue, blue, blue waves, they crash
As time goes by so hard to catch
Too, too smooth, ain’t all that
Why don’t you ride on my side of the tracks

And if there’s lessons to be learned
I’d rather get my jamming words in first, so
I’ll tell you something that I’ve found
That the world’s a better place
When it’s upside down, boy

And if there’s lessons to be learned
I’d rather get my jamming words in first, though
When you’re playing with desire
Don’t come running to my place
When it burns like fire, boy

Ooh, nothing sweet about me, yeah
Sweet about me

Ooh, nothing sweet about me, yeah

Ooh, and I oh I ooh
Doo la da da da, la da da da da, la da da da ooh

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Gabriella Cilmi / Nick Coler / Miranda Cooper / Brian Higgins / Timothy Larcombe / Tim Powell

Sweet About Me lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Song Lyric Sunday – 12 September 2021 – Starlings

On 12/09/2021 By Peter's ponderingIn Music, song, Song Lyric Sunday, Weekly prompts24 Comments

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.

For my SLS on 22 August I offered Elbow’s “One Day Like This“. A comment from Geoff Le Pard reminded me of another Elbow song, Starlings, which is my choice for today.

Incidentally, Geoff’s new book, “The Art of Spirit Capture” is released on 17th October. Details can be found here.

Any song that seeks to oust the Prime Minister (albeit it was Gordon Brown at the time the song was written), and all who luncheon with him, and can use lyrics such as “So yes I guess I’m asking you To back a horse that’s good for glue And nothing else” has got to be a winner for me!

One of the best tracks from “A Seldom Seen Kid“, this song deals with unrequited love and how it makes one feel – from “stubborn, selfish and too old” to the magnificently written :

The violets explode inside me
when I meet your eyes
Then I’m spinning and I’m diving
Like a cloud of starlings

He sees this girl as the perfect woman, and only has eyes for her, even though throughout the song he tries his very, very best to hide and deflect his feelings :

“You are the only thing in any room you’re ever in”

Such a beautifully simple yet powerful line.

The girl clearly isn’t interested in him though, not in any way, so the “love” is completely and utterly unrequited. Even though he’s completely true to her, and even though he feels he needs her so much :

“But find a man that’s truer than,
Find a man that needs you more than, I”

A superb Elbow track.

The first video is the original release version and shows magnificent pictures of starling murmurations. The music mirrors the movement, but beware (especially if you are wearing earphones) as the exploding forms of birds is told by the brass section and at 1:15, and later – you may jump!

The second video is a live performance which shows admirably how much the singers and musicians enjoy performing this song and also shows some of the private asides that occur between the artists during their daily work.

Starlings

Elbow

How dare the Premier ignore my invitations?
He’ll have to go
So, too, the bunch he luncheons with
It’s second on my list of things to do

At the top is stopping by
Your place of work and acting like
I haven’t dreamed of you and I
And marriage in an orange grove
You are the only thing in any room you’re ever in
I’m stubborn, selfish and too old

I sat you down and told you how
The truest love that’s ever found
Is for oneself
You pulled apart my theory
With a weary and disinterested sigh

So yes I guess I’m asking you
To back a horse that’s good for glue
And nothing else
But find a man that’s truer than
Find a man that needs you more than I

Sit with me a while
And let me listen to you talk about
Your dreams and your obsessions
I’ll be quiet and confessional

The violets explode inside me
When I meet your eyes
Then I’m spinning and I’m diving
Like a cloud of starlings

Darling is this love?

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Guy Edward John Garvey / Craig Lee Potter / Richard Barry Jupp / Mark Potter / Peter James Turner

Starlings lyrics © Salvation Music Ltd

Song Lyric Sunday – 5 September 2021 – Piano Man

On 05/09/2021 By Peter's ponderingIn Music, song, Song Lyric Sunday, Weekly prompts30 Comments

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.

Today, I’m featuring Billy Joel and his signature song Piano Man.

Piano Man is a semi-autobiographical tune and is one of Billy Joel’s most famous. It tends to make us feel nostalgic, as if we were sitting in that very bar listening to the great man.

Billy Joel wrote ‘Piano Man’ for the album of the same name, released in 1973. He was just 24 when he wrote it.

The song is a fictionalised version of Billy’s own experience as a piano-lounge singer which he did for six months in 1972–73 at the Executive Room bar in the Wilshire district of Losaway.

As he needed work to pay the bills, but couldn’t use his well-known name, he worked at the bar as a piano player under the name ‘Bill Martin’ (his full name is William Martin Joel).

It was a gig I did for about six months just to pay rent. I was living in LA and trying to get out of a bad record contract I’d signed. I worked under an assumed name, the Piano Stylings of Bill Martin, and just bulls–ted my way through it. I have no idea why that song became so popular. It’s like a karaoke favorite. The melody is not very good and very repetitious, while the lyrics are like limericks. I was shocked and embarrassed when it became a hit. But my songs are like my kids and I look at that song and think: ‘My kid did pretty well.'”

Some Facts about the song:

The verses of the song are sung from the point of view of a bar piano player, who focuses mainly on other people at the bar, who arrive at 9 o’clock on a Saturday. These include:
An old man, John the bartender, the waitress, businessmen, and bar regulars like ‘real estate novelist’ Paul and US Navy sailor, Davy.
Most of the characters have broken or unfulfilled dreams, and the pianist’s job is to help them “forget about life for a while”.
The pianist makes money when guests “sit at the bar, and put bread in my jar, and say, ‘Man, what are you doin’ here?”.
The chorus comes from the bar patrons themselves, who say, “Sing us a song, / You’re the piano man; / Sing us a song tonight. / Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody, / And you’ve got us feeling all right.”
Billy has said that all of the characters depicted in the song were based on real people.
“John at the bar” was actually the bartender who worked during his shift at the piano bar.
“Paul is a real estate novelist” is about a real estate agent named Paul who would sit at the bar working on what he believed would be the next great American novel.
“The waitress is practicing politics” refers to Joel’s first wife Elizabeth Weber, and who worked at The Executive Room as a waitress.
“Davy” was inspired by David Heintz. His daughter Lisa told Songfacts: “He met Billy Joel in a pub in Spain in 1972 while he was in the Navy. He married while he was in the navy, had three children. He passed away in 2003 of ALS. It really hurts when I hear this song played on the radio and they leave this part out.”
Believe it or not, but it was never a hit in the UK at all!
In the US, it reached number 25 in the US, and number 10 in Canada.
It wasn’t until the success of his 1977 album The Stranger that the song began getting played more on radio and became one of his signature songs.
Today, it remains popular, and ranks as his #1 song on iTunes and Spotify.

Piano Man

Billy Joel

It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There’s an old man sitting next to me
Makin’ love to his tonic and gin

He says, “Son, can you play me a memory
I’m not really sure how it goes
But it’s sad and it’s sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man’s clothes”

La la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Sing us a song, you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you’ve got us feelin’ alright

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he’s quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But there’s someplace that he’d rather be
He says, “Bill, I believe this is killing me”
As the smile ran away from his face
“Well I’m sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place”

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he’s talkin’ with Davy, who’s still in the Navy
And probably will be for life

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, they’re sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it’s better than drinkin’ alone

Sing us a song you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you got us feeling alright

It’s a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
‘Cause he knows that it’s me they’ve been comin’ to see
To forget about life for a while
And the piano, it sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, “Man, what are you doin’ here?”

Oh, la la la, di da da
La la, di da da da dum

Sing us a song you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you got us feeling alright

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Billy JoelPiano Man lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

Song Lyric Sunday – 29 August 2021 – Don’t Get Me Wrong

On 29/08/2021 By Peter's ponderingIn Music, song, Song Lyric Sunday, Weekly prompts23 Comments

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 cheating slightly by transposing one of the prompt words into the group just because I like them, and because I can! The song I’ve chosen is from Get Close, the 4th album recorded by The Pretenders, and released in 1986. It became one of their greatest hits and was written, and sung, by Chrissie Hynde.

So, here, for your pleasure, and mine, is The Pretenders with Don’t Get Me Wrong.

Artist: The Pretenders

Album: Get Close

Released: 1986

Lyrics

Don’t get me wrong
If I’m looking kind of dazzled
I see neon lights
Whenever you walk by

Don’t get me wrong
If you say hello and I take a ride
Upon a sea where the mystic moon
Is playing havoc with the tide
Don’t get me wrong

Don’t get me wrong
If I’m acting so distracted
I’m thinking about the fireworks

That go off when you smile
Don’t get me wrong
If I split like light refracted
I’m only off to wander

Across a moonlit mile

Once in a while
Two people meet
Seemingly for no reason
They just pass on the street
Suddenly, thunder showers everywhere

Who can explain the thunder and rain
But there’s something in the air

Don’t get me wrong

If I come and go like fashion
I might be great tomorrow
But hopeless yesterday
Don’t get me wrong
If I fall in the mode of fashion
It might be unbelievable
But let’s not say so long
It might just be fantastic
Don’t get me wrong

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Hynde Christine Ellen

Don’t Get Me Wrong lyrics © Hynde House Of Hits, Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited

Song Lyric Sunday – 22 August 2021 – Sports Songs

On 22/08/202109/09/2021 By Peter's ponderingIn Music, song, Song Lyric Sunday, sport, Weekly prompts28 Comments

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 Sports Song.

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.

The song I’ve chosen isn’t really a sports song. The reason I’ve chosen it is twofold. Firstly it featured in the Closing ceremony at the 2012 Olympics, and secondly it is, in my opinion, a really great song.

There are lots of ideas about the meaning of the lyrics. Why, oh why, do we always have to find the “meaning” of something? Can we not just accept that something is good, or beautiful, or helpful, or just makes us say WOW! This song is all of those things.

Also, the world should be proud of the Olympic Games, and of the all the athletes who strive to compete, who give their best efforts over many years, even when they know that they have no hope of winning, or even gaining a medal. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland should also be proud for hosting The Games in 2012, and for providing such a magnificent Opening and Closing Ceremony.

So, sit back for a few minutes and enjoy, together with all the amazing athletes, officials, and thousands of volunteers (one of whom will be reading this – well done Geoff), Elbow, singing One Day Like This.

and an alternative version because the Olympic Committee keep stealing the version I want.

One Day Like This

Elbow

Drinking in the morning sun
Blinking in the morning sun
Shaking off a heavy one
Heavy like a loaded gun

What made me behave that way?
Using words I never say
I can only think it must be love
Oh, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day

Someone tell me how I feel
In silly wrong, but vivid right
Oh, kiss me like a final meal
Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight

‘Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see the light
Yeah, lying with you half awake
Oh, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day

When my face is chamois creased
If you think I wink, I did
Laugh politely at repeats
Yeah, kiss me when my lips are thin

‘Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
And only now I see the light
Yeah, lying with you half awake
Stumbling over what to say
Well, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day

So, throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right, for life
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right for life

‘Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
(One Day Like This a year would see me right) And only now I see the light
(Throw those curtains wide) ‘Cause holy cow, I love your eyes
(One Day Like This a year would see me right) And only now I see the light

Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right (For life)
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right (For life)
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right (For life)
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like Thiss a year would see me right (For life)

Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right
So, throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right
Throw those curtains wide
One Day Like This a year would see me right

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Guy Edward John Garvey / Craig Lee Potter / Richard Barry Jupp / Mark Potter / Peter James Turner

One Day Like This lyrics © Salvation Music Ltd

Song Lyric Sunday – 15 August 2021 – Fade to Grey

On 15/08/202115/08/2021 By Peter's ponderingIn Music, song, Song Lyric Sunday, Weekly prompts32 Comments

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 discovered that the New Wave music I had chosen to offer you was best described by people other than me. Fade to Grey was written over an extended period by Chris Payne, Bill Curry, and Midge Ure. The following videos tell you all you need to know, and more. If you like music, and have the time and the inclination, I promise that you will be educated and interested if you watch them all. If you are short of time then just watch the first, or the last, video. They are both excellent!

Fade to Grey

Visage

One man on a lonely platform
One case sitting by his side
Two eyes staring cold and silent
Shows fear as he turns to hide

Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)
Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)

Feel the rain like an English summer
Hear the notes from a distant song
Stepping out from a back shop poster
Wishing life wouldn’t be so long
(Devenir gris)

Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)
Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)
Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)
(Devenir gris)
Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)
(Devenir gris)
Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)
Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)
(Devenir gris)
Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)
Aaah, we fade to grey (fade to grey)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ure James / Payne Christopher John / Currie William

Fade to Grey lyrics © Mood Music Ltd., Hot Food Music Ltd.

Dreams and Memories

On 14/08/2021 By Peter's ponderingIn #Writephoto, broken things, creativity, dreams, environment, Facts of life, global warming, nature, Poetry, walks, Weekly prompts33 Comments

This week’s #writephoto prompt is

Countless feet have walked this way

and countless dreams been broken

and often there were couples here

whose loving words were spoken

but dreams are often dashed away

just like the paths and highways

and landslips happen every day

destroying all life’s byeways

Yet man returns with hope anew

for dreams to be restored

He breaks new ground and forges on

his old love still adored

These memories cannot be dashed

as shorelines smashed asunder

Each memory can still be cashed

and is it any wonder

that countless feet who’ve walked this way

will walk forever more

with memories that e’er shall last

upon this dwindling shore.

Song Lyric Sunday – 8 August 2021 – Livin’ on a Prayer

On 08/08/2021 By Peter's ponderingIn Music, song, Song Lyric Sunday, Weekly prompts23 Comments

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.

Livin’ on a Prayer was released on 31 October 1986 as the second single from Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet” album.

The song tells us of Tommy, an unemployed dock worker who is “down on his luck”. He’s having a hard time earning enough to survive and is supported by his partner, Gina. She “works the diner all day” supporting him. But the overall implication is that she is a low-paid worker, and her income is insufficient to support them both. Sadly a familiar story to so many people now!

Here are two versions for your delight. The original official music video:

and a cover version by Sershen&Zaritskaya which I think is excellent:

I hope you enjoy them both.

Livin’ on a Prayer

Bon Jovi

Once upon a time not so long ago

Tommy used to work on the docks, union’s been on strike
He’s down on his luck, it’s tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day working for her man
She brings home her pay, for love, for love

She says, we’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got
It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not
We’ve got each other and that’s a lot for love
We’ll give it a shot

Woah, we’re half way there
Woah, livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand, we’ll make it I swear
Woah, livin’ on a prayer

Tommy’s got his six-string in hock
Now he’s holding in what he used to make it talk
So tough, it’s tough
Gina dreams of running away
When she cries in the night, Tommy whispers
Baby, it’s okay, someday

We’ve got to hold on to what we’ve got
It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not
We’ve got each other and that’s a lot for love
We’ll give it a shot

Woah, we’re half way there
Woah, livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand, we’ll make it I swear
Woah, livin’ on a prayer
Livin’ on a prayer

Oh, we’ve got to hold on, ready or not
You live for the fight when it’s all that you’ve got
Woah, we’re half way there
Woah, livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand, we’ll make it I swear
Woah, livin’ on a prayer

Woah, we’re half way there
Woah, livin’ on a prayer
Take my hand, we’ll make it I swear
Woah, livin’ on a prayer

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Jon Bon Jovi / Desmond Child / Richard S. Sambora

Song Lyric Sunday – 1 August 2021 – The Broken Ones

On 01/08/2021 By Peter's ponderingIn love, Music, song, Song Lyric Sunday, Weekly prompts32 Comments

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 we have The Broken Ones from the debut studio album, Red, by American singer-songwriter Dia Frampton, released on December 6, 2011.

This song is all about a girl taking on “broken ones” who have never been loved and have lots of faults. She seems destined to repeat the process time and again because she sees a part of herself in them – the missing piece always trying to fit in! She says “All your faults to me make you more beautiful.”

“Perhaps she just feels obliged to fight for the underdog, and that’s not a bad thing!

The Broken Ones

Dia Frampton

I know they’ve hurt you bad.
Wide, the scars you have.
Baby let me straighten out your broken bones,
All your faults to me make you more beautiful.

I can’t help it,
I love the broken ones,
The ones who,
Need the most patching up.
The ones who’ve,
Never been loved,
Never been loved,
Never been loved.
And O maybe I see a part of me in them.
The missing piece always trying to fit in.
The shattered heart,
Hungry for a home.
No you’re not alone,
I love the broken ones.

You don’t have to drive,
With your headlights off.
It’s a pocketknife,
Not a gift from god.
Don’t you learn of love from the love they kept.
I will be your anchor slowly,
Step by step.