Wilfred Owen (1893 – 1918)
(Original manuscript of "Anthem for Doomed Youth", showing Sassoon's revisions, 1917)
William Blake (1757 – 1827)
(Songs of Experience, 1794)
Janis Joplin (1943 – 70)
Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
— Pearl, 1971.
Robert Stevenson (1850 – 94):
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
(Requiem, 1887)
William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939):
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
(The Second Coming, 1919)
Thomas Macaulay (1800 – 59):
To every man upon the earth
Death cometh soon or late
And how can [a] man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his Gods
(Horatius, Lays of Ancient Rome, 1842)
Aeschylus (c 525/524 – c 456/455 BCE):
[He] who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
and in our own despite, against our will,
comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
(Agamemnon, Oresteia, 458 BCE)
Euripides (480 – 406 BCE):
To the dear lone lands untroubled of men,
Where no voice sounds, and amid the shadowy green
The little things of the woodland live unseen.
(Bacchae, 405 BCE)
Bhagavad Gita:
Now I am become Death,
The Destroyer of Worlds.
(400 BCE)
Laurie Anderson (1947):
I don't know about your brain — but mine is really bossy …
(Babydoll, Strange Angels, 1989)
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546):
A might fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon;
He helps us free from every need that hath us now o'ertaken.
The old evil Foe now means deadly woe; deep guile and great might
Are his dread arms in fight; on earth is not his equal
(A Might Fortress, c1528)
Jewel (1974):
In the end, only kindness matters …
Alfred Tennyson (1809 – 92)
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move. …
[But for] this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. …
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods. …
Come, my friends,
T'is not too late to seek a newer world …
[For] my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars …
[Perhaps to] touch the Happy Isles,
And see [again] the great Achilles, whom [once] we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in [older] days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
(Ulysses, 1842)
William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850)
For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity …
And I have felt … a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky …
(Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey, 1798)
One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.
(The Tables Turned, Lyrical Ballads, 1798)
Aeschylus (c 525/524 – c 456/455 BCE)
[He] who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
and in our own despite, against our will,
comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
(Agamemnon, Oresteia, 458 BCE)
King James Bible (1611)
The LORD is my shepherd:
- I shall not want.
- he leadeth me beside the still waters.
- he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
- for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
- thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
- and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
So teach us to number our days, that we apply our hearts unto wisdom.
(Psalms, 90:12)
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. …
O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed: happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou has served us.
Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
(Psalms, 137:1,8-9)
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
(Psalms, 144:4)
The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. …
[His] kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and [his] dominion endureth throughout all generations. …
The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. …
[He] preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
(Psalms, 145:8,13,17,20)
He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.
Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
(Psalms, 147:4-5,11)
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints.
(Psalms, 149:5-9)
Matthew Arnold (1822 – 88)
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
(Dover Beach, 1867)
John Newton (1725 – 1807)
Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come:
'tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease:
I shall possess, within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
the sun forbear to shine;
but God, who called me here below,
will be forever mine.
(Amazing Grace, 1779)
John Lederach (1955)
Maybe, he says, this
is as good as it will get.
Peaceful bigotry.
Don't ask the mountain
to move, just take a pebble
each time you visit.
Gods and men love maps
they draw borders with pens that
split lives like an ax.
(Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise, Corsair, 2016, pp 47-8)
Contents
Laurie Anderson
Mary Black
Jewel
Martina McBride
Monty Python
Kim Richey
Nina Simone
Talking Heads
Poetry and Song
Laurie Anderson (1947)
Home of the Brave (1986)
Talk Normal
I don't know about your dreams
But mine are sort of hackneyed.
Same thing, night after night.
Just … repetitive.
And the color is really bad -
And the themes are just infantile.
And you always get what you want -
And that's just not the way life is. …
I came home today
And both our cars were gone.
And there were all these new pink
Flamingoes arranged in star patterns
All over the lawn.
Then I went into the kitchen
And it looked like a tornado had hit.
And then I realized I was in the wrong …
House.
Mary Black (1955)
Babes in the Wood (1991)
The Dimming of the Day
This old house is falling down around my ears
I'm drowning in a river of my tears
When all my will is gone you hold me sway
I need you at the dimming of the day …
I see you on the street in company
Why don't you come and ease your mind with me
I'm living for the night we steal away
I need you at the dimming of the day
(Richard Thompson)
Collected (1984)
Hard Times
Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears
Oh hard times come again no more.
Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door
Oh hard times come again no more.
While we seek mirth and beauty and music bright and gay
There are frail forms fainting at the door
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more.
(Stephen Foster)
Without the Fanfare (1985)
Going Gone
There is a lighthouse in the harbor
Giving guidance with its light
But I had no one to return to
As I wander through life
From the first time that I saw you
Standing silent by the shore
I knew my search was over
And I would look for love no more
There is a ship on the horizon
Making its way against the wind
And from the place where I stand watching
I swear my ship is coming in
Deep in the waters of love I am falling
Sinking like a stone
Deep in my heart I can hear love calling
Going once, going twice, going gone
(Alger, Dale & Koller)
The Water is Wide
The water is wide, I can't cross over,
And neither have, I wings to fly.
Give me a boat that can carry two,
And I shall row — my love and I.
For love is gentle, and love is kind,
The sweetest flower when first it's new.
But love grows old, and waxes cold,
And fades away like morning dew.
(Traditional)
Martina Mcbride (1966)
Eleven (2011)
Long Distance Lullaby
One more hotel room
One more night away from you
One more phone call
To say I'll be home soon
I’m just so tired
Of all the distance in between
All I really need is you with me
I know its hard when I'm so far away
These words can only go so far to say
I miss your voice
I miss your smile
I wish I could give you
A kiss from a thousand miles
Sleep well, my love
Tonight when you close your eyes
Hear my long distance lullaby
Monty Python
Lumberjack Song
Oh, I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay,
I sleep all night and I work all day.
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch,
I go to the lava-try.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea.
I cut down trees, I skip and jump,
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women's clothing,
And hang around in bars.
I chop down trees, I wear high heels,
Suspenders and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa.
Kim Richey (1956)
Little Records 1 & 2
A Place Called Home
Someday I'll go where there ain't no rain or snow
Til then, I travel alone
And I make my bed with the stars above my head
And dream of a place called home
Talking Heads
Remain in Light (1980)
Listening Wind
Mojique sees his village from a nearby hill
Mojique thinks of days before Americans came
He sees the foreigners in growing numbers
He sees the foreigners in fancy houses
He thinks of days that he can still remember now
Mojique holds a package in his quivering hands
Mojique sends the package to the American man
Softly he glides along the streets and alleys
Up comes the wind that makes them run for cover
He feels the time is surely now or never more
Mojique buys equipment in the market place
Mojique plants devices in the free trade zone
He feels the wind is lifting up his people
He calls the wind to guide him on his mission
He knows his friend the wind is always standing by
Mojique smells the wind that comes from far away
Mojique waits for news in a quiet place
He feels the presence of the wind around him
He feels the power of the past behind him
He has the knowledge of the wind to guide him on
The wind in my heart
The dust in my head
The wind in my heart
(Come to) drive them away
Drive them away
Once in a Lifetime
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
You may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?" …
And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful house"
And you may tell yourself, "This is not my beautiful wife" …
Into the blue again, after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime …
No comments:
Post a Comment