John Lennon – Happy Christmas (War is Over)
Classic Lennon no further explanation needed.
Happy Christmas All.
Classic Lennon no further explanation needed.
Category: lyrics
Classic Lennon no further explanation needed.
Holidays Through John Lennon’s Eyes.
The year end holidays are supposed to be a time of joy and giving. No matter what happens through the year, no matter who you are, Christmas/New Year’s/Hanukkah etc.. always come around and we pause to acknowledge them. John Lennon’s “So This Is Christmas” is not the typical holiday song. Rather it is an observation of what millions of children around the world deal with to this day. Not much has changed since Lennon recorded this song. Yes, perhaps the children are in other third world countries today, but they are still hungry and lacking the basic necessities of life. I think John Lennon would have been dismayed to know that fact. Yet there are those who continue to work for bettering the lives of these children and to them I say thank you. Let us hope that the New Year will truly be one where change will be possible and children will have a chance to live better than they do now. For those suffering this holiday season, you are in my thoughts. For those who have something to share, there are many many ways of helping some of these children make it to another New Year, give to The Red Cross, The Children’s Charities of America, and/or any charity of your choosing.
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon
So this is Christmas
And what have you done?
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young.
A very Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear
And so this is Christmas For weak and for strong For rich and the poor ones The road is so long
And so Happy Christmas For black and for white For yellow and red ones Let's stop all the fight.
A very Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear
So this is Christmas And what have you done? Another year over And a new one just begun
And so Happy Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young.
A very Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear
War is over! If you want it War is over! War is over, Now!
Everybody Knows
Concrete Blonde – Everybody Knows
I named my blog Who Knew? almost exactly one year ago. I had no idea how aptly I had titled the blog and as a year passes it reinforces within me a certain innate ability to honestly say “I have no idea what the future holds.”
I am someone who lives in the day, which has it’s distinct positives i.e. I am very spontaneous and most of my travels have occurred very spur of the moment, and it’s devastating drawbacks. It is who I am however and I make no apologies or excuses, it is how I live.
Things tend to come full circle in life so this post features a song called Everybody Knows by a legendary performer Leonard Cohen.
Cohen rose to the opportunity this audience represented by releasing two consecutive albums, I’m Your Man (1988) and The Future (1992), that not only rank among the finest of his career, but that perfectly capture the texture of particularly complicated times. Cohen had long documented the high rate of casualties in the love wars, so the profound anxieties generated by the AIDS crisis were no news to him. Songs like “Ain’t No Cure for Love,” the wryly titled “I’m Your Man” and, most explicitly, “Everybody Knows” (“Everybody knows that the Plague is coming/Everybody knows that it’s moving fast/Everybody knows that the naked man and woman – just a shining artifact of the past”) depict Cohen surveying the contemporary erotic battleground and reporting on it with characteristic perspective, insight and wisdom.
I first heard the song in a movie called “Pump Up The Volume” in 1990 and it was performed by the band Concrete Blonde. Later I learned it’s origins and became a Leonard Cohen fan. It came at a time when everything was changing, I was going off to college and my senior year in high school was marked by a clinical depression which almost prevented me from going off to University. Thankfully I was able to get through it and I remember listening to this song on repeat in my car almost compulsively. I think it quite fits the brooding and scared teen I had become for the song is not very hopeful, and in many ways very true.
So here I am 17 years and half a lifetime later posting my first post-hiatus entry into this blog. Who Knew? the poem I wrote asks many questions. Everybody Knows offers many answers, some all too true and others can be debated. I know though that it evokes for me a great deal of truth, some fear and it does so in a very poetic fashion. Leonard Cohen wrote what he knew. I say who knows?
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you’ve been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you’ve been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
And everybody knows that it’s now or never
Everybody knows that it’s me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you’ve done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe’s still pickin’ cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows
And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it’s moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there’s gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows
And everybody knows that you’re in trouble
Everybody knows what you’ve been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it’s coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows
From the archives: If I knew the way I would take you home.
I was twelve years old when I saw the movie Mask and heard the lyrics to “Ripple.” The song is played in the background as Sonny (Cher) finds her son Rocky (Eric Stoltz) dead in his bedroom after suffering from a disease that disfigured him and caused him much physical and emotional pain. I was in hysterics as I watched the scene unfold, yet as Ripple softly played, the lyrics stayed with me, like a lullaby comforting and peaceful. This was my first time hearing the Grateful Dead and it was the beginning of a musically and lyrical love affair with Hunter and Garcia. The song is simple, poetic and has a message that even as a young child I related to. As an adult I would go on to see twenty two Grateful Dead shows around the country before Jerry Garcia died Aug. 9 1995. This song is still able to evoke those emotions and it is rare that I do not cry or tear up a bit when I hear it. The last line of the song has always been my favorite, a reminder that we all get lost sometimes.
Grateful Dead – Ripple
Ripple
Lyrics By: Robert Hunter
Music By: Jerry Garcia
If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music?
Would you hold it near, as it were your own?
It’s a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they’re better left unsung
I don’t know, don’t really care
Let there be songs to fill the air (note 1)
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of man
There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go, no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall, you fall alone
If you should stand, then who’s to guide you?
If I knew the way, I would take you home
(1) on the version on Reckoning, Jerry Garcia says “That’s Otis” at this point, referring to Bob Weir’s dog who had wandered onstage
For another look at Ripple please go to Play on,
