Curious song lyrics

[GT49er]

There's a fair few candidates out there! We could start with a bit of Uncle Leonard Cohen:

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those

And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

Yes, exactly. Or you could jump a generation or two and land on Frank Turner:

Come ye, come ye, to soulless corporate circus tops.
Come ye, come ye, to toilet circuit touring snobs.
Come ye, come ye, to bedrooms, bars and bunker squats.
The sound is ringing clear.

Actually, you should try singing that one - or talking it fast if you don't know the tune. It's a tongue-twister par excellence, or it is for me; I've had to rewrite that particular verse in order to add the song to my repertoire!
Going back to those one (or at least not very many) hit wonders of the 1980s, The Associates, they managed inexplicably to include sharks and still get to number 1.

Even a slight remark
Makes nonsense and turns to shark
Have I done something wrong?
What's wrong's the wrong that's always in wrong.

The last two lines are really a bit something too!
And finally, you can always rely on that old Master of Mayhem, Lord Robert of Dylan:

With a time-rusted compass blade
Aladdin and his lamp
Sits with Utopian hermit monks
Side saddle on the Golden Calf
And on their promises of paradise
You will not hear a laugh
All except inside the Gates of Eden.

Anybody got some spare....err....substances?

 

[GT49er]

Always loved Desmond Dekker's iconic 'Me ears are alight'.................

 

[KingKev]

Not curious but have some Half Man Hlaf Biscuit

She stayed with me until she moved to Notting Hill
She said it was the place she needs to be
Where the cocaine is fair trade, and frequently displayed
Is the Buena Vista Social Club CD

Always loved this....
Mention the Lord of the Rings just once more,
And I'll more than likely kill you.
"Moorecock, Moorecock, Michael Moorecock"
You fervently moan.
Is this a wok that you shove down my throat,
Or are you just pleased to see me?
Brian Moore's head looks uncannily like London Planetarium.
Chorus:
And all those people
Who you, romantically,
Like to still believe are alive,
Are dead!
So I'll wipe my snot
On the arm of your chair
As you put another Roger Dean poster on the wall.
God, I could murder a Cadbury's Flake,
Then I guess you wouldn't let me into heaven.
Or maybe you would 'cause their adverts promote oral sex!
Some Romani bint in a field with her paints,
Suggesting we faint at her beauty,
But she's got "Dickie Davies Eyes!"
Chorus x 2

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

Trust you are aware of the HMHB lyrics project

http://halfmanhalfbiscuit.uk/albums/

 

[pasty]

This thread reminded me I've never really understood the lyrics to The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke by Queen. Turns out it's all about a painting of the same name by Richard Dadd. Who'd-a-thought-it

He's a fairy feller
Ah ah the fairy folk have gathered
Round the new moon's shine
To see the feller crack a nut
At night's noon time
To swing his axe he swears
As he climbs he dares
To deliver the master stroke

Plow man wagoner will' and types
Politician with senatorial pipe
He's a dilly dally oh
Pedagogue squinting wears a frown
And a satyr peers under lady's gown
He's a dirty fellow
What a dirty laddie-oh

Tatterdemalion and the junketer
There's a thief and a dragonfly trumpeter
He's my hero ah
Fairy dandy tickling the fancy
Of his lady friend
The nymph in yellow (can we see the master stroke)
What a queer fellow

Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Soldier sailor tinker tailor plow boy
Waiting to hear the sound
And the arch magician presides
He is the leader

Oberon and Titania watched by a harridan
Mab is the queen and there's a good apothecary man
Come to say hello
Fairy dandy tickling the fancy
Of his lady friend
The nymph in yellow
What a queer fellow
The ostler stares with hands on his knees
Come on mister feller
Crack it open of you please


[YT]pGvEpqCZ11I[/YT]

 

[Tarpon]

This thread reminded me I've never really understood the lyrics to The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke by Queen. Turns out it's all about a painting of the same name by Richard Dadd. Who'd-a-thought-it

He's a fairy feller
Ah ah the fairy folk have gathered
Round the new moon's shine
To see the feller crack a nut
At night's noon time
To swing his axe he swears
As he climbs he dares
To deliver the master stroke

Plow man wagoner will' and types
Politician with senatorial pipe
He's a dilly dally oh
Pedagogue squinting wears a frown
And a satyr peers under lady's gown
He's a dirty fellow
What a dirty laddie-oh

Tatterdemalion and the junketer
There's a thief and a dragonfly trumpeter
He's my hero ah
Fairy dandy tickling the fancy
Of his lady friend
The nymph in yellow (can we see the master stroke)
What a queer fellow

Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Soldier sailor tinker tailor plow boy
Waiting to hear the sound
And the arch magician presides
He is the leader

Oberon and Titania watched by a harridan
Mab is the queen and there's a good apothecary man
Come to say hello
Fairy dandy tickling the fancy
Of his lady friend
The nymph in yellow
What a queer fellow
The ostler stares with hands on his knees
Come on mister feller
Crack it open of you please


[YT]pGvEpqCZ11I[/YT]

I have a print of that hanging in my front room. The story behind its creation may be of interest:

In the spring of 1843, he (Dadd) was diagnosed to be of unsound mind and was taken by his family to recuperate in the countryside village of Cobham, Kent. In August of that year, having become convinced that his father was the Devil in disguise, Dadd killed him with a knife and fled to France. En route to Paris, Dadd attempted to kill another tourist with a razor but was overpowered and arrested by police. Dadd confessed to killing his father and was returned to England, where he was committed to the criminal department of Bethlem psychiatric hospital (also known as Bedlam). Here and subsequently at the newly created Broadmoor Hospital, Dadd was cared for (and encouraged to continue painting) in an enlightened manner by Drs William Wood, William Orange and Sir W. Charles Hood. Dadd probably suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Two of his siblings were similarly afflicted, while a third had "a private attendant" for unknown reasons. In the hospital he was allowed to continue to paint, and it was here that many of his masterpieces were created, including his most celebrated painting, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, which he worked on between 1855 and 1864. Also dating from the 1850s are the 33 watercolour drawings titled Sketches to Illustrate the Passions, which include Grief or Sorrow, Love, and Jealousy, as well as Agony-Raving Madness and Murder. Like most of his works these are executed on a small scale and feature protagonists whose eyes are fixed in a peculiar, unfocused stare.

Also Dadd considered the painting unfinished as the bottom left corner was only sketched.