Music soothes even the savage beast

Yes, I listen to a lot of music. I have over a hundred CDs and they're probably by close to 40 different groups. And I listen to most of them. So my tastes are a little varied. I also like quotes from lyrics, some of which are pretty instructive about life. (Others are just plain amusing...)

So here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite bands and the occasional quote:


Jethro Tull

You were bred for humanity and sold to society. One day you'll wake up in the Present Day, a million generations removed from expectations of being who you really want to be.
--"Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day"
Well, do you ever get the feeling that the story's too damn real and in the present tense? Or that everybody's on the stage, and it seems like you're the only person sitting in the audience?
--"Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day"

The Eagles

You know I've always been a dreamer, spent my life running round, and it's so hard to change, can't seem to settle down
--"Take It To The Limit"
Hopeless romantics, here we go again...
--"New Kid In Town"
Now it seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table, but you only want the ones you can't get.
--"Desperado"
Take another shot of courage. Wonder why the right words never come. You just get numb.
--"Tequila Sunrise"
You don't care about winning but you don't want to lose, after the thrill is gone.
--"After The Thrill Is Gone"

The Grateful Dead

Sometimes you get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if you look at it right.
--"Scarlet Begonias"

Tom Petty

Even the losers get lucky sometimes. Even the losers keep a little bit of pride. They get lucky sometimes.
--"Even The Losers"

Steve Miller



Rage Against The Machine

The teacher stands in front of the class, but the lesson plan he can't recall. The student's eyes don't perceive the lies bouncing off every fucking wall. His composure is well kept. I guess he fears playing the fool. The complacent students sit and listen to some of that bullshit that he learned in school
--"Take The Power Back"
Yes, I know my enemies. They're the teachers who taught me to fight me. Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite. All of which are American dreams
--"Know Your Enemy"

Dave Mathews Band

I eat too much. I drink too much. I want too much. Too much.
--"Too Much"

Pink Floyd

Never seem to find the time. Plans that either come to naught, or half a page of scribbled lines. Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way. The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say.
--"Time"
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day, you fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
--"Time"
And if you're taking your girlfriend out tonight, you better park the car well out of sight, 'cause if they catch you in the back seat trying to pick her locks, they're gonna send you back to mother in a cardboard box
--"Run Like Hell"

Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel

When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all
--"Kodachrome"
Medicine is magical and magical is art
--"The Boy In The Bubble"
But all my words come back to me in shades of mediocrity
--"Homeward Bound"
My mind's distracted and confused, my thoughts are many miles away
--"Kathy's Song"
I don't know why I spend my time writing songs I can't believe with words that tear and strain to rhyme
--"Kathy's Song"

Jimmy Buffet

Read dozens of books about heroes and crooks and I learned much from both of their styles.
--"Son Of A Son Of A Sailor"

Altan


Bob Dylan

And every one of them words rang true and glowed like burnin' coal, pourin' off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you.
--"Tangled Up In Blue"
All the people we used to know, they're an illusion to me now.
--"Tangled Up In Blue"

Beastie Boys


The Moody Blues


Conehead Buddha

You've gotta have fun sometimes. You've gotta have some fun times.
--"Gotta Have Fun"

The McKrells


The Band


Dire Straits

She thinks she's tough. She ain't no English rose.
--"Portobello Belle"
Then came the churches, then came the schools, then came the lawyers, and then came the rules
--"Telegraph Road"

Alan Parsons Project

When I break down just a little and lose my head, nothing I try to do can work the same way. Where are all the friends who used to talk to me, all they ever told me was good news
--"Breakdown"
Think of a boy with the stars in his eyes, longing to reach them but frightened to try
--"Day After Day"
All that I seem to do is spend the night just talking 'bout you and your problems. No matter what I say I can't get it right.
--"Let's Talk About Me"
And if the road he's taken isn't leading anywhere, he seems to be completely unaware
--"Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)"
Abandoning reality, unsure of what he'll find, the traveller in me is close behind
--"Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)"
If I seem to be calm, well it's all an illusion. Tell me what to do when the fear of the night comes over me. There's a smile on my face just to hide the confusion.
--"The Same Old Sun"

Peter Gabriel

I get so lost, sometimes. Days pass and this emptiness fills my heart. When I want to run away, I drive off in my car.
--"In Your Eyes"

Bruce Springsteen

Yeah I know I ain't nobody's bargain, but hell a little touchup and a little paint...
--"Human Touch"
Baby in a world without pity, do you think what I'm asking's too much? I just want to feel you in my arms and share a little of that human touch.
--"Human Touch"
I sat listening to the hours and minutes tickin away. Yeah, just sittin' around waitin' for my life to begin while it was all just slippin' away.
--"Better Days"

Bob Seger

Then the lights go down and they dance real close and for one brief instant they pretend they're safe and warm. Then the beat gets louder and the mood is gone. They hold one another just a little too long. Then they move apart and then move on. On to the street, on to the next, safe in the knowledge that they tried. Faking the smile, hiding the pain, never satisfied.
--"The Fire Inside"
I stood proud, I stood tall, high above it all. I still believed in my dreams.
--"Like A Rock"
Deep in my soul, I've been so lonely. All of my hopes fading away. I've longed for love, like everyone else does. I know I'll keep searching, even after today.
--"We've Got Tonight"

Last Update: 23-Mar-98