30 years holding hands with NicK
Thank you https://youtu.be/12KbOAc8vmk

:fire:

... We're gettin' tired
of hangin' around
Waitin' around
with our heads to the ground
I hear a very gentle sound
Very near yet
very far
Very soft, yeah,
very clear
Come today, come today
What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and
ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives
in the side of the dawn
And tied her with fences
and dragged her down
I hear a very gentle sound
With your ear down
to the ground ... — James Douglas Morrison, 1967

:death: :flower:

Old pirates, yes, they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit

But my hands was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
'Cause none of them can stop the time

How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?
Uh, some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book

Won't you help to sing…


Bob Marley & The Wailers - Redemption Song


(beautiful video)

Here is the story of Layla and Majnun - an Arab pre-Islamic tale of love and solitude. Very contemplative music. I gather that it's an old poem that Souad Massi put in music. If anyone can try and translate the lyrics, that'd be great.


Sand drawings by Nadia Amlou

تَذَكَّرتُ لَيلى وَالسِنينَ الخَوالِيا
وَأَيّامَ لا نَخشى عَلى اللَهوِ ناهِيا
وَيَومٍ كَظِلِّ الرُمحِ قَصَّرتُ ظِلَّهُ
بِلَيلى فَلَهّاني وَما كُنتُ لاهِيا
بِثَمدينَ لاحَت نارُ لَيلى وَصُحبَتي
بِذاتِ الغَضى تُزجي المَطِيَّ النَواجِيا

فَيا لَيلَ كَم مِن حاجَةٍ لي مُهِمَّةٍ
إِذا جِئتُكُم بِاللَيلِ لَم أَدرِ ماهِيا

فَقالَ بَصيرُ القَومِ أَلمَحتُ كَوكَباً
بَدا في سَوادِ اللَيلِ فَرداً يَمانِيا
فَقُلتُ لَهُ بَل نارُ لَيلى تَوَقَّدَت
بِعَليا تَسامى ضَوءُها فَبَدا لِيا
فَلَيتَ رِكابَ القَومِ لَم تَقطَعِ الغَضى
وَلَيتَ الغَضى ماشى الرِكابَ لَيالِيا

فَيا لَيلَ كَم مِن حاجَةٍ لي مُهِمَّةٍ
إِذا جِئتُكُم بِاللَيلِ لَم أَدرِ ماهِيا

irie, mon :fire:

irie, mon :fire: — 180 Proof

Beg you pardon?

Edit:

irie
/ˈʌɪriː/
adjective
(chiefly in Jamaican English) nice, good, or pleasing (used as a general term of approval).
"the place is jumping with irie vibes"

June is on the run
For so long
Pushed and pulled then shunned
It was so wrong
These four walls crashing in
Won't stop me now
Cause I'm alive
I'm out tonight
All night

Everybody needs to know
It's the year of the rat
Everyday we've got to hold on
Cause if we hold on
We could find some new energy

Streets with flags unfurled
Like treasure
Thank me for my words
It's a pleasure
Just don't ask me to stay
Cause I'll be gone
But it's alright, I'm okay
Always

Everybody needs to know
It's the year of the rat
Everyday we've got to hold on
Cause if we hold on
We could find some new energy

One
Plus one is one
Together

Freedom

My teacher told me one day about something called freedom
I asked the teacher to kindly speak Arabic
Is freedom a Greek word for some historical epoch?
Or something we import... Is it a local product?
Our teacher answered with sadness and tears flowing forth:
You have forgotten all your history and all the lofty values
How I regret that this generation does not understand the meaning of freedom
Does hold neither sword nor pen; does carry nor thought nor identity

Never
Would Pharaoh dare to raise his head
If the people resisted and fought back

I learned of our teacher’s death in solitary confinement
I vowed that as long as God keeps me alive I will not rest
Until I roamed the whole earth in search for the meaning of freedom
And I stood at the niche of history to ask her what freedom is
[History said] You cannot beg freedom from the international monetary markets
Freedom cannot be granted by any charitable organization
Freedom is a plant that grows watered by free and pure blood
So that the youth, the girls and the boys will arise, who adore freedom (x3)

Never
Would Pharaoh dare to raise his head
If the people resisted and fought back

The people
The people
The people want freedom!

Some "deep"-ish (old sko0l) lyrics from an old post:

https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/comment/384134

What Are You Dreaming?
-- Abū al-Ṭayyib Aḥmad ibn Al-Ḥusayn Al-Mutanabbī Al-Kindī (ca.915 – 965 CE)

What is there to feel happy about?
I have neither family, country, friend, wine nor confidant
What can I hope from this time I am living in?
Can it give me what it cannot give itself?
Expect nothing from time, you are only its passenger
So long as your soul is imprisoned in your body
If it is a joyful time, the joy will not last
And if it is a time of misfortune, it too shall pass

How many times have they told you I was truly dead?
But as soon as I shook, the shrouds would disappear
No man can achieve all his hopes
As no wind blows according to the ship's desire

It is the tragedy of lovers, blinded in their infatuation
Ignorant of the fact that love is ephemeral
Their eyes and souls soon tire
Deceived by false appearances
Go! May the wary camels carry you far from me
There is no distance that can touch me now
I died at your lovely soirée
Which of your souls could replace the one I lost?

How many times have they told you I was truly dead?
But as soon as I shook, the shrouds would disappear
No man can achieve all his hopes
As no wind blows according to the ship's desire

Just try to understand this
You, whom I address from afar [Fortune?]
Nothing can escape its own limitations
Thanks to you, no neighbor can keep his honor
After feeding on your grass,
His animal's milk run dry
Whoever spends time with you will only reap fatigue
And receive nothing but hatred but jealousy from you

How many times have they told you I was truly dead?
But as soon as I shook, the shrouds would disappear
No man can achieve all his hopes
As no wind blows according to the ship's desire

A Woman's Purse

A woman's purse weighs like her whole life was inside it
Between a book she never finished reading and some makeup to stop the flow of time
There's her picture taken a year ago that she put aside because she didn't like it
But looking at it again now she realizes she was beautiful, though she didn't know it

A woman's purse recognizes her hands and only hers can get in
Hidden in a pocket there's an ad for a journey she's been wanting to go on forever
Millions of receipts, as useless analgesics for her pains
And for her stupid guilt for wanting to please

And if she could go back to those days
Of caresses in her hair
For only two minutes of it
She would pay one thousand years
Years spent to find again
The things that one managed to lose
The longing to smile, to forgive
The weakness to still be
Like the others want her to be

A woman's purse never matches what she's living
It hides her phone, jealous of who's calling her
Next to her keys, the same obsession to forget them again
And in that apparent mess, the fear of being lonely
A woman's purse can reveal her secrets instantly
And maybe her life has distractedly strayed into yours
You, who thought there was still room for another love
But in a woman's purse, there's no place for forgetting

And go where your heart brings you
Another cut in your driving license
You've been there a thousand times, but
You've never understood anything about it
Nothing there helps you understand
The meaning of a night that cannot enchant
The meaning of you recalling and making plans
Forgetting to live in the moment
Now that a wind rises that blows away the clouds
That takes away the winters
The dust, the doubts, the miracles
After having waited for a thousand years
Years spent to find again
The things that one managed to lose
The longing to smile, to forgive
The weakness to still be
Like others want you to be

A woman's purse weighs like my whole life was inside it

"... That old sayin them that's got are them that gets
Is somethin I can't see
If ya gotta have somethin
Before you can get somethin
How do ya get your first is still a mystery to me ..."

"Them That Got" - (2:47)
Ray Charles Greatest Hits, 1962
performed by Ray Charles
written by Ricci Harper

With this knife I cut the cake
Who will be my bride today
**Sweet Fanny Adams
Watch her climb the step ladder
A present from her step father
Sweet Fanny Adams
See her reaching out and stripping down the muslin drapes
A cover for her nakedness, a veil for her face
With curtains for your wedding dress
You must take your place amongst
The Proper Little Madams
And now because I love you
I must take my place too

Amongst the...

Murderers, The Hope of Women
Death in every new beginning
I must take this woman for my sentence of life
And she must take my knife

I will buy a ring of gold
And you will practice birth control
Sweet Fanny Adams
Like a puppet upon a throne
Of o estrogen and progesterone
Sweet Fanny Adams
This is where your misery starts
This is where your mystery stops
We'll rent a television
To replace Pandora's Box
And I will wear a business face
And you will learn your proper place
From those Proper Little Madams
And in my world of cut and thrust
I will learn that my place

My place must be with the...

Murderers, The Hope of Women
Death in every new beginning
I must take this woman for my sentence of life
And she must take my knife

In my pipe and slippers
Do I look like Jack The Ripper
Sweet Fanny Adams
But I poisoned you with every kiss
Smothered you with domestic bliss
Sweet Fanny Adams
Underneath the suntan from the sun lamp that we bought
Your face is paler than the pale face of a corpse
And from the seventh floor of our bungalow
You flung yourself down to where they stood below
Those Proper Little Madams
But in white hair, wrinkles and false teeth
I escaped detection by the police

One of the...

Murderers, The Hope of Women
Death in every new beginning
I must take this woman for my sentence of life
And she must take my knife


(**Fanny Adams was an eight year old girl brutally murdered in 1867 in Hampshire ,England. The expression “sweet Fanny Adams” refers to her and has come to mean “nothing at all” in British Naval slang.)

For what it's worth is the likely my favorite song for the past 16 years...

... I'm not sure if it's deep, but it does seem to articulate a Zeitgeist that's long overdue for a stage.





I want my money back
I'm down here drowning in your fat
You got me on my knees praying for everything you lack
I ain't afraid of you
I'm just a victim of your fear
You cower in your tower praying that I'll disappear
I got another plan, one that requires me to stand
On the stage or in the street, don't need no microphone or beat
And when you hear this song, if you ain't dead then sing along
Bang and strum to these here drums 'til you get where you belong

I got a list of demands, written on the palm of my hands
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand
We're living hand to mouth! You wanna be somebody?
See somebody? Try and free somebody?
I gotta list of demands written on the palm of my hands
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand
We're living hand to mouth!
Hand to mouth!


I wrote a song for you today while I was sitting in my room
I jumped up on my bed today and played it on a broom
I didn't think that it would be a song that you would hear
But when I played it in my head, I made you reappear
I wrote a video for it, and I acted out each part
And then I took your picture out and taped it to my heart
I've taped you to my heart, dear girl, I've taped you to my
Heart and if you pull away from me you'll tear my life apart

I got a list of demands, written on the palm of my hands
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand
We're living hand to mouth! You wanna be somebody?
See somebody? Try and free somebody?
I gotta list of demands written on the palm of my hands
I ball my fist and you're gonna know where I stand
We're living hand to mouth!
Hand to mouth!

Ecstasy, suffering
Echinacea, buffering
We aim to remember what we choose to forget
God's just a baby
And her diaper is wet

Call the police!
I'm strapped to the teeth, and liable to disregard your every belief
Call on the law!
I'm fixin' to draw a line between what is and seems and call up a brawl
Call'em now! Cause it's about to go pow!
I'm standing on the threshold of the ups and the downs
Call up a truce! Because I'm about to break loose
Protect ya neck, cause, son, I'm breaking out of my noose


** Saul Williams commented on his own lyrics by stating:

"I’m tired of the bullshit. I’m tired of the hustle and the make-believe hustle. I’m tired of buying into ideas that divorce me from my potential. I’m tired of having my potential explained in terms of money. I’m tired of the bullshit and if you feel the same way throw your computer against the wall.

Well, maybe not the wall (Prince, “adore” voice)." https://genius.com/1539217

:up: Did you happen to see my earlier Saul Williams posts? I think you basically can consider all of his songs as deep.

I fully agree with you about all of Saul's work.

I'm just never sure about my notion of what is actually 'deep'. In many ways I feel that my life is quite trivial, but oddly enough I find things that I think might be profound and deep, but do to my deeply trivial nature I'm never quite sure enough.

Then again... my user name 'Mayor of Simpleton' is not an accidental choice. ;)

Now that's deep, and deserves context.

I've gotten down to my last pair of shoes
Can't even win a nickel bet
Because, ah them that's got are them that gets
And I ain't got nothin' yet

I'm sneakin' in and out duckin' my landlord
All I seem to do is stay in debt
Because, ah them that's got (yeah) are them that gets
And I tell you all I ain't got nothin' yet

That old sayin' them that's got are them that gets
Is somethin' I can't see
If ya gotta have somethin' before you can get somethin'
How do ya get your first is still a mystery to me

I see folk with long cars and fine clothes
That's why they're called the smarter set
Because they manage to get
When only them that's got supposed to get
And I ain't got nothin' yet
Whoa, I tell you all
I ain't found nothing yet

That old sayin' them that's got are them that gets
Is somethin' I can't see
If ya gotta have somethin' before you can get somethin'
How do ya get your first is still a mystery to me

You know I just don't understand it
I can't seem to get a nickle or a dime for a cup of coffee
I need a hamburguer in fact a hot dog wouldn't be too bad
I would just be grateful if I could get my hands on most anything

Ray Charles

I'm just never sure about my notion of what is actually 'deep'. In many ways I feel that my life is quite trivial, but oddly enough I find things that I think might be profound and deep, but do to my deeply trivial nature I'm never quite sure enough. — Mayor of Simpleton

Allow me a piece of facile and utterly useless advice: what is deep to you is what is deep. It's doesn't need to be heavy and political, or protest oriented. It can be contemplative, it can be introspective, whatever rocks your boat.

At worst, this thread is a place to share songs we like.

At best, it's a useful reminder that popular music is more than just a business. Songs have lyrics. There is poetry in them, that can help open mental doors. This poetry is literally all around us, in the lyrics of our most beloved songs.

So keep it coming, trivial as it may be.

Thanks!

To tell the truth I could nearly post 'Safety Dance' by Men without Hats, but that would be me reading into the lyrics, as it's not really about what it is I'm reading into it. ;)

I posted one on the purse of a woman... Women's purses are deep, aren't they?

At the begining of the thread, posted Puff the Magic Dragon. I initially thought it was a joke, as the title doesn't evoke much depth to me. But I wasn't about to act as some Torquemada of Lyrical Depth, so I thanked him for the entry and left it there. Then the next day he explained (to my shame) that this song meant a lot to him, so evidently it was no joke at all. So there's that.

I posted one on the purse of a woman... Women's purses are deep, aren't they? — Olivier5

... and I posted one on the Murders, of the Hope of Women.

Perhaps I can post this one as a balance...
... she has a good philosophy I can fully endorse (at times).

hmm hmm... Her clivage is pretty deep alright.

Let me refocus... St James Brown, pray for our souls.

:clap:

The way he delivers this. The flow, the tone... kills me.

... and I posted one on the Murders, of the Hope of Women. — Mayor of Simpleton

And I liked it a lot.

My exact state of mind at the moment, captured by this oh-so-trivial song:

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily
Oh joyfully, playfully watching me
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible
Logical, oh responsible, practical
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable
Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical

There are times when all the world's asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man
Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am

I said, watch what you say or they'll be calling you a radical
Liberal, oh fanatical, criminal
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're acceptable
Respectable, oh presentable, a vegetable!
Oh, take it take it yeah

But at night, when all the world's asleep
The questions run so deep
For such a simple man
Won't you please tell me what we've learned
I know it sounds absurd
Please tell me who I am, who I am, who I am, who I am
'Cause I was feeling so logical
D-d-digital
One, two, three, five
Oh, oh, oh, oh
It's getting unbelievable

The obvious choice for anyone that’s aware of it...



Here’s why.



Black then white are all I see in my infancy
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me
Lets me see

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
Drawn beyond the lines of reason
Push the envelope, watch it bend

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines

Black then white are all I see in my infancy
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me
Lets me see
There is so much more
And beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities

As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
Drawn outside the lines of reason
Push the envelope, watch it bend

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind
Withering my intuition leaving opportunities behind

Feed my will to feel this moment
Urging me to cross the line
Reaching out to embrace the random
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come

I embrace my desire to
I embrace my desire to
Feel the rhythm, to feel connected
Enough to step aside and weep like a widow
To feel inspired
To fathom the power
To witness the beauty
To bathe in the fountain
To swing on the spiral
To swing on the spiral to

Swing on the spiral
Of our divinity
And still be a human

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
Between the sounds and open wide to suck it in
I feel it move across my skin
I'm reaching up and reaching out
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me
What ever will bewilder me
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been

Spiral out, keep going
Spiral out, keep going
Spiral out, keep going
Spiral out, keep going

Music I played to death as a youth... that pissed off my sister and she'd leave me alone. At the time that made it work for me twice as well as hoped. ;)

From the band who gave me my user name...




The last balloon is leaving
The last balloon from fear
The last balloon is leaving
Form that line right here

Climb aboard, climb aboard, you menfolk
You won't need any bombs or knives
Climb aboard, climb aboard, you menfolk
Leave all that to your former lives
Drop it all

The last balloon is leaving
The last balloon of all
The last balloon is leaving
Undress, discard, let fall

Climb aboard, climb aboard, you women
You won't need any gems or furs
Climb aboard, climb aboard, you women
Leave all that to the bad old years
Drop it all

The last balloon is leaving
The last balloon, they'll fly
The last balloon is leaving
And we won't qualify

Climb aboard, climb aboard, you children
Move aloft while your fleet and fast
Climb aboard, climb aboard, you children
We're weighed down by our evil past

Drop us all, you should drop us all
Drop us all and free your hand
Drop us all, you should drop us all
Drop us all like so much sand