• 180 Proof
    15.3k
    Here's a sensual song about, IMO, what Plato calls the "Form of the Good" (or ἀ–λήθεια) ... re: Sophia.


    "Ain't No Sunshine" (2:03)
    Just As I Am, 1971
    Bill Withers
  • Pinprick
    950


    The world is a ploy...
    The world is a ploy
    To train you and shame you
    A leash of employ
    The rake sweeps and servers, dry leaves are the weak
    A breakthrough could break you the day that you see

    Hanging by a thread to the miniature things
    Our loved ones are leaning on something they can't see

    If you want to take, if you want to give
    When you find a meaning, you'll find it short-lived
    The gifts and opportunities that come or go or stay
    The buttons there for you to push are only in the way

    Buttons so vivid, your soul could seem gray
    The world all around you entices you to play
    Come on! Come out!

    You have a choice to make
    The push button glows in wait...

    The more you believe, the less that you think
    The less that you think, the more that you speak
    The more that you speak, the less that you see
    The less that you see, the more you believe

    The world is a ploy, the world is a ploy
    A break-through will break you, a break-through will break you

    The less they are thinking, the more they believe
    My loved ones are leaning on something they can't see

    Come on! Come out!
    Come on! Come out!
  • 180 Proof
    15.3k
    :death: :flower:


    "Nobody Love Me But My Mother" (1:26)
    Indianola Mississippi Seeds, 1970
    B.B. King
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    There are shadows in "I love you"
    Not just love, not just that
    Traces of time that linger
    There's a contract in these words
    You say love has its language
    But words are useless to me
    If you need phrases to hold hostage
    Like a seal on a parchment...

    Then know that I
    Know that
    Know that I...

    There is death in "I love you"
    There is "I see only you"
    Die to the world, to its poems
    To read one's own rhymes only
    A dishonest stratagem
    These three words do not affirm
    There is a question in "I love you"
    That asks "do you love me too?"...

    Then know that I
    Know that
    Know that I...

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    JJ Goldman loooooves American music. This is a nice bouncy blue grass / blues on an interesting story.


    She had a baby all alone
    She made a baby on her own
    It was in those crazy years
    When dads were out of fashion
    Ooh, she made a baby on her own
    She chose the father scientifically
    For his genes, his astrological sign
    Ooh, she made a baby on her own
    And she runs all day long
    She runs from December to summer
    From nanny to babysitter
    From diapers to snack time
    And she smokes, smokes, smokes even at breakfast

    She unmakes her big bed by herself
    She lives like in those magazines
    Where money and men are facile
    Ooh, she makes her bed all by herself
    And she runs all day long
    She runs from December to summer
    The garage, the gym and the blues all alone
    And the girlfriends crying for hours on the phone
    She assumes, -sumes, -sumes her new femininity
    And she runs all day long
    She runs from December to summer
    From nanny to babysitter
    From the diapers to snack time
    And she smokes, smokes, smokes even at breakfast

    She calls me when she's blue
    When she can't sleep
    I take her to the movies, I give her hugs
    I make her laugh
    Am a bit like a big brother, a little incestuous when she wants
    And then, her kid is almost my kid
    Except he's got blue eyes
    She did make a baby on her own

  • Olivier5
    6.2k


    There's hate

    We've got more than just love to trade
    There's hatred too
    It must go out
    We must dump it somewhere
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    Here's a song I wrote about a transformative mystical awakening I had in my late 20s. Recording is rough but you get the spirit. Enjoy!




    Look down from the golden sky
    The earth is a miracle shining for the blind

    Look down on the end of time
    The earth is a flash of fire in the night

    Creature, wake up
    My brother, open your eyes
    My sister
    The sun wants you to rise
    And heal the world
    Stand up
    Grow up
    And heal the world

    You were born with a prisoner's eyes
    But you broke your chains now you wander with the sky
    One with the vision of the fire inside
    You carry through the darkness
    O how you know the darkness
    You've fallen into the abyss and the abyss made you a monster

    But your love was strong
    And you won the light
    And the sky cracked open
    And the angels cried

    Creature, wake up
    My brother, open your eyes
    My sister
    The sun wants you to rise
    And heal the world
    Stand up
    Grow up
    And heal the world

    World, world, world, world

    But your soul was strong
    And you faced the night
    It was in your love
    It was in your light
    Crying

    Creature, wake up
    My brother, open your eyes
    My sister
    The sun wants you to rise
    And heal the world


    Copyright 2021 :smile:
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    The Little Trade - Boris Vian

    I used to sell chickweed but it didn't work
    I sold ties, but people were broke
    I sold scissors and razor blades
    Corozo combs, files and choppers
    I tried strawberries, I dabbled in lilies
    I repaired chairs, fixed bidets
    I was pulling my cart over the wrong pavement
    I was about to lose my mind, but finally made it!

    I ride a Cadillac through the streets of Paris
    Now I understand life
    I've got a mansion, three servants and a driver
    And the cops greet me like one of them
    I sell cannons, short and long
    Big ones and small ones, in all sizes and prices
    There's always a buyer for these delicate instruments
    I'm a cannon dealer, come see me for your children!

    Cannons for sale!

    With your scrap metal we forge these devices
    That will make a mess of the neighbors
    It gives work to all the laborers
    And everyone plans to start a new home
    They make money, they make kids
    They get the insurance and the child benefits
    It doesn't matter because when they grow up
    They'll go out in a dizzy to die for a few francs!

    I used to sell cannons in the streets of the earth
    But my business was too successful
    I've made all the cemetery makers rich
    But now I'm travelling on foot
    All my good customers have died, singing
    And all alone I go without a care
    At the corner of old streets, the heart happy, the foot light
    I dance the Carmagnole, there's no one left on the pavement!

    Cannons on sale!

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Boris Vian - The Deserter

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    And now for a waltz, a rarity in pop music.


    Joe Jackson - Forty Years

    (On the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II)

    Here in Berlin
    People line up to get in
    To wait for the end
    Living in glorious sin
    They've looked around
    And now there is no looking back
    To when rivers ran red
    Now it's the sky that grows black
    Shadows are cast
    As two giants roam over the earth
    We light a match
    But what is that little flame worth


    Once allies danced and sang
    But it was forty years ago

    Here in D.C.
    They talk about 'Euro-disease'
    And how the French
    Are always so damn hard to please
    Motions are passed
    In Brussels but no one agrees
    And no one walks tall
    But no-one gets down on their knees

    Once allies laughed and drank
    But it was forty years ago

    Where I come from
    They don't like Americans much
    They think they're so loud
    So tasteless, and so out of touch
    Stiff upper lips
    Are curled into permanent sneers
    Self-satisfied
    Awaiting the next forty years

    Once allies cried and cheered
    But it was forty years ago


  • 180 Proof
    15.3k

    Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard (36:31), 1962

    A1. Spiritual 00:00
    A2. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise 13:45
    B1. Chasin' The Trane 20:23

    Soprano & Tenor Saxophones – John Coltrane
    Bass Clarinet – Eric Dolphy (tracks: A1)
    Piano (side one) – McCoy Tyner
    Bass (side one) – Reggie Workman
    Bass (side two) – Jimmy Garrison
    Drums – Elvin Jones

    Recorded at The Village Vanguard, NYC, November 2 and 3, 1961
  • Tobias
    1k


    David Bowie's translation of the best song every written about my home town. Well one of the best written songs ever if you ask my totally unbiassed ;) opinion. so here is the original too...



    And here is a version in Dutch from a local folk band:

  • Tobias
    1k


    Nice one 180 proof. I never listened to it from that angle, but indeed. It makes me think of an interesting quasi theological concept: parousia, an always present manifestation of the divine. Which I would explain immanently as the feeling of being in love or of longing for a certain someone. Our metaphysics is built on the experience of a concrete other.
  • 180 Proof
    15.3k
    Our metaphysics is built on the experience of a concrete other.Tobias
    :fire: Platonic love(?)

    Not surprised that you have divined my interpretation of Mr. Withers channeling 'Socrates' paean to Xanthippe / the daimon' (pace Plato). :up:
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Congratulations to @Tobias for the Brel song, and for making the first philosophical comment on this thread for a long time. Also for @180 Proof for prompting it, and for the Coltrane album. I didn't know of it; loved the B track -- aptly titled "Chasing the Trane" because (I guess) Elvin Jones keeps chasing Coltrane throughout. 2 geniuses sharing their musical ideas. Gorgeous.


    This one never gets old. It is here dedicated to the oh-so-perfect philosophers who perfectly concluded that all political systems are equally immoral, and that it's all just a matter of 'flag waiving'.

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    About the edges.



    Well they're still racing out at the trestles
    But that blood it never burned in her veins
    Now I hear she's got a house up in Fairview
    And a style she's trying to maintain
    Well if she wants to see me
    You can tell her that I'm easily found
    Tell her there's a spot out 'neath Abraham's bridge, and tell her
    There's a darkness on the edge of town
    There's a darkness on the edge of town

    Well everybody's got a secret, son
    Something that they just can't face
    Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it
    They carry it with them every step that they take
    'Til some day they just cut it loose
    Cut it loose or let it drag 'em down
    Where no one asks any questions
    Or looks too long in your face
    In the darkness on the edge of town
    In the darkness on the edge of town

    You know some folks are born into a good life
    And other folks get it anyway, anyhow
    Well now I lost my money and I lost my wife
    Them things don't seem to matter much to me now
    Tonight I'll be on that hill 'cause I can't stop
    I'll be on that hill with everything I got
    With our lives on the line where dreams are found and lost
    I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost
    For wanting things that can only be found
    In the darkness on the edge of town
    In the darkness on the edge of town
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Je ne peux plus dire je t'aime
    Ne me demande pas pourquoi
    Je ne ressens ni joie ni peine
    Quand tes yeux se posent sur moi
    Si la solitude te pèse
    Quand tu viens à passer par là
    Et qu'un ami t'a oubliée
    Tu peux toujours compter sur moi

    Je ne peux plus dire je t'aime
    Sans donner ma langue à couper
    Trop de serpents sous les caresses
    Trop d'amours à couteaux tirés
    Si dure que soit la solitude
    Elle te ramène à ton destin
    La loi du grand amour est rude
    Pour qui s'est trompé de chemin

    Je ne peux plus dire je t'aime
    Ne me demande pas pourquoi
    Toi et moi ne sommes plus les mêmes
    Pourquoi l'amour vient et s'en va?
    Si la solitude te pèse
    Quand le destin te mène ici
    Et qu'un ami t'a oubliée
    Tu peux toujours compter sur moi
    Et qu'une amie vienne à manquer
    Tu peux toujours compter sur moi


  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Childhood living
    Is easy to do
    The things you wanted
    I bought them for you
    Graceless lady
    You know who I am
    You know I can't let you
    Slide through my hands

    Wild horses
    Couldn't drag me away
    Wild, wild horses
    Couldn't drag me away

    I watched you suffer
    A dull aching pain
    Now you've decided
    To show me the same
    No sweeping exit
    Or offstage lines
    Could make me feel bitter
    Or treat you unkind

    Wild horses
    Couldn't drag me away
    Wild, wild horses
    Couldn't drag me away

    I know I've dreamed you
    A sin and a lie
    I have my freedom
    But I don't have much time
    Faith has been broken
    Tears must be cried
    Let's do some living
    After we die

    Wild horses
    Couldn't drag me away
    Wild, wild horses
    We'll ride them some day

  • 180 Proof
    15.3k
    Macca @80 :up:
    Send me a postcard,
    drop me a line
    Stating point of view
    Indicate precisely what you mean to say
    Yours sincerely,
    wasting away

    "When I'm Sixty-Four" (2:37)
    Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967
    writers Lennon-McCartney (1956)
    performers The Beatles
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Sometimes I don't know where this dirty road is taking me
    Sometimes i don't know the reason why
    So i guess i'll keep gamblin'
    Lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
    It's easier than just waitin' around to die

    Well one-time friends I had a Ma
    I even had a Pa
    He beat her with a belt once cause she cried
    She told him to take care of me
    She headed down to Tennessee
    It's easier than just a -waitin' around to die

    I came of age and found a girl
    In a Tuscaloosa bar
    She cleaned me out and she hit it on the sly
    Well i tried to kill the pain
    I bought some wine I hopped a train
    Seemed easier than just waitin' around to die

    Then a friend said he knew where
    Some easy money was
    We robbed a man and brother did we fly
    But the posse caught up with me
    Drug me back to muskogee
    Now it's two long years, waitin' around to die

    Now i'm out of prison
    I got me a friend at last
    He don't steal or cheat or drink or lie
    His name is codeine
    And he's the nicest thing i've seen
    And together we're gonna wait around to die

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    In my solitude you haunt me
    With reveries of days gone by
    In my solitude you taunt me
    With memories that never die

    I sit in my chair
    Filled with despair
    There's no one could be so sad
    With gloom everywhere
    I sit and I stare
    I know that I'll soon go mad

    In my solitude
    I'm praying
    Dear Lord above
    Send back my love

    I sit in my chair
    Filled with despair
    There's no one could be so sad
    With gloom everywhere
    I sit and I stare
    I know that I'll soon go mad

    In my solitude
    I'm praying
    Dear Lord above
    Send back my love

  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Dans son regard absent
    Et son iris absinthe
    Tandis que Marilou s'amuse à faire des vol-
    -utes de sèches au menthol
    Entre deux bulles de comic strip
    Tout en jouant avec le zip
    De ses Levi's
    Je lis le vice
    Et je pense à Carroll
    (Lewis)

    Dans son regard absent
    Et son iris absinthe
    Tandis que Marilou s'évertue à faire des vol-
    -utes de sèches au menthol
    Entre deux bulles de comic strip
    Tout en jouant avec son zip
    À entrebâiller ses Levi's
    Dans son regard absent
    Et son iris absinthe, dis je
    Je lis le vice
    De Baby Doll
    Et je pense à Lewis
    Carroll

    Dans son regard absent
    Et son iris absinthe
    Quand crachent les enceintes
    De la sono lançant
    Accords de quartes et de quintes,
    Tandis que Marilou s'esquinte
    La santé, s'éreinte
    À s'envoyer en l'air,
    Lorsqu'en un songe absurde
    Marilou se résorbe,
    Que son coma l'absorbe
    En pratiques obscures
    Sa pupille est absente,
    Et son iris, absinthe,
    Sous ses gestes se teinte
    D'extases sous jacentes

    À son regard le vice
    Donne un coté salace
    Un peu du bleu lavasse
    De sa paire de Levi's
    Tandis qu'elle exhale
    Un soupir au menthol
    Ma débile mentale
    Perdue dans son exil
    Physique et cérébral
    Joue avec le métal
    De son zip et l'atol
    De corail apparaît
    Elle s'y coca colle
    Un doigt qui en arrêt
    Au bord de la corolle
    Est pris près du calice
    Du vertige d'Alice
    De Lewis
    Carroll

    Lorsqu'en songes obscurs
    Marilou se résorbe
    Que son coma l'absorbe
    En des rêves absurdes
    Sa pupille s'absente,
    Et son iris absinthe
    Subrepticement se teinte
    De plaisir en attente
    Perdu dans son exil
    Physique et cérébral
    Un à un elle exhale
    Des soupirs fébriles
    Parfumés au menthol
    Ma débile mentale
    Fait teinter le métal
    De son zip
    Et, Narcisse,
    Elle pousse le vice
    Dans la nuit bleue lavasse
    De sa paire de Levi's
    Arrivée au pubis,
    De son sexe corail
    Écartant la corolle
    Prise au bord du calice
    De Vertigo, Alice
    S'enfonce jusqu'à l'os
    Au pays des malices
    De Lewis
    Carroll

    Pupilles absente,
    Iris absinthe,
    Baby Doll
    Écoute ses idoles:
    Jimi Hendrix, Elvis
    Presley, T-Rex, Alice
    Cooper, Lou Reed, Les Rol-
    -ling Stones elle en est folle
    Là d'ssus cette narcisse
    Se plonge avec délice
    Dans la nuit bleue pétrole
    De sa paire de Levi's
    Elle arrive au pubis
    Et très cool au menthol
    Elle se self-controle
    Son petit orifice
    Enfin poussant le vice
    Jusqu'au bord du calice
    D'un doigt sex-symbol
    S'écartant la corolle
    Sur fond de rock and roll
    S'égare mon Alice
    Aux pays des malices
    De Lewis
    Carroll

  • Tobias
    1k


    The English translation of the poetic German is rather pathetic...
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    This ain't the down, it's the upbeat, make it complete
    So what's the story, guaranteed accuracy, enhanced CD
    Latest technology, darts at treble twenty
    Huge non-recoupable advance, majors be vigilant
    I excel in both content and deliverance
    So let's put on our classics and we'll have a little dance, shall we?
    No sales pitch, no media hype
    No hydro, it's nice and ripe
    I speak in communications in bold type
    This ain't your archetypal street sound
    Scan for ultrasound
    North, South, East, West and all round
    And then to the Underground

    You say that everything sounds the same
    And then you go buy them
    There's no excuses, my friend
    Let's push things forward

    As we progress to the check point
    I wholeheartedly agree with your viewpoint
    But this ain't your typical garage joint
    I make points which hold significance
    That ain't a bag it's a shipment
    This ain't a track, it's a movement, I got the settlement
    My frequencies are transient and resonate your eardrums
    I make bangers not anthems, leave that to the Artful Dodger
    The broad shouldered fifty-one percent shareholder
    You won't find us on Alta Vista
    Cult classic not bestseller, you're gonna need more power
    Plug in the free phase and the generator, crank it up to gigawatts
    Critics, ready with your pot shots, the plot thickens
    Put on your mittens for these sub zero conditions
    But remember I'm just spitting, remember I'm just spitting
    Once bitten, forever smitten

    You say that everything sounds the same...

    Spit jewels like Eastern riches, junkie fixes
    Around here we say 'birds', not bitches
    As London Bridge burns down Brixton's burning up
    Turns out you're in luck, I knows this dodgy fuck in the Duck
    So it's just another show flick for your local city poet
    In case you geezers don't know it, let's push things forward
    It's a tall order but we're taller, calling all maulers
    Back street brawlers, corner shop crawlers, victory's flawless
    Love us or hates us but don't slate us
    Don't conform to formulas, pop genres and such
    Sharp darts, double dutch, parked cars troubles you much
    With more bud - let's - push - things - forward

    You say that everything sounds the same... Etc.


  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    Row, row, row your boat,
    Gently down the stream.
    Merrily, merrily, merrily,
    Life is but a dream!

    :fire:
  • Olivier5
    6.2k
    Quoi?
    De notre amour fou ne resterait que des cendres?
    Moi,
    J'aimerais que la terre s'arrête pour descendre
    Toi,
    Tu me dis que tu n'vaux pas la corde pour te pendre
    C'est à laisser ou à prendre

    Joie
    Et douleur c'est ce que l'amour engendre
    Sois
    Au moins conscient que mon coeur peut se fendre
    Soit
    Dit en passant j'ai beaucoup à apprendre
    Si j'ai bien su te comprendre

    Amour cruel
    Comme en duel
    Dos à dos et sans merci
    Tu as le choix des armes
    Ou celui des larmes
    Penses-y, penses-y
    Et conçois que c'est à la mort, à la vie

    Quoi?
    De notre amour feu ne resterait que des cendres?
    Moi,
    J'aimerais que la terre s'arrête pour descendre
    Toi,
    Tu préfères mourir que de te rendre
    Va donc savoir, va comprendre...

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