(from RD’s performing songbook, 2021)
(leadng the way…)
“There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief
There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief”
-“All Along the Watchtower”, Bob Dylan
“With no lovin’ in our souls and no money in our coats
You can’t say we’re satisfied”
-“Angie”, Rolling Stones
“August die she must
The autumn winds blow chilly and cold
September I’ll remember
A love once new has now grown old”
-“April Come She Will”, Simon and Garfunkle
“My riches can’t buy everything
I want to hear the children sing
All I hear is the sound
Of rain falling on the ground
I sit and watch as tears go by”
-“As Tears Go By”, Rolling Stones
“Never been lonely
Never been lied to
Never had to scuffle in fear
Nothing denied to
Born at the instant
The church bells chime
And the whole world listening
Born at the right time”
-“Born at the Right Time”, Paul Simon
“Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
Explode into space”
-“Born to Be Wild”, Steppenwolf
“Every morning I would see her waiting at the stop
Sometimes she’d shop and she would show me what she bought
All the people stared as if we were both quite insane
Someday my name and hers are going to be the same”
-“Bus Stop”, The Hollies
“In the chilly hours and minutes of uncertainty
I long to be in the warm hold of your lovin’ mind”
-“Catch the Wind”, Donovan
“But all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain’t heard the news
The conductor sings his song again
Passengers will please refrain
This train has got the disappearin’ railway blues”
-“City of New Orleans”, Steve Goodman/Arlo Guthrie
“And you read your Emily Dickinson and I my Robert Frost
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we’ve lost
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm
Couplets out of time
In syncopated time”
-“The Dangling Conversation”, Simon and Garfunkle
“It may be hard to discover
That you’ve been left for another
But don’t forget that love’s a game
And it can always come again”
-“Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Cryin’”, Gerry and the Pacemakers
“If I could build a wall around you
I could control the thing that you do
But I couldn’t kill the will within you
And it never shows the place where evil grows”
-“Evil Grows”, The Poppy Family
“And I opened my heart to the whole universe
And I found it was lovin’
And I saw the great blunders my teachers had made
Scientific delirium madness”
-“5 D (Fifth Dimension)”, The Byrds
“Your day breaks, your mind aches
You find that all her words of kindness linger on
When she no longer needs you”
-“For No One”, The Beatles
“Guess I’ll go out to Alberta
Weather’s good there in the fall
I’ve got some friends that I can go
To workin’ for”
-“Four Strong Winds”, Ian and Sylvia
“Son, I’ve made a life out of readin’ people’s faces
And knowin’ what their cards were
By the way they held their eyes”
-“The Gambler”, Kenny Rogers
“But it’s all right now
I learned my lesson well
You see you can’t please everyone
So you got to please yourself”
-“Garden Party”, Rick Nelson
“Greenfields are gone now parched by the sun
Gone from the valleys where rivers used to run”
-“Greenfields”, Brothers Four
“When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody’s help in any way”
-“Help!”, The Beatles
“You know my love goes with you
As your love stays with me
It’s just the way it changes
Like the shoreline and the sea”
-“Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye”, Leonard Cohen
“If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts would tell
Just like an old-time movie about a ghost from a wishing well”
-“If You Could Read My Mind”, Gordon Lightfoot
“Everybody seems to think I’m lazy
I don’t mind, I think they’re crazy
Runnin’ everywhere at such a speed
Till they find there’s no need”
-“I’m Only Sleeping”, The Beatles
“Go melt back into the night, babe
Everything inside is made of stone
There’s nothing in here moving
And anyway I’m not alone”
-“It Ain’t Me Babe”, Bob Dylan
“I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead
I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled
And I frowned at the crumbs of a crust of bread
I was crowned with a spike right through my head”
-“Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, Rolling Stones
“Tuesday afternoon is never-ending
Wednesday morning papers didn’t come
Thursday night your stockings needed mending:
See how they run”
-“Lady Madonna, The Beatles
“Don’t put your faith in love, my boy, my father said to me
I fear you’ll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree”
-“Lemon Tree”, Peter. Paul and Mary/Trini Lopez
“I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom: Let it be”
-“Let It Be”, The Beatles
“Don’t try to change me or rearrange me
To satisfy the selfishness in you
I’m not a piece of clay
To mold to your moves each day
And I’m not a pawn to be told how to move”
-“Let Me Be”, The Turtles
“The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire
Try now we can only lose
And our love become a funeral pyre”
-“Light My Fire”, The Doors
“Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand
Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man”
-“Lola”, The Kinks
“I told her that I was a flop with chicks
I’ve been disgraced since 1956”
-“Love Potion # 9”, The Searchers
“Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville
Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame
Now I think, hell, it could be my fault”
-“Margaritaville”, Jimmy Buffet
“Michelle, ma belle
Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble
Tres bien ensemble”
-“Michelle”, The Beatles
“And if I ever lose my mouth, or my teeth north and south
Yes if I ever lose my mouth, oh if……..I won’t have to talk”
-“Moonshadow”, Cat Stevens
“I woke up this morning I was feelin’ quite weird
Had flies in my beard, my toothpaste was smeared
Over my window they’d written my name
Said So long we’ll see you again”
-“Mr . Spaceman”, The Byrds
“My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreamin’”
-“Mr. Tambourine Man”/Bob Dylan
“We’ll meet on edges soon said I
Proud ‘neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then, I’ younger than that now”
-“My Back Pages”, The Byrds/Bob Dylan
“I caught a loaded taxi, paid up everybody’s tab
Flipped a 20 dollar bill, told him Catch that Yellow cab”
-“Nadine”, Chuck Berry
“Now I don’t mind choppin’ wood
And I don’t care if the money’s no good
Just take what you need and leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best”
-“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, Joan Baez/The Band
“No more will my green sea go, turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you”
-“Paint It Black”, Rolling Stones
“But when you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell you is brother you have to wait”
-“Revolution”, The Beatles
“There is no time to lose, I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams
And you will lose your mind
Ain’t life unkind?”
-“Ruby Tuesday”, Rolling Stones
“Friday morning at 9 o’clock she is far away
Waiting to keep the appointment she made
Meeting a man from the motor trade”
-“She’s Leaving Home”, The Beatles
“The smoke is rising in the shadows overhead
My glass is almost empty
I read again between the lines upon the page
The words of love you sent me”
-“Song for a Winter’s Night”, Gordon Lightfoot
“And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming
And the sign said The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls, and whispered in the sounds of silence”
-“The Sound of Silence”, Simon and Garfunkle
“Cool town, evening in the city
Dressin’ so fine and lookin’ so pretty
Cool cat lookin’ for a kitty
Gonna look in every corner of the city
Till I’m wheezin’ like a bus stop
Runnin’ up the stairs
Gonna meet you on the rooftop”
-“Summer in the City”, Lovin’ Spoonful
“My girlfriend’s run off with my car
And gone back to her ma and pa
Tellin’ tales of drunkenness and cruelty
Now I’m sitting here sipping at my ice cool beer
Lazin’ on a sunny afternoon”
-“Sunny Afternoon”, The Kinks
“Everybody’s hustlin’ just to have a little scene
When I say We’ll be cool, I think that you know what I mean”
-“Sunshine Superman”, Donovan
“And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she can trust you
‘Cause you’ve touched her perfect body
With your mind.”
-“Suzanne”, Leonard Cohen
“Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don’t criticize what you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand”
-“The Times They Are A-Changin’”, Bob Dylan
“A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing”
-“Turn, Turn, Turn”, The Byrds/Pete Seeger
“Too many mountains and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time”
-“Undun”, The Guess Who
…………………………….
In those golden days of top 40 music, there was a poetry, truth, and vision to many song lyrics of the day. Something listeners generally don’t get these days.