Sharing Music Lyrics that I Like (Part 1)
by Robert Hackman
Photograph by Sterling Lanier on Unsplash
I got lyrics to go Everybody
(I got lyrics to go) Ah c’mon now
I got lyrics to go Ah, check it out y’all
(I got lyrics to go) It’s like that now
Lyrics from the song ‘Lyrics to Go’
By A Tribe Called Quest
It’s August, and time to shift my articles to something fun. Last year I did three posts about the fun of cover songs, which I have begun reposting on LI, FB, and X again this year.
This year I am publishing some song lyrics I like. Some of them are grouped together by theme or artist, and mostly they are random. I ran out of time.
As with the cover songs, way more lyrics and artists were left on the ‘cutting room floor.’
Some of them are for fun. Others are more meaningful. You will find, in most cases, there are many other great lyrics throughout the songs.
Sometimes the definitive versions are performed by other artists. I have included those performed by the original artists here.
There are so many elements that go into each song – the arrangement, the time signature, the tempo, the pitch, the arrangement, the mixing, the production, the vocals, the melody, and the vocals.
Yet when the music and lyrics combine and interplay with one another, they produce something that transcends either of them by themselves.
A big believer in music’s ability to touch the heart and evoke memories and associations, they help make a moment. Music, like movies, books, poetry, and other forms of artistic expression, touches us in ways that defy explanation.
Songs are a good metaphor for leadership. There are so many ways to interpret similar themes. The most vital aspect of both is that they genuinely come from the heart in an effort to influence others to generate positive impact.
As with leaders and followers, music creates meaningful connections between the artists and the listener, amongst those listening, and between the individual listening and themselves. It creates the soundtrack of our lives.
I do not want this to be one way. I encourage you to post your favorite lyrics in the comments or send them to me directly.
I hope you find this fun. Thanks for playing with me.
Hamlet Meets John Doe
I’ve got nothing to say
And twelve ways to say it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqQhGe9Wgns
Written by: Jimmer Podrasky
Performed by: The Rave-ups
Check the Rhyme
Okay, if knowledge is the key then just show me the lock
Got the scrawny legs, but I move just like Lou Brock
With speed, I’m agile plus I’m worth your while
One hundred percent intelligent black child
My optic presentation sizzles the retina
How far must I go to gain respect? Um
Well, it’s kind of simple, just remain your own
Or you’ll be crazy sad and alone
Written by: Malik Izaak Taylor, Leon Ware, Ali Shaheed Muhammed, Richard Rudolph, Minnie Riperton, Roger Ball, Kamal Ibn John Fareed, Owen Onnie Mc Intyre
Performed by: A Tribe Called Quest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQT2DfzpCLA
Southern Cross
And we never failed to fail
It was the easiest thing to do
Written by: Richard Lee Curtis, Michael Curtis, Stephen A. Stills
Performed by: Crosby, Stills, Nash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cBsnopTVmo
Some favorites from Jackson Browne
The Long Way Around
I’m a long way gone
Down this wild road I’m on
It’s going to take me where I’m bound
But it’s the long way around
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2GMr1GtzNo
Late for the Sky
Now, for me some words come easy
But I know that they don’t mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
You never knew what I loved in you
I don’t know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3SJz9jujEA
A Song for Adam
Though Adam was a friend of mine, I did not know him well
He was alone into his distance, he was deep into his well
I could guess what he was laughing at, but I couldn’t really tell
Now the story’s told that Adam jumped, but I’ve been thinking that he fell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSmKhW2jUEM
Written and Performed by: Jackson Browne
Songs About Cities:
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
Now I know
“Spanish Harlem” are not just pretty words to say
I thought I knew
But now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City
Subway’s no way for a good man to go down
Rich man can ride and the hobo, he can drown
And I thank the Lord for the people I have found
I thank the Lord for the people I have found
Written by: Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Performed by: Elton John
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tRgYfQ48A0
Open Letter (To a Landlord)
This is my neighborhood
This is where I come from
I call this place my home
You call this place a slum
You want to run all the people out
This what you’re all about
Treat poor people just like trash
Turn around and make big cash
Written by: Tracie Morris, Vernon Alphonsus Reid
Performed by: Living Colour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEeyR6F-RCI
Living for the City
I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow
And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow
This place is cruel, nowhere could be much colder
If we don’t change, the world will soon be over
Living just enough, stop giving just enough for the city
Written and Performed by: Stevie Wonder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc0XEw4m-3w
Ill With Want
I am sick with wanting
And it’s evil how it’s got me
And everyday is worse than the one before
The more I have the more I think
I’m almost where I need to be
If only I could get a little more
Written by: Robert William Crawford, Scott Yancey Avett, Timothy Seth Avett
Performed by: The Avett Brothers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWoNCxq7bGA
Who’s Gonna’ Ride Your Wild Horses
You’re dangerous, ‘cos you’re honest.
You’re dangerous, you don’t know what you want.
Well you left my heart empty as a vacant lot
For any spirit to haunt.
You’re an accident waiting to happen
You’re a piece of glass left there on a beach.
Well you tell me things
I know you’re not supposed to
Then you leave me just out of reach.
Written by: Paul David Hewson, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Dave Evans
Performed by: U2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw2N3tjGIP0
Bad
I’m wide awake, I’m wide awake, wide awake
I’m not sleeping
Written by: Paul David Hewson, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Dave Evans
Performed by U2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEBOLXLODbM
Songs About Towns:
Our Town
And you know the sun’s settin’ fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
‘Cause your heart’s bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.
Written and Performed by: Iris Dement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiSX9PNRyyc
I Am a Town
My porches sag and lean
With old back men and children
My sleep is filled with dreams
I never can fulfill them
I am a town
Written and Performed by: Mary Chapin Carpenter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBy1EpCQeEE
Something Small
It’s a small town. It doesn’t ask for much
Broken down and always building back up
Written and Performed by: Joan Shelley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpCBShBfb5k
Songs by John Prine:
Angel From Montgomery
How the hell can a person
Go to work in the morning
Then come home in the evening
And have nothing to say?
Hello In There
You know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder every day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say
“Hello in there, hello”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKoYHFVBpEA
Ain’t Hurtin Nobody
Perfectly crafted popular hit songs
Never use the wrong rhyme
You’d think that waitress
Could get my order right the first time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgngl4aVe9g
Songs by Elvis Costello
Less Than Zero
He said he’d heard about a couple in the USA
He said they’d traded their baby for a Chevrolet
Let’s talk about the future now that we’ve put the past away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJygTz0gB6g
(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
Oh, I said, “I’m so happy I could die.”
She said, “Drop dead,” then left with another guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS8oaMFsBEk
Planet Claire
Some say she’s from Mars
Or one of the seven stars
That shine after 3:30 in the morning
Well, she isn’t!
Written by: Henry Nicola Mancini, Frederick William Iii Schneider, Cynthia Leigh Wilson, Ricky Helton Wilson, Catherine Elizabeth Pierson, J. Keith Strickland
Performed by: The B-52’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaXtqSmUlxA
Dance Little Sister
Get up ‘outta’ your rockin’ chair, grandma!
Or rather, would you care to dance, grandmother?
Written and Performed by: Terence Trent D’arby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tngAfpI5jrM
Change
Don’t you go
Don’t you go and change for me
Don’t you go and change for me
Change for me
Written by: Kelsey Joy Kopecky, David Daniel Krohn, Corey Marion Oxendine, William Mark Jr Midkiff
Performed by: Kopecky Family Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSHDct0Flsk
Driven to Tears
Seems that when some innocent die
All we can offer them is a page in some magazine
Too many cameras and not enough food
This is what we’ve seen
Written by: Gordon Matthew Sumner
Performed by: The Police
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPkChi1ckq0
A Change is Gonna Come
There been times that I thought
I couldn’t last for long
But now, I think I’m able
To carry on
It’s been a long
A long time coming, but I know
A change gon’ come
Oh yes, it will
Written and Performed by: Sam Cooke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPr3yvkHYsE
Whose Making Love
Who’s making love to your old lady
While you were out making love
Written by: Homer Banks, Raymond E. Jackson, Bettye Jean Barnes Crutcher, Donald Davis
Performed by: Johnnie Taylor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jO3TfsTxcI
Mama Tried
And I turned twenty-one in prison doin’ life without parole
No one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied
That leaves only me to blame ’cause Mama tried
Written by: Merle Haggard
Performed by: Merle Haggard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppEfGIGVteo
The Wheel
The wheel is turning, and you can’t slow down
You can’t let go and you can’t hold on
You can’t go back and you can’t stand still
If the thunder don’t get you, then the lightning will
Written by: Robert C. Hunter, Jerome J. Garcia, William Kreutzmann
Performed by: Jerry Garcia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYGatU18PMQ
Songs from Pink Floyd:
Wish You Were Here
How I wish, how I wish you were here
We’re just two lost souls
Swimming in a fishbowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here
Written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdNnw99-Ic
On the Turning Away
Don’t accept that what’s happening
Is just a case of others’ suffering
Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
The turning away
Written by: David Gilmour and Anthony Moore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojf18wT_Xtk
Time
Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
And you are young, and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun
Written by: Donald Dennis, Melbourne George Miller, Ingo Rheinbay, Paul Ellingston Crosdale, Raymond Wright, Mitchum Khan Ivanhoe Chin
Performed by: Pink Floyd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl-Ms_ek-kE
Everyone Deserves Music
We all vain, we all strange
We all drained, we all love to just complain
But nobody wants to seem to get along, ya see
We got shame, we got pain
We got blame, we all a little bit insane
So that’s why I sing this song ya know because
Everyone deserves music, sweet music
Everyone deserves music, sweet music
Even our worst enemies Lord, they deserve music, music
Written by: Michael Franti, David Shul, Carl Rogers Young
Performed by: Michael Franti and Spearhead
Wake Up Little Susie
We’ve both been sound asleep
Wake up, little Susie and weep
The movie’s over, it’s four o’clock
And we’re in trouble deep
Written by: Boudleaux Bryant, Felice Bryant
Performed by; The Everly Brothers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LojqhHnmyvc
Pacing the Cage
Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can’t see what’s round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Written and Performed by Bruce Cockburn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqfWoLIwJsk
Rockin’ In the Free World
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand
Written by: Neil Young, Frank Sampedro
Performed by: Neil Young
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvxxdZpMFHg
Good Intentions
And if I could forgive
The honey-I-swear-it-didn’t-mean-a-thing-to-me
Attempt at abstention
I could forgive the rest too
It’s just a fact of life
That no one cares to mention
She wasn’t good
But she had good intentions
Written and Performed by Lyle Lovett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9qYFGpIc_E
It All Comes True
And it all comes true, yes, it all comes true
Like a wheel inside a wheel, it turns on you
And you think, “What have I done? What can I do?”
What you believe about yourself
It all comes true
Written by: John Mellencamp, George Michael Green
Performed by: John Mellencamp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFKkw0BZLRI
Another Life Goes By
Where does hate come from
And how can we make it stop
We got to make some changes
Before somebody else gets shot
We need to pay attention to the helpless cries
We need to stop the madness
Before another life goes by
Written by: Tom Hambridge, Christone Ingram
Performed by: Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram and Big K.I.R.T. Release
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE8kC7drT_E
Hoping Machine
Whatever you do, wherever you go
Don’t lose your grip on life and that means
Don’t let any earthy calamity knock your dreamer and your hoping machine
Out of Order
Words by: Woodie Guthrie and Music by: Jay Farrar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OG6argvHKA
What’s Good
What’s good? (Life’s good)
Life’s good (Life’s good)
What’s good? (Life’s good)
But not fair at all
Written and Performed by: Lou Reed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVRtMsEp-CM
Please reach out to me to share your favorite lyrics and to discuss developing your leadership words to benefit yourself, your team, and your company. I welcome the conversation.
Robert Hackman, Principal, 4C Consulting – Courageously Curious Consulting and Coaching, helps people live and lead with fewer regrets. He grows and develops leaders through executive coaching, strategy consulting, facilitation, and training of individuals, teams, and organizations. He is committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He facilitates trusting environments that promote uncommonly candid conversations. Rob is also passionate about the power of Everyday Legacies and developing Legacy Mindsets. He has conducted over 50 Legacy interviews with people to date.
A serious man with a dry sense of humor who loves absurdity. Rob can often be found hiking rocky elevations or making music playlists. His varied mixes, including Pandemic Playlists and Music About Men, can be found on Spotify.
Bravely bring your curiosity to a conversation with Rob, schedule via voice or text @ 484.800.2203 or rhackman@4cconsulting.net.