Redemption Song

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Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Wont 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 mind.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
‘cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it’s just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfil the book.
Won’t you help to sing
Theser songs of freedom?
‘cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs -
All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.

~ Bob Marley ~

—–     ——      ——

This has been a song I have listened to and enjoyed since my teenage, but now that I traveled in Haiti and Jamaica and listened to the stories of the Maroons it resonates very differently for me now.

Mother

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Mother do you think they’ll drop the bomb
Mother do you think they’ll like the song
Mother do you think they’ll try to break my balls
Ooooh aah, Mother should I build a wall
Mother should I run for president
Mother should I trust the government
Mother will they put me in the firing line
Ooooh aah, is it just a waste of time
Hush now baby, baby don’t you cry
Mama’s gonna make all of your
Nightmares come true
Mama’s gonna put all of her fears into you
Mama’s gonna keep you right here
Under her wing
she won’t let you fly but she might let you sing
Mama will keep baby cosy and warm
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
Of course Mama’s gonna help build the wall

Mother do think she’s good enough for me
Mother do think she’s dangerous to me
Mother will she tear your little boy apart
Oooh aah, mother will she break my heart
Hush now baby, baby don’t you cry
Mama’s gonna check out all your girl friends for you
Mama won’t let anyone dirty get through
Mama’s gonna wait up till you get in
Mama will always find out where
You’ve been
Mamma’s gonna keep baby healthy and clean
Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe Ooooh Babe
You’ll always be a baby to me
Mother, did it need to be so high.

~ Pink Floyd ~

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Mr. Tambourine Man

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle-jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,

Vanished from my hand,

Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.

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 dreaming.

Hey, Mr.Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle-jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,

My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,

My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels

To be wanderin'.

I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade

Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,

I promise to go under it.

Hey, Mr.Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle-jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Though you might hear laughin', spinnin', swingin' madly across the sun,

It's not aimed at anyone, it's just escapin' on the run

And but for the sky there are no fences facin'.

And if you hear vague traces of skippin' reels of rhyme

To your tambourine in time, it's just a ragged clown behind

I wouldn't pay it any mind, it's just a shadow you're

Seeing' that he's chasing

Hey, Mr.Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle-jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

Then take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind,

Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,

Out to the windy beach far from the twisted reach,

Of crazy sorrow, yes to dance beneath the diamond sky,

With one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea,

Circled by the circus sands, with all memory and fate,

Driven deep beneath the waves,

Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to.

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me,

In the jingle-jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

~ Bob Dylan ~

 

Here is a comment on this poem by someone who calls himself ‘Tom’ : 

“One time the great poet Robert Frost was asked if the poem, The Road Not Taken, 

was about an experience in the poet's life. He answered that a poem is never about 

an experience, it is an experience. If you succeed in determining exactly what Dylan 

meant in Mr. Tambourine Man, you will have succeeded in destroying it.”

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Night Vision

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By day give thanks, by night beware

Half the world in sweetness, the other in fear

When the darkness takes you, with her hand across your face

Don't give in too quickly, find the things she's erased

Find the line, find the shape through the grain

Find the outline and things will tell you their name

The table, the guitar, the empty glass

All will blend together when the daylight has passed

Find the line, find the shape through the grain

Find the outline and things will tell you their name

Now I watch you falling into sleep

Watch your fist uncurl against the sheet

Watch your lips fall open and your eyes dim

In blind faith

I would shelter you

And keep you in light

But I can only teach you

Night vision

Night vision

Night vision

~ Suzanne Vega ~

Love Minus Zero — No Limits

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My love she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence,
She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful,
Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire.

People carry roses,
Make promises by the hours,
My love she laughs like the flowers,
Valentines can’t buy her.

In the dime stores and bus stations,
People talk of sitations,
Read books, repeat quotations,
Draw conclusions on the wall.

Some speak of the future,
My love she speaks softly,
She knows there’s no success like failure,
And then failure is no success at all.

The cloak and dagger dangles,
Madams light the candles,
In ceremonies of the horsemen,
Even the pawn must hold a grudge.

Statues made of match sticks,
Crumble into one another,
My love winks, she does not bother,
She knows too much to argue or to judge.

The bridge at midnight trembles,
The country doctor rambles,
Bankers’ neices seek perfection,
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring.

The wind howls like a hammer,
The night blows cold and rainy,
My love she’s like some raven,
At my window with a broken wing.

==== ====
This was originally sung by Bob Dylan, but I consider the version sung by Joan Baez as the true masterpiece. Please listen to it if you haven’t.

Like all Bob Dylan verses, this one also has all these inexplicable references and impossible imageries. I am sure some very knowledgable person can tell me all the specifics they refer to, but in this case, I would like to keep myself “innocent”.

The poem works for me just as it is. Its as beautiful a love poem as can ever be and some of the lines are amazing; “She knows too much to argue or to judge”.

I also like its snide remarks about people like me — self-obsessed with our pursuit of causes and wisdom: read the third stanza!

Finally, there is a whole subterranean poiltics of love and romance which gets created here which I seem to find some bonding with.

Beautiful heartfelt imagery, creative wordplay, holding a mirror to oneself.. what more can one want in a love poem?