Gordon Lightfoot Forums

Gordon Lightfoot Forums (http://www.corfid.com/vbb//index.php)
-   Small Talk (http://www.corfid.com/vbb//forumdisplay.php?f=4)
-   -   ? ABOUT 2 SONGS. (http://www.corfid.com/vbb//showthread.php?t=16749)

Affair on Touhy Ave. 09-04-2005 06:48 PM

1st. just heard it last night for the first time Crusifiction by Jim and Jean don't know when it was recorded I figure mid or late 60s or at least that version though the DJ mentioned it was a Phill Oachs song originally. 2nd. an early 60s folk tune going back to 1962 or 63 called Stranger In Your Town. goes something like I'm a Stranger In Your Town repeated 2 or 3 times and can't remember any other lyrics to the song think the song only charts 90 something on the hot 100 Anyone by any chance know this one or the group who did it?

Auburn Annie 09-06-2005 04:09 PM

Artist: Gregory Isaacs (1982)
Album:
Title: Stranger In Town

Now I may not be familiar with your language
But I sure would like to cross over your bridge
Said I may not dress in style as the men in your town do
But I sure know what to say: I love you

I wanna love you in the morning
Love you in the evening too
Even when you're lonely
I'll make you happy when you're feeling blue

I'm just a stranger in your town
Once in a while I pop around

Now I may not be familiar with your language, oh no
But I sure I'm gonna cross over your bridge
Do I may not dress in style as the men in your town do
But I sure know what to say: I love you

I wanna love you in the morning
Love you in the evening too
Even if you're lonely
Make you happy when you're feeling blue

Do I'm just a stranger in your town
Once in a while I pop around

Let's be friends
Friends that never end
I'm just a stranger
So let's be friends
You see me around, yeah
'Cause I wanna love ya
Yes I wanna love ya, whoay
Just stranger in your town
I'll be around
'Cause I wanna love ya
#################################################

See http://www.richieunterberger.com/jim&jean.html for liner notes on Jim & Jeans "Changes/People World"
Lyrics for Phil Ochs' Crucifixion:

Crucifixion
By Phil Ochs


Em D
And the night comes again to the circle studded sky
G Bm
The stars settle slowly, in loneliness they lie
Am D G Em
'Till the universe expodes as a falling star is raised
Am D G Em
Planets are paralyzed, mountains are amazed
Am D G Em
But they all glow brighter from the briliance of the blaze
Am D Em
With the speed of insanity, then he dies.

In the green fields a turnin', a baby is born
His cries crease the wind and mingle with the morn
An assault upon the order, the changing of the guard
Chosen for a challenge that is hopelessly hard
And the only single sound is the sighing of the stars
But to the silence and distance they are sworn

Em C D
So dance dance dance
Em
Teach us to be true
C
Come dance dance dance
D Em
'Cause we love you

Images of innocence charge him go on
But the decadence of destiny is looking for a pawn
To a nightmare of knowledge he opens up the gate
And a blinding revelation is laid upon his plate
That beneath the greatest love is a hurricane of hate
And God help the critic of the dawn.

So he stands on the sea and shouts to the shore,
But the louder that he screams the longer he's ignored
For the wine of oblivion is drunk to the dregs
And the merchants of the masses almost have to be begged
'Till the giant is aware, someone's pulling at his leg,
And someone is tapping at the door.

To dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

Then his message gathers meaning and it spreads accross the land
The rewarding of his pain is the following of the man
But ignorance is everywhere and people have their way
Success is an enemy to the losers of the day
In the shadows of the churches, who knows what they pray
For blood is the language of the band.

The Spanish bulls are beaten; the crowd is soon beguiled,
The matador is beautiful, a symphony of style
Excitement is estatic, passion places bets
Gracefully he bows to ovations that he gets
But the hands that are applauding are slippery with sweat
And saliva is falling from their smiles

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

Then this overflow of life is crushed into a liar
The gentle soul is ripped apart and tossed into the fire.
First a smile of rejection at the nearness of the night
Truth becomes a tragedy limping from the light
All the (canons|heavens) are horrified, they stagger from the sight
As the cross is trembling with desire.

They say they can't believe it, it's a sacreligious shame
Now, who would want to hurt such a hero of the game?
But you know I predicted it; I knew he had to fall
How did it happen? I hope his suffering was small.
Tell me every detail, I've got to know it all,
And do you have a picture of the pain?

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

Time takes her toll and the memory fades
but his glory is broken, in the magic that he made.
Reality is ruined; it's the freeing from the fear
The drama is distorted, to what they want to hear
Swimming in their sorrow, in the twisting of a tear
As they wait for a new thrill parade.

The eyes of the rebel have been branded by the blind
To the safety of sterility, the threat has been refined
The child was created to the slaughterhouse he's led
So good to be alive when the eulogy is read
The climax of emotion, the worship of the dead
And the cycle of sacrifice unwinds.

So dance dance dance
Teach us to be true
Come dance dance dance
'Cause we love you

And the night comes again to the circle studded sky
The stars settle slowly, in loneliness they lie
'Till the universe expodes as a falling star is raised
Planets are paralyzed, mountains are amazed
But they all glow brighter from the briliance of the blaze
With the speed of insanity, then he died.


Notes:
Chords supplied by tonmaas@xs4all.nl (Ton Maas) and James Barnett.

This is one of Phil's two songs about the late John F. Kennedy (although in his intro on the There and Now - Live in Vancouver 1968 album he extended it to Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and to ``hero killing'' in general), the other song being That Was The President. Phil was also quoted (on 15-Dec-1965) as saying this about the song: "It's a song about Christ-killing, how all America and even, especially, New York loves to create heroes to moralize to them and then kill them violently, bloodily and dig the death so much, every detail of the death. It's a song about Jesus Christ. It's called The Crucifixion. It's a song about Kennedy. And maybe a song about Dylan." (In an interview a few months earlier, Phil expressed the belief that it would soon be too dangerous for Dylan to play out in public because he had become one of those heroes.)

Christian Bartolf says that this song ``has been translated into German language by Walter Mossmann: The "Gorleben-Song" became the hymn of the civil disobedience movement against plutonium industry beginning of the Eighties. There was an influence of non-violent resistance against nuclear industry: Wyhl (Germany) - Seabrook (New Hampshire) - Gorleben (Germany). Walter Mossmann started to sing his political folk songs in Wyhl (Germany) during the Seventies.

<jbt> 09-07-2005 02:32 PM

"crucifixion" has always been one of my favorite Phil songs. lyrically, i believe it is second to none.
the album version of "crucifixion" is different from Phil's live, acoustic renditions. it almost hurts to hear it and Phil wanted it that way. he felt that painful instrumentals did justice to the lyrics, but selfishly i prefer the live acoustic version.
an added note, Phil sang "crucifixion" a capella to robert kennedy while on a plane either to or from los angeles or new york, i can't remember. but it was written in phil's bio, "There But For Fortune: The Life of Phil Ochs" that robert kennedy cried at the conclusion of the song.
"crucifixion" is a very alliterative, poetic and beautiful song, yet horrifying and ugly by the truth behind its meaning


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:43 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.