Music / Songs

Regenerative Culture Music, Art & Creativity
#21

Suicidal Tendencies sang it. Sorry, I ignored the , by format. :stuck_out_tongue:

#22

“Tragic Kingdom” by No Doubt

Once was a magical place
Over time it was lost
Price increased the cost…
Now the fortune of the kingdom
Is locked up in its dungeon vaults

The castle floor lies in traps
With coiled wires set back
Decoyed by old cheese…
Now the drawbridge has been lifted
As the millions
They drop to their knees

They pay homage to a king
Whose dreams are burried
In their minds
His tears are frozen stiff
Icicles drip from his eyes

The cold wind blows as it snows
On those who fight to get in
On heads that are small
Disillusioned as they enter
They’re unaware what’s
Behind castle walls

But now it’s written in stone
The king has been overthrown
By jesterly fools
And the power of the people
Shall come to believe they do rule

They pay homage to a king
Whose dreams are buried
In their minds
His tears are frozen stiff
Icicles drip from his eyes

Welcome to the tragic kingdom
Cornfields of popcorn
Have yet to spring open

Have they lost their heads
Or are they just all blind mice
We’ve heard all their stories
One too many times…
Hypnotized by fireflies
That glow in the dark
Midgets that disguise themselves
As tiny little dwarves
The parade that’s electrical
It serves no real purpose
Just takes up a lot of juice
Just to impress us (I always loved that part :D)

They pay homage to a king
Whose dreams are burried
In their minds
His tears are frozen stiff
Icicles drip from his eyes

Ohh, they drip from his eyes
Into the night
They drip from his eyes

Welcome to the tragic kingdom
Cornfields of popcorn
Have yet to spring open

Welcome to the tragic kingdom (faster)
Welcome to the tragic kingdom (faster)
Welcome to the tragic kingdom (faster)
Welcome to the tragic kingdom (faster)
Welcome to the tragic kingdom (faster)
Welcome to the tragic kingdom (faster)
Welcome to the tragic kingdom (faster)
Welcome to the tragic kingdom (faster)

#23

PS - some of those lyrics don’t seem to make sense if you try to put them all in a rewilding context. The song’s true subject concerns Disneyland. (Hence the midgets/dwarves, etc.)

Magic Kingdom <–> Tragic Kingdom. Get it? :slight_smile:

#24

Feather Pluckin’ by Presidents Of The USA

But that’s totally
But that’s totally
Billions of birdies squawkin’ outloud
Talkin’ in code to clams in the clouds
They send a secret message and send it by worm
So vibratin’ spiders will receive the word

But that’s totally feather pluckn insane
Ten million monkeys all pick up guitars
But nobody taught them how
Five thousand fishies rockin’ really really really hard
Nobody taught them how
Check out chickey drivin’ piggy’s little blue car
Nobody taught him how

Well flies like to fly ‘cause they don’t like to stay
Buzzin’ in the ears of the chicken all day
Chicken understand and he peck out the code
Send a subsonic signal through the snot in
The middle of an elephant’s long wet cold grey nose

But that’s totally feather pluckn insane
Ten million monkeys all pick up guitars
Nobody taught them how
Five thousand froggies rockin’ really really really hard
Nobody taught them how
Check out chickey drivin’ piggy’s little blue car
Nobody taught him how

Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah
Oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah

Everybody supernova
Everybody supernova
Everybody supernova
Everybody supernova

#25

Black Bear, by Black Bear

In the woods and the mountains
is a good place to begin
a song about the black bear
living in his black bear den
doing all the black bear things
a black bear just might do
I hope in my next lifetime I can be a black bear too

And here comes black bear now,
crashing through the brush.
Unfazed by thorns and branches
that would hurt me to the touch.
In pursuit of some small animal
the food chain is the truth
The bear has the advantage of
the massive claw and tooth
But he’ll also stop for berries, or honey from the bees
or nuts that he can shake down
from the canopy of trees

And afterwards he’ll have his choice
from any stream to drink
while I fill up another cup at my old kitchen sink
And if he wants he’ll have a nap
and dream his black bear dreams
that I could only dream of like I dream to drink from streams
And as he sleeps he hears a breeze
and knows that he is safe
while I sleep with my fan on to drown out my lack of faith

The simplicity of solitude
is a hard thing to perfect
Stealing happiness from loneliness is not a simple theft.
But the black bear has it figured out
and gets what he deserves
and the fur that he is wearing is the fur that he prefers.

When he stares across the river,
Into my eyes, it makes me shiver
and I know that it was lovely
to have a black bear thinking of me.

And when he thinks, he is thoughtful
and when he rests, he is restful
and when he runs, he runs the fastest
spins the earth right on its axis

And that’s his gift to all
showing us the sun
keeping time for everyone
a steady beating drum
On all the dirt he bounds upon
he’d leave his heavy track
that’s deep when he is young & blue, but deepest when he’s black.

Cuz color for the black bear
is a synonym for age
If I were one then I’d be in my cinnnamon phase.
Instead I am at 22, and the decades weigh a ton
this new century’s essentially
a bullet from a gun
It takes coffeepots that cost a lot
just to stay abreast
but the coffee hits my sense of loss
and makes a nervous wreck.

The simplicity of solitude is a hard thing to perfect
stealing happiness from loneliness
is not a simple theft.
But the black bear has it figured out
and gets what he deserves
and the fur that he is wearing is the fur that he prefers.

And when he stares across the river
into my eyes, it made me shiver
and I knew that it was lovely
to have a black bear thinking of me. . .

#26

Ohhhh, I LOVE that Presidents of the USA song. Why did I throw out that album???

Here’s one from an album I won’t throw out any time soon:

Belle & Sebastian
“Fox in the Snow”

Fox in the snow, where do you go
To find something you could eat?
Cause the word out on the street
is you are starving…
Don’t let yourself go hungry now
Don’t let yourself grow cold
Fox in the snow…

Girl in the snow, where do you go
To find someone who will do
To tell someone all the truth before it kills you
And listen to your crazy laugh
Before you hang a right
And disappear from sight.
(What do they know anyway?)
You read it in a book
(What do they know anyway?)
You read it in a book tonight

Boy on the bike, what are you like
As you cycle round the town
You’re going up, you’re going down, you’re going nowhere.
It’s not as if they’re paying you
It’s not as if it’s fun.
At least not anymore…
When your legs are black and blue
Please can you take a break
When your legs are black and blue
Can you take a holiday

Kid in the snow, where do you go, it only happens once a year
It only happens once a lifetime, make the most of it.
Second just to being born.
Second to dying, too.
What else would you do?
What else would you do?
What else would you do?
What else would you do?
(Fox in the snow)
When your legs looking black and blue
(Fox in the snow)
It’s not as if they’re paying you
(Fox in the snow)
When your legs looking black and blue
(Fox in the snow)
It’s not as if they’re paying you
Fox in the snow,
Fox in the snow.

#27 
Here is a new version of a classic from my childhood in Texas

Hank Williams Jr, Country Boy Can Survive

The preacher man says it’s the end of time
And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry
The interest is up and the Stock Markets down
And you only get mugged
If you go down town

I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me
I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Because you can’t starve us out
And you cant makes us run
Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn

We came from the West Virginia coalmines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I’d send him some homemade wine

But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
Id love to spit some beechnut in that dudes eyes
And shoot him with my old 45
Cause a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Cause you can’t starve us out and you can’t make us run
Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma’am
And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn

We’re from North California and south Alabam
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

#28

this one has pretty simple lyrics, but i like it all the more for that elegance.

and tho’ the text doesn’t show it, the music, esp the fiddle parts, kick all kinds of ass, so if you get the chance, I highly recommend listening to it.

Bobcat tracks in the snow Tell me, mister bobcat, where is it that you go? Down among the town lights, in that valley below Tell me, mister bobcat, where is it that you go?

There’s a horse on my trail, beggin’ a meal
Bitin’ at my hands, they’re so cold I can’t feel
Tell me mister horse, what is your deal?
Yeah, what is your deal?

Feral dog on my right
Pissin’ on a rosebush on this clear, frozen night
Tell me, mister dog, do you feel all right?
Do you feel all right?

(Yeah, do you feel all right?) Do you feel all right?

Bobcat tracks in the snow
Tell me, mister bobcat, where is it that you go?
Down among the town lights, in that valley below
Tell me, mister bobcat, where is it that you go?

(Where do you go?) Where is it that you go?
(Where do you go?) Yeah, where is it that you go?

(Where do you go?) Tell me, mister bobcat where is it that you go?

#29

Nomad by Crisis

Long ago, a crumbling whole of me was split in two. Spat
forth into darkness and light, like the Birth from the
womb. I live like this in stillborn life. I shed my skin and
blood and vein, still i couldn’t find my way home again.
So climb inside and rot here for a while. Outside I can hear
this dying world screaming. Displaced from my earthly
home, like the corpse from the tomb. So climb inside and
rot here for a while. This pain I own, A gift in return for
a taking, a wounding, a breaking. This is our childhood’s
end. Can’t remember when it all began. I want to burn
the masters and the slaves and those who pray that I’ll
repent and be like them. A gift in return for a taking, a
wounding, a breaking. This is our childhood’s end. Can’t
remember when it all began. I want to burn the masters
and the slaves and those who pray that i’ll repent and be
like them. I’m in exile. I’m in exile. Eternally bleeding,
but not broken. The price I pay for vision, I’m not
broken. After all, what can one see with blind open eyes.
I’m in exile. Eaten the dirt from my own grave. Chosen to
be a certain slave. Now in this way I die. Yet I am more
alive. Yet I am more alive, I’m in exile.

#30

Earl the Squirrel
by Kenny Young and the Eggplants

Mama, there’s a squirrel in the garden
Mama, he’s over six feet tall
He says, “Please allow me to introduce myself
My name is Earl the Squirrel.”
YEAH

Well I’m not sure we should let him in
He’s a bit uncouth
He’s from Brooklyn
And when I offered him nuts, he said nuts to that
I’m the number one squirrel,
I drive a Cadillac

Mama, there’s a squirrel in the garden
Mama, he’s over six feet tall
He says his name is Earl the Squirrel
OH YEAH
He wants to know what’s for dinner
YEAH

I’m telling you now,
There is no doubt,
He’s not a Spice Squirrel,
And he’s no Squirrel Scout
And he looks a bit menacing,
Tail waving in the sun
But he swears that squirrels
Just want to have fun

Mama, there’s a squirrel in the garden
Mama, he’s over six feet tall
He says his name is Earl the Squirrel
I think he’ll be around for a while
OH YEAH
OH YEAH
OH YEAH

OH YEAH
OH YEAH
OH YEAH

So let the flugelhorns play
Let the banners unfurl
Nothing can stop him now
Cause he’s the Duke of Squirrel

Mama, there’s a squirrel in the garden
Mama, he’s over six feet tall
He says his name is Earl the Squirrel
OH YEAH
OH YEAH
OH YEAH

OH YEAH
OH YEAH
OH YEAH

OH YEAH
OH YEAH
OH YEAH

Sing it!
Mama, there’s a squirrel in the garden
Mama, he’s over six feet tall
He says his name is Earl the Squirrel

OH YEAH
OH YEAH
OH YEAH

OH YEAH
OH YEAH
OH YEAH

OH YEAH
OH YEAH
OH YEAH

#31

“Young Pilgrims” by The Shins

A cold and wet November dawn
And there are no barking sparrows
Just emptiness to dwell upon
I fell into a winter slide
And ended up the kind of kid
Who goes down Chutes Too Narrow
Just eking out my measly pipes

But I learned fast how to
Keep my head up 'cause I
Know there is this side of me that
Wants to grab the yoke from the pilot
And just fly the whole mess into the sea

Another slow train to the coast
Some brand new gory art from way on high
I sink and then I swim all night

I watch the ice melt on the glass
While the eloquent young pilgrims pass
And leave behind their trail
Imploring us all not to fail

Of course I was raised to
Gather courage from those
Lofty tales so tried and true, but
If you’re able
I’d suggest it, 'cause this
Modern thought can get the best of you

This rather simple epitaph
Can save your hide, your falling mind
Fate isn’t what we’re up against
There’s no design, no flaws to find

But I learned fast how to
Keep my head up, 'cause I
Know I’ve got this side of me that
Wants to grab the yoke from the pilot
And just fly the whole mess into the sea

#32

This song breaks my heart. It’s about what happens when “everything is relative and open to interpretation” in human relationships. The ugly, ugly, painful and treacherous side of postmodernity.

“You Don’t Understand Me” by the Raconteurs

You don’t understand me
But if the feeling was right, you might comprehend me
And why do you feel the need to tease me?
Why don’t you turn it around,
it might be easier to please me

And there’s always another point of view,
A better way to do the things we do
And how can you know me and I know you?
If nothing is true?

What do you think that you are doing? (ooooooh)
Who is the fool, the fool or the fool that you are fooling? (fool that you are fooling…)
And maybe I just don’t see the reason (reaaason)
But in the court of my heart, your ignorance is treason

And there’s always another point of view
A better way to do the things we do
And how can you know me and I know you?
If nothing is true?

You think you know how I feel
It’s not that big of a deal
There’s no such thing, it’s not real
Ohhhh…

You don’t understand me
But if the feeling was right, you might comprehend me
And I don’t claim to understand you
But I’ve been looking around, and I haven’t found anybody like you.

And there’s always another point of view
A better way to do the things we do
And how can you know me and I know you?
If nothing is true?

#33

“Pull this Blanket Off” by The Raconteurs

Pull this blanket off of me
Maybe it will help me see
The things I believed to be true
I’m paying for what should be free
But I don’t buy what they’re telling me
And I want to believe in you

It’s hard sticking to your guns
When everybody’s having fun
Makes me want to run
I don’t know what to do

Not everything is what it seems
Maybe these boys don’t have dreams
I can’t blame them some dreams are worth damn but truth

#34

“Entertain” by Sleater-Kinney
(about the intersection of cultural vacuity, violence, and complacency)

So you want to be entertained?
Please look away…
We’re not here 'cause we want to entertain
Please go away (don’t go away)
Reality is the new fiction, they say…
“Truth is truer these days”, “truth is man-made”
If you’re here cause you want to be entertained
Please go away

If your heart is done, Johnny get your gun
Join the rank and file, on your TV dial

You come around looking 1984
You’re such a bore, 1984
Nostalgia, you’re using it like a whore
It’s better than before
You come around sounding 1972
You did nothing new with 1972
Where is the “fuck you”?
Where’s the black and blue?

Hey! Look around, they are lying to you
Can’t you see it is just a silly ruse?
They are lying, and I am lying too.
All you want is entertainment,
Rip me open it’s free

1, 2, 3! If you wanna take a shot at me,
Get in line
1, 2, 3! I’ve had all my shots
and I’m fine

1, 2, 3! If you haven’t had enough of me,
Well get in line, line
1, 2, 3! You too deserve it now,
it’s all right

1, 2, 3! We can drown in mediocrity
It feels sublime
1, 2, 3! It feels like someone pushed the rewind

1, 2, 3! Give it to me easily,
my feeble mind needs time
1, 2, 3! Make it sweet and syrupy with rhyme

[Don’t drag me down,
I’m not falling down]

The grip of fear is already here
The lines are drawn,
Whose side are you on?

#35

I will lay down my bones among the rocks and roots by Wolves in the Throne Room

The torment has ended
the beast has done his work
Great fires rage outside of this wooded sanctuary
But soon they will be quenched by a purifying rain
the embers of the ceremonial fire burn to ash
A new warmth stirs within the center of the earth
I am alone here no more
The wood is filled with the sounds of wildness
The songs of birds fill the forest on this new morning
This will be my new home
Deep within the most sacred grove
the sun god is born anew
I will lay down my bones among the rocks and roots of the deepest
hollow next to the streambed
The quiet hum of the earth’s dreaming is my new song
When I awake, the world will be born anew

#36

“Baobabs” by Regina Spektor

You have tamed me
Now you must take me
How am I supposed to be?
I don’t have my thorns now

And I feel them sprouting
They’ll grow right through if I don’t watch it
They’ll grow right through even if I watch it
And a sunset couldn’t save me now

These baobabs, and baobabs, and baobabs some more
But you can’t outweight fate

You have tamed me
Now you must take me
T-t-ta-t-t-ta-t-t-ta-tt-ta-t-t-ta-tt-ta-t-t-ta-t-t-take

And I wouldn’t raise my child inside this city anyway
They grow up too savvy
And they grow up too fast
And they know about buying shit
And they know about sex
And they know about investment banking
And also about brokerage firms
And they know about the numbers
And they know about the words
And they know about the bottom line
And also about stones
And they know about careers
And about the real deals
And they all grow up and become people’s people with people skills

But you have tamed me
Now you must take me
How am I supposed to be?
I don’t have my thorns now

You have tamed me
Now you must take me
How am I supposed to be?
I don’t have my tho-or-or-or-orns…

#37

“Wind Below” by Rage Against the Machine

Flip this capital eclipse
Tha vocal tone has got ‘em sweatin’ their own apocalypse
Yes, rebel of tha grains stand masterless
Tha masked ones cap one
NAFTA comin’ with tha new disaster
And yes we in wit tha wind an tha plan de Ayala kin
Are comin’ back around again
Tha slave driver saliva, one night power turns
Them devils mouths dry, now Mexico burns
So here they come one by one them killers of the new frontier
Occupy, causin’ fear, come on
Wit the wind below
We in wit the wind below
Wit the wind below

Flip this capital eclipse
Them bury life wit IMF shifts, and poison lips
Yo they talk it, while slicin’ our veins yo so mark it
From the FINCAS overseers, to them vultures playin’ markets
She ain’t got nothin’ but weapon and shawl
She is Chol, Tzotzil, Tojolobal, Tzeltal
The tools are her tools, Ejidos and ovaries
She once strangled, now through a barrel she breathes
She is the wind below
The wind below
She is the wind below

And all the shareholders gonna flex, and try ta annex the truth
While the new trust is gonna flex, and cast their image in you
Yeah all the shareholders gonna flex, and try ta annex the truth
And while the new trust tries ta flex, and cast their image in you
And GE is gonna flex and try and annex the truth
And NBC is gonna flex and cast their image in you
And Disney bought the fantasies and piles of eyes
And ABC’s new thrill rides of trials and lies
And while the gut eaters strain to pull the mud from their mouths
They force our ears to go deaf to the screams in the south
Yeah!
But we in wit the wind below!
But we in wit the wind below!
But we in wit the wind below!

#38

Heh, this thread is very me-heavy… all I have to say in defense is that I listen to a LOT of music and pay attention to the lyrics (it’s the poet in me)…

“Naked in the Rain” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Standin’ on the corner of civilization
There’s a time there’s a place for me
In a world where I can’t be found…
Cold and mean people give me the creeps

Going to the jungle where the elephant roams
Got to get away, gonna make it my home

Losing my taste for the human race
Social grace is a waste of time
It’s absurd when I look around
So sublime that we blow my mind

Naked in the rain with a killer whale
I can taste the salt when I lick his tail

[Chorus]
Naked in the rain
Doctor Doolittle what’s your secret?
Give it to me doctor
Don’t keep it…

I never met an animal that I didn’t like
You can come to me, I won’t bite
Don’t you know dog is man’s best friend
There is some love that you can’t fight

Naked in the rain with black tattoos
Runnin’ through the woods, laughin’ at the blues

[Chorus]

Listen to the talking heart in my chest
With this gift good Lord I am blessed
There’s a lump and it’s in my throat
I’m in love with the wilderness!

Naked in the river, skinny dippin’ my way
In the waterfall I just wanna play…

[Chorus]
[Chorus]

#39

Oh, and here’s another one by Rage, called “Darkness”, circa 1993…

Greed!
Causing innocent blood to flow
Entire culture, lost in the overthrow
They came to seize and take whatever they please
Then all they gave back was death and disease
My people were left with no choice but to decide
To conform to a system responsible for genocide
Responsible for genocide
Responsible for genocide…

[Spoken:]
AIDS is killing the entire African nation
And a vaccine is still supposedly under preparation
But these governments they don’t mind the procrastination
They say
“We’ll kill them off,
take their land
and go there for vacation.”

My people’s culture was strong, it was pure
And if not for that white greed
It would’ve endured
My people were left with no choice but to decide
To conform to a system,
Their minds enslaved,
Their souls encaged,
I feel the rage,
It’s brutality can never be undone
But the sun is not yet set
The bass and drums and microphones a threat
That’s when ya investigate the crimes from the inside
And see that they’re responsible for genocide
Responsible for genocide
Responsible for genocide…

Ya cram ya culture down my throat
Say I’m inferior when I find that I choke
Ya fill my mind with a false sense of history
And then you wonder why I have no identity?
Well I’ll strike a match and it’ll catch and
Spread the insight we need
A tiny fire, burning bright
Shedding light on the darkness of greed

A yes yes y’all
And ya don’t stop
Shedding light on the darkness of greed

A yes yes y’all
And ya don’t stop
Shedding light on the darkness of greed

#40

Those lyrics have so much striking and beautiful imagery! Thank you!