Did you ever hear about the great deception?
Well the plastic revolutionaries take the money and run
Have you ever been down to love city?
Where they rip you off with a smile and it don't take a gun
Don't it hurt so bad in love city
Don't it make you not want to bother at all
And don't they look so self righteous
When they pin you up against the wall
Did you ever, ever see the people
With the tear drops in their eyes?
I just can't stand it, stand it no how
Living in this world of lies
Did you ever hear about the rock and roll singers
Got three or four Cadillacs
Saying power to the people, dance to the music
Wants you to pat him on the back
Have you ever heard about the great Rembrandt?
Have you ever heard about how he could paint?
And he didn't have enough money for his brushes
And they thought it was rather quaint
But you know it's no use repeating
And you know it's no use to think about it
'Cause when you stop to think about it
You don't need it
Have you ever heard about the great
Hollywood motion picture actor
Who knew more than they did?
And the newspapers didn't cover the story
Just decided to keep it hid
Somebody started saying it was an inside job
Whatever happened to him
Last time they saw him down on the bowery
With his lip hanging off an old rusty bottle of gin
Have you ever heard about the so-called hippies
Down on the far side of the tracks?
They take the eyeballs straight out of your head
Say son, kid, do you want your eyeballs back
Did you ever see the people
With the tear drops in their eyes?
Just can't stand it no how
Living in this world of lies
Well the plastic revolutionaries take the money and run
Have you ever been down to love city?
Where they rip you off with a smile and it don't take a gun
Don't it hurt so bad in love city
Don't it make you not want to bother at all
And don't they look so self righteous
When they pin you up against the wall
Did you ever, ever see the people
With the tear drops in their eyes?
I just can't stand it, stand it no how
Living in this world of lies
Did you ever hear about the rock and roll singers
Got three or four Cadillacs
Saying power to the people, dance to the music
Wants you to pat him on the back
Have you ever heard about the great Rembrandt?
Have you ever heard about how he could paint?
And he didn't have enough money for his brushes
And they thought it was rather quaint
But you know it's no use repeating
And you know it's no use to think about it
'Cause when you stop to think about it
You don't need it
Have you ever heard about the great
Hollywood motion picture actor
Who knew more than they did?
And the newspapers didn't cover the story
Just decided to keep it hid
Somebody started saying it was an inside job
Whatever happened to him
Last time they saw him down on the bowery
With his lip hanging off an old rusty bottle of gin
Have you ever heard about the so-called hippies
Down on the far side of the tracks?
They take the eyeballs straight out of your head
Say son, kid, do you want your eyeballs back
Did you ever see the people
With the tear drops in their eyes?
Just can't stand it no how
Living in this world of lies
1 comment:
Hullo John,
I was going to write you a thing the other day and the library shut down before I could finish.
Anyway... Van Morrison! The thing with Van is that one day someone is going to tell me that he is so too a full-on death cult zombie, and when that happens I'm going to be properly bummed I tell ya. That's because I have Van Morrison as a proper genius with an eye for the sublime. Have you ever heard Coney Island? That's my idea of sublime.
But you know... apparently he's an arsehole in real life but if you were as famous as he is it'd be hard not to be I reckon. Some things must be forgiven.
Anyway, may favourite album of his is Too Long In Exile. Do you know it? It's one of those perfect albums. Actually it defies even that description given that it spans multiple genres without any discernible gap. Not many people could even pull it off.
Anyway... your lyrics here reminded me of the second track on the album Bigtime Operators. I won't cut and paste all the lyrics, just two germane verses.
---
Well, they told me to come on over
I made my way to New York
And they tried to have me deported
Stop me from getting work
Blacklisted me all over
They were vicious and they were mean
They were bigtime operators
Baby, on the music business scene
-
They were glorified by the media
They were heroes who had names
They said that they would bury me
If I didn't play their game
They said I didn't know the score
And that I was young and green
They were bigtime operators
On the music business scene
---
I'd call it a proper fuckyou to his erstwhile would-be masters.
Anyway, lovely lovely and off to check your new thing. Ciao ciao.
Post a Comment