Courting Destiny

JOIN SHAYNA’S MY MUSICAL HIGHWAY PROJECT. see right
sidebar. Shayna has my original answers.

This is going to be a patented/trademarked Pia/Cooper type post. Well, Cooper does new posts but goes from subject to subject. And is constantly evolving.

I’m not. I need to be fresh so that I can have fresh material, so I need this week to be about me, me, and more me. Therefore Iwill analyze a song or two each day. I encourage duplicate comments or asking friends to comment for Shayna’s wonderful project to bring the blogoshpere together through music. Music is positive. Music speaks a universal language, and am also asking for multiple comments for the following reason:

Monday will be my two year blogoversary. Will put in my very first post, and close comments to that. Courting has always been about content. Though I don’t appear it, in the blog world or in real life, I am a very shy person who has problems asking for things. Courting has taught me how to, just a bit.

I consider 11/14/04, the day that I followed StephK into BE to be my real anniversary, as I didn’t know that people actually read other peoples blogs before then. Was going to ask people to guest host, but how do you ask people to guest host something so strange? This post is classic non-linear me at my best/worst.

The Wombat is another serial subject poster, or talks about multi-subjects in one post, though is very linear as he a mind that I might kill for. Has an incredible post on some of my favorite musicians who I was lucky enough to hear, when I was his age or younger actually. He also speaks on another of my favorite subjects. Won’t say what. Just read it.

I did saw the Dawg, sometimes known as Doug, and can’t recommend his weekend blog Prattler, enough. It’s for serious intellects, mine is sun fried. Doug always welcomes a civil debate. So debate him. The Dawg’s so horrible that when we heard a truly bad street musician, he gave him money. The Dawg told me to be sarcastic about him. Well, the two cigars he smoked at once did blow out fire instead of smoke as we conspired to take over the blogosphere and then the world.

Last week Shayna asked people to answer four questions about a song that is important to them for her music highway project.

So many songs. Music is one of the most important things in my life. My Dad used to tell me that adults bought the type of CD’s you put in a bank, not ones that filled your living room. He was wrong; adults can buy both.

Several years ago I had some blood tests. They were excellent. Then I went on the Atkins diet. Took myself off it, and had some more blood tests. They were horrible. I spent that year going from specialist to specialist

Warren Zevon wrote “The Wind” when he was dying. It was a beautiful testament to life and to dying. Know how strange that sounds. Sounds stranger that the CD sustained me. Several of the songs included in the discography weren’t in the CD, which I know by heart, but make sense.

If he could write and perform that CD while he was dying, I could go from doctor to doctor.

It’s a story CD, the best kind, I think and I had a hard time picking out the one song that meant the most to me. I picked “Keep me in your heart,” because Warren asked to be loved as he was dying. And he asked what we all want. To be remembered. While he asks to be remembered he also told his lover to move on, and that’s so important.

Loving, remembering, and letting go, all in one song.

His lyrics can be interpreted on so many levels. I think I have analyzed most of the songs somewhere in Courting, but might do a page on it, because the entire “The Wind” affected me so profoundly. Linked to Christopher Roberts who did do an excellent analysis.

Do have to admit that I have strange taste. Have always loved The Coasters. Of all the Lieber and Stoller groups they are my favorite, and my favorite song is DW Washburn. It’s a song about a street person, written a long time before the expression “bag person” entered the venacular. Great music can be found in so many different and wonderful places.

Warren Zevon wasn’t exactly known as a romantic. “Werewolf in London?” And I have thought for awhile the skull and cigarettes on his CD’s foretold something, but “The Wind” is one of the most romantic CD’s I have ever heard. Actually he was a romantic “Carmelita” is one of the 20 most beautiful songs ever. Yet it was about a heroin addict cut off from his supply. Hey, addiction is powerful and love for a drug can be an awesome metaphor. The lyrics don’t read as beautifully as the song he sung, but I find them amazing.

But I loved Leaving Las Vegas the last truly great Nic Cage film, and Requiem for a Dream. Actually I love the whole genre; Man with the golden arm Panic in Needle Park and Rush come to mind first.

Warren did name a CD “Sentimental Hygiene,” oh, he was the best kind of romantic. The cynical one. I only say that because I am. Warren’s lyrics are some of the best ever written in rock. They’re all over the Internet, and can be read as poems. He had many writer friends and that never surprised me because his writing is poetry that ranks with the best. Sometimes I feel like beginning a Warren Zevon blog, but that would be one blog too many. I will begin a Zevon page.

In keeping with Shayna’s project, to remove negativity from the blogosphere through music, “The Wind” is one of the most positive CD’s ever. And so beautiful.

He showed what a cynical person could be like when dying. I so appreciated it. As a social worker, I mostly worked with people who were dying. Some fought it to the end, and I understood that. But in my heart, I appreciated the people who both fought it, and began to appreciate the people in their lives and the small wonders of the world. That’s one reason that I love “The Wind” so much. It could and should be used for classes for people who work with the dying.

Though when I made Lucia plan my memorial service, she was going to play Tom Waits version of “Waltzing Matilda” and his “The Piano’s been drinking, not me,” every ten minutes because I used to make my friends listen to those songs until they would go crazy.

When I’m obsessed with a song, a CD, or a musician, everybody I know has to become obsessed also. That’s one of the things that they love about me. Sure.

Warren Zevon was one of the most talented musical poets. I listen to his songs, and write down the lyrics, over and over again. Then compare them to the lyric sheets. That’s my personal favorite way of practicing writing.

The blood tests? Don’t ever go on Atkins, and as Warren would say “Enjoy every sandwich.” And join Shayna’s My Musical Highway project because the blogosphere can be a wonderful place.

September 5 will be the third anniversary of his death. He lived to see his twin grandchildren born. He is missed, but he lives on. One of his CD’s is called “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Somehow I doubt that.

And I really really really have to get a copy of his appearance on Letterman. He was Letterman’s only solo guest and so deserved it. My DVR wasn’t working, and uh, I forgot how to work the VCR.

The first song is “Dirty Life and Times.” It’s sad, raw, and depressing even for me. How can you find love when you’re dying? Or when you have had a past that wasn’t really pretty, and can’t really expect a future? Though it could work for any one of us who feel shame about something we have done. It’s a hard song to listen to, but worth it because again there is beauty in the lyrics, and a great starting point for the songs that come next.

It is the song I will analyze the least. Because sometimes I relate to it too much. Feel as if I pay over and over again for imagined and real sins. End up with a Zachary intstead of a he who has played…because I never felt as I desired the titanium, only the tarnished fake brass.

But really when life is ending, or we think it is, or time is pasing too quickly don’t we all need somebody to share the dirty life and times? To help us through the despair? Even if we really are worth more? The strange thing is when I was going through the year of specialists, I never thought of this way at all, Guess because I listened to the whole CD over and over again, until it all blended through and became one mantra.

Keep Me In Your Heart

written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón, Zevon Music, (BMI)/Googolplex Music (BMI)
Shadows are falling and I’m running out of breath

Keep me in your heart for awhile

If I leave you it doesn’t mean I love you any less

Keep me in your heart for awhile

When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun

Keep me in your heart for awhile

There’s a train leaving nightly called when all is said and done

Keep me in your heart for awhile
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo

Keep me in your heart for awhile
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo

Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sometimes when you’re doing simple things

around the house

Maybe you’ll think of me and smile
You know I’m tied to you like the buttons on
your blouse
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you
Engine driver’s headed north to Pleasant Stream
Keep me in your heart for awhile
These wheels keep turning but they’re running out
of steam
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile
Keep me in your heart for awhile

*************************************************************************************************
Lyrics to “The Wind” in its entirety

The Wind
all words and music copyright Warren Zevon, except as indicated

Dirty Life And Times
Disorder in the House
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Numb as a Statue
She’s Too Good for Me
Prison Grove
El Amor de mi Vida
The Rest of the Night
Please Stay
Rub Me Raw
Keep Me in Your Heart
Dirty Life And Times
written by Warren Zevon, Zevon Music, (BMI)
Some days I feel like my shadow’s casting me
Some days the sun don’t shine
Sometimes I wonder what tomorrow’s gonna bring
When I think about my dirty life and times
One day I came to a fork in the road
Folks, I just couldn’t go where I was told
Now they’ll hunt me down and hang me for my crimes
If I tell about my dirty life and times
I had someone ’til she went out for a stroll
Should have run after her
It’s hard to find a girl with a heart of gold
When you’re living in a four-letter world
And if she won’t love me then her sister will
She’s from Say-one-thing-and-mean-another’s-ville
And she can’t seem to make up her mind
When she hears about my dirty life and times
Some days I feel like my shadow’s casting me
Some days the sun don’t shine
Sometimes I wonder why I’m still running free
All up and down the line
Gets a little lonely, folks, you know what I mean
I’m looking for a woman with low self-esteem
To lay me out and ease my worried mind
While I’m winding down my dirty life and times
Who’ll lay me out and ease my worried mind
While I’m winding down my dirty life and times

Disorder In The House
written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón, Zevon Music, (BMI)/Googolplex Music (BMI)
Disorder in the house
The tub runneth over
Plaster’s falling down in pieces by the couch of pain
Disorder in the house
Time to duck and cover
Helicopters hover over rough terrainDisorder in the house
Reptile wisdom
Zombies on the lawn staggering around
Disorder in the house
There’s a flaw in the system
And the fly in the ointment’s gonna bring the whole thing down
The floodgates are open
We’ve let the demons loose
The big guns have spoken
And we’ve fallen for the ruse
Disorder in the house
It’s a fate worse than fame
Even the Lhasa Apso seems to be ashamed
Disorder in the house
The doors are coming off the hinges
The earth will open and swallow up the real estate
I just got my paycheck
I’m gonna paint the whole town grey
Whether it’s a night in Paris or a Fresno matinee
It’s the home of the brave and the land of the free
Where the less you know the better off you’ll be
Disorder in the house
All bets are off
I’m sprawled across the davenport of despair
Disorder in the house
I’ll live with the tosses
And watch the sundown through the portiere

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

written by Bob Dylan, Ram’s Horn Music (ASCAP)

Mama, take this badge off of me

I can’t use it anymore.

It’s gettin’ dark, too dark to see

And I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door.

Knock, knock, knockin on heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door

Mama, put my guns in the ground

I can’t shoot them anymore.

That long black cloud is comin’ down

I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door.

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door

Numb As A Statue

written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón, Zevon Music, (BMI)/Googolplex Music (BMI)

I’m numb as a statue

I may have to beg, borrow or steal

Some feelings from you

So I can have some feelings too

I’m pale as a ghost

You know what I love about you

That’s what I need the most

I’m gonna beg, borrow or steal

Some feelings from you

I’m gonna beg, borrow or steal

So I can have some feelings too

I don’t care if it’s superficial

You don’t have to dig down deep

Just bring enough for the ritual

Get here before I fall asleep

Ain’t nothing special

When the present meets the past

I’ve always taken care of business

I’ve paid my first and last

She’s Too Good For Me

written by Warren Zevon, Zevon Music, (BMI)

I could hold my head up high and say that I left first

Or I can hang my head and cry

Tell me which is worse

If you go and ask her why

She might say she’s not sure

Trust me when I tell you I’m not good enough for her

I want her to be happy

I want her to be free

I want her to be everything she couldn’t be with me

I’d wait here for a thousand years if she’d come back to me

I have everything she wants but nothing that she needs

I want her to be happy

I want her to be free

I want her to be everything she couldn’t be with me

I could hold my head up high and say that I left first

Or I can hang my head and cry
Tell me which is worse

If you go and ask her why

She might say she’s not sure

Trust me when I tell you I’m not good enough for her

Prison Grove

written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón, Zevon Music, (BMI)/Googolplex Music (BMI)

An icy wind burns and scars

Rushes in like a fallen star

Through the narrow space

Between these bars

Looking down on Prison Grove

Dug in, hunkered down

Hours race without a sound

Gonna carry me to where I’m bound

Looking down on Prison Grove

Iron will hard as rock

Hold me up for the fateful knock

When they walk me down in a mortal lock

Out on Prison Grove

Shine on all these broken lives

Shine on

Shine the light on me

Knick Knack Paddy Wack

They say you’ll hear your own bones crack

When they bend you back to bible black

Then you’ll find your love

Some folks have to die too hard

Some folks have to cry too hard

Take one last look at the prison yard

Goodbye Prison Grove

Shine on all these broken lives

Shine on

Shine the light on me

El Amor De Mi Vida

written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón, Zevon Music, (BMI)/Googolplex Music (BMI)

I close my eyes, you reappear

I always carry you inside, in here

I fall asleep, you come to me

And once again our love is real

How could I have let you get away

Why couldn’t I have found a way to say

“Tu eres el amor de mi vida ” You are the love of my life

Si solo te pudiera encontrar If only I could find you

Con todo el corazon te diria With all my heart I would tell you

Tu eres mi amor de verdad” you are my true love”

I look outside, I know you’re there

And you’ve found a brand new life somewhere

I only wish it had been us

But I’m happy for your happiness

How could I ever let you go

How will I ever let you know

“Tu eres el amor de mi vida ” You are the love of my life

Si solo te pudiera encontrar If only I could find you

Con todo el corazon te diria With all my heart I would tell you

Tu eres mi amor de verdad” you are my true love”

“Tu eres mi amor, ” You are my love,

tu eres mi amor, You are my love,

tu eres mi amor de verdad” You are my true love”

“Tu eres mi amor, ” You are my love,

tu eres mi amor, You are my love,

tu eres mi amor de verdad” You are my true love”

The Rest Of The Night

written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón, Zevon Music, (BMI)/Googolplex Music (BMI)

Why stop now? Let’s party the rest of the night!

Seven o’clock, Eight o’clock, Nine o’clock. Ten

You wanna go home? Why? Honey, When?

We may never get this chance again!

Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Yeah, Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Yeah, Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Why leave now? Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Eleven o’clock, Twelve o’clock, One o’clock, Two

Me tired? Well boo-hoo!

I’m starting to fall in love with you

Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Yeah, Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Yeah, Yeah! Oh. Yeah! Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Why slow down? Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Three o’clock, Four o’clock, Five o’clock, Six

Let’s throw it all into the mix and open up our bag of tricks

And party for the rest of the night!

Oh, Yeah! Yeah, Yeah! Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Oh, Yeah! Yeah, Yeah! Let’s party for the rest of the night!

We never had an issue! We never had a fight!

Someone must be doing something right!

Yeah, Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Yeah, Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Let’s party for the rest of the night!

Please Stay

written by Warren Zevon, Zevon Music, (BMI)

Please stay

Please stay

Two words I’ve thought I’d never learn to say

Don’t go away

Please stay

Don’t leave me here

When so many things so hard to see are clear

I need you near to me

Will you stay with me to the end?

When there’s nothing left

But you and me and the wind

We’ll never know till we try

To find the other side of goodbye

Please stay

Please slay

Two words I’ve thought I’d never learn to say

Don’t go away

Please stay

Rub Me Raw

written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón, Zevon Music, (BMI)/Googolplex Music (BMI)

I know these blues are gonna rub me raw

Every single cure seems to be against the law

Went and told my psychic

I said “Keep it to yourself.

I don’t wanna hear it and don’t be telling no one else.”

Word’s out on the street

Whispers in the night

They come out of the woodwork, wanna see what it’s like

Pickle-ickle-ickle

Gonna run that voodoo down

How the crowd gets fickle when your face is to

the ground!

Oh no these blues are gonna rub me raw

Oh no these blues are gonna rub me raw

Now I’m shaking all over

I’m a shattering mass

But I’m gonna sit up straight

I’m going to take it with class

Old man used to tell me

“Son, never look back,

Move on to the next case.

Fold your clothes and pack.”

To the green horned chicken hoppers I say

“Get yourself a trade,

Or go hack to the chat room and fade in the shade”

Oh no these blues are gonna rub me raw

Oh no these blues are gonna rub me raw

I know these blues are gonna rub me raw

Every single cure seems to be against the law

I was walking pretty well then I fell into a hole

I should climb out quick, but I hate doing what I’m told

Got a wang-dang-doodle wrapped in bog snake hide

This goat head gumbo is keeping me alive

I don’t want your pity or your fifty-dollar words

I don’t share your need to discuss the absurd

Oh no these blues are gonna rub me raw

Oh no these blues are gonna rub me raw

Keep Me In Your Heart

written by Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón, Zevon Music, (BMI)/Googolplex Music (BMI)

Shadows are falling and I’m running out of breath

Keep me in your heart for awhile

If I leave you it doesn’t mean I love you any less

Keep me in your heart for awhile

When you get up in the morning and you see that crazy sun

Keep me in your heart for awhile

There’s a train leaving nightly called when all is said and done

Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo

Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo

Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sometimes when you’re doing simple things

around the house

Maybe you’ll think of me and smile

You know I’m tied to you like the buttons on

your blouse

Keep me in your heart for awhile

Hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams

Touch me as I fall into view

When the winter comes keep the fires lit

And I will be right next to you

Engine driver’s headed north to Pleasant Stream

Keep me in your heart for awhile

These wheels keep turning but they’re running out

of steam

Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo

Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo

Keep me in your heart for awhile

Keep me in your heart for awhile