Lyrics Revisted

About a year ago, I listed lyrics I enjoyed. A lot has changed since then, for good and ill, but I feel like the issue deserves a bit more analysis than I gave it before.

Some of these will be repeats, but, you know, tough.

"I'm living in a foreign country but I'm bound to cross the line/beauty walks a razor's edge someday I'll make it mine."
- Bob Dylan, "Shelter From the Storm."

Seriously? This more or less sums up the last ten years for me. I've gone from place to place, well outside of what I consider "home," groping for purpose, success, or even just a sense of place.

"Bury your treasure, burn your crops/Black water rising and it ain't gonna stop."
- Clutch, "(In The Wake Of) The Swollen Goat"

Nothing sums up what I see on our horizon quite like this. Bleak? Yeah. Honest? Absolutely.

Next, and corny as hell, but still vital-

"We didn't start the fire/It was always burning/Since the world's been turning/We didn't start the fire/No we didn't light it/But we tried to fight it"
- Billy Joel, "We Didn't Start the Fire."

The fate of every generation, really. None of us built the world we end up in, and damn does it suck sometimes.

"Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you"
- Chris Cornell, "You Know My Name."

Truer words have seldom been spoken.

And god love Monster Magnet. Seriously. Clutch writes better songs, better music, more insightful lyrics. They are better in every way.... except that Magnet resonates with some creepy, creepy fucking part of my brain.

"I left my throne a million miles away/I drink from your tit/I sing the blues every day/Now give me the strength/To split the world in two/I ate all the rest and now I've gotta eat you"

"I lost my soul when I fell to earth/My planets called me to the void of my birth/The time has come for me to kill this game/Now open wide and say my name"

- Both from Monster Magnet, "Space Lord"

What does it say about me that I regard this as a prayer of the sort I can get behind?

And finally, a song that Magnet performed but did not write... but I prefer their cover to the original.

"Your life slips through your hands/Like grains of sand/You watch it go/There's no time to be lost/You'll pay the cost/If you say no/There's no way out of here/When you come in/You're in for good"
- David Gilmour, "No Way Out of Here."