Favourite Songwriter No. 6 - the peoples Poet

Growing up with my parents such as mine there was no possible way I could have avoided being exposed to Bob Dylan, a poet and voice of there generation, I doubt you’ll find anyone who grew up in that era who doesn’t have at least one copy of Mr Dylan’s work.
Un-afraid to tackle political and world issues with his cutting lyrics and punchy tunes, he captured the attitude of a generation and became a sound behind which they could rally.
I know I haven’t posted one in a while, but thought it would be wrong for me not to include this man as one of my Favourite songwriters.
Though there are so many more songs to choose from to represent his works, “the Hurricane” and “blowing in the wind” I thought I’d made up my mind on which song to place the lyrics of below, then I thought of another that I also really loved the lyrics too, so I decided on both. Below you’ll find the lyrics to “Just like a woman” and “Forever Young”.

Just Like a Woman

Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev'rybody knows
That Baby's got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.

Queen Mary, she's my friend
Yes, I believe I'll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can't be blessed
Till she sees finally that she's like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls.
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl.

It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what's worse
Is this pain in here
I can't stay in here
Ain't it clear that--

I just can't fit
Yes, I believe it's time for us to quit
When we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don't let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world.
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl.

Forever Young

May God bless and keep you always,

May your wishes all come true,

May you always do for others

And let others do for you.

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung,

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young,

May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,

May you grow up to be true,

May you always know the truth

And see the lights surrounding you.

May you always be courageous,

Stand upright and be strong,

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young,

May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,

May your feet always be swift,

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of changes shift.

May your heart always be joyful,

May your song always be sung,

May you stay forever young,

Forever young, forever young,

May you stay forever young.

Toon for the day

Sometimes traffic really just doesn’t go your way, it seemed at every turn this morning people we’re turning and holding you up everywhere and every shorter route you try to take just ends up being work -*sigh*!
Hey but if you never had a bad start to the day, you’d never appreciate the fact that humour can lift you up, so here’s my toon for the day. I actually read it in the paper on the weekend and it had me in stitches, so I thought you all might like something to lift you from your Monday blues. Enjoy!

Autumn Winds - spontabulous

Life is spontabulous - (spontaneously fabulous - a word a friend came up with after one of my spelling errors).
It’s a beautiful autumn/early winter here in the midlands of KZN, the sun is shining down, and not in the overly oppressive way it can in summer, but in the soul and heartwarming way it does in winter.
Soon the grass will turn gold and the leaves will shed their autumn coats, the bright blue sky will stand out in contrast to the bare stark landscape and for a moment all will stand silent.

For now we have autumn and its rich rusty colours, and I’m loving it, still warm enough to wear shorts and slops - but cool enough to wear longs if you’d like. Sleeping in or reading a book in bed is comfortable, because it’s nice to be warm and snuggled up, but you’re arm doesn’t freeze when you take it out from under the covers to turn the page.

This is autumn and I love it’s pastel beauty, below are the lyrics to one of the earliest songs I ever wrote, I guess even back then Autumn held something special for me

Autumn Winds

Autumn winds often blow
First comes summer and then snow
But I’m leaving my seasons of change.

Seeds of thought are planted deep
In the autumn for the winters sleep
and they’ll blossom with springs bright avail

Crazy lady different man
Take the right path if you can
and I’ll see you on the other side of life

My seasons of change pass me everyday
and the reasons of faith leave me open to say
I’m going home with autumn winds
and with the first snow a new year begins
Springtime arrives and there’s a girl in your eyes
but the heat wave comes and you wave goodbye
but I feel at home with autumn winds

See the leaves fall to the ground
The autumn winds blow them around
Till the gather like thoughts in my head
Pastel colours wrapped in brown
Catch them children and throw them around
Till they scatter like memories left behind

My seasons of change pass me everyday
and the reasons of faith leave me open to say
I’m going home with autumn winds
and with the first snow a new year begins
Springtime arrives and there’s a girl in your eyes
but the heat wave comes and you wave goodbye
but I feel at home with autumn winds

I feel at home with autumn winds

Beautiful Evening

Driving home in traffic is normally always a drag, you just want to get out of the hustle and bustle and back to the comfort of you’re own home.
Sometimes though, if you’re not paying attention though you may miss something really fantastic like the afternoon sky. Yesterday however you’d have to have been blind not to have seen the bright rainbow splashed across the sky; unfortunately I was driving, so I never got a really good look as mom and dad we’re stretching to get better views from their windows.
I did get a bright reflection of it in my rearview as we started heading up town hill though bright colours up against a deep blue sky. Wish I’d had a camera, i did manage to snap off this one when we got home of the clouds reflecting the suns orange glow.
Ah to live in Africa is beautiful, I find the sunsets (and sunrises when I manage to get up that early) in winter are so much more vivid.

The Long Wet Weekend!

I’ve lost my voice, I have a sore throat, I got wet and muddy over the weekend, but as I sit hear I realize haven’t felt as relaxed and centered as this in a long time.
Yes Splashy Fen promised to be the long weekend I was hoping it to be, I wasn’t expecting it to be so wet and muddy but people slipping and slopping around in the mud can be very entertaining even when it’s you.
I think the biggest thing you need to leave behind when going to Splashy (it even indicates in the name that it’s not likely you’ll remain dry) is your vanity and reservations, take everything for what it is and you won’t be disappointed.
What did I love so much about Splashy outside the Music, the general populace that attended it (there where and always will be the unaccountable few, who you’d rather not get along with even if you do pride yourself on tolerance), meeting and chatting to random strangers, wandering around with no specific destination but waiting to see what entertainment may pop up, reconnecting with friends, taking a dip in a cold berg river and letting the few minutes of morning sunshine warm your skin.

My brother and I after he’d finished his test that afternoon, chucked our gear into our faithful old corolla and headed for the hills of Underberg, and happily we’d managed to find our camping friends and pitch our tents before the first of the rains set in. On those first two evenings we managed to watch very little music but did a fair amount of wandering, with the live music blaring out of the music tents. You can’t say you’ve experienced Splashy without a good wander around the festival shouting out greetings to the random people you’ve met.
We did watch our share though, and I really enjoyed the quality of music that was on show, the night that stood out for me was the last night and overall the quality of bands playing that evening.

Bands that stood out for me this splashy were;

Tony Cox (guitaring Genius)
Rory Eliot (Easy on the Ears)
Undone (In their own genre)
Chris Chameleon (Different but amazing)
Lark (Something weird something beautiful - my brothers favourite this weekend)
New Academics (Footstompingly Funky)
Harris Tweed (Beautiful Lyrics, and beautiful voice, probably my favourite this weekend)
and The Parlotones (showing their experience and ability t o write great songs)

As much as I enjoyed the weekend and as much fun as it was it was great to spend last night asleep in my bed and mud free!

Bring on the long weekend.

Tomorrow can’t get here quick enough, at the moment work has been a bit of a long slow trudge through a bog. I’ve got a lot of work to do and it’s all one big chore... sigh! The only thing that seems to get me through it all is the great line up of songs playing to me through my earphones via my iTunes.
That’s why tomorrow can’t come soon enough, a long weekend of sitting back and listening to live music, and rocking out to music, and playing music around the campfire.
Yup it’s splashy time; expect a full report next week.

Inside my Head

A song that I wrote triggered a email debate, no debate’s to strong a word, an email conversation between a myself and a friend. She’d listened to it on our bands myspace, the general conversation was about tolerance, and I ended up having a conversation in my head about it afterwards.
I think tolerance is vital in this day and age, we have to be able to tolerate all people and cultures if we are to have anyway of working together in this world.
Be careful however interpreting what I’m talking about when I say tolerance, and this was her main point in the conversation. Tolerance should never be at such a point where it takes our voices away, we should still be able to speak and act our beliefs, and to say when we don’t agree with something, and applaud something we do.
Strangely the songs not really about tolerance though it does have that underlying message, it’s actually called "Stand up" and that’s more what it’s about, standing up and taking your place in the world. Standing up and making a difference in the world, not to be bowed by what society feels is right or the friends and family around you may feel. You have to be and do what you know and feel are right, what calls out from the heart of you, just because people might look at you strangely for stopping to help someone who’s down and out on the street doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. There’s a lot of other reasons that generally stop you from doing that, especially crime, but other peoples perceptions are definitely one of the reasons you wouldn’t.
Anyway that’s what’s been running through my mind, and thanks to my friend for making me think of it.
I've linked this post to our myspace if you want to go and have a listen.