Great Lyrics - Post Them Here...

[Poemind]

If I can say that I worship anything, it would have to be music, and if I say that I read scripture, then it lies in the lyrics that the great song writers have given us. I propose that when you find a great lyric that applies to the topics of this forum that we post them here. Be they atheistic, christian, spritual, or just something that speaks to you from a humanistic point of view.

I will start with the one below.

[Poemind]

I've just bought the new Chris Cornell album, and while it is kind of a mixed bag, this song just makes me feel:

Safe and Sound
----------------
Think of a time
When morning will come
And you will wake up without the feeling
That half the world has gone insane
You'll open your eyes
Reading your paper, a drink from your cup
No one was burning down time while you were sleeping

I've never seen but I believe
In a promised land

Why can't we pull this together?
One and all, now and forever
Why can't we pull this together?
We can say we finally found a world that's safe and sound

Think of a place that you could believe in whatever you want
Not keep it secret
Have to risk your life just to be yourself
A place where you'll walk safely no matter your color or age
More than the greed of you and me
Decides the fate of the day

I'd never seen but I believe
In a promised land

Why can't we pull this together?
One and all, now and forever
Why can't we pull this together?
We can say we finally found a world that's safe and sound

I'd rather see you setting free than watch the curtains coming down

Think of a life you won't take the breath from somebody else
One where you're seeking more than yourself

[cleve]

[I'd never seen but I believe
In a promised land

Why can't we pull this together?
One and all, now and forever
Why can't we pull this together?
We can say we finally found a world that's safe and sound

I'd rather see you setting free than watch the curtains coming down

Think of a life you won't take the breath from somebody else
One where you're seeking more than yourself

Poemind,
I really like the last part of this song,
Is there a reason for wrong?
Revjim says there's a reason for everything.
Mayby a season for everything?
If Revjim is right, we just have to find the reason.
Why can't we pull this together?
Its not the weather.
Preachers cry, preachers try.

[Atheist37]

(Sarah McLachlan sings this, but it was originally written by Andy Partridge of XTC.)

Dear god,
Hope you got the letter,
And I pray you can make it better down here.
I dont mean a big reduction in the price of beer,
But all the people that you made in your image,
See them starving on their feet,
cause they dont get enough to eat

From god,
I cant believe in you.

Dear god,
Sorry to disturb you,
But I feel that I should be heard loud and clear.
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears,
And all the people that you made in your image,
See them fighting in the street,
cause they cant make opinions meet,
About god,
I cant believe in you.

Did you make disease, and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil too!

Dear god,
Dont know if you noticed,
But your name is on a lot of quotes in this book.
Us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look,
And all the people that you made in your image,
Still believing that junk is true.
Well I know it aint and so do you,
Dear god,
I cant believe in,
I dont believe in,

I wont believe in heaven and hell.
No saints, no sinners,
No devil as well.
No pearly gates, no thorny crown.
Youre always letting us humans down.
The wars you bring, the babes you drown.
Those lost at sea and never found,
And its the same the whole world round.
The hurt I see helps to compound,
That the father, son and holy ghost,
Is just somebodys unholy hoax,
And if youre up there youll perceive,
That my hearts here upon my sleeve.
If theres one thing I dont believe in...

Its you,
Dear god.

[Poemind]

Damn, I haven't heard that song in years. I didn't know that Sarah wrote it! (EDIT: You didn't say that she wrote it, you said that she sang it, my mistake) I remember the video well (The XTC video that is) - with the kid under the tree. Powerful stuff!

This came out in my hard core atheist days and I loved it.

Another one that is similar is Tori Amos's "God" I will have to find it and post it, though I'm sure you're probably familiar with it.

"God sometimes you just don't come through
Do you need a woman to look after you."

Excellent start to the thread. Good stuff. Keep it coming.

[Poemind]

I love this song... so incredibly melancholy... just my thing...

In a Graveyard
Rufus Wainright
---------------------
wandering properties of death
arresting moons within our eyes and smiles we did rest
among the granite tombs to catch our breath

worldly sounds of endless warring
were for just a moment silent stars
worldly boundaries of dying
were for just a moment never ours

all was new
just as the black horizons blue

then along the bending path away
i smiled in knowing i'd be back one day

[Poemind]

This is turning out to be my own personal thread... Oh well... I liked the idea.
This is from my favorite guitarist Steve Vai.
--------------------------
Sex & Religion
Lyrics by Steve Vai
----------------------------
Repent, repent, repent ye sinners -

What do you think you got
When you thought you had a lot
But all your feelings are dead?
And who do you think you are
When you're reaching for the stars
But all your feelings are dead?

Must you make a decision
Between sex and religion
Why can't you love God in your bed?

Well, Jesus Christ
Is in your bed tonight
To bring you back from the dead

How are you gonna fight
For what you think is right
If all your feelings are dead?

And what can you know of love,
From the eyes of a child to the heavens above
When all your feelings are dead?

It's a tragic condition
Sex and religion
Makin' a manic mess in your head

Jesus Christ
Is in your bed tonight
To bring you back from the dead
Jesus Christ
Or any son of the heatless light
When all your feelings are dead

Resurrection!

I raise my hand high up into the air
Get down on my knees
And then I start a-prayin'
When love walks in
My body begins
I feel my promised land comin'
But I gotta go to hell now
And those creatures
Evangelist preachers
The ones that take money
For the promise of hope
Well, they are dangerous
I'm not dangerous
Brain washing us
And we're not gonna take it

I just wanna know
Oh Lord how is it so
How is it that you can take my sins away?

Oh Lord tell me
So I can see the light again
I don't think anybody can take my sins away

But how can the truth be known
If we got little black holes in our souls
And all our feelings are dead?

Are we imprisoned by sex and religion
Or is God the one that's trapped in our mess?

So remember folks
When you kneel to pray
Blow a little kiss to the hypocrites
Good God knows when you turn the other cheek
Which direction you're pointing it

[Poemind]

This is a good one...

Belief
John Mayer


is there anyone who ever remembers
changing their mind from the paint on a sign?
is there anyone who really recalls
ever breaking rank at
for something someone yelled real loud one time?
oh, everyone believes
in how they think it oughta be
oh, everyone believes
and they're not going easily

belief is a beautiful armor
but makes for the heaviest sword
like punching underwater
you never can hit who you're trying for
some need the exhibition
and some have to know they tried
it's the chemical weapon
for the war that's raging on inside
oh, everyone believes
from emptiness to everything
oh, everyone believes
and no one's going quietly

we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war

we're never gonna beat this
if belief is what we're fighting for

we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war
we're never gonna beat this
if belief is what we're fighting for

is there anyone you can remember
ever surrender with their life on the line?

we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war
we're never gonna beat this
if belief is what we're fighting for

we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war
we're never gonna beat this
if belief is what we're fighting for

what puts a hundred thousand children in the sand?
belief can, belief can
what puts a folded flag inside his mother's hand?
belief can, belief can

[cleve]

The Co-Dependent’s 23rd Psalm
“Others” are my shepherds, I shall not rest.
They make me to lie down
In brown meadows,
And lead me beside stagnant waters.
They further drain my soul.
They guide me
In the paths of self-righteousness
For their shame’s sake.
Yes, even though I walk
Upon the mountain of the sunshine of life,
I shall always fear evil,
For they are with me.
Their needs and their expectations,
They afflict me.
They prepare a list of demands before me in
The presence of my friends
And anoint my head with burdens.
My cup runs dry.
Surely conflict and blame shall follow me
All the days of my life
And I shall dwell
In the house of despair forever.
Jason Willoughby, 3/23/94
© 2005 Jason Willoughby. Permission granted to use for educational purposes, so long
as author is properly credited.

[spongebob]

I've got my own moral compass to steer by
A guiding star beats a spirit in the sky
And all the preaching voices -
Empty vessels ring so loud
As they move among the crowd
Fools and thieves are well disguised
In the temple and market place

Like a stone in the river
Against the floods of spring
I will quietly resist

Like the willows in the wind
Or the cliffs along the ocean
I will quietly resist

I don't have faith in faith
I don't believe in belief
You can call me faithless
I still cling to hope
And I believe in love
And that's faith enough for me

I've got my own spirit level for balance
To tell if my choice is leaning up or down
And all the shouting voices
Try to throw me off my course
Some by sermons, some by force
Fools and thieves are dangerous
In the temple and marketplace

Like a forest bows to winter
Beneath the deep white silence
I will quietly resist

Like a flower in the desert
That only blooms at night
I will quietly resist

"Faithless"
Snakes & Arrows
by Rush

[Poemind]

That was awesome Spongebob. I haven't heard much of Rush's later stuff (past 10 years) is this album good?
Here's another that I've always liked. along the same lines.

Ghost of a Chance
by Rush
---------------------
Like a million little doorways
All the choices we made
All the stages we passed through
All the roles we played.

For so many different directions
Our separate paths might have turned
With every door that we opened
Every bridge that we burned.

Somehow we find each other
Though all that masquerade
Somehow we found each other
Somehow we have stayed in a state of grace.

I don't believe in destiny
Or the guiding hand of fate
I don't believe in forever
Or love as a mystical state.

I don't believe in the stars or the planets
Or angels watching from above
But I believe there's a ghost of a chance
We can find someone to love and make it last.

Like a million little crossroads
Through the backstreets of youth
Each time we turn a new corner
Tiny moment of truth.

Somehow we found each other
Through all that masquerade
Somehow we found each other
Somehow we have stayed
In a state of grace.

I don't believe in destiny
Or the guiding hand of fate
I don't believe in forever
Or love as a mystical state.

I don't believe in the stars or the planets
Or angels watching from above
But I believe there's a ghost of a chance
We can find someone to love and make it last.

[spongebob]

That was awesome Spongebob. I haven't heard much of Rush's later stuff (past 10 years) is this album good?
Here's another that I've always liked. along the same lines.

Their latest album, Snakes & Arrows, is not near their best in my opinion. I'd give it a B. Lyrically, it's pretty good, but musically its a little boring. Test for Echo is probably their best "recent" effort.

And my apologies for the long post. I accidentally pasted the lyrics to 3 songs and failed to check my post for errors.

[Poemind]

No problem Spongebob. Actually "Test for Echo" was about when I checked out with Rush. I thought that it was weaker than the previous "Counterparts" which I really liked. Anyway here's one from the Police. This would have to go into the agnostic category I think:

Invisible Sun
The Police
-----------------
I don't want to spend the rest of my life
Looking at the barrel of an armalite
I don't want to spend the rest of my days
Keeping out of trouble like the soldiers say
I don't want to spend my time in hell
Looking at the walls of a prison cell
I don't ever want to play the part
Of a statistic on a government chart

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives us hope when the whole day's done

It's dark all day and it glows all night
Factory smoke and acetylene light
I face the day with my head caved in
Looking like something that the cat brought in

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives us hope when the whole day's done

And they're only gonna change this place
By killing everybody in the human race
And they would kill me for a cigarette
But I don't even want to die just yet

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives us hope when the whole day's done

[Poemind]

Under My Umbrella
Incubus
------------
When I close my eyes... I can see for miles
There's comfort in my dark seat... and chaos in the aisles.

These eyes are not your eyes
and these eyes are not the color that
your arid eyes might be.
No, I was not around
when those eyes of yours decided so
I refuse to kneel before the
sights you choose to see.

When I close my eyes... I remember why I smile.
Under my umbrella... I'm an accomplished exile.

These eyes are not your eyes
and these eyes are not the color that
your arid eyes might be.
No, I was not around
when those eyes of yours decided so
I refuse to kneel before the
sights you choose to see!

If this is right, I'd rather be wrong.
If this is sight, I'd rather be blind.

[spongebob]

I just love the first verse...

"Take the skinheads bowling" by Camper Van Beethoven

Every day, I get up and pray to Jah
And he decreases the number of clocks by exactly one
Everybody's comin' home for lunch these days
Last night there were skinheads on my lawn

Take the skinheads bowling
Take them bowling
Take the skinheads bowling
Take them bowling

Some people say that bowling alleys got big lanes
Some people say that bowling alleys all look the same
There's not a line that goes here that rhymes with anything
I has a dream last night, but I forget what it was

I had a dream last night about you, my friend
I had a dreamI wanted to sleep next to plastic
I had a dreamI wanted to lick your knees
I had a dreamit was about nothing

Take the skinheads bowling
Take them bowling
Take the skinheads bowling
Take them bowling