Today’s Quote

Ones heart is only a vessel for the soul. Please carry me with you as you go about your life journey.

Mary Schmich – “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young”

Lyrics to “Everybody is free to wear sunscreen”
by Baz Luhrman

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97,

Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis or reliable then my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice….now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, nevermind, you won’t understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded, but trust me in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind: the kind that blindsides you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts; don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive; forget the insults. (if you succeed in doing this, tell me how).

Keep your old love letters; throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives; some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of Calcium. Be kind to your knees — you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40; maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body: use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or what other people think of it; it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance…even if you have no where to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions (even if you don’t follow them).

Do not read beauty magazines; they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents; you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings: they’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but what a precious few should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps and geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old; and when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse, but you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you are 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia; dispensing it is a way of wishing the past from the disposal–wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts, and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me, I’m the sunscreen.

Jim’s Big Ego – After the Tornado

Bad things happen
to the kindest people
God and the Devil
are kind of hard to tell apart

and I feel like my soul’s been crippled
slowly
after the tornado
when everything is wrong

and everything means nothing
in this bright green desert
these miles of phone lines
this line of skinny trees

and I feel like my soul’s been crippled
slowly
under the grist mill
when everything is wrong

can’t fly anymore – I’ve forgotten my wings
can’t fly anymore – it’s like I don’t know how
can’t fly anymore – and I can’t rise above
and leave myself behind me
I’ve grown roots in my own body

my mother loved me
my father loved me
but I was always hungry
it was never enough

and I feel like my soul’s been crippled
slowly
after the tornado
when everything is wrong
when everything is wrong

Nice Of You To Have Come To My Funeral

Oh damn it all blues.
Screwed to the melting frozen walk of dared-to-embrace stone,
concrete hard, imagined soft
only to overdue erections of loneliness
that turned feminine and speaks back wet, warm tears,
not to far removed from its common denominator,
Iced urine melting at dared hot death
That clings to life for love at thought of some response
Be it only the clay, dirt or pavement I behold in my
drunken, fevered search for a true woman’s groin,
Wanting me as I want her to never hate me
because we found refuge of satisfaction as two drunken stones
warmed themselves side by side
In outside our guttered ideas of opposite sides fucking.

David Bowie – The Man Who Sold The World

We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when
Although I wasn’t there, he said I was his friend
Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone, a long long time ago

Oh no, not me
I never lost control
You’re face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World

I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home
I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed

I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here
We must have died alone, a long long time ago

Who knows? not me
We never lost control
You’re face to face
With the Man who Sold the World

Nightly Deep

only in these moments
is the past simple
from one moment to another
deeply rooted and ordered to my mark
only to these minutes left
after all what’s left of me
has died

all is a sign of my penance
held closely I’ve lost too much
and replace it with nothing
like whispers in the rain
or fog on green grass meadows
in the morning

restless for a instant
gathered together under street lamps
late as the moon watches
and laughs-
I laugh
how do you imagine your death
or waking up to your moments
of true despair of owning
a lonesome soul

deep is the dark
like the shadow of my
roller coaster memories
to the stare of the moon
I cry alone and distant
into the sleepless night

w.e. Campbell – 08/10/2011

Queen – The Show Must Go On

Empty spaces – what are we living for
Abandoned places – I guess we know the score
On and on, does anybody know what we are looking for

Another hero, another mindless crime
Behind the curtain, in the pantomime
Hold the line, does anybody want to take it anymore

The show must go on
The show must go on
Inside my heart is breaking
My make-up may be flaking
But my smile still stays on

Whatever happens, I’ll leave it all to chance
Another heartache, another failed romance
On and on, does anybody know what we are living for

I guess I’m learning, I must be warmer now
I’ll soon be turning, round the corner now
Outside the dawn is breaking
But inside in the dark I’m aching to be free

The show must go on
The show must go on
Inside my heart is breaking
My make-up may be flaking
But my smile still stays on

My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies
Fairytales of yesterday will grow but never die
I can fly – my friends

The show must go on
The show must go on
I’ll face it with a grin
I’m never giving in
On – with the show -

I’ll top the bill, I’ll overkill
I have to find the will to carry on
On with the -
On with the show -
The show must go on

Demo versions featured May singing, having to sing some parts in falsetto because they were too high. When Brian May presented the final demo to Mercury, he had doubts that Mercury would be physically capable of singing the song’s highly demanding vocal line, due to the extent of his illness at the time. To May’s surprise, when the time came to record the vocals, Mercury consumed a measure of vodka and said “I’ll fuckin do it, darling!” then proceeded to nail the vocal line in one take without problems.

Depeche Mode – Wrong

I was born with the wrong sign
In the wrong house
With the wrong ascendancy
I took the wrong road
That led to the wrong tendencies
I was in the wrong place
At the wrong time
For the wrong reason
And the wrong rhyme
On the wrong day
Of the wrong week
I used the wrong method
With the wrong technique

Wrong
Wrong

There’s something wrong with me chemically
Something wrong with me inherently
The wrong mix
In the wrong genes
I reached the wrong ends
By the wrong means
It was the wrong plan
In the wrong hands
The wrong theory for the wrong man
The wrong eyes
On the wrong prize
The wrong questions with the wrong replies

Wrong
Wrong

I was marching to the wrong drum
With the wrong scum
Pissing out the wrong energy
Using all the wrong lines
And the wrong signs
With the wrong intensity
I was on the wrong page
Of the wrong book
With the wrong rendition
Of the wrong look
With the wrong moon
Every wrong night
With the wrong tune played
Till it sounded right, yeah

Wrong
Wrong

Too long…

I was born with the wrong sign
In the wrong house
With the wrong ascendancy
I took the wrong road
That led to the wrong tendencies
I was in the wrong place
At the wrong time
For the wrong reason
And the wrong rhyme
On the wrong day
Of the wrong week
I used the wrong method
With the wrong technique

Wrong

Johnny Cash – Unchained

I have been ungrateful,
I’ve been unwise.
Restless from the cradle,
Now I realize,
It’s so hard to see the rainbow,
Through glasses dark as these.
Maybe I’ll be able,
From now on, on my knees.

Oh, I am weak.
Oh, I know I am vain.
Take this weight from me,
Let my spirit be unchained.

Old man swearin’ at the sidewalk,
I’m overcome.
Seems that we’ve both forgotten,
Forgotten to go home.
Have I seen an angel?
Oh, have I seen a ghost?
Where’s that rock of ages,
When I need it most?

Oh, I am weak.
Oh, I know I am vain.
Take this weight from me,
Let my spirit be unchained.

Shawn Mullins – Twin Rocks, Oregon

I met him on the cliffs
of twin rocks, oregon
he was sittin on his bedroll
lookin just like richard brautigan
I thought he was an old man
he wasn’t but 37
he said he’d been ridin trains
for 15 years
drawin portraits
to keep his belly full of beer
and it looked to me like he’d died
and missed the plane to heaven
but he was a nice ol’ guy
for a younger man
he had a bottle of mad dog
he held in his hand
that he waved around a lot
to make his point
and I listened as he told his tales
of wine and women and county jails
and we finished off that bottle
and smoked a half a joint
he said “I came here to watch the sun
disappear into the ocean
it’s been years
since I smelled this salty sea”
he turned his bottle up and down
and I saw him lost
and I saw him found
he said “I don’t know
what i’ve been lookin for,maybe me…”
Well, I told him I too had been
travelin around livin out of my van
from town to town playin for tips
and whatever records I could move
I said “I don’t reckon i’ll be
makin it big,
you know it’s hard to get rich
off a tout of coffee house gigs”
and he said “yeah, but ain’t it a blessin
to do what you wanna do…”
and I told him “yeah, I pulled off here
to watch the sun disappear into the ocean
`cause it’s been years
since I smelled this salty sea”
and he turned his bottle up and down
he saw me lost and he saw me found
and I said
“I don’t know what I’ve been looking for, maybe me”
I said “it’s getting kind of late
better be heading down the interstate
can I give you a lift
to san francisco bay?”
he said “nope, I think I’m just
going to sit here and rest
and maybe wait on the
tokyo-montana express
I might just lay here
and dream my life away
i’m going to sit right here,
i’m going to watch the sun
disappear into the ocean
`cause it’s been years, it’s been years
i’m gonna turn my bottle up and down
you can see my lost
and you can see my found”
I met him on the cliffs
of twin rocks, oregon
he was sitting on his bedroll
looking just like richard brautigan
just like him