Musical Ink: Lizz Wright - Hit The Ground

sing us poetic songs,
mesmerizing us with your lyrics,
let us trace the length of your melody,
locating the musical ink....

Lizz Wright --- Hit the Ground


I was reading something earlier this morning, that reminded me of how much I love this song.  I was introduced to the soulful jazz of Lizz Wright less than a year ago, but have certainly been a fan ever since.  Her voice has this rawness to it that can unhinge the tightest locks within our listening.  This song invokes that rawness.  The lyrics flood us, and make us hear.  And once we finally listen, it is a beautiful moment.


The lyrics:

Hit the Ground


Hit the ground, baby
It's alright now
Hit the ground, baby
Take your veil down

See your eyes in mine
Leave the rest behind
Hit the ground, baby
'Cause I want to love you now

Hit the ground, baby
I said it's alright now
Hit the ground, baby
You're gonna make it somehow

Baby, why so lonely?
The day has just begun
Hit the ground, baby
Hit the ground and run

See your eyes in mine
Leave the rest behind

Hit the ground, baby
Hit the ground and run
Hit the ground, baby
Hit the ground and run


------


I feel these lyrics in those moments when, upon thinking on giving up, I remember all those people who ever looked at me, held my eyes within their eyes, and silently reassured me.  I can make it.  That makes me gladly continue to run this crazy race we call life.  I feel like I have a destination in mind, and I won't stop until I get there.


Marcus Jamison, the Rare Poet

Musical Ink: Iron & Wine - Passing Afternoon

sing us poetic songs,
mesmerizing us with your lyrics,
let us trace the length of your melody,
locating the musical ink....




Iron & Wine --- Passing Afternoon

I remember watching that episode of House, M.D., when Amber dies, and really enjoying this song.  The sound is so stirring, and the lyrics are amazing.  Had to include it here.

The lyrics:

Passing Afternoon




There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon 
Summer warmed the open window of her honeymoon 
And she chose a yard to burn but the ground remembers her 
Wooden spoons, her children stir her Bougainvillea blooms 

There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days 
Autumn blew the quilt right off the perfect bed she made 
And she's chosen to believe in the hymns her mother sings 
Sunday pulls its children from their piles of fallen leaves 

There are sailing ships that pass all our bodies in the grass 
Springtime calls her children 'till she let's them go at last 
And she's chosen where to be, though she's lost her wedding ring 
Somewhere near her misplaced jar of Bougainvillea seeds 

There are things we can't recall, blind as night that finds us all 
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls 
But my hands remember hers, rolling 'round the shaded ferns 
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned 

There are names across the sea, only now I do believe 
Sometimes, with the windows closed, she'll sit and think of me 
But she'll mend his tattered clothes and they'll kiss as if they know 
A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone



------


Such a poetic song.


Marcus Jamison, the Rare Poet

Musical Ink: Mos Def "No Hay Nada Mas"

sing us poetic songs,
mesmerizing us with your lyrics,
let us trace the length of your melody,
locating the musical ink....

Mos Def ---  No Hay Nada Mas

As one of the artists who exude the Soulquarian vibe to a tee, I've been loving Mos Def's music for years.  While my Spanish is severely limited, I love the way this song sounds.  After looking up a lyric translation, I decided to include it here.  It is from the album The Ecstatic, one of the Brooklyn MC's finest recordings to date.


The lyrics:


(English Translation)

No Hay Nada Mas = There Is Nothing Else

Good one, thin
Call me thin, but my first name is Jaci Andante (the one who walks)
The last name the one who pays

Listen
That I am witness

The beauty, the danger is different, of course it is the truth
The street, the town
The cottages and centers

City quality no better, worse
War and life, love and change
Food that is being kept
Pistol, this prayer is for them
Women and men

Family, upbringing
The light in the distance

I want and say
Good is closer
My sight, my house, my dreams, my soul
I want to know and feel your embrace
And your contact
Show me something

Amen

Of course, of course, of course, yes
There is nothing else
There is nothing else
The end
There is nothing else
Of course, of course, of course, yes
There is nothing else

And there is nothing else
The end
There is nothing else
Of course, of course, of course, yes


-------


At least for Mos Def, I hope there's something else:  plenty of music like this.


Marcus Jamison, the Rare Poet

Musical Ink: Red Hot Chili Peppers "Otherside"

sing us poetic songs,
mesmerizing us with your lyrics,
let us trace the length of your melody,
locating the musical ink....





Red Hot Chili Peppers ---- Otherside


For a group whose lyrics always tend to spill out poetry, comes this stirring rendition, first published on 1999's Californication.  I love the power of word repetition, as demonstrated by this song.


the lyrics:

Otherside

How long, how long will I slide
Separate my side
I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

I heard your voice through a photograph
I thought it up and brought up the past
Once you've know, you can never go back
I've got to take it on the other side

Centuries are what it meant to me
A cemetery where I marry the sea
Stranger things could never change my mind
I've got to take it on the other side

Take it on the other side
Take it on the other side
Take it on
Take it on

How long, how long will I slide
Separate my side
I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

Pour my life into a paper cup
The ashtrays full and I'm spillin' my guts
She wants to know am I still a slut?
I've got to take it on the other side

The scarlet starlet and she's in my bed
A candidate for a soul mate bled
Push the trigger and pull the thread
I've got to take it on the other side

Take it on the other side
Take it on
Take it on

How long, how long will I slide
Separate my side
I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

Turn me on take me for a hard ride
Burn me out leave me on the other side
I yell and tell it that it's not a friend
I tear it down, I tear it down and then it's born again

How long, how long will I slide
Separate my side
I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

--------

I don't believe it's bad, at all.

Marcus Jamison, the Rare Poet

Musical Ink: Jimi Hendrix "Castles Made Of Sand"

sing us poetic songs, 
mesmerizing us with your lyrics,
let us trace the length of your melody,
locating the musical ink....

Quick note:  This is something new I've started.  I'm understanding that my love of both poetry and music is not coincidental.  I've spoken to many musicians and poets alike, and there is a kinship in both arts.  The flow of some of the best poems dances like a bass line in head.  The lyrics of some of the best songs read like stanzas on a page.

The poetic nature of music is undeniable.  This is a look into that nature.

A classic example of what I call "musical ink" (those songs that feel like poems put to music and sung) would be "Castles Made of Sand", by Jimi Hendrix.




The Jimi Hendrix Experience --- Castles Made Of Sand

This song was recorded on the 1967 album, Axis: Bold as Love, which was the groups second hit album.  According to one account with his younger brother, Jimi apparently revealed that this song was about their family.

The lyrics:

Castles Made of Sand


Down the street you can hear her scream you're a disgrace
As she slams the door in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
And all the neighbors start to gossip and drool


He cries oh, girl you must be mad,
What happened to the sweet love you and me had?
Against the door he leans and starts a scene,
And his tears fall and burn the garden green

And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually

A little Indian brave who before he was ten,
Played war games in the woods with his Indian friends
And he built a dream that when he grew up
He would be a fearless warrior Indian Chief


Many moons past and more the dream grew strong until
Tomorrow he would sing his first war song and fight his first battle
But something went wrong, surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night

And so castles made of sand melts into the sea, eventually

There was a young girl, who's heart was a frown
cause she was crippled for life,
And she couldn't speak a sound
And she wished and prayed she could stop living,
So she decided to die


She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore
And to her legs she smiled you wont hurt me no more
But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say
Look a golden winged ship is passing my way

And it really didn't have to stop, it just kept on going...

And so castles made of sand slips into the sea, eventually


----------

Such visual lyrics.

Marcus Jamison, The Rare Poet