Seven Long Songs (and one short one)

In a fit of cleaning and organizing I found a mix CD I made in 2002. As is always true with hindsight I see now that it was a "sign-post" of the time because it was made at the beginning of my deepest slide into that Darkest of Darkness. Of course, at the time I didn't realize I was creating an emotional "diary" (and in some sense a precognitive one) with my choice of songs. I was just making a CD of songs I liked that fit the criteria of "long" (over 7 minutes). And while recording the disk the arrangement of songs was random, but now even that seems to tell a story. My choices were also limited by what music was already available in my collection. Back then I didn't trust the file-sharing sites, not because of any legality issues, but because I don't think that most people just give things away for "free." There are some songs like Bohemian Rhapsody that probably would have been included if I'd had them, but maybe not since it doesn't fit the 'over 7 minute requirement'.

Here are the Seven Long Songs (and one short one):

1. "Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent, 8 minutes 27 seconds

This song is pure Devil music, a real invitation to Hell and a sure way to demonic summoning. Powerful stuff. Wagneresque comes to mind.

The road I cruise is a bitch now baby
But no, you can't turn me around

2. "Coma" by Guns 'n' Roses, 10 minutes 15 seconds

This song is an operatic masterpiece that describes the descent into Hell and the thoughts and feelings of desperation and helplessness when one is in that Pit of Darkness. Not for the weak of heart and mind.

Addendum: I meant to explain that the music aspect of this song is more appealing than the lyrics and that in the operatic sense the music is as expressive, if not more so, than the lyrics. Or in other words, you can get the meaning/mood of the song without knowing the words. I didn't mean for it to appear that by including the entire lyrics that I was emphasizing that over the music.

Hey you caught me in a coma
And I don't think I wanna
Ever come back to this world again
Kinda like it in a coma
'Cause no one's ever gonna
Oh, make me come back to this world again
Now I feel as if I'm floating away
I can't feel all the pressure
And I like it this way
But my body's callin'
My body's callin'
Won't ya come back to this...world again
Suspended deep in a sea of black
I've got the light at the end
I've got the bones on the mast
Well I've gone sailin', I've gone sailin'
I could leave so easily
While friends are calling back to me
I said they're
They're leaving it all up to me
When all I needed was clarity
And someone to tell me
What the fuck is going on
Goddamn it!

Slippin' farther an farther away
It's a miracle how long we can stay
In a world our minds created
In a world that's full of shit

Help me
Help me
Help me
Help me
Bastard

Please understand me
I'm climbin' through the wreckage
Of all my twisted dreams
But this cheap investigation just can't
stifle all my screams
And I'm waitin' at the crossroads
Waiting for you
Waiting for you
Where are you?

No one's gonna bother me anymore
No one's gonna mess with my head no more
I can't understand what all the fightin's for
But it's so nice here down off the shore
I wish you could see this
'Cause there's nothing to see
It's peaceful here and it's fine with me
Not like the world where I used to live
I never really wanted to live

(Zap him again
Zap the son of a bitch again)

Ya live your life like it's a coma
So won't you tell me why we'd wanna
With all the reasons you give it's
It's kinda hard to believe
But who am I to tell you that I've seen
any reason why you should stay
Maybe we'd be better off without you anyway

You got a one way ticket
On your last chance ride
Gotta one way ticket
To your suicide
Gotta one way ticket
An there's no way out alive
An all this crass communication
That has left you in the cold
Isn't much for consolation
When you feel so weak and old
But if home is where the heart is
Then there's stories to be told
No you don't need a doctor
No one else can heal your soul

Got your mind in submission
Got your life on the line
But nobody pulled the trigger
They just stepped aside
They be down by the water
While you watch 'em waving goodbye
They be callin' in the morning
They be hangin' on the phone
They be waiting for an answer
When you know nobody's home
And when the bell's stopped ringing
It was nobody's fault but your own
There were always ample warnings
There were always subtle signs
And you would have seen it comin'
But we gave you too much time
And when you said that no one's listening
Why'd your best friend drop a dime
Sometimes we get so tired of waiting
For a way to spend our time
An it's so easy to be social
It's so easy to be cool
Yeah it's easy to be hungry
When you ain't got shit to lose
And I wish that I could help you
With what you hope to find
But I'm still out here waiting
Watching reruns of my life
When you reach the point of breaking
Know it's gonna take some time
To heal the broken memories
That another man would need
Just to survive

3. "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, 8 minutes

Most people love to hate this song because it's been overplayed through the years, but if you actually listen, it's timeless. What does it mean? To me it's about the price of life that we always pay and always will pay.

Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?

And yes, I think my stairway does lie on the whispering wind...


4. "The End" by the Doors, 11 minutes 42 seconds

I like the kind of Middle Eastern sound of this song's music. The lyrics are sad and intense. And painful.

Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane
All the children are insane

5. "Tuesday's Gone" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, 7 minutes 32 seconds

This is such a great Southern song, and I can easily imagine jumping a train and "ridin' my blues away" and letting them be "gone with the wind." Well, ridin' in a convertible pretty much has the same effect (corvette therapy).

Train roll on many miles from my home,
See, I'm ridin' my blues away.
Tuesday, you see, she had to be free,
But somehow I've got to carry on, lord-ah.

Tuesday's gone with the wind.
Tuesday's gone with the wind.
Tuesday's gone with the wind.
My baby's gone with the wind.
Train roll on, oh, lord
Because my baby's gone
I'm ridin' blues, babe
Tryin' to ride my blues

6. "Life's Been Good" (live version) by the Eagles, 9 minutes 36 seconds

I always got a kick out of this song when I was a kid. It was funny and the music was fun and kind of quirky. I like this live version because of the slight but humorous lyric changes. When we look back from far enough even the hardest times don't seem that bad.

Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through
(Everybody sing) I'm cool (He's cool)
I can't complain but sometimes I still do
Life's been good to me so far

7. "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin, 8 minutes 32 seconds

My ultimate favorite Zeppelin song. The sounds caress my ears... let me take you there...

Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait and all will be revealed

Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, whose sounds caress my ear
But not a word I heard could I relate, the story was quite clear
Oh, oh.

Oh, I been flying... mama, there ain't no denyin'
I've been flying, ain't no denyin', no denyin'

All I see turns to brown, as the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand, as I scan this wasted land
Trying to find, trying to find where I belong.

Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream
Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream
My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again
Sure as the dust that floats high in June, when movin' through Kashmir.

Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years
With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear
Ohh.

When I'm on, when I'm on my way, yeah
When I see, when I see the way, you stay-yeah

Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, when I'm down...
Ooh, yeah-yeah, ooh, yeah-yeah, well I'm down, so down
Ooh, my baby, oooh, my baby, let me take you there

Let me take you there. Let me take you there

8. "I Miss You" by Incubus, 2 minutes 48 seconds

This is a cute, more upbeat song. And it's short. And I really like it.

To know that you feel the same as I do
Is a threefold utopian dream

And no journey is complete without a threefold utopian dream. ;-)