Still more songs that remind us of Ennis and Jack

[Front-Ranger]

I just obtained "Narrow Stairs" by Death Cab for Cutie and already I have two songs memorized. This one I can imagine Jack singing to Ennis:

How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me
It's like a book elegantly bound, but in a language that you can't read - just yet
You gotta spend some time--love, you gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you'll find--love, I will possess your heart

There are days when outside your window, I see my reflection as I slowly pass
And I long for this mirrored perspective, when we'll be lovers, lovers at last
You gotta spend some time--love, you gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you'll find--love, I will possess your heart

You reject my advances and desperate pleas
I won't let you, let me down so easily, so easily

You gotta spend some time--love, you gotta spend some time with me
And I know that you'll find--love, I will possess your heart

[Front-Ranger]

Here is the other song on "Narrow Stairs" that reminds me of BBM. It never fails to make me cry, even when I listen to it in the middle of the day (a sick desire for self-abuse, I'm sure!) I imagine Alma Jr. singing this to her father, or maybe Annie Proulx herself singing it to her Ennis.

Your New Twin Sized Bed

You look so defeated lying there in your new twin size bed.
With a single pillow underneath your single head.
I guess you decided that that old queen has more space than you would need.
Now it's in the alley behind your apartment with a sign that says it's free.

And I hope you have more luck with this than me.

You used to think that someone would come along.
And lay beside you in the space they belong.
But the other side of the mattress and box springs stayed like new.
What's the point of holding onto what never gets used?

Other than a sick desire for self abuse.

And I try not to worry, but you've got me terrified.
It's like you're in some kind of hurry to say goodbye

[Gabreya]

That's so cute and beautiful, Front-Ranger. That seem like such a soothing song.

[Brown Eyes]

Heya,
I was just in Starbucks and became inspired to dig out this old thread and post, perhaps a somewhat unexpected source/ song.

They were playing Cole Porter's song "Every Time We Say Good-bye" and it struck me how appropriate the lyrics are to Jack and Ennis.  I suppose it's unlikely that Jack and Ennis would have listened to old standards like this, but Cole Porter was gay so it's sort of interesting to think about it that way too.

"Every time we say goodbye
I die a little
Every time we say goodbye
I wonder why a little
Why the gods above me
Who must be in the know
Think so little to me
They allow you to go

When you're near
there's such an air
of Spring about it
I can hear a lark somewhere
begin to sing about it
Theres no love song finer
But how strange the change
From major to minor
Every time we say goodbye"

[Front-Ranger]

What a lovely song!! Isn't it wonderful when a Brokie moment hits you, friend? Sometimes I'm listening to a lovely old song and I suddenly realize that it is entirely applicable to Jack and Ennis. Then the universality of love comes home to me, and I'm suddenly eyeing the barrista in a different way! 

[tango]

Persuasion

Music by Tim Finn, lyrics by Richard Thompson

I'm surprised it hasn't been brought up before since I see Teddy Thompson mentioned other places in the forum.  I always see it as song coming from Jacks view:

You and I, tempted by the promise of a different life
Time has fled, there's a constant battle running through my head
I don't know what to do...'cos I still believe
After all the foolish things you put me through
I could always make a start on something new
And I've alway been a man who's open to
Persuasion

Blind romance, there'll be no half measures given half a chance
But we never learn, trusting in the fire while the cruel flame burns
And we need to rebuild what was never there
What got left behind
After all the foolish things that we've been through
I could always make a start on something new
And I'll always be a man who's open to
Persuasion

And it's written in my heart so that everybody can see it
And it's written in my soul, after all I still believe it
I still believe it
I still believe it
I still believe it
I still believe it

And here's the excellent version by Richard Thompson and his son Teddy. 

[Front-Ranger]

Here is Rodeo Clown, by Jack Johnson


"Rodeo Clowns"

Sweepin the floors, open up the doors
Yeah turn on the lights, getting ready for the night
Nobody's romancing, 'cause its too early for dancing
But here comes the music ...
Bright lights flashing
They cover up your lack of so many people
So many problems
So many reason to buy another round
Drink it down
Just another night on the town
With the big man, money man, better then the other man
He got the plan, with the million dollar give a damn
What nobody understands
Become a smaller man, the bright lights keep flashin,
Women keep on dancing with the clowns,
Yeah, yeah, yeah,
They pick me up when I'm down,
Yeah, yeah,
The rodeo clowns
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they pick me up when I'm down
The disco ball's spinnin', all the music and the women
And the shots of tequila,
Man they say that they need ya
What they really need, is just a little room to breath
Teeny bopping disco queen
She barely understands her dreams of belly button rings
And other kinds of things
Symbolic of change, but the thing that is strange
Is that the changes occur
And now she's just a part of the herd, yeah, yeah, yeah
Man i thought that you heard
Yeah, yeah
The changes occurred
Yeah, yeah, yeah, just a part of the herd
Lights out, shut down, late night, wet ground
You walk by look at him, but he can't look at you
Yeah, you might feel pity, but he only feels the ground
You understand moves, but he only knows let down
By the corner, there's another one
Reaching out a hand, coming from a broken man
Well he tried to live, but he's done trying
Not dead, but definitely dying
With the rest of the clowns
Yeah, yeah
mmm mmm mmmm mmmm
With the rest of the clowns
Sweepin the floors, open up the doors,
Yeah turn on the lights, getting ready for the night
Nobody's romancing, 'cause its too early for dancing
But here comes the music

[Front-Ranger]

Breakbackdown, by Jack Johnson

"Breakdown"

I hope this old train breaks down
Then I could take a walk around
And, see what there is to see
And time is just a melody
All the people in the street
Walk as fast as their feet can take them
I just roll through town
And though my windows got a view
The frame I'm looking through
Seems to have no concern for now
So for now

I need this
Old train to breakdown
Oh please just
Let me please breakdown

This engine screams out loud
Centipede gonna crawl westbound
So I don't even make a sound
Cause it's gonna sting me when I leave this town
All the people in the street
That I'll never get to meet
If these tracks don't bend somehow
And I got no time
That I got to get to
Where I don't need to be
So I

I need this
Old train to breakdown
Oh please just
Let me please breakdown
I need this
Old train to breakdown
Oh please just
Let me please breakdown
I wanna break on down
But I cant stop now
Let me break on down

But you cant stop nothing
If you got no control
Of the thoughts in your mind
That you kept in, you know
You don't know nothing
But you don't need to know
The wisdoms in the trees
Not the glass windows
You cant stop wishing
If you don't let go
But things that you find
And you lose, and you know
You keep on rolling
Put the moment on hold
The frames too bright
So put the blinds down low

I need this
Old train to breakdown
Oh please just
Let me please breakdown
I need this
Old train to breakdown
Oh please just
Let me please breakdown
I wanna break on down
But I cant stop now

[Front-Ranger]

One more Jack Johnson song?

This one's called "Go On". Coincidentally, I just wrote a song called "Go On" meeself recently.

"Go On"

In my rearview
I watch you watching the twilight
Behind the telephone lines
Nothing to prove, or to assume
Just thinking that your thoughts are different than mine
In my rearview
I watch you
I give you your life, would you give me mine?

I see you slowly swim away
Cause the light is leaving town
To a place that I can't be
There's no apologies

Just go on
Just go on
There're still so many things
I wanna to say to you
But go on
Just go on
We're bound by blood that's moving
The moment that we start
The moment that we start

I see perfect little eyes
Watch the shadows of the clouds
And the surface of the ocean out the window of a plane
I get nervous when I fly
I'm used to walking with my feet
Turbulence is like a sigh that I can't help but over think

What is the purpose of my life
If it doesn't ever do
With learning to let it go
Live vicariously through you
You can do the same
It's the least you can do
Cause it's a lonely little chain
If you don't add to it

So go on
Just go on
There's still so many things
I wanna say to you
Go on
Just go on
We're bound by blood and love
The moment that we start
Just go on
Just go on
There're still so many things
I wanna say to you
Just go on
Just go on
We're bound by blood that's moving
The moment that we start
The moment that we start

[Front-Ranger]

On the long road home from Rodney's memorial service Chuck and I enjoyed listening to John Denver and also Savage Garden. Here's one of their songs, Hold Me:

If we can't find a way out of these problems
Then maybe we don't need this
Standing face to face
Enemies at war we build defences
And secret hiding places

I might need you to hold me tonight
I might need you to say it's alright
I might need you to make the first stand
Because tonight I'm finding it hard to be your man

Hey
More than angry words I hate this silence
It's getting so loud
Well I want to scream
But bitterness has silenced these emotions
It's getting hard to breathe
So tell me isn't happiness
Worth more than a gold diamond ring?
I'm willing to do anything
To calm the storm in my heart
I've never been the praying kind
But lately I've been down upon my knees
Not looking for a miracle
Just a reason to believe
[ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/s/savage-garden-lyrics/hold-me-lyrics.html ]

I might need you to hold me tonight
I might need you to say it's alright
I might need you to make the first stand
Because tonight I'm finding it hard to be your man

Do you remember not long ago?
When we used to live for the nighttime
Cherish each moment
Now we don't live we exist
We just run through our lives
So alone
That's why you've got to hold me

Hey
If we can't find a way out of these problems
Then maybe we don't need this
Standing face to face
Enemies at war we build defences
And secret hiding places

I might need you to hold me tonight
I might need you to say it's alright
I might need you to make the first stand
Because tonight I'm finding it hard to be your man

Doesn't it make you think of Jack during the lake scene?