Songs Lyrics and YT- Youtube Music Videos

R.E.M. - Shiny Happy People

R.E.M. - Shiny Happy People Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Out Of Time
Released: 1991

Shiny Happy People Lyrics

Shiny Happy People Song Chart

The title and chorus are based on a Chinese propaganda poster. The slogan "Shiny happy people holding hands" is used ironically - the song was released in 1991, two years after the Tiananmen Square uprising when the Chinese government clamped down on student demonstrators, killing hundreds of them. (thanks, Ali - Oxford, England)

Kate Pierson from the B-52's sang backup. She was in demand for her distinctive vocals after the B-52's achieved mainstream success with "Love Shack" in 1989. R.E.M. and The B-52's are both from Athens, Georgia.

This was the second single from the album. A very light, happy song, it was a stark contrast to the very profound "Losing My Religion," which was released first.

Michael Stipe calls this "A really fruity, kind of bubblegum song." In an interview with The Quietus, he said that he was a bit embarrassed when it became a big hit, but it's an important song because it shows a different side of him. Said Stipe: "Many people's idea of R.E.M, and me in particular, is very serious, with me being a very serious kind of poet. But I'm also actually quite funny - hey, my bandmates think so, my family thinks so, my boyfriend thinks so, so I must be - but that doesn't always come through in the music! People have this idea of who I am probably because when I talk on camera, I'm working so hard to articulate my thoughts that I come across as very intense."

In 1999, R.E.M. performed this on Sesame Street as "Furry Happy Monsters." Kate Pierson's part was performed by a Muppet that looked like her, voiced by Stephanie D’Abruzzo, a Muppeteer who was also a huge fan of the band. Guitarist Peter Buck has two daughters who were big fans of the show.

This appears in Michael Moore's controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 while archive footage of both George Bushes shaking hands and posing for photographs with Saudi Arabian oilmen plays. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)

Midway into this song, it switches to Waltz time - 3/4. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck had the idea to do this. He explained why in a 1991 interview with Guitar School: "The song is so relentlessly upbeat, there was nowhere you could really go with the bridge. We tried it a few ways and then I suggested 3/4. They said, 'That's kind of fruity, Peter.' But I thought it was cool. It makes you think, well, what would we not put here? It gives the song a 'Saturday In The Park' feel."

Drummer Bill Berry notes the song's unique elements in the liner notes for Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage and challenges anybody to prove him wrong (unless you're immortal - that wouldn't be fair): "Think what you will about this powerful, God-rock anthem of yore, but at least we managed to conceive a song that starts out as a waltz and closes with the lyric 'dit' more than 140 times in succession. I challenge any mortal to locate another tune that features both of these visionary elements."

The guys can't get away from this one. Peter Buck remembers vacationing in the Amazon years after the song's release and hearing it on the radio. He admits, "It sounded really, really good. If we did one of those per record, I could see how it could get a little embarrassing. But we only did it once."

This was featured on Beverly Hills, 90210 in the 1991 episode "Down and Out of District in Beverly Hills" and on Friends in the 1994 episode "The One with the Monkey." It was also used in the 2008 movie Marley & Me, starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson.

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Out Of Time
Released: 1991

Losing My Religion Lyrics

Losing My Religion Song Chart

The title is a Southern expression meaning "At my wit's end," as if things were going so bad you could lose your faith in God. If you were "Losing your religion" over a person, It could also mean losing faith in that person. (thanks, doug - chicago, IL)

Stipe told Rolling Stone magazine: "I wanted to write a classic obsession song. So I did." In addition to calling it a song about "obsession," Stipe has also referred to it as a song about "unrequited love" in which all actions and words of the object of your obsession are scrubbed for hidden meaning and hopeful signs. The lyrics pretty clearly support this: "I thought that I heard you laughing, I thought that I heard you sing. I think I thought I saw you try." (thanks, Redstar - Redding, CT)

This song has its origins in guitarist Peter Buck's efforts to try learn to play the mandolin. When he played back recordings of his first attempts, he heard the riff and thought it might make a good basis for a song. Explaining how the song came together musically, Buck told Guitar School in 1991: "I started it on mandolin and came up with the riff and chorus. The verses are the kinds of things R.E.M. uses a lot, going from one minor to another, kind of like those 'Driver 8' chords. You can't really say anything bad about E minor, A minor, D, and G – I mean, they're just good chords.

We then worked it up in the studio – it was written with electric bass, drums, and mandolin. So it had a hollow feel to it. There's absolutely no midrange on it, just low end and high end, because Mike usually stayed pretty low on the bass. This was when we decided we'd get Peter (Holsapple) to record with us, and he played live acoustic guitar on this one. It was really cool: Peter and I would be in our little booth, sweating away, and Bill and Mike would be out there in the other room going at it. It just had a really magical feel.

And I'm proud to say every bit of mandolin on the record was recorded live – I did no overdubbing. If you listen closely, on one of the verses there's a place where I muffled it, and I thought, well, I can't go back and punch it up, because it's supposed to be a live track. That was the whole idea."

The band claims this is not about religion and loss of faith, although the video is full of religious imagery. Some Catholic groups protested the video.

In 2003, Stipe told Entertainment Weekly, "'Losing My Religion' was a fluke hit. It was a 5-minute song with no chorus and a mandolin as the lead instrument. So for us to hold that as the bar we have to jump over every time we write a song would be ridiculous."

This won the Grammy in 1991 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

The video was the first to show lead singer Michael Stipe dancing. The director, Tarsem Singh, hung out with the band to get ideas, and when he saw Stipe's spastic dance style, he thought it would look great in the video.

The video is based in part on Gabriel Garcia Marquez' A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings . The novel tells the story about an angel who falls down from heaven and how the people who make money displaying him as a "freak show." Michael Stipe is a big Marquez fan and the whole idea of obsession and unrequited love is the central theme of the author's masterpiece, Love in the Time of Cholera . The first line of the novel: "It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love." (thanks, Gabriela - Santiago, Chile)

This was given the working title of "Sugar Cane" when the band demoed it in July 1990 at a studio in Athens.

A common misinterpretation of this song is that it was about John Lennon's death, with the lyrics, "What if all these fantasies come flailing around" being a reference to Lennon's last album Double Fantasy.

Michael Stipe took a laid-back approach with this song: "I remember that I sang this in one go with my shirt off. I don't think any of us had any idea it would ever be ... anything," he noted in Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011. Peter Buck added that Warner Bros. didn't even want the song as a single, and everyone was surprised when it took off. "It changed our world. We went from selling a few million worldwide with Green to over 10 million. It was in that area where we had never been before which isn't bad," he said.

This was used on Beverly Hills, 90210 in the 1991 episodes "Beach Blanket Brandon" and "Down and Out of District in Beverly Hills"; on Smallville in the 2003 episode "Slumber"; on Glee in the 2010 episode "Grilled Cheesus"; and on Parks and Recreation in the 2013 episode "Filibuster."

Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis

Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Marc Cohn
Released: 1991

Walking In Memphis Lyrics

Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
W.C. Handy, won't you look down over me
Yeah I got a first class ticket
But I'm as blue as a boy can be

[Chorus]
Then I'm Walking In Memphis
Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale
Walking in Memphis
But do I really feel the way I feel

Saw the ghost of Elvis
On Union Avenue
Followed him up to the gates of Graceland
Then I watched him walk right through
Now security they did not see him
They just hovered 'round his tomb
But there's a pretty little thing
Waiting for the King
Down in the Jungle Room

[Chorus]

They've got catfish on the table
They've got gospel in the air
And Reverend Green be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prayer
But boy you've got a prayer in Memphis

Now Muriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see her
And they asked me if I would
Do a little number
And I sang with all my might
And she said
"Tell me are you a Christian child?"
And I said "Ma'am I am tonight"

[Chorus]

Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain

Writer/s: COHN, MARC
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Walking In Memphis Song Chart

Cohn wrote this song after traveling to Memphis to check out Graceland, which is Elvis Presley's mansion and a kitschy tourist destination. He made sure to see an Al Green sermon when he was there, but it was a trip out of Memphis along Highway 61 where the meaty part of his journey took place. In the desolate Delta, he saw a sign that said "Hollywood," which turned out to be the Hollywood Cafe, which is a small diner/music joint in Tunica County, Mississippi. This is where Cohn smelled the catfish and encountered a black woman in her 70s named Murial who was at the piano. After watching Murial play a variety of spirituals and Hoagy Carmichael songs for about 90 minutes, he spoke with her when she took a break.

Cohn's mother died when he was just 2 years old, and he lost his father at age 12. He spent a lot of time reconciling his childhood, which often comes out in his songs. Speaking with Murial, he got maybe the best therapy of his life. Cohn described this conversation in his 1992 interview with Q magazine, saying: "She was real curious, she seemed to have some kind of intuition about me, and I ended up telling her about my family, my parents, how I was a musician looking for a record deal, the whole thing. Then, it must have been about two in the morning, she asks me up to sing with her and we do about an hour, me and this lady I'd never met before, hardly a song I knew so she's yelling the words at me. Then at the end, as the applause is rising up, she leans over and whispers in my ear, she's whispering, You've got to let go of your mother, child, she didn't mean to die, she's where she's got to be and you're where you have to be, child, it's time to move on."

The Hollywood Cafe is still there - you drive right past it to go to several of the casinos now located in Tunica. Murial and Cohn kept in touch, and she attended his wedding in New York. Cohn saw her again when he took another trip down south and played her some of his new songs, but Murial died in 1990. (thanks, Paul - Memphis, TN)

This was the first single for Cohn, who was discovered by Carly Simon in the mid-'80s when he was with a 14-piece band called The Supreme Court. Atlantic Records signed him in 1989, but the first attempts to record his debut album with Tracy Chapman's producer David Kerschenbaum failed. Ten months later, he tried again, producing the set himself with help from the little-known Ben Wisch, who had helped him with his demos. Finally released in 1991 when Cohn was 31 years old, his self-titled debut album was a huge hit, thanks to the massive success of "Walking In Memphis." Cohn won the 1991 Grammy for Best New Artist award, beating out both Boyz II Men and Seal. Cohn never matched the chart success of this song, but like his musical heroes Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne, he remained a critical and artistic success as a songwriter and performer.

Cohn has explained that this song is a journey to be baptized in the world of blues music. He said it is about "Spiritual Awakening."

The lyrics, "Walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale" refers to Beale Street, an actual street in Memphis. Riley B. King became known as the "Beale Street Blues Boy" shortly after he first arrived in Memphis. Later, the nickname was shortened to B.B., and the rest is history.

W.C. Handy, who Cohn refers to in the first verse, is a blues legend. His most famous recording is "St. Louis Blues," but he also recorded "Beale Street Blues" and "Memphis Blues." There is a statue in his honor in Memphis.

Handy was born in Florence, Alabama. Florence, along with Tuscumbia, Sheffield, and Muscle Shoals, is part of this quad cities group usually referred to as "The Shoals" (as immortalized in Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama"... 'the Shoals have got the Swampers'). There is a huge festival that takes place every August in the Shoals that honors WC Handy. It is aptly named The WC Handy Festival, and almost everybody, from churches to bars, and even the public library, hosts programs containing jazz, blues, gospel, funk, and rock and roll.

The sounds at the beginning of the song are meant to indicate falling rain.

The reference to "Blue Suede Shoes" is not about Elvis Presley, but about Carl Perkins, who recorded the song in Memphis for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Perkins' ill-luck in a car wreck stopped him from touring to promote the record, allowing Elvis' cover version to become a massive hit. Presley's copy was recorded at RCA studios in Nashville.

The narrator tells of seeing "The ghost of Elvis up on Union Avenue and followed him up to gates of Graceland." Sam Phillips' studios were called "Memphis Recording Service" and were at 706 Union Avenue. Elvis' start on the journey to fame and fortune (i.e. Graceland) is usually attributed to the success of "Blues Suede Shoes" - and that of "Heartbreak Hotel."

The lyrics, "Security didn't see him" is probably a comment on the story that Bruce Springsteen once successfully scaled the wall at Graceland, trying to deliver a song he wrote. Apparently, Elvis wasn't there.

"There's catfish on table and gospel in the air" marks the dichotomy between secular and sacred. Catfish is the standard blues metaphor for sexual intercourse. (The word is also interchangeable with the slang expression for the female sex zones). "Catfish" thus would appeal to the bodily instincts, whereas "gospel" would be to the intellect. The metaphor gains more credence since Al Green supposedly renounced secular music after being scalded with grits by a jealous girlfriend.

The lyrics refer to the girl waiting in the Jungle Room. This was the name of the play area at Elvis' Graceland mansion where he and the crew would take care of business (TCB). (thanks, Gary - Thetford, England, for above 5)

Cher recorded this for her 1995 album It's a Man's World, and released it as a single in the UK, where it hit #11. In her version, Gabriel plays the piano instead of Muriel. It was used in the season 5 episode of The X Files called "The Post-Modern Prometheus," which was the only black and white episode of the show.

Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: God Shuffled His Feet
Released: 1993

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm Lyrics

Once there was this kid who
Got into an accident and couldn't come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when
The cars had smashed him so hard

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Once there was this girl who
Wouldn't go and change with the girls in the change room
But when they finally made her
They saw birthmarks all over her body
She couldn't quite explain it
They'd always just been there

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

But both the girl and boy were glad
Cause one kid had it worse than that

Cause then there was this boy whose
Parents made him come directly home right after school
And when they went to their church
They shook and lurched all over the church floor
He couldn't quite explain it
They'd always just gone there

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Writer/s: ROBERTS, BRAD
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm Song Chart

The song tells the story of three children whose strange experiences seem normal to them. The theme is the strength of the family unit.

The Crash Test Dummies are Canadian. They began as a cover group while lead singer Brad Roberts studied to be a professor in English literature. Roberts played guitar in the group but did not sing because he thought his voice was too deep. A vocal coach convinced him that he had a good, distinctive voice, and Roberts' deep baritone made this stand out on the radio. Even today, very few people sing as low as he does on rock records.

In 2000, Roberts was nearly killed in a car accident, but escaped with a broken arm before his car exploded. The band is named after the devices used to test the effects of car accidents on humans. They once toured with Alanis Morissette, who might consider this ironic.

This was a success on the adult album alternative (AAA) format that was gaining momentum at the time. Other artists who found success there are the Cranberries and Counting Crows.

This was the group's only US Top 40 hit, although three years earlier they had a big song with "Superman's Dead," which reached US #56 and sold over 400,000 copies in Canada.

Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison produced this. He has also produced other modern rock artists like Stroke 9, Live and No Doubt.

Between the title and the unconventional vocals, disc jockeys made lots of jokes about this when they played it. Some said it sounded like "Sylvester Stallone on Quaaludes."

The band released their first album in 1991 and put out the single "Superman's Song," which hit #56 in the US. "Superman's Song" was used as the B-Side of this.

As a result of this song, The Crash Test Dummies were nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy in 1994, even though they formed in the late '80s and released their first album in 1991.

This is the longest song title made up of one letter repeated. (thanks, Adam - Wrexham, Wales)

Like black licorice or the Grateful Dead, people tend to either love this or hate it. Despite its popularity, VH1 named it one of the "Top 50 worst songs of the '90s," outraging fans of the song. (thanks, Ricky - Cabot, AR)

The Crash Test Dummies once played at the MuchMusic awards singing "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody, "Headline News" with Yankovic. They both played the music and Brad Roberts sang in his low low voice. The Weird Al version calls for the sound of kazoos right at the end. Al wasn't expecting to have this feature live on stage when singing with Roberts, but was pleasantly surprised when all the Crash Test Dummies suddenly whipped out kazoos and started "quacking" through the end of the song. (thanks, Jason - Wairoa, New Zealand)

Rush - You Bet Your Life

Rush - You Bet Your Life Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Roll The Bones
Released: 1991

You Bet Your Life Lyrics

Just another hunter, like a wolf in the sun
Just another junkie on a scoring run
Just another victim of the things he has done
Just another day, in the life of a loaded gun

The odd get even, you name the game
The odds get even, the stakes are the same
You Bet Your Life

Just another winner, pours his life down the drain
Just another island in a hurricane
Just another loser, like a cat in the rain
Just another day, in the path of a speeding train

The odds get even, you name the game
The odds get even, the stakes are the same
You bet your life

Anarchist, reactionary, running-dog, revisionist
Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, creation, evolutionist
Rational, romantic, mystic, cynical, idealist
Minimal expressionist, post-modern, neo-symbolist

Armchair rocket scientist graffiti existentialist
Deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist
Be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop lite-pop-metallist
Gold adult contemporary urban country capitalist

Just another gypsy with a plastic guitar
Just another dancer with her eyes on the stars
Just another dreamer who was going too far
Just another drunk, at the wheel of a stolen car

The odds get even, you name the game
The odds get even, the stakes are the same
You bet your life

Writer/s: NEIL PEART, GEDDY LEE WEINRIB, ALEX LIFESON
Publisher: OLE MEDIA MANAGEMENT
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

You Bet Your Life

In this song the delay is synched to the tempo. In the November, 1991 issue of Guitar Player magazine, Alex Lifeson explained: "I did it originally, then Stephen (the engineer) added a little bit more DDL to one of the other cleaner guitars to give it more energy. The song seemed quite same as we went through different sections - something was lacking. We wanted to get the first verse seesawing a little more. Edge, from U2, is a pro at that." (thanks, Mike - Mountlake Terrace, Washington)

U2 - Until The End Of The World

U2 - Until The End Of The World Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Achtung Baby
Released: 1991

Until The End Of The World Lyrics

Haven't seen you in quite a while
I was down the hold just passing time
Last time we met was a low-lit room
We were as close together as a bride and groom
We ate the food, we drank the wine
Everybody having a good time
Except you
You were talking about the end of the world

I took the money
I spiked your drink
You miss too much these days if you stop to think
You lead me on with those innocent eyes
You know I love the element of surprise
In the garden I was playing the tart
I kissed your lips and broke your heart
You
You were acting like it was the end of the world

Love, love, love
Love
Love, love
Love, love, love
Love (love)
Love, love

In my dream I was drowning my sorrows
But my sorrows, they learned to swim
Surrounding me, going down on me
Spilling over the brim
Waves of regret and waves of joy
I reached out for the one I tried to destroy
You, you said you'd wait
'Til the end of the world

Writer/s: ADAM CLAYTON, DAVE EVANS, PAUL HEWSON, LARRY MULLEN
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Until The End Of The World Song Chart

Bono sang this as Judas in a biblical setting. It contains sexual imagery between Judas and Jesus that is open for interpretation.

U2 also released this on the Until The End Of The World soundtrack in 1991. Bono and film director Wim Wenders collaborated together on the soundtrack. They asked contemporary artists to imagine what they would sound like in 2001, the time that the film is set.

There is another version of this song on the Shalom 3 disc bootleg called "I Feel Free." (thanks, James - Knoxville, TN, for above 2)

This was used in the trailer for the 2000 movie Proof Of Life.

U2 played this when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Bono introduced the song by saying it was, "A little Pop diddy - a conversation between Jesus and Judas."

Although never released as a single, this song quickly became and still remains a fan favorite. (thanks, Leon - Waterbury, CT)

Rush - Heresy

Rush - Heresy Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Roll The Bones
Released: 1991

Heresy Lyrics

All around that dull gray world
From Moscow to Berlin
People storm the barricades
Walls go tumbling in

The counter-revolution
People smiling through their tears
Who can give them back their lives
And all those wasted years?
All those precious wasted years
Who will pay?

All around that dull gray world
Of ideology
People storm the marketplace
And buy up fantasy

The counter-revolution
At the counter of a store
People buy the things they want
And borrow for a little more
All those wasted years
All those precious wasted years
Who will pay?

Do we have to be forgiving at last?
What else can we do?
Do we have to say goodbye to the past?
Yes, I guess we do

All around this great big world
All the crap we had to take
Bombs and basement fallout shelters
All our lives at stake

The bloody revolution
All the warheads in its wake
All the fear and suffering
All a big mistake
All those wasted years
All those precious wasted years
Who will pay?

Writer/s: NEIL PEART, GEDDY LEE WEINRIB, ALEX LIFESON
Publisher: OLE MEDIA MANAGEMENT
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Heresy

This song is about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the fall of communism in Germany, ending 40 years of dictatorial Communist rule. The song also address the fall of communism in Moscow (Russia) and details the waste of time that pasted before freedom was brought to these places, the joy of democracy and emotions of the times.

In the February 1994 issue of Modern Drummer, Neil Peart said he heard the drum pattern when he was in Togo: "I was laying on a rooftop one night and heard two drummers playing in the next valley, and the rhythm stuck in my head. When we started working on the song I realized that beat would complement it well."

Geddy Lee (from the RTB CD Launch radio broadcast): "It's that horrible and wonderful moment all mixed into one when somebody realizes that they've been, you know, had their freedom removed for so many years, and they finally get it back. It must be such a bittersweet moment. All those years.... all those lives that were lost and all the struggle, all the people that were fighting, all the years, and suddenly.... it's all over. And what do they do about all the people that did not survive, who were not lucky enough to be around when the wall fell down. It's an unanswerable question, but it's certainly one to think about."

Alex Lifeson (Guitar Player, November 1991): "Occasionally we do things that are slightly out just to give a particular character to the music. On "Heresy" I'm playing my acoustics in the chorus - especially the second chorus - to get a 12-string, Byrds kind of sound. We wanted to create the effect of a bunch of guys sitting around playing who aren't quite in tune. You can hear it in the acoustic - particularly the [Gibson] J-55, which has a Nashville tuning. Of course you're gonna get that kind of fluctuation anyway when you're playing high up the neck, because the strings are so light." (thanks, Mike - Mountlake Terrace, Washington, for all above)

Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up

Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: C.M.B.
Released: 1991

I Wanna Sex You Up Lyrics

Come inside take off your coat I'll make you feel at home
Now let's pour a glass of wine cause now we're all alone
I've been waiting for you girl just let me hold you close to me
Cause I've been dying for you girl to make love to me

Girl you make me feel real good
We can do it til we both wake up
Girl you know I'm hooked on you
And this is what I'll do

I wanna sex you
All night
You make me feel good
I wanna rub you down
I Wanna Sex You Up

Let me take off all your clothes
Disconnect the phone so nobody knows
Let me light a candle
So we can make it better
Makin' love until we drown

Girl you know it feels real good
We can do it til we both wake up
Girl you know I'm hooked on you
And this is what I'll do

I wanna sex you up
Makin' love until we drown
I wanna sex you up

All I wanna do is
I wanna sex you up
All night
Girl you make me feel good
I wanna rub you down
I wanna sex you up

Make sweet lovin' all night long
I wanna sex you up
Feels so right it can't be wrong
Don't be shy girl rescue me
I wanna sex you up
Open up your heart and I'll set you free

Writer/s: STRAITE, ELLIOT/WRIGHT, BETTY REGINA/CLARKE, WILLIE
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Wanna Sex You Up Song Chart

This song's bass line is sampled from Betty Wright's "Tonight is the Night," which chronicles a young woman's very first "intimate encounter" with a man. In that song, which was recorded during a live performance, Ms. Wright is heard telling her audience the story of how she came to write the song, and how her mother did not exactly approve of her performing it in public. According to Ms. Wright, her mother, properly mortified by the song's subject matter, righteously exclaimed, "I KNOW you're not gonna sing THAT song!" That line ("I KNOW you're not gonna sing THAT song.") can be heard throughout "I Wanna Sex You Up." (thanks, Robin - Birmingham, AL)

This was the debut single for both the group and the record label, Giant Records. It was a huge hit, but it did offend the sensibilities of some listeners. At a few radio stations, they referred to the song as "I Wanna Love You Up."

This was written for the 1991 movie New Jack City starring Wesley Snipes and Ice-T. When they were looking for songs for the film, the producers wanted the modern R&B sound - "New Jack Swing" - that artists like Bobby Brown and Jodi Watley were using. To get it, they contacted the producer/songwriter Elliott Straite, who had written the Bell Biv Devoe hit "Poison."

They showed him the film and let him pick a scene to soundtrack; he chose one where the character Uniqua (Tracy Camilla Johns) does a striptease for Nino, the kingpin played by Snipes. He wrote this sexy song specifically for the scene.

Bryan Abrams, Kevin Thornton, Mark Calderon, and Sam Watters formed the group (originally called Take One) at Northwestern High School in Oklahoma City. They made their debut at a high school talent show singing a jingle from a jeans commercial. When they were starting out, the group was known for its impromptu auditions, having sung without notice to Ronnie Milsap, Huey Lewis, Sheila E, The O'Jays, Jon Bon Jovi, Kool & the Gang, and Tony! Toni! Tone!

Color Me Badd's next two singles went to #1 in the US - "I Adore Mi Amor" and "All 4 Love."

This was used on Color Me Badd's first album, and also on the New Jack City soundtrack. The version on the soundtrack is rougher and a little more raunchy, with a spoken interlude where one of the guys tells a girl to "just lay back and enjoy the ride."

Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour

Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: In The Midnight Hour
Released: 1965

In The Midnight Hour Lyrics

I'm gonna wait 'till the midnight hour
That's when my love come tumbling down
I'm gonna wait 'till the midnight hour
When there' no one else around
I'm gonna take you, girl, and hold you
And do all things I told you, In The Midnight Hour

Yes I am, oh yes I am
One thing I just wanna say, right here

I'm gonna wait till the stars come out
And see that twinkle in your eyes
I'm gonna wait 'till the midnight hour
That's when my love begins to shine

You're the only girl I know
Can really love me so, in the midnight hour

Oh yeah, in the midnight hour
Yeah, all right, play it for me one time, now

I'm gonna wait 'till the midnight hour
That's when my love come tumbling down
I'm gonna wait, way in the midnight hour
That's when my love begin to shine, just you and I
Oh, baby, just you and I
Nobody around, baby, just you and I
Oh, right, you know what?
I'm gonna hold you in my arms, just you and I
Oh yeah, in the midnight hour
Oh, baby, in the midnight hour

Writer/s: PICKETT, WILSON JR./CROPPER, STEVE
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

In The Midnight Hour Song Chart

Pickett wrote this with Steve Cropper, who wrote and produced many of the soul classics for Stax Records. Cropper played guitar on the Stax session band, Booker T. and The MGs.

Cropper recalled to Uncut in 2015: "I say in my shows that playing the guitar is real simple, you just follow the dots - the dots on neck on every guitar are in the same place. That's how I came up with the intro for this. They go, It couldn't be that simple,' then all of them go home and get their guitars out and go, 'Wow, it is!'"

Cropper and Pickett wrote this at the Lorraine Motel, which was located near the Stax studios in Memphis. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot there while standing on the balcony.

This was produced by Jerry Wexler with Booker T. & the MG's as the band. Booker T. and The MGs played on many Soul classics, and had a hit of their own with "Green Onions" in 1962.

Atlantic Records gave Pickett the nickname "The Wicked Pickett" after this was released. They used it to promote him, claiming he got it because of his prowess with the ladies. Pickett lived up to the nickname - he spent some time in jail and struggled with drug use before his death in 2006 at age 64.

This was Pickett's first hit. He went on to become a soul music legend and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Pickett also recorded "99 1/2" and "634-5789" at the Stax Studios, with backing by Booker T. and the MG's and the horns by the Bar-Kays.

When Pickett and Booker T and the MG's first tried to record the song, nobody liked the result - then Wexler had the idea to change the rhythm so that the teenagers could dance the jerk. According to Booker, the sight of Wexler demonstrating the dance to the band was most memorable and amusing. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for above 2)

In 1991, this was used in the movie The Commitments, which was about an Irish band who played the songs of American Soul singers. The movie helped introduce Pickett's music to a new audience.

Steve Cropper: "Wilson says he wrote the song but, you know, I listened to some old church stuff he sang on and he was singing 'See my Jesus in the midnight hour, see my Jesus in the midnight hour," over and over, and I said, 'I'm gonna see my girl in the midnight hour,' what about that?'"

Ozzy Osbourne - Flying High Again

Ozzy Osbourne - Flying High Again Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Diary of a Madman
Released: 1981

Flying High Again Lyrics

Got a crazy feeling I don't understand
'Gotta get away from here
Feelin' like I shoulda kept my feet on the ground
Waitin' for the sun to appear

Mamma's gonna worry
I been a bad bad boy
No use sayin' sorry
It's somethin' that I enjoy

'Cause you can't see what my eyes see
(I can see it, I can see it)
And you can't be inside of me, Flying High Again

I can see through mountains watch me disappear
I can even touch the sky
Swallowing colors of the sound I hear
Am I just a crazy guy (You bet)

Mamma's gonna worry
I been a bad bad boy
No use sayin' sorry
It's somethin' that I enjoy

If you could be inside my head
You'd see that black and white is read
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again come on and join me

Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again come on and join me

Daddy thinks I'm lazy he don't understand
Never saw inside my head
People think I'm crazy but I'm in demand
Never heard a thing I said

Mamma's gonna worry
I've been a bad bad boy
No use sayin' sorry
It's somethin' I enjoy

Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again
Flying high again

Writer/s: OSBORNE, RHODES, KERSLAKE, DAISLEY
Publisher: NEWMAN & COMPANY CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Flying High Again Song Chart

This song is about drug use, a subject Ozzy Osbourne knows very well. Until he went completely sober in 1991, Ozzy spent a lot of time under the influence.

The lyric, however, was written mostly by Bob Daisley , who was Ozzy's bass player and lyricist. Daisley says it was inspired by time when he was playing in Australia, and he got into a discussion about drugs with a "straight" fellow.

Although it was a big part of his life, few of Ozzy's songs are about drugs. "Road To Nowhere," from 1991, is about his life before he went sober, and two songs he did with Black Sabbath were about drugs: "Snowblind"(cocaine) and "Sweet Leaf"(Marijuana).

Speaking with Spin in 1986, Ozzy said: "When I was a drug addict, I used to write things like 'Flying High Again,' 'Snowblind,' all this s--t. And the other night, I thought, 'F--king' 'ell, I sing one song for it and then straight after I sing one song against it.' But the thing is, that's OK. Because that was where I was when I wrote that, so why shouldn't I do it? It's part of my life."

Randy Rhoads played guitar on this song and co-wrote it with Ozzy, Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake. Diary of a Madman is the last album Rhoads played on; he died the next year while the band was touring in Florida. Rhoads was in a small plane that started buzzing Ozzy's tour bus. It got too close, clipped the bus, and crashed into a house; killing Rhoads, the pilot, and the tour hairdresser.

This was included on Tribute, a double-album of live tracks featuring Rhoads on guitar. Ozzy selected the tracks with the help of Rhoads' mom, and released it in 1987.

In the UK, this song was released as a single, but it didn't chart.

The album was digitally remastered and re-released in 2002.

Vile covered this for the 1999 collection Land of the Wizard: A Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)

Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Waking Up The Neighbors
Released: 1991

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You Lyrics

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You Song Chart

This song is featured in the Kevin Costner movie Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, where it plays over the credits. It was written to order for the movie, initially by American film composer Michael Kamen, with the middle eight, break, outro and arrangement added by Adams and producer Mutt Lange. Adams used a line in the movie, "I do it for you..." as the basis for the song, and they had it written in about an hour.

Adams has said that initially, this song didn't meet with Hollywood approval, as the film company wanted the song to have instrumentation in line with the films' era - lutes, mandolins, and the like. The film company relented, but still buried the song midway through the credits, apparently unaware of the huge hit they had on their hands.

This is one of the most successful singles of all time, selling over 3 million copies. It was #1 for 16 weeks in the UK (from 13th July to 26th October 1991) and 7 weeks in the US. (thanks, Matthew - Shrewsbury, England)

A longer version of this song was used as the B-side to Adam's next single, "Can't Stop This Thing We Started."

This brought Adams a huge Adult Contemporary audience, but alienated many fans of his rock music. He continued to record dramatic ballads for romantic movies: In 1993, he sang "All For Love" with Rod Stewart and Sting for The 3 Musketeers, and in 1995 he recorded "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?" for Don Juan DeMarco.

This went to #1 in 30 countries. It also won a Grammy for Best Song Written Specifically For A Motion Picture Or For Television in 1992.

Some of the hits Mutt Lange produced before lending his talents to this track include "Back In Black" for AC/DC and "Photograph" by Def Leppard. Bryan Adams told us about working with Lange: "Mutt is great to work with because he is committed to making sure the songs have the best of everything before they go out into the world. We've had three number one records together and many good times, a true friend." (Check out our interview with Bryan Adams.)

Brandy covered this on her 1998 album Never Say Never. (thanks, Daisy - Ikast, Denmark)

Michael Kamen had originally wanted the song to be as if it were Maid Marian singing to Robin Hood. However, this initial version was deemed so bland that Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Lisa Stansfield all turned it down.

Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand

Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Rocket
Released: 1996

Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand Lyrics

Jan lays down and wrestles in her sleep
Moonlight spills on comic books
And superstars in magazines
An old friend calls and tells us where to meet
Her plane takes off from Baltimore
And touches down on Bourbon Street

We sit outside and argue all night long
About a god we've never seen
But never fails to side with me
Sunday comes and all the papers say
Ma Teresa's joined the mob
And happy with her full time job

Do do do do do do

Am I alive or thoughts that drift away?
Does summer come for everyone?
Can humans do as prophets say?
And if I die before I learn to speak
Can money pay for all the days I lived awake
But half asleep?

Do do do do do do

A life is time, they teach us growing up
The seconds ticking killed us all
A million years before the fall
You ride the waves and don't ask where they go
You swim like lions through the crest
And bathe yourself on zebra flesh

I've been downhearted baby,
I've been downhearted baby,
Ever since the day we met

Writer/s: JANE FEATHER, LEONARD FEATHER, CHRIS O CONNOR
Publisher: KOBALT MUSIC PUB AMERICA INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand

The hook samples the line, "I've been downhearted baby, ever since the day we met" from a live performance of B.B. King singing "How Blue Can You Get?," which can be heard on his 1971 album Live in Cook County Jail. That song was written by a British songwriter/music journalist named Leonard Feather, along with his wife Jane. They each shared composer credits on "Phone Booth" as a result of the sample.

This song was written and first recorded in 1991 by the group's lead singer, Chris O'Connor. His band The I-Rails spent the back half of the '80s playing gigs around Santa Monica, California, releasing four independent albums along the way. When they broke up in 1991, O'Connor used his friend's garage studio to record the Rocket album, which cost about $1,000 to make and was filled with songs dealing with his disaffection. Predictably, he got no takers and the album sat on the shelf.

O'Connor abandoned his music career and took a job as an air traffic controller at Los Angeles International Airport. In 1994, his passion for music returned and he sent out the remaining copies of the album he had made to various record companies. These unsolicited tapes rarely found the ears of a decision-maker, but Jonathan Daniel, an A&R man at Fiction Records, popped in the tape and gave it a listen. This song jumped out at him - "It's got tons of atmosphere" he recalled. Daniel played the tape for some other executives, and O'Connor got a deal with the Ergo division of Columbia Records, which released the album as Primitive Radio Gods - a far more exotic moniker than "Chris O'Connor."

"Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth" went to #1 on the Modern Rock charts and got considerable airplay on Top 40 radio. Needing a band to tour in support of the record, O'Connor enlisted his I-Rails bandmates, guitarist Jeff Sparks and drummer Tim Lauterio, to become the Primitive Radio Gods along with lead guitarist Luke McAuliffe. Sparks quit his day job - driving a beer truck - to join the band.

The title, which does not appear in the lyric, comes from a 1978 song by Bruce Cockburn called "Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand," which is on Cockburn's album Further Adventures Of. Chris O'Connor told us: "I had already finished the song and thought, 'That's It.' I threw 'standing' in front, but at the time I would have swore I lifted it word for word."

When we asked Chris O'Connor what this song is about, he replied: "A light that never goes out."

Originally, this song was released in Europe, where it failed to chart. In America, before the album was released, the song was used in the 1996 Jim Carrey movie The Cable Guy, which made it more appealing to radio stations loath to play songs by unknown artists.

In America, the song was not released as a single, so if you wanted to own it, you had to buy either the Rocket album or The Cable Guy soundtrack. Holding back release as a single made the song ineligible for the Billboard Hot 100, but it went to #10 on their Airplay chart.

The female vocals are by Mary Kay Fishell, who was in a Los Angeles-based group called The Convertibles.

An early version of this song contained a sample from the 1965 French film Alphaville which had to be removed when the sample didn't clear.

This is one of the more unusual hit songs ever recorded, complete with church bells, distortion, soft synth, a title that never appears in the lyrics, and a very brief chorus of "Do do do do do do."

When the band toured, it was on the strength of this hit, but the other songs in their setlist were more standard guitar-based blues. This discrepancy didn't play well live, and the band couldn't expand their following. One more single was distributed to radio stations: a track called "Motherf--ker." That one went nowhere, and the band was dropped from their label. In 2000, they resurfaced with a new album called White Hot Peach.

Directed by the GobTV collective, the music video was shot in London. Chris O'Connor was still working as an air traffic controller at the time, and called in sick three times so he could do the shoot. It did very well on MTV, which helped the song's fortunes considerably.

Def Leppard - Blood Runs Cold

Def Leppard - Blood Runs Cold Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Slang
Released: 1996

Blood Runs Cold Lyrics

I heard this line one time 'bout tryin' to save the world
But have you ever tried to save yourself
A wide-eyed suicide drive
Remains a fake
As if you'd ever
Ever go and make the same mistake
Strung out as the night comes crawlin'
Your halo of thorns is fallin'

[Chorus]
Blood Runs Cold
I feel it in my bones
But you don't know your time is up
Blood runs cold

Somebody somewhere is screamin' out the words
But do they ever really ease the pain
I guess what I'm trying to say
Is whose life is it anyway because livin'
Living is the best revenge
You can play
This fall from grace
I see your face
It's over

[Chorus]

From you love was kind
Resolved left scarred and blind
Wasted and naked in the wings

Denying twist of fate
Demanding Heaven's gate
Lying in wait above the wind

Strung out as the night comes crawlin'
Your halo of thorns is fallin'

[Chorus]

Blood runs cold
Blood runs cold

Writer/s: ELLIOTT/COLLEN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Blood Runs Cold

This song was inspired by the passing of Def Leppard's former lead guitarist Steve Clark, who died in 1991 from a combination of alcohol and multiple prescription drugs. The band previously paid tribute to their fallen axeman on the Adrenalize track, "White Lightning," which referenced Clark's nickname as he was always running around the stage. The American band Tesla, who opened for Def Leppard on their Hysteria tour, also honored the late guitarist with their 1991 Psychotic Supper track, "Song & Emotion."

Guitarist Phil Collen : "The backing track was influenced by some of the earlier Police songs and the middle section came about when Pete 'Woodroffe' said "Let's not have the standard, boring ol' middle eight, let's take the attention somewhere else and have a female solo vocal going off at the same time" so initially I put down a guide vocal and it did the trick so we kept it in the song."

"The other thing about the album, especially this track is the prominence of the bass guitar," he added. "Sav sounds great on this song! Almost like a featured solo, again, something we've never done before." (Source Deflepparduk.com )

Inner Circle - Bad Boys

Inner Circle - Bad Boys Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: One Way
Released: 1987

Bad Boys Lyrics

Bad Boys
Whatcha want, watcha want
Whatcha gonna do
When sheriff John Brown come for you
Tell me
Whatcha wanna do, whatcha gonna dooo
Yeaheah

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

When you were eight
And you had bad traits
You go to school
And learn the golden rule
So why are you
Acting like a bloody fool
If you get hot
You must get cool

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

You chuck it on that one
You chuck it on this one
You chuck it on your mother and
You chuck it on your father
You chuck it on your brother and
You chuck it on your sister
You chuck it on that one and
You chuck it on me

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Nobody naw give you no break
Police naw give you no break
Soldier naw give you no break
Not even you idren naw give you no break
Hehe

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Why did you have to act so mean
Don't you know you're human being
Born of a mother with the love of a father
Reflections come and reflections go
I know sometimes you want to let go
Hehehe
I know sometimes you want to let go

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

(You're too bad, you're too rude)
(You're too bad, you're too rude)

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

You chuck it on that one
You chuck it on this one
You chuck it on your mother and
You chuck it on your father
You chuck it on your brother and
You chuck it on your sister
You chuck it on that one and
You chuck it on me

Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you

Writer/s: IAN LEWIS
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Bad Boys

This song was recorded twice. The first version was on Inner Circle's 1987 album One Way, and a second version was recorded in 1989 for their 1991 album Identified. While Inner Circle worked on Identified, the television network FOX chose the second version of this song to be the theme for the reality TV show Cops, which premiered on March 11, 1989. As it drew larger and larger audiences all over the world, the song (that is the second recording) became a cultural hallmark, with the song representing anyone who was in trouble with the law.

When Cops was syndicated in Sweden at the turn of the decade, the song was released as a single there in 1991 and quickly reached #1. Soon it was a hit in many other European countries. It was not until 1993 when the song was issued as a single in the US. After the song's success in America, the band released an album in 1994 with this as the title track; the album won a Grammy in 1995 for Best Reggae Album.

In 1995, this was used for the soundtrack of the comedy film of the same name.

A completely different song with the exact same title was a hit in 1983 for Wham!

Bob Dylan - Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues

Bob Dylan - Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Bootleg Series
Released: 1991

Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues Lyrics

Well, I was feelin' sad and feelin' blue
I didn't know what in the world I was gonna do
Them Communists they was comin' around
They was in the air
They was on the ground
They wouldn't gimme no peace

So I run down most hurriedly
And joined up with the John Birch Society
I got me a secret membership card
And started off a-walkin' down the road
Yee-hoo, I'm a real John Bircher now
Look out you Commies

Now we all agree with Hitlers' views
Although he killed six million Jews
It don't matter too much that he was a Fascist
At least you can't say he was a Communist
That's to say like if you got a cold you take a shot of malaria

Well, I was lookin' everywhere for them gol-darned Reds
I got up in the mornin' 'n' looked under my bed
Looked in the sink, behind the door
Looked in the glove compartment of my car
Couldn't find 'em

I was lookin' high an' low for them Reds everywhere
I was lookin' in the sink an' underneath the chair
I looked way up my chimney hole
I even looked deep inside my toilet bowl
They got away

Well, I was sittin' home alone an' started to sweat
Figured they was in my T.V. set
Peeked behind the picture frame
Got a shock from my feet, hittin' right up in the brain
Them Reds caused it
I know they did, them hard-core ones

Well, I quit my job so I could work alone
Then I changed my name to Sherlock Holmes
Followed some clues from my detective bag
And discovered they was red stripes on the American flag
That ol' Betty Ross

Well, I investigated all the books in the library
Ninety percent of 'em gotta be burned away
I investigated all the people that I knowed
Ninety-eight percent of them gotta go
The other two percent are fellow Birchers, just like me

Now Eisenhower, he's a Russian spy
Lincoln, Jefferson and that Roosevelt guy
To my knowledge there's just one man
That's really a true American, George Lincoln Rockwell
I know for a fact he hates Commies 'cause he picketed the movie Exodus

Well, I fin'ly started thinkin' straight
When I run outta things to investigate
Couldn't imagine doin' anything else
So now I'm sittin' home investigatin' myself
Hope I don't find out anything, hm, great God

Writer/s: BOB DYLAN
Publisher: BOB DYLAN MUSIC CO
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues Song Chart

Dylan wrote this about the John Birch Society, an ultraconservative political organization formed in 1958 to fight Communist threats in the US. This is a parody of the organization, which Dylan thought was a threat to free speech because they accused anyone they didn't like of being a communist.

In the '50s and '60s, many famous musicians, including Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Doors and The Rolling Stones, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Dylan never did, and this is the song that kept him off. On May 12, 1963, he was scheduled to appear on the show, but refused to go on when they would not let him perform this.

Advance copies of the album Freewheelin' Bob Dylan included this song, but it was removed prior to the official release. It did not officially appear on an album until Bootleg Series in 1991. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL)

The Rolling Stones - Highwire

The Rolling Stones - Highwire Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Flashpoint
Released: 1991

Highwire Lyrics

We sell 'em missiles, we sell 'em tanks
We give 'em credit, you can call the bank
It's just a business, you can pay us in crude
You love these toys, just go play out your feuds
Got no pride, don't know whose boots to lick
We act so greedy, makes me sick sick sick

So get up, stand up, out of my way
I want to talk to the boss right away
Get up, stand up, whose gonna pay
I want to talk to the man right away

We walk the Highwire
Sending the men up to the front line
Hoping they don't catch the hell fire
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

We walk the highwire
Sending the men up to the front line
And tell 'em to hotbed the sunshine
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

Our lives are threatened, our jobs at risk
Sometimes dictators need a slap on the wrist
Another Munich we just can't afford
We're gonna send in the eighty-second airborne

Get up, stand up, who's gonna pay
I want to talk to the boss right away
Get up, stand up, outta my way
I want to talk to the man right away

We walk the highwire
Putting the world out on a deadline
And hoping they don't catch the shellfire
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

We walk the highwire
Putting the world out on a deadline
Catching the bite on prime time
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

Get up! Stand up!
Dealer! Stealer!

We walk the highwire
We send all our men into the front lines
We're hoping that we backed the right side
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

We walk the highwire
We send all the men up to the front lines
And hoping they don't catch the hellfire
With hot guns and cold cold, cold, cold,
Cold nights

We walk the highwire
We walk the highwire
With hot guns and cold, cold, cold nights

With hot guns and cold, cold nights

Writer/s: MICK JAGGER, KEITH RICHARDS
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Highwire Song Chart

The Stones recorded this for Flashpoint in 1991. The album consists of live recordings from their Steel Wheels tour followed by 2 new studio tracks, this and "Sex Drive."

The song is a commentary on the international arms trade and the events that led to the first US war with Iraq, which ended around the time this was released.

The first line - "We sell them missiles, we sell them tanks, we give them credit, you can call up the bank," was censored when The Stones performed it on the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops.

Bernard Fowler sang background vocals. Since the '90s, he has appeared on many Rolling Stones tracks. He has also worked with Yoko Ono, Sly & Robbie, Bootsy Collins, Duran Duran, Living Colour and Herb Alpert. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

Toad the Wet Sprocket - Walk on the Ocean

Toad the Wet Sprocket - Walk on the Ocean Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Fear
Released: 1991

Walk on the Ocean Lyrics

We spotted the ocean at the head of the trail
Where are we going, so far away
And somebody told me that this is the place
Where everything's better, everything's safe

Walk on the Ocean
Step on the stones
Flesh becomes water
Wood becomes bone

And half an hour later we packed up our things
We said we'd send letters and all those little things
And they knew we were lying but they smiled just the same
It seemed they'd already forgotten we'd came

Now we're back at the homestead
Where the air makes you choke
And people don't know you
And trust is a joke

We don't even have pictures
Just memories to hold
That grow sweeter each season
As we slowly grow old

Writer/s: DINNING, DEAN / GUSS, RANDAL / PHILLIPS, GLEN / NICHOLS, TODD
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Walk on the Ocean

Is the ocean a metaphor for heaven? Is the song about Jesus?

To answer these questions, we asked Toad the Wet Sprocket lead singer Glen Phillips , who writes their lyrics. He told us that the band's guitarist Todd Nichols had composed the music, so Glen bashed out a lyric for the demo in about five minutes. A few weeks earlier, he had taken a vacation with his wife to Orcas Island in Washington State, so he had images of cleansing water in his cortex. "I wrote down literally the first thing that came across my mind," he said. "The lyric and the chorus, I have no idea what it means, unfortunately. Then I tried rewriting it and nothing ever really worked. I tried to make the chorus mean something, and eventually said, 'Well, it sounds like I know what I'm talking about.' So we just left it as is. It was the least-conscious, least-crafted lyric."

The verses in this song tell a semblance of a story, but Phillips describes the chorus as "nonsense" (wood becomes bone?!).

He likens this songwriting style to Nirvana's where the song might not make much sense, but it makes you feel something.

Fear was Toad the Wet Sprocket's third album, and their breakthrough. Released in August 1991, the album picked up steam when radio stations started playing its second single, "All I Want." The anti-rape but often misinterpreted "Hold Her Down" was the next single, and that one flopped. "Walk on the Ocean" was then issued as the last single from the album, and it was a hit, reaching its peak chart position in January 1993.

Apparently, some people thought this was a Billy Joel song when they heard it. When Joel appeared on a Howard Stern town hall presentation in 2014, Stern asked the singer about it and said he was convinced it was one of Billy's songs when he heard it. Joel said he had never heard the song before.