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Rush - Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres

Rush - Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Hemispheres
Released: 1978

Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres Lyrics

Cygnus X-1 Book 2: Hemispheres

This song continues the story from Cygnus X-1 on the album A Farewell to Kings. It uses the Greek mythology of Apollo, the god of reason, and Dionysus, the god of love.

The followers of Apollo believe straight logic can lead them while the followers of Dionysus believe that love will lead them. Civil war ensues until the adventurer from Cygnus X-1 comes across this world. Since traveling through Cygnus X-1, a black hole, his body has been destroyed but he can still see and think. He becomes upset with the war and cries out to the people, Apollo, and Dionysus. The people hear his cry, stop fighting, unite, and proclaim the hero Cygnus, the god of balance.

Kicking off the Rush album Hemispheres, this song runs 18:08 and is an exemplar of the band's progressive rock leanings at the time. For their next album, Permanent Waves, they took a different approach, with more compact, tuneful songs like "The Spirit Of Radio" and "Freewill." These radio-friendly songs earned Rush a much wider audience.

According to Rush lead singer Geddy Lee, recording vocals for this song and the others on the Hemispheres album was a miserable experience, since they recorded the music first without making sure he could properly sing over the tracks.

The Clash - Cheapskates

The Clash - Cheapskates Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Give 'Em Enough Rope
Released: 1978

Cheapskates Lyrics

I have been a washer up
An' he has been a scrubber up
An' I seen him a picking up
Dog ends in the rain
An' he has never read a book
Though I told him to take a look
He lifted his pool hall cue
For another game
But it ain't no modern miracle
That we found the golden rule
What you can't buy you gotta steal
An' what you say can't steal you better leave

I don't like to hang about
In this lonely room
'Cause London is for going out
And trying to hear a tune
But people come pouncing up to me
And say what are you doing here
You're supposed to be a star
Not a cheapskate bleeding queer

Like a load of rats from a sinking ship
You slag us down to save your hip
But you don't give me the benefit
Of your doubt
'Cause I'll bite it off and spit it out

We're Cheapskates anything'll do
We're cheapskates what are we supposed to do?
An' we can rock
Hey hey let's roll
An' we can walk
An' do the stroll

Just because we're in a group
You think we're stinking rich
'N we all got model girls
Shedding every stitch
'N You think the cocaine's flowing
Like a river up our noses
'N every sea will part for us
Like the red one did for Moses

Well I hope you make it one day
Just like you always said you would some day
And I'll get out my money and make a bet
That I'll be seein' you down the launderette

Writer/s: JOE STRUMMER, MICK JONES, PAUL SIMONON, TOPPER HEADON
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Cheapskates

The lyrics to this song are a thinly veiled attack on the music press and critics of the time who took aim at The Clash in late 1977 and early 1978, accusing them of selling out and becoming decadent Rock Stars in the wake of their signing to major label CBS and producing their first album. The band are clearly angry over the assumption that they would change as they became more famous ("But people come poncing up to me and say what are you doing here? You're supposed to be a star, not a cheapskate bleeding queer), and at what they see as critics attacking the band to save their own image ("Like a load of rats from a sinking ship, you slag us down to save your hip").

A latter verse is dedicated to claiming that The Clash don't have the Rock Star trappings of money, sex and drugs - ironically though, many close to the group claim that the band did indeed mix with drugs rather often during the time - indeed, drummer Topper Headon would later be fired from the group in 1983 because of problems with severe drug addictions. At the time of the album's release in 1978, guitarist Mick Jones admitted to Garry Bushell that "the song was written during a heavy period of drug-taking. The lyrics are meant to be a satire on that."

Cheapskates was introduced into The Clash's live set in June 1978, and was played for the rest of the year before being dropped just before their first US tour.

Wishbone Ash - Stand And Deliver

Wishbone Ash - Stand And Deliver Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Smoke Without Fire
Released: 1978

Stand And Deliver Lyrics

Stand And Deliver

This song has been criticized for glorifying rape, but it is not a song about forced sex; it was inspired by the Alfred Noyes poem The Highwayman.

Wishbone Ash - You See Red

Wishbone Ash - You See Red Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Smoke Without Fire
Released: 1978

You See Red Lyrics

You See Red

This song was inspired by a personal relationship. After the band moved to the States, guitarist Laurie Wisefield became engaged to an American girl, but when they returned to England their relationship ran into difficulties.

The Clash - Drug-Stabbing Time

The Clash - Drug-Stabbing Time Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Give 'Em Enough Rope
Released: 1978

Drug-Stabbing Time Lyrics

Drug stabbing time
Well I got working on the Ford line
A paying off the big fine
Drug stabbin' time

Drug stabbin' time
Is from nine to nine
Nobody wants a user
Nobody needs a loser
So kick him out that door
An' don't answer it no more

Drug stabbin' time
It's a Greenwich Mean Time
Your friends all hate each other you think
You've got another
But who's at the door?
Don't answer it no more

Drug stabbin' time
In a bedroom crime
There's a tape recording on a telephone line
An' it's ringin' from the floor
So don't answer it no more

Now I was lying in my room
It was raining drugs all afternoon
I hear this car pull up outside
Comes to a stop like, skreeee

Someone's in a hurry
'N someone better worry
'Cos these four guys all had on their feet
A pair of black shoes shining and neat
I thinks

Black shoes on
No that's bad news
Here they come charging up the stairs alright
Sonny just tell us where

Drug stabbin' time
Don't ask me mate
Working on the ford line
Paying off the big fine
Drug stabbin' time

Writer/s: JOE STRUMMER, MICK JONES, PAUL SIMONON, TOPPER HEADON
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Drug-Stabbing Time

"Drug-Stabbing Time" was first demoed at the Clash's rehearsal space, Rehearsal Rehearsals, in January 1978 and so was one of the first songs written for second album Give 'Em Enough Rope.

The lyrics written by singer Joe Strummer are fiercely anti-drugs, and describe in great detail the paranoia they can induce - not just from usage, but from the fear of getting caught, as the subject of the song does in an elaborate police sting ("I hear this car pull up outside, Comes to a stop like, skreeee", "Blackshoes on, No that's bad news, Here they come charging up the stairs alright, Sonny just tell us where").

It's quite possible that Strummer had seen early rushes of the film Rude Boy, a film about a fictional roadie for The Clash and featuring lots of live Clash footage from 1977-79, where a subplot involves a drug bust. Or it's possible he was talking from personal experience - what makes the anti-drugs message ("Nobody wants a user, nobody needs a loser") hugely ironic is that members of the group, mainly guitarist Mick Jones, were heavily involved in drug usage at the time. Critic Marcus Gray noted that this fact serves "to rob it of much comedy value."

The song was debuted live on the On Parole tour in June 1978, and remained in the live set into 1979, which is better than most of the Give 'Em Enough Rope non-single tracks. The song was dropped after the Pearl Harbour tour, although it was revived for one last performance in Monterey in September 1979.

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John - You're The One That I Want Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Grease soundtrack
Released: 1978

You're The One That I Want Lyrics

You're The One That I Want

This plays at the finale of the movie Grease as John Travolta (Danny) and Olivia Newton-John (Sandy) overcome the social constraints of high school and declare their lust for each other. Like the title track, it was not in the original stage musical of Grease, but was written specifically for the movie. Also like the title track, it was a #1 hit in America, reaching the top spot on June 10, 1978. This is very impressive considering the movie was not released until June 16, making the song a hit on its own merits and providing tremendous anticipation for the film. The title track rode the movie's momentum to #1 on August 26, and stayed there for two weeks.

John Farrar wrote and produced this song. His choice gave Olivia Newton-John, who was very nervous about appearing in the film, a familiar collaborator who helped ease her fears. Farrar had written and produced many of her previous hits, including the US #1 "Have You Never Been Mellow."

This song was a massive hit in Britain, spending nine weeks at #1 and becoming the fifth biggest-selling single of all time in the UK, with about 2 million copies sold (according to a 2012 list compiled by the Official Charts company). "Summer Nights," another Travolta/Newton-John duet from the movie, was also very successful in the UK, staying at #1 for seven weeks.

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta were an interesting pairing for the film. Newton-John was a global singing star, but had little acting experience and was nervous about playing a high school girl at age 29. Travolta was a rising film star whose starring role in the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever made him a sensation. He had done some singing, most successfully with his 1976 single "Let Her In," which went to #10 in the US.

A slow, string-laden version of this song was released by the singer violinist Lo-Fang (Matthew Hemerlein) on his 2014 debut album Blue Film. His rendition was used in a popular commercial for Chanel No. 5. The spot was directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Gisele Bundchen.

Al Stewart - Time Passages

Al Stewart - Time Passages Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Time Passages
Released: 1978

Time Passages Lyrics

It was late in December, the sky turned to snow
All round the day was going down slow
Night like a river beginning to flow
I felt the beat of my mind go
Drifting into Time Passages
Years go falling in the fading light
Time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight

Well I'm not the kind to live in the past
The years run too short and the days too fast
The things you lean on are the things that don't last
Well it's just now and then my line gets cast into these
Time passages
There's something back here that you left behind
Oh time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight

Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn
Don't know why you should feel
That there's something to learn
It's just a game that you play

Well the picture is changing
Now you're part of a crowd
They're laughing at something
And the music's loud
A girl comes towards you
You once used to know
You reach out your hand
But you're all alone, in these
Time passages
I know you're in there, you're just out of sight
Time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight

Writer/s: DENIECE WILLIAMS, MAURICE WHITE
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Time Passages

Al Stewart didn't like this song. Here's what he said in an interview with acousticstorm.com: "I'll tell you a funny story. I have never really cared for that song I know it was a big hit and all that. It was just one of those things where the record company asked me to write something that sounded like "Year Of The Cat" and we ended up doing that. But I didn't realize truly how bad a song it was until one day I was in an elevator and I was listening to what I thought was Muzak. About 30 seconds went by, and I finally began to recognize it and said to myself, 'This sounds pretty horrible.' Then, horror of horrors, I heard my voice come on, it actually was the record. So I'm thinking, 'Oh my God what have I done, this is terrible!' Hopefully in the last 25 years I've redeemed myself with other things, but "Time Passages" has just never thrilled me."

Stewart wrote this with the guitarist Peter White, who started touring as a member of Stewart's band in 1975 and collaborated with him for the next 20 years. In June 2010, Peter told us: "Al and I wrote this song together in 1977. I had come up with the electric piano riff which starts the song and together we put together the verse and the chorus, based on that recurring riff. There was no attempt or even conversation about writing anything similar to 'Year Of The Cat' which Al wrote with Peter Wood. The words and melody were mostly from Al and the musical bed and instrumental breaks were mostly my ideas and even if Al says he doesn't like the song, he has been playing it onstage consistently for the last 32 years! As soon as we added the saxophone in the studio there were obvious comparisons to YOTC. (The saxophonist was Phil Kenzie, who had also played the stellar solo on YOTC). But to say that the song was written to satisfy the record company - that was an issue that never even came up! And yes I'm very proud of this song, which still gets radio airplay every day!" (Learn more about Peter at www.peterwhite.com .)

The Clash - Jail Guitar Doors

The Clash - Jail Guitar Doors Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Clash US
Released: 1978

Jail Guitar Doors Lyrics

Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine
A little more every day
Holding for a friend till the band do well
Then the D.E.A. locked him away

Clang clang, go the Jail Guitar Doors
Bang bang, go the boots on the floor
Cry cry, for your lonely mother's son
Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors

An' I'll tell you 'bout Pete, didn't want no fame
Gave all his money away
"Well there's something wrong, it'll be good for you, son"
And so they certified him insane

And then there's Keith, waiting for trial
Twenty-five thousand bail
If he goes down you won't hear his sound
But his friends carry on anyway
Fuck 'em!
Jail guitar doors
Fifty four/forty six was my number
Jail guitar doors
Right now someone else has that number

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / SIMONON, PAUL / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Jail Guitar Doors

"Jail Guitar Doors" started life as a song written by singer Joe Strummer for his previous band, the 101ers, either as presently titled or given the different title "Lonely Mother's Son" - reports vary. Strummer brought the song with him to The Clash, but wasn't comfortable with playing it in his new band as he wanted a totally clean cut from the past. It was only in late 1977 that guitarist Mick Jones revisited the song and rewrote the lyrics, eventually having the band re-record it at CBS Studios in September of that year. Roadie Johnny Green remembers the session, and stated that "that funny noise at the beginning is the hi-hat, which was bent. We amplified it right up and everyone loved it."

Musically, the song takes cues from the New York Dolls' back catalogue, as well as David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel." The closing refrain is a direct lift of Toots and the Maytals' "54-46 That's My Number."

The three verses tell the story of one guitarist who gets in trouble for drug possession, which ties together with the sadness and regret of the chorus; seeing people you look up to throw their lives away in such fashion ("Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors, bang bang, go the boots on the floor").

The first verse mentions a character called Wayne ("Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine, a little more every day"), which is likely a reference to the MC5's Wayne Kramer.

The second verse discusses the fate of a Peter ("An' I'll tell you 'bout Pete, didn't want no fame, gave all his money away"), which is more than likely Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green.

The final verse is about a Keith ("And then there's Keith, waiting for trial, twenty-five thousand bail") which is very clearly The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards.

All three men were guitar heroes of Mick Jones growing up, so it would make sense that the "what a shame" feel of the lyrics would relate to Jones' own feelings upon seeing his childhood heroes locked up. After his own drug bust in July 1978, Jones would add a fourth verse into live performances discussing his hope that he doesn't end up meeting the same fate as his heroes.

The first live performance of the song came in Zurich in October 1977, a month after it was recorded, and it remained a solid feature of The Clash's live set for the next 18 months (including with Jones' self-inflicted extra verse after July 1978). It would later be released as the B-side to the "Clash City Rockers" single in 1978, and would only appear on the US version of The Clash's self-titled first album. It would eventually get a UK release on Super Black Market Clash, and in the enormous Singles Box compilation in 2006.

A number of artists have covered this song, including the Rockabilly band The Caravans in 2003, and Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke for his first solo album Pawnshop Guitars in 1994. This version featured other members of Guns N' Roses, as well as Pixies vocalist Frank Black and freelance guitarist Ryan Roxie.

The popular folk musician Billy Bragg used the title "Jail Guitar Doors" as the name for his independent initiative with the aim of providing musical equipment and funding recording projects in prisons and for ex-inmates to help use music as a way of rehabilitating prisoners and ex-convicts. A US version of the Jail Guitar Doors initiative was set up by Wayne Kramer (apropos considering his name-check in the original song) with much the same aim: to use music and performing to help rehabilitate prisoners and cut down on prison violence.

The Who - Trick Of The Light

The Who - Trick Of The Light Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Who Are You?
Released: 1978

Trick Of The Light Lyrics

Trick Of The Light

Who bass player John Entwistle wrote this song about a man who believes a hooker loves him, at least until his time is up.

The guitar-like assault throughout is actually Entwistle's heavily distorted eight-string Alembic bass.

The Village People -Y-M-C-A-

The Village People - Y.M.C.A. Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Cruisin'
Released: 1978

Y-M-C-A- Lyrics

Y.M.C.A.

Y.M.C.A. stands for "Young Men's Christian Association," which is commonly associated with the gyms that often provide temporary housing to men. The Village People sing about the YMCA as a place where you can hang out with all the boys. It's implied that this is more of a concealed kind of place to gather in-the-closet gay young men so they can leave their worries and troubles behind and let loose. While the lyrics don't contain any specific gay references, the song became a gay anthem.

Producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo in 1977 assembled a group designed to attract gay audiences while parodying (some claimed exploiting) that same constituency's stereotypes. Songwriters Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead were tabbed to compose songs with gay underpinnings, and roles and costumes were carefully selected; among them were a cowboy, biker, soldier, policeman, and construction worker complete with hard hat.

The songwriting credit on "Y.M.C.A" goes to Morali, Belolo and Victor Willis, who was the policeman in the group.

A common misconception was that Village People were an all-gay troupe. Only cowboy Dave Forrest and indian Felipe Rose were gay; the rest were straight, but they all played gay stereotype roles because the group was marketed to the GLBT community associated with disco at the time. Looking back, it's kind of ridiculous to think that discos were "a gay thing" (nobody was having suspicions of, say, John Travolta), but people didn't think very hard about these things in 1978.

This song has a dance associated with it where people form the letters with their arms. It is commonly performed at weddings and other celebrations, and is extremely popular as it's very easy to do. The Village People introduced the dance moves when they performed the song, and over the years they have sometimes given instructions on how to do it correctly. They say the most common mistakes are in the M and the C: the M is correctly made by touching your fingers in front of you, not by putting your fingers on your shoulders like you're calling a 20-second timeout. The C goes wrong when dancers make the gesture to the right, which to the audience looks flopped. The correct way to make the C is to the left, so it looks like a C to people facing you.

The Village People made a video for this song, which was rare for American acts in 1978, since there was no MTV. In Europe, however, there were many more places to show videos, and that's where the Village People clip got the most views. When MTV launched in 1981, they played a lot of videos from British acts and a few they had from American acts like Devo, but the Village People apparently didn't fit their format.

In 2008, Spin magazine asked some of the Village People about this song. Here are some of the responses:
Randy Jones (cowboy): When I moved to New York in 1975, I joined the McBurney YMCA on 23rd Street. I took Jacques (Morali) there three or four times in 1977, and he loved it. He was fascinated by a place where a person could work out with weights, play basketball, swim, take classes, and get a room. Plus, with Jacques being gay, I had a lot of friends I worked out with who were in the adult-film industry, and he was impressed by meeting people he had seen in the videos and magazines. Those visits with me planted a seed in him, and that's how he got the idea for "Y.M.C.A." - by literally going to the YMCA.

David Hodo (construction worker): We had finished our third album Cruisin', and we needed one more song as a filler. Jacques wrote "Y.M.C.A." in about 20 minutes - the melody, the chorus, the outline. Then he gave it to Victor Willis and said, "Fill in the rest." I was a bit skeptical about some of our hits, but the minute I heard "Y.M.C.A.," I knew we had something special. Because it sounded like a commercial. And everyone likes commercials. "Y.M.C.A." certainly has a gay origin. That's what Jacques was thinking when he wrote it, because our first album [1977's Village People] was possibly the gayest album ever. I mean, look at us. We were a gay group. So was the song written to celebrate gay men at the YMCA? Yes. Absolutely. And gay people love it."

When Spin asked Y.M.C.A. media relations manager Leah Pouw about this song, she replied: "We at the Y.M.C.A. celebrate the song. It's a positive statement about the Y.M.C.A. and what we offer to people all around the world."

This is a very popular song at sporting events, especially baseball games where it is often played between innings. The song plays at Yankee Stadium when the grounds crew dredges the infield. The crew stops to perform that arm gestures at the appropriate times.

The Village People saw this song as no more than an album filler, but Neil Bogart, the president of their record label, saw its potential and made the decision to push it.

The YMCA re-branded its name and logo to its popular nickname, "The Y" on July 11, 2010. The name switch came after research indicated many people didn't understand what the organization did. Village People fans breathed a sigh of relief when the lead singer of the original group, Victor Willis, released a statement to say the change won't affect the song. He added that the dance that goes along with it, in which participants use their arms to make the shape of each letter, is here to stay as well.

Structurally, this is very similar to the first Village People single, "San Francisco (You've Got Me)." Both songs build to a pronounced, 4-syllable chant: Y-M-C-A, San-Fran-Cisc-O.

Jacques Morali wrote the music and produced both tracks, so this makes sense. The lyricists were different, however, as lead singer Victor Willis had replaced Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead in this role - something that earned him a great deal in royalties. According to Hurtt , Willis threatened to quit if Phil was brought back to write lyrics. When Willis left the group, Hurtt was called back to write lyrics for the songs in the 1980 Village People movie Can't Stop the Music.

Various versions of the song have been used in a series of UK television adverts for British price comparison website Confused.com since 2010. The commercials use the music as a familiar tune to which several distinct new lyrics have been added.

On December 31, 2008, Guinness World Records certified the Village People performance at halftime of the Sun Bowl between Oregon State and Pittsburgh in El Paso as the largest YMCA dance ever, with 40,148 fans doing the moves, minus a few guys who didn't feel comfortable making letter gestures in the beer line.

Dean Friedman - Lydia

Dean Friedman - Lydia Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Well Well Said The Rocking Chair
Released: 1978

Lydia Lyrics

Lydia

Dean Friedman said of this song: "I wrote it about a lovely young lady I dated when I was just starting out in the music biz, but I used her roommates name to protect the not-so-innocent."

Friedman's first single was "Ariel," which was a hit in America, but didn't catch on in the UK. His second album, Well Well Said The Rocking Chair, produced the #3 UK hit "Lucky Stars," and also the #31 "Lydia," but neither song made the American charts. In our 2012 interview with Dean Friedman , he explained what happened with his label, Lifesong Records: "Their subsidiary in the UK just said, 'Well, we've done as much as we can. If you're not going to share in the cost of continuing to break this artist, there's not much more we can do.' And at that point I just decided that I needed to part with the label. I had delivered four successive chart records around the world. Sold at least a million units. And I was still borrowing money to get to the studio. I was always very aware that I was on small labels that were not in a position to maximize the opportunity."

Friedman ended up declaring bankruptcy, but was a consistent draw in the UK, where he would tour for about two months every year. He moved there in 1998.

Jimmy Buffett - Son of a Son of a Sailor

Jimmy Buffett - Son of a Son of a Sailor Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Son of a Son of a Sailor
Released: 1978

Son of a Son of a Sailor Lyrics

Son of a Son of a Sailor

Buffett wrote this about his grandfather, James Delaney Buffett, who was a huge influence on his life. Buffett's grandfather was a sailor born in the town of Rose Blanche in Newfoundland, Canada, later moving to Glace Bay in Nova Scotia and eventually settling in Mobile, Alabama.

This was the only song Jimmy Buffett performed in his only appearance on Saturday Night Live. He had to do it sitting down with his leg propped up in a cast after breaking it in a motorcycle accident earlier that week.

Kate Bush - Hammer Horror

Kate Bush - Hammer Horror Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Lionheart
Released: 1978

Hammer Horror Lyrics

You stood in the belltower,
But now you're gone.
So who knows all the sights
Of Notre Dame?

They've got the stars for the gallant hearts.
I'm the replacement for your part.
But all I want to do is forget
You, friend.

Hammer Horror, Hammer Horror,
Won't leave me alone.
The first time in my life,
I leave the lights on
To ease my soul.
Hammer Horror, Hammer Horror,
Won't leave it alone.
I don't know,
Is this the right thing to do?

Rehearsing in your things,
I feel guilty.
And retracing all the scenes,
Of your big hit,
Oh, God, you needed the leading role.
It wasn't me who made you go, though.
Now all I want to do is forget
You, friend.

Hammer Horror, Hammer Horror,
Won't leave me alone.
The first time in my life,
I leave the lights on
To ease my soul.
Hammer Horror, Hammer Horror,
Won't leave it alone.
I don't know,
Is this the right thing to do?

Who calls me from the other side
Of the street?
And who taps me on the shoulder?
I turn around, but you're gone.

Writer/s: Bush, Kate
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Hammer Horror

The song is about two actors who are friends. One is playing the lead role in a production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a part he's read all of his life and has been waiting for a chance to play. After many rehearsals he accidentally dies and his friend is asked to take over the role,which he does because his own career is on the line. The dead man comes back to haunt him because he doesn't want him to have the role, believing that he is taking away the only chance he ever had in life. The actor is saying, "Leave me alone, it's not my fault. I have to take this role but I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do because the ghost won't leave me alone and is really freaking me out. I see him at every corner."

This was inspired by James Cagney playing the role of Lon Chaney as the hunchback-he was an actor in an actor in an actor, rather like Chinese boxes, and that was what Kate was trying to create.

Kate Bush - Moving

Kate Bush - Moving Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Kick Inside
Released: 1978

Moving Lyrics

Moving stranger does it really matter?
As long as you're not afraid to feel
Touch me, hold me, how my open arms ache
Try to fall for me

How I'm moved, how you move me
With your beauty's potency
You give me life, please don't let me go
You crush the lily in my soul

Moving liquid, yes, you are just as water
You flow around all that comes in your way
Don't think it over, it always takes you over
And sets your spirit dancing

How I'm moved, how you move me
With your beauty's potency
You give me life, please don't let me go (please don't let me go)
You give me life, please don't let me go (please don't let me go)
Oh, you give me life, please don't let me go
You crush the lily in my soul
Soul

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

Moving

Bush wrote this song for her dance teacher Lindsay Kemp. It's about how a person discovers free expression.

The inspiration for this song came also from whales. Kate thought that they were graceful and sang beautifully. Whale song is heard at the opening of the track.

While "Wuthering Heights" was the first single from Bush's debut album in the UK and most of the world, this song was the first released in Japan and reached #1 in that country. Oddly enough,it did not chart anywhere else.

Public Image Ltd. - Public Image

Public Image Ltd. - Public Image Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Public Image
Released: 1978

Public Image Lyrics

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.
Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.
You never listen to word that I said
You only seen me
For the clothes that I wear
Or did the interest go so much deeper
It must have been
The colour of my hair.

Public Image.
What you wanted was never made clear
Behind the image was ignorance and fear
You hide behind his public machine
Still follow the same old scheme.

Public image.
Two sides to every story
Somebody had to stop me
I'm not the same as when I began
I will not be treated as property.

Public image.
Two sides to every story
Somebody had to stop me
I'm not the same as when I began
It's not a game of Monopoly.

Public image.
Public image you got what you wanted
The Public Image belongs to me
It's my entrance
My own creation
My grand finale
My goodbye

Public image.
Public image.
Goodbye.

Writer/s: LEVENE, KEITH/WARDLE, JOHN/LYDON, JOHN/WALKER, JAMES
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Public Image

Lead singer Johnny Lydon wrote this song while he was still with The Sex Pistols. He was extremely unhappy at the time and thought that he and his fellow Sex Pistols were abused and manipulated by band manager Malcolm McClaren. Public Image, Ltd. was his new group, and it was designed to be a business venture as well as a band (thus the name that sounds like a corporation).

With The Sex Pistols, Lydon was known as "Johnny Rotten." He used his real name for this group. When Public Image Ltd. (also known as PiL) first started, everyone was looking for Sex Pistols version 2.0 and Lydon was not having it. He wanted a completely different image and sound for the new band.

Danish popsters Alphabeat covered this on their 2008 self-titled debut album. Guitarist and chief songwriter Anders Bonlokke explained to Q magazine July 2008: "To me, that song is about being outsiders, and that's how we feel among all the Indie bands in London. I think John Lydon would probably hate it."

This song finds Lydon starting afresh and going deeper after the Pistols. He told Mojo magazine August 2012: "I think it was clear: 'I don't need to repeat where I stand politically, not ever again. Now let's deal with the personal politics, sort myself out, get rid of the wrong things in me.' You can change everything that's wrong with your enemy by changing yourself first."

Kate Bush - The Kick Inside

Kate Bush - The Kick Inside Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Kick Inside
Released: 1978

The Kick Inside Lyrics

I've pulled down my lace and the chintz.
Oh, do you know you have the face of a genius?
I'll send your love to Zeus.
Oh, by the time you read this,
I'll be well in touch.

I'm giving it all in a moment or two.
I'm giving it all in a moment, for you.
I'm giving it all, giving it, giving it.
This kicking here inside
Makes me leave you behind.
No more under the quilt
To keep you warm.
Your sister I was born.
You must lose me like an arrow,
Shot into the killer storm.

You and me on the bobbing knee.
Didn't we cry at that old mythology he'd read!
I will come home again, but not until
The sun and the moon meet on yon hill.

I'm giving it all in a moment or two.
I'm giving it all in a moment, for you.
I'm giving it all, giving it, giving it.
This kicking here inside
Makes me leave you behind.
No more under the quilt
To keep you warm.
Your sister I was born.
You must lose me like an arrow,
Shot into the killer storm.

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

The Kick Inside

This is about a brother and sister who fall desperately in love with each other. When she becomes pregnant by her own brother, she commits suicide. The song itself is the suicide note. She does not want her brother to be hurt or her family to go through the unspeakable shame of incest. The note (or song) is telling her brother not to feel responsible for her death: "I'm giving it all in a moment or two, giving it all in a moment for you. This kicking here inside, makes me leave you behind. No more under the quilt to keep you warm. Your sister I was born, you must lose me like an arrow shot into the killer storm."

This song was inspired by an old traditional English-Scottish song titled "Lucy Wan."

Some were surprised at the 19-year-old, convent-schooled Kate Bush writing a song with the controversial topic of brother-sister incest. She told Q magazine's Phil Sutcliffe that keeping constant faith with the characters that she'd created was important, and she didn't judge them.

Tom Waits - Romeo Is Bleeding

Tom Waits - Romeo Is Bleeding Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Blue Valentine
Released: 1978

Romeo Is Bleeding Lyrics

Romeo Is Bleeding

Waits liked to snatch stories from the street. Like the time he and this then girlfriend, Rickie Lee Jones, were flagged down by a group of Mexican gang members. "Because of how Tom looked at the time - the tattoos, the hat - I guess these guys felt safe to talk to him," recalled Jones to the July 2011 edition of Mojo magazine. "one of them asked him where the hospital was. He glanced into the back seat, and there was a kid back there bleeding. A lot of blood. He wrote 'Romeo Is Bleeding' soon after."

This is the song that provided the title for the Gary Oldman movie about a crooked cop.

The album cover features Waits' then girlfriend Rickie Lee Jones.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Was I Right Or Wrong

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Was I Right Or Wrong Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Skynyrd's First And... Last
Released: 1978

Was I Right Or Wrong Lyrics

Like a restless leaf in the autumn breeze,
Once, I was a tumbleweed
Like a rolling stone, cold and all alone,
Livin' for the day my dream would come

Never cared for school or any golden rules
Papa used to always say I was a useless fool
So I left my home to show 'em they was wrong
And headed out on the road, singin' my songs

Then one sunny day, the man, he looked my way
And everything that I dreamed of, it was real
Money, girls, and cars and big long cigars
And I caught the first plane home so Papa would see

When I went home to show 'em they was wrong
All that I found was two tombstones
Somebody tell me, please, Was I Right Or Wrong?
Lord, it's such a sad song

At first I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I loved were in the ground
Papa, I only wish you could see me now
Take a listen Papa, I learned how to play my guitar, superstar
Play one for momma now

If there's any way that you can hear what I say
Papa, I never meant to do you wrong
All the money, girls, and cars,
And all the world's long cigars,
Papa, I just want you to know,
They couldn't take your place

When I went home to show 'em they was wrong,
All that I found was two tombstones
Somebody tell me please, was I right or wrong?
Lord, it's such a sad song
At first I got lost, then I got found
But the ones that I loved were in the ground
Somebody tell me, please, was I right or wrong?

Writer/s: VAN ZANT, RONNIE / ROSSINGTON, GARY ROBERT
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Was I Right Or Wrong

When Lynyrd Skynyrd started out, they recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama, where they recorded an album in 1972 that contained this song. According to Roger Hawkins and David Hood, who were part of the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, no record company would pick up the album because the demo reel with the album somehow got flipped when it left the studio, and when Skynyd's manager played it for record executives, it sounded muffled. The band ended up recording a new version of their album in Georgia with Al Kooper, which became their 1973 debut Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd. "Was I Right Or Wrong" didn't appear until 1978 when the album Skynyrd's First and... Last, which contained their original Muscle Shoals recordings.

When the album Second Helping was re-released, this was added to the album.

The song is about leaving home to follow your dreams only to return to a family that is deceased. It is not a reference to Ronnie's father, Lacy Van Zant, who is often referred to as the "Father of Southern Rock."

George Harrison - Dark Sweet Lady

George Harrison - Dark Sweet Lady Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: George Harrison
Released: 1978

Dark Sweet Lady Lyrics

Dark Sweet Lady

Harrison wrote this about Olivia, his second wife who happens to be Mexican American. It shows that he found someone he really loved and cared for.

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: City To City
Released: 1978

Baker Street Lyrics

Winding your way down on Baker Street
Lite in your head, and dead on your feet
Well another crazy day, you drink the night away
And forget about everything
This city desert makes you feel so cold
Its got so many people but its got no soul
And it's taken you so long to find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything.
You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you're tryin, you're tryin now
Another year and then you'd be happy
Just one more year and then you'd be happy
But you're cryin', you're cryin' now
Way down the street there's a light in his place
You open the door, he's got that look on his face
And he asks you where you've been, you tell him who you've seen
And you talk about anything
He's got this dream about buyin' some land
He's gonna give up the booze and the one night stands
And then he'll settle down, it's a quiet little town
And forget about everything
But you know he'll always keep moving
You know he's never gonna stop moving
'Cause he's rollin
He's the rolling stone
And when you wake up it's a new morning
The sun is shining, it's a new morning
And you're going, you're going home

Writer/s: GERRY RAFFERTY
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Baker Street

This is the most sentimental of all Gerry Rafferty's songs. It is about a man who dreams of owning a house and living away from his neighborhood, but he is a drunk, and cannot achieve that goal. He drinks to forget what he doesn't have, and never realizes he's a rolling stone with no direction.

Rafferty was a member of Stealers Wheel, who had a hit in 1973 with "Stuck In The Middle With You." His first band was a folk duo called "The Humblebums." His singing partner was the famous Scot comedian Billy Connelly.

Baker Street is a real street in London; Rafferty often stayed with a friend who lived there.

The song was the Scottish singer's first release after the resolution of legal problems surrounding the acrimonious breakup of his band Stealers Wheel in 1975. In the intervening three years, Rafferty had been unable to release any material due to disputes about the band's remaining contractual recording obligations, and his friend's Baker Street flat was a convenient place to stay as he tried to extricate himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts. Rafferty explained to Martin Chilton at the Daily Telegraph: "Everybody was suing each other, so I spent a lot of time on the overnight train from Glasgow to London for meetings with lawyers. I knew a guy who lived in a little flat off Baker Street. We'd sit and chat or play guitar there through the night."

In the last verse, Rafferty expresses his exhilaration as his legal and financial frustrations are finally resolved:

When you wake up it's a new morning
The sun is shining, it's a new morning
You're going, you're going home

Raphael Ravenscroft played the sax solo. Rafferty wrote the song with an instrumental break, but didn't have a specific instrument in mind. Hugh Murphy, who produced the track, suggested a saxophone, so they brought in Ravenscroft to play it. Ravenscroft has played on records by Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Abba, Alvin Lee and many others.

See a photo and learn more about Baker Street .

This was performed at the end of The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Sax," when she receives a new saxophone after her old one was destroyed. While the sax solo plays, clips of her playing the old sax are shown.

One of the most famous residents of Baker street is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. He lived at 221-B Baker Street.

In 1992 the UK group Undercover reached #2 in the British charts with their cover of this song. Their name was apt as their only other UK Top 20 hit was another cover, this time of Andrew Gold's "Never Let Her Slip Away." Both original versions were in the UK Top 20 in April 1978. Undercover's keyboardist Steve McCutcheon, also known as Steve Mac, later teamed up with Wayne Hector to form a successful songwriting partnership including some of Westlife's UK #1s.

This song was covered by the rock band Foo Fighters, who reworked it with the famous sax line replaced with a guitar. They performed the song on occasion and issued their version as the B-side to some releases of "My Hero." In 2007, the song was included on the 10th anniversary reissue of their album The Colour and the Shape.

Ravenscroft was reportedly paid only £27 for his sax contribution. The check that he was given bounced, so the musician framed the useless payment and hung it on his solicitor's wall.

Speaking in a 2011 radio interview, Ravenscroft said the song riled him. "I'm irritated because it's out of tune," he said. "Yeah, it's flat. By enough of a degree that it irritates me at best."

The period of 1977-1982 produced from very memorable soft rock songs that made their way onto playlists decades later. This genre came to be known, sometimes dismissively, as "Yacht Rock," with this song often cited as an exemplar.

More so than most, "Baker Street" resonates with listeners, drawing out strong emotions. Nicholas Niespodziani of the Yacht Rock Revue told us about performing the song: "'Baker Street' is really all about the sax riff, which actually, is not an exceedingly difficult sax riff to play, but one that brings out emotions in people that they didn't think they had. You play that in front of a crowd of dudes that hadn't heard it performed live before, and they get just wild. They get the crazy eye."