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The Rolling Stones - Out Of Time

The Rolling Stones - Out Of Time Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Aftermath
Released: 1966

Out Of Time Lyrics

You don't know what's going on
You've been away for far too long
You can't come back and think you are still mine
You're out of touch, my baby
My poor discarded baby
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're Out Of Time

Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
You are all left out
Out of there without a doubt
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're out of time

A girl who wants to run away, discovers that she's had her day
It's no good thinking that you are still mine
You're out of touch, my baby, my poor unfaithful baby
I said baby, baby, baby you're out of time

Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
You are all left out
Out of there without a doubt
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're out of time

You thought you were a clever girl giving up your social whirl
But you can't come back and be the first in line
You're obsolete, my baby, my poor old fashioned baby
I said baby, baby, baby you're out of time

Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Yes, you are all left out
Out of there without a doubt
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're out of time

Baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time

Writer/s: RICHARDS, KEITH / JAGGER, MICK
Publisher: Abkco Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Out Of Time Song Chart

In this song, Mick Jagger sings about snubbing a girl who wants him back. Getting the upper hand in a relationship was becoming a common theme with The Stones.

In England, this was a #1 hit for Chris Farlowe in 1967. Farlowe also covered The Stones' "Think" and "Ride On, Baby." Farlowe's cover, (which was produced by Mick Jagger), is the only Jagger/Richards written chart topper in the UK performed by another act. (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)

This was left off the US version of Aftermath. A different version was included on the compilation album Flowers.

Brian Jones played the marimbas. He played many unusual instruments for the Stones until his death in 1969.

The Stones released a symphonic version on their album Metamorphosis. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

Sleater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends

Sleater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Cities To Love
Released: 2014

Bury Our Friends Lyrics

Today I am stitched, I am sewn
Patch me up, I've got want in my bones
Like some doll you thought you could throw away
I found my legs

Ready to climb out from under concrete
Only I get to be sickened by me
My body a smudge
Can't make out the details
Want to start over and come into being

Exhume our idols and Bury Our Friends
We're wild and weary but we won't give in
We're sick with worry
These nerve less days
We live on dread in our own guilded age

This dark world is precious to me
My scars make me breathe in so deep
My body has no need for sleep
This time around

Ready to find fragments of stillness
Only I get to be punished by me
Your voice is a crumb, it leads me from the wildness
Wanna start over, forget everything

Exhume our idols and bury our friends
We're wild and weary but we won't give in
We're sick with worry
These nerve less days
We live on dread in our own guilded age

Make me a headline
I wanna be that bold
Make me a spotlight
So I can see the gold

Make me a headline
I wanna feel that bold
Make me a spotlight
So I can see the gold

Exhume our idols and bury our friends
We're wild and weary but we won't give in
We're sick with worry
These nerve less days
We live on dread in our own guilded age

We speak in circles
We dance in code
Untame and hungry
On fire in the cold
Exhume our idols and bury our friends
We're wild and weary but we won't give in

Writer/s: CORIN LISA TUCKER, CARRIE RACHEL BROWNSTEIN, JANET LEE WEISS
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Bury Our Friends Song Chart

This sledgehammer of a rock song finds Sleater-Kinney insisting "We're wild and weary but we won't give in!" Guitarist and co-vocalist Carrie Brownstein explained during an interview with NPR that the track was about, "trying to posit yourself — your body or your mind — into a space that is... assured, and safe, and sort of rejecting criticism."

The Rolling Stones - Flight 505

The Rolling Stones - Flight 505 Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Aftermath
Released: 1966

Flight 505 Lyrics

Well, I was happy here at home
I got everything I need.
Happy bein' on my own
Just living the life I lead.

Well, suddenly it dawned on me
That this was not my life.
So I just phoned the airline girl
And said, "Get me on flight number 505,
Get me on flight number 505."

Well, I confirmed my reservation.
Then I hopped a cab.
No idea of my destination
And feeling pretty bad.

With my suitcase in my hand.
In my head, my new life.
So then I told the airline girl
"Well, get me on flight number 505,
Get me on flight number 505."
Alright.

Well, I sat right there in my seat.
Well, feeling like a king.
With the whole world right at my feet.
"Of course I'll have a drink!"

Well, suddenly I saw
That we never ever would arrive.
He put the plane down in the sea.
The end of flight number 505.
The end of flight number 505.
Alright.

Whew, they put the plane down in the sea.
The end of flight number 505.
The end of flight number 505.

Writer/s: JAGGER, MICK / RICHARDS, KEITH
Publisher: Abkco Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Flight 505 Song Chart

The common misinterpretation of this song is that Flight 505 was the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper in 1959, but this is not true. It is not officially confirmed by a news source that the plane crash of "The Day the Music Died" was actually flight #505. In any case, the lyrics to this Rolling Stones song have the line "He put the plane down in the sea," which of course, couldn't mean the Holly/Valens/Bopper crash that happened on dry land in Mason City, Iowa in 1959:

• Here is a fact page on the crash site, dry land, no sea.
• Here is the full text of the Civil Aeronautics Board Aircraft Accident Report on the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, loaded with minute details down to tachometer readings and altimeter settings, and there's no flight number mentioned there either.
• In any case, a flight heading from Mason City, Iowa, to Moorhead, Minnesota would have been a northbound flight, and northbound flights are traditionally assigned even numbers.
• Finally, this was a private chartered flight, not a commercial flight. So it's unlikely that an official flight number would have been assigned. Sometimes small aircraft use their plane's serial ID for the flight number; in this case, the plane's ID ("tail number") was "N3794N."

Crosby & Nash - Take the Money and Run

Crosby & Nash - Take the Money and Run Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Wind on the Water
Released: 1975

Take the Money and Run Lyrics

Take the Money and Run
Like a thief across a neighbor's yard
Take the money and run
Like a ghost out in the night.

Take the money and run
'Cause you found out that it wasn't hard
To take the money and run
Because you were out of sight.

You cannot tell me any more lies
You cannot pull the wool over my eyes
Take the money and run
Take the money and run

'Cause the summer sun is sinking down
Take the money and run
'Cause the four winds may not blow
Take the money and run

'Cause the verdict has been handed down
Take the money and run
Because there's no place left to go.
You cannot give me any more time.

You've already taken too much of mine
Take the money and run
Take the money and run
Like a thief across a neighbor's yard

Take the money and run
Like a dog out in the night
Take the money and run
Because you found out that it wasn't hard

To take the money and run
Because you were out of sight.
You cannot give me any more time.
You've already taken too much of mine

Take the money and run

Writer/s: NASH
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Take the Money and Run Song Chart

Written by Graham Nash, this was the second single released from Crosby & Nash's second studio album. Not be confused with the Steve Miller Band's song of the same name, this was inspired by the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunion tour in the summer of 1974.

Production engineer Don Gooch explained the meaning of this song in Johnny Rogan's Complete Guide To The Music of CSN&Y: "Basically enjoy the music for what it is and if you can relate to it from your own personal experiences, do so. As for 'Take the Money,' it is basically about managers in general and people who don't give a damn about anything but the money. Those people think that money is the 'end,' when it should be a 'means to an end.' If you knew the horror stories behind that [CSNY 1974] tour you would have a complete understanding of the song but I am sure if you use your imagination in your own life experiences, it will apply and become clear to you also. Most songs are based on personal experiences (good or bad) and while the exact experiences is personal it also will apply in some form to each individuals experiences in the same areas." (thanks, DeeTheWriter - Saint Petersburg, Russia Federation)

Oasis - Live Forever

Oasis - Live Forever Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Definitely Maybe
Released: 1994

Live Forever Lyrics

Maybe I don't really wanna know
How your garden grows cos I just want to fly
Lately, did you ever feel the pain?
In the morning rain as it soaks you to the bone

Maybe I just want to fly I want to live I don't want to die
Maybe I just want to breathe maybe I just don't believe
Maybe you're the same as me we see things they'll never see you and I
were gonna Live Forever

I said maybe I don't really wanna know
How your garden grows cos I just want to fly
Lately, did you ever feel the pain?
In the morning rain as it soaks you to the bone

Maybe I will never be all the things that I want to be
But now is not the time to cry now's the time to find out why
I think you're the same as me we see things they'll never see you and I
We're gonna live forever

Maybe I don't really wanna know
How your garden grows cos I just want to fly
Lately, did you ever feel the pain?
In the morning rain as it soaks you to the bone

Maybe I just want to fly I want to live I don't want to die
Maybe I just want to breathe maybe I just don't believe
Maybe you're the same as me we see things they'll never see you and I
You and I are gonna live forever
We're gonna live forever

Gonna live forever
Gonna live forever
Gonna live forever
Gonna live forever
Gonna live forever

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

Live Forever Song Chart

Noel Gallagher started writing this song when he was a roadie for The Inspiral Carpets. It helped convince his brother Liam to let him join his band, Oasis.

The melody is based on The Rolling Stones' "Shine A Light" from Exile on Main St. The part Noel took was from the chorus: "May the good Lord Shine a Light on you." Noel wrote it in his flat in Manchester using the melody from the song. He took it to the band and they rehearsed it once and played it that night at a gig. (thanks, Nick - Southampton, England)

This is one of the most enduring songs in Britain, but it was never a hit in America. Oasis never came close to matching their UK success in the States.

The lyrics are partly a tribute to Gallagher's mother. She was an avid gardener, and her garden is mentioned in the song.

Some of the video was shot in New York's Central Park.

This was voted Oasis's best song in a poll taken on the band's official website. (thanks, Adam - Dewsbury, England)

On the cover of the CD single is John Lennon's childhood home, 251 Menlove Avenue. It was bought by Yoko Ono who donated it to the National Trust. (thanks, Connagh - London, England)

According to Q magazine, the opening couplet, "Maybe I don't really want to know/ How your garden grows" was inspired by Gallagher's childhood memories of waiting around, bored, on his parents' allotment.

Liam Gallagher told Q magazine October 2008 that this is his favorite Oasis song. He explained: "I think the words still mean something powerful. You talk about Oasis capturing a spirit, and I think that song is how a lot of people feel when they're down on their luck. I think I first heard it in the Boardwalk in Manchester when our kid (Noel Gallagher) was trying it out. Even when we're starting it now I always feel like we're going to perform our best version of it. It makes me think of me mam. And it's the song that makes me feel I have the best job in the band. I may not have written it but I get to sing it. It's weird cos it's outlasted other tunes."

Noel Gallagher seems to be pretty proud of this tune. He told Q magazine in 2011: "With every song that I write, I compare it to The Beatles. I've got semi-close once or twice, with 'Live Forever,' for example... the solo on that is one of the greatest things in rock music."

Co-producer Owen Morris also mixed Definitely Maybe. He recalled to Q magazine: "When Noel's solo on Live Forever goes high on the second half, all I could think of was Slash in leather keks with a wind machine on the Grand Canyon. So I muted it and thought I was making it cooler. I had a message from Noel not to cut it in half on the final mix."

This was recorded in Clear Studios at Manchester, England. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

Noel Gallagher told NME May 11, 2013 how this was inspired by a Nirvana B-side. "It was written in the middle of grunge," he explained, "and Nirvana had a tune called 'I Hate Myself And I Want To Die.' I was like, 'I'm not f--king having that,' Kids don't need to hear that nonsense. Here was a guy who had everything and was miserable about it. We had f--k all, and I still thought getting up in the morning was the greatest f--king ever."

Noel took a shot at his brother's high-pitched vocals on this song during his commentary for the 2010 box set, Time Flies. "Yeah, matey boy soon gave up singing the falsetto bit after that," recalled the Oasis guitarist. "I think he thought he was a bit gay, though there's nothing wrong with being gay, obviously."

Noel Gallagher said during a Reddit AMA that he never had a life goal until he penned this song. "Where I came from, and the times that I grew up in, it was best not to have any ambitions. It was quite a bleak time," he said. "I never had a life goal until I wrote 'Live Forever.' And then when I wrote 'Live Forever,' I wanted to be in the biggest band in the world."

In an interview with Daniel Rachel (The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters), Noel said the line "the brains I had went to my head" was inspired by the antics he and his friend would get into that nobody else could understand, like driving all night in the rain to go to discos, get drunk, and sleep in bus shelters. "It was like a thing between me and him; they don't get it, we get it," he said.

The Specials - The Boiler

The Specials - The Boiler Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: released as a single
Released: 1982

The Boiler Lyrics

The Boiler Song Chart

This disturbing song describes a rape in stark detail from the victim's perspective. The vocals are spoken by Rhoda Dakar, who tells the story of going on a date that goes horribly wrong, ending with her being assaulted in an alleyway.

She feels like "an old boiler" when this guy asks her out. She accepts, and all goes well until she makes the mistake of following him after rejecting his advances.

This song would have been controversial in any case, but was even more so due to an unfortunate juxtaposition with a real rape case.

At Ipswich Crown Court on January 5, 1982, a businessman named John Allen was convicted of the rape of a teenage hitchhiker. Allen had pleaded not guilty, but after the victim broke down in court he changed his plea. In sentencing him, Judge Bertrand Richards said the girl had been "guilty of a great deal of contributory negligence." Then he fined him £2,000. Unsurprisingly the judge's words and the extraordinary sentence caused outrage.

Later that month, Rhoda Dakar was interviewed in New Musical Express by Adrian Thrills. In the article The reality of rape that they're trying to ban, the single was said to have been "uncannily timed."

The song was played on Radio One but was dropped from the playlist; the station denied it had been banned, but that is arguable.

According to Dakar, the song emerged from a jam but was not written deliberately to shock or (thankfully) from personal experience. It features some haunting keyboard work, and was certainly one of the most original releases of the year. (thanks, Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2)

The Specials were going through a transition when this song was released, with Dakar a recent addition as a lead vocalist (she had sung backup with the band). It was credited to "Rhoda with The Special AKA featuring Nicky Summers."

Summers and Dakar were members of the all-female group The Bodysnatchers, which like The Specials, were signed to the 2 Tone label. When The Bodysnatchers split up, they teamed up with Specials members Dick Cuthell (cornet), John Shipley (guitar), and John Bradbury (drums) to record this track, which they had been working on in their former group (the single notes: "Based on an original idea by The Bodysnatchers").

Jerry Dammers of The Specials produced the track and played organ; Summers played bass. The songwriting credits go to Dammers and the members of The Bodysnatchers.

The Rolling Stones - Lady Jane

The Rolling Stones - Lady Jane Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Aftermath
Released: 1966

Lady Jane Lyrics

My sweet Lady Jane
When I see you again
Your servant am I
And will humbly remain
Just heed this plea, my love
On bended knees my love
I pledge myself to lady Jane

My dear lady Anne
I've done what I can
I must take my leave
For promised I am
This play is run, my love
Your time has come, my love
I pledge my troth to lady Jane

Oh, my sweet Marie
I wait at your ease
The sands have run out
For your lady and me
Wedlock is nigh my love
Her station's right my love
Life is secure with Lady Jane

Writer/s: RICHARDS, KEITH / JAGGER, MICK
Publisher: Abkco Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Lady Jane Song Chart

This might be about Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII. She was one of the few wives not executed, but died at childbirth while bearing his only son. Another possibility is that it's about Jane Ormsby-Gore, a British woman Mick Jagger was involved with.

Brian Jones, who was The Stones guitarist until his death in 1969, played the dulcimer, an instrument you play on your lap by plucking or strumming the strings. Jones could learn just about any instrument very quickly. He had just recently learned how to play it when they recorded this.

Keith Richards: "Brian was getting into dulcimer then because he dug Richard Farina. We were also listening to a lot of Appalachian music then too. To me, Lady Jane is very Elizabethan. There are a few places in England where people still speak that way, Chaucer English."

Mick Jagger: "Lady Jane is a complete sort of very weird song. I don't really know what that's all about myself. All the names are historical but it was really unconscious that they should fit together from the same period." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2)

Jack Nitzsche played the harpsichord, which gave this an Elizabethan feel. Nitzsche was a prolific keyboard player and producer. He died in 2000 at 63.

This was left off the US version of Aftermath. It was on the Flowers compilation.

This was the basis for the Neil Young song "Borrowed Tune," which appears on his Tonight's The Night album. He sings the lyric, "I'm singin' this borrowed tune I took from the Rolling Stones." (thanks, John - UK, England)

Chip Monck, who handled lighting and production duties for the Stones in the late '60s and early '70s, often played an instrumental version of this song over the sound system after the band left the stage. He said it was "like a madrigal, really. Have a good evening, get home safely, we look forward to seeing you the next time around."

Who Cares? - Doctor In Distress

Who Cares? - Doctor In Distress Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: released as a single
Released: 1985

Doctor In Distress Lyrics

Doctor In Distress Song Chart

The long-running BBC cult TV series Doctor Who is one of the most popular in the world, and charity singles have often had a big appeal. Put the two of them together and you get... something that is probably best forgotten.

Doctor Who was first seen on UK TV in 1963, but by 1985 there were signs that it had run its course, and the BBC suspended production for a year. This led to the recording of "Doctor In Distress." Written by Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench, it was recorded by sundry performers including comedienne Faith Brown and singer-songwriter Jona Lewie under the obvious pun Who Cares?

Released on the Radio Shack label March 1985 in both 7-inch and 12-inch formats, the latter runs to 6 minutes and is backed by an instrumental version that runs to 6 minutes 28 seconds. Profits went to Cancer Relief. (thanks, Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2)

The Rolling Stones - Mother's Little Helper

The Rolling Stones - Mother's Little Helper Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Aftermath
Released: 1966

Mother's Little Helper Lyrics

What a drag it is getting old
"Kids are different today,"
I hear ev'ry mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she's not really ill
There's a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of a Mother's Little Helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day

"Things are different today,"
I hear ev'ry mother say
Cooking fresh food for a husband's just a drag
So she buys an instant cake and she burns her frozen steak
And goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And two help her on her way, get her through her busy day

Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old

"Men just aren't the same today"
I hear ev'ry mother say
They just don't appreciate that you get tired
They're so hard to satisfy, You can tranquilize your mind
So go running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And four help you through the night, help to minimize your plight

Doctor please, some more of these
Outside the door, she took four more
What a drag it is getting old

"Life's just much too hard today,"
I hear ev'ry mother say
The pusuit of happiness just seems a bore
And if you take more of those, you will get an overdose
No more running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
They just helped you on your way, through your busy dying day

Writer/s: RICHARDS, KEITH / JAGGER, MICK
Publisher: Abkco Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Mother's Little Helper Song Chart

This song is about a housewife who abuses prescription drugs to "get her through the day." It turns around the image of a suburban housewife, who is usually portrayed as cooking and caring for her family, by showing her as a drug abuser. The Stones could get away with this because their image was that of cynical, somewhat dangerous rockers.

Mick Jagger: "It's about drug dependence, but in a sort of like spoofy way. As a songwriter, I didn't really think about addressing things like that. It was just every day stuff that you I'd observe and write about. It's what writing is for really. There is a sort of naivety, but there's also a lot of humor in those songs. They're a lot based on humor. It was almost like a different band, a different world, a different view when we wrote them."

Keith Richards: "The strange guitar sound is a 12-string with a slide on it. It's played slightly Oriental-ish. The track just needed something to make it twang. Otherwise, the song was quite vaudeville in a way. I wanted to add some nice bite to it. And it was just one of those things where someone walked in and, Look, it's an electric 12-string. It was some gashed-up job. No name on it. God knows where it came from. Or where it went. But I put it together with a bottleneck. Then we had a riff that tied the whole thing together. And I think we overdubbed onto that. Because I played an acoustic guitar as well."

Jagger: "I get inspiration from things that are happening around me - everyday life as I see it. People say I'm always singing about pills and breakdowns, therefore I must be an addict - this is ridiculous. Some people are so narrow-minded they won't admit to themselves that this really does happen to other people beside pop stars." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 3)

Stones guitarist Brian Jones played the sitar on this track - it was one of the first pop songs to use the instrument. The Beatles "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," which came out the year before, was the first.

This condemns the many women in England who were abusing prescription drugs, even though The Stones were becoming heavy drug users themselves. The band wanted to make the point that housewives popping pills what not that much different than rock stars taking smack, even though drug laws in England strongly favored the housewives.

This was the first track on Aftermath, the first Stones album with all original songs. Their earlier albums were full of Blues covers.

In England, this wasn't released as a single.

The Stones recorded this in Los Angeles in a custom built studio. It had no windows, because The Stones did not want to know if it was day or night.

Stones drummer Charlie Watts said of this song in In the 2003 book According to the Rolling Stones : "We've often tried to perform 'Mother's Little Helper' and it's never been any good, never gelled for some reason - it's either me not playing it right or Keith not wanting to do it like that. It's never worked. It's just one of those songs. We used to try it live but it's a bloody hard record to play, although we did perform it live on Ed Sullivan."

As Lions - The Fall

As Lions - The Fall Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Yet To be Titled
Released: 2015

The Fall Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Falling away
Down into the darkest place I know
Reeling away from the edge
Facing my way down

[Bridge 1]
I close my eyes
Take another breath and just climb
Take every single fall in my sight
And move on, and on, and on

[Chorus]
Face myself or erase myself in The Fall
When it's your time, what will they say?
Did you live or die on your last day?

[Verse 2]
Taken away
Far from every single thing I knew
Forcing myself to forget
Everything below me

[Bridge 2]
But maybe I am sick and I'm tired
But I cannot give up on this life
Because of all the things in my chest
Will go on, and on, and on, and on

[Chorus]
Face myself or erase myself in the fall
When it's your time, what will they say?
Did you live or die on your last day?
Keep my faith or fade away from it all
I will not go, I will not fade
I will survive another day

[Verse 3]
Am I alone?
Or does it just feel vacant as it is?
When there is so much distance
Right under my feet

[Bridge 3]
Close my eyes
Take another breath and just climb
Because of all that I leave behind
To go on, and on, and on, and on

[Chorus]
Face myself or erase myself in the fall
When it's your time, what will they say?
Did you live or die on your last day?
Keep my faith or fade away from it all
I will not go, I will not fade
I will survive another day
The Fall Song Chart

In January 2015 Rise to Remain announced that they were splitting up, with three members - Austin Dickinson, Will Homer and Conor O'Keefe - continuing to work together in a new outfit, As Lions. This was the first song they wrote after the demise of their former band. Dickinson told Kerrang!: "Lyrically, it's about being on that fence and making a choice to continue - to not give up when everything could fall apart. It really reflects where we're at too. I've not really felt this happy (in a band) for about two years."

Eagles - Desperado

Eagles - Desperado Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Desperado
Released: 1973

Desperado Lyrics

Desperado Song Chart

On the surface, this song is about a cowboy who refuses to fall in love, but it could also be about a young man who discovers guitars, joins a band, pays his dues and suffers for his art. The stress of being a rock star is a recurring theme in Eagles music (e.g. "Life In The Fast Lane"). The overall theme is how you must suffer for your art. (thanks, Randy - Beaumont, TX)

Don Henley began writing parts of this in the late '60s, but it wasn't arranged into a song until his songwriting teammate Glenn Frey came along. It was the first of many songs Henley and Frey wrote together.
Henley explained in the liner notes for The Very Best of the Eagles: "Glenn came over to write one day, and I showed him this unfinished tune that I had been holding for so many years. I said, 'When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles - Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It's really a Southern gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western.' Glenn leapt right on it - filled in the blanks and brought structure. And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership - that's when we became a team."

The album had an Old West theme. It was inspired by The Dalton Gang, a notorious group of outlaws. The Eagles recorded it in the very cosmopolitan setting of Island Studios in the Notting Hill section of London with the British producer Glyn Johns, but they went Western for the tour, making their set look like Deadwood.

Bon Jovi drew similar parallels between the life of a cowboy and that of a rock star on their 1986 song "Wanted Dead Or Alive."

Guitarist Randy Meisner claims that he came up with the guitar intro, but was not given songwriter credit, meaning he does not get royalties from it. The allocation of songwriting credits was one of many issues that caused turmoil within the band.

The director Sam Peckinpah, who made many popular Westerns, including The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, was at one time interested in making a film about the Doolin-Dalton gang based on the Desperado album. The project never came to fruition.

This was featured in a episode of Seinfeld where Elaine goes out with a guy who won't let her speak when it is playing.

This is a classic rock staple, but it was never released as a single. Holding it back from single release helped goose sales of the album, and also the various compilations it would later appear on.

Linda Ronstadt recorded this song and released her version on her album Don't Cry Now, which was issued a few months after the Eagles version. Before the Eagles formed, members of the group played in Ronstadt's backing band. She was a huge star at the time, and her recording of this song gave it a big boost.

"I was extremely flattered that Linda recorded 'Desperado,'" Don Henley said. "It was really her that popularized the song. Her version was very poignant and beautiful."

Other artists to record the song include Kenny Rogers, the Carpenters, Bonnie Raitt and Ringo Starr.

The Eagles included this on their album Greatest Hits 1971-1975, which, mostly because of catalog sales, is the best selling album of all time. This song is a big reason for its success. Since it was never released as a single, it provided a lesser-known track that fit in very well. The Eagles' "Outlaw Man," which was released as a single, was left off the Greatest Hits album.

In 2004, Linda Ronstadt caused a stir when she dedicated this song to the filmmaker Michael Moore during a performance at the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas. Moore had a movie out called Fahrenheit 9/11, which made US president George Bush look very bad. Ronstadt said Moore "Loves his country deeply, and he's trying to get the truth out." This didn't go over well with the casino's president, who made her leave immediately. It's unclear what happened when Ronstadt performed the song, but stories circulated that patrons got upset and booed the singer. She had been dedicating the song to Moore throughout her tour without incident.

Don Henley has always been unhappy about his vocal on this song. He explained to Mojo in 2015: "When we are in England, recording 'Desperado,' I was a nervous wreck. I was standing in this huge room, Island Studios, a big orchestra right behind me, and they were bored to tears. Some older gentleman had brought chessboards and they would play between takes. I would hear these remarks like, 'Well, you know, I don't feel much like a desperado.' I was so intimidated that I didn't sing my best. Our producer Glyn Johns, who is still a friend of mine, I think, wanted to get the album done quickly and economically, and he didn't let me do many takes. I wish I could have done that song again."

The Decemberists - The Singer Addresses His Audience

The Decemberists - The Singer Addresses His Audience Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
Released: 2015

The Singer Addresses His Audience Lyrics

We know, we know, we belong to ya
We know you built your life around us
And would we change, we had to change some

We know, we know, we belong to ya
We know you threw your arms around us
In the hopes we wouldn't change
But we had to change some
You know, to belong to you

And we're aware that you cut your hair
In a style that our drummer wore
In a video
But with fame came a mountain claimed
For the evermore
You know

So when your bridal processional
Is a televised confessional
To the benefits of Axe shampoo
You know we did it for you
We did it all for you

'Cause we know, we know, we belong to ya
We know you built your life around us
And would we change, we had to change some
You know, to belong to you
You know, to belong to you
You know, to belong to you
You know, to belong to you

To belong, to belong, to belong
To belong, to belong, to belong
To belong, to belong, to belong
To belong, to belong, to belong
To belong, to belong, to belong
(To belong, to belong, to belong)
(To belong to you)
(To belong to you)
(To belong to you)
(To belong to you)

Writer/s: COLIN MELOY
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Singer Addresses His Audience Song Chart

The opening track of What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, this song derisively portrays a singer trapped in his creation by his fans, despite his desire to evolve. It's followed later on the album by "Anti-Summersong," which finds vocalist Colin Melroy referencing previous Decemberists tunes. "Those two songs were very self-reflexive," Meloy told The Guardian. "It was right after we'd finished touring and I was feeling almost embittered, and wanting to make those kind of statements. It felt therapeutic to me. The songs were about songs, about songwriting."

Colin Melroy was asked by American Songwriter magazine what he was thinking of when he penned this song. He replied: "I'm sort of sheepish to say that that's me in that song because in my mind it isn't me. I feel like I'm writing from the perspective of someone who isn't me, but maybe a bolder version of myself."

"In my head, it was the singer of a boy band who has only ever known celebrity. How do you square with your relationship with your audience? There is kind of a weird captive ownership. Everything you do, really, you have to do in the name of your audience," Melroy continued. "I feel like that's a relationship that every musician or performer has with their audience, but I think in that case it's one that has gone too far and he feels like he's too much in the ownership of his audience. And yet that's all he ever wanted, was to belong to somebody. I feel like he's sort of a tragic character."