Songs Lyrics and YT- Youtube Music Videos

Alanis Morissette - Perfect

Alanis Morissette - Perfect Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Jagged Little Pill
Released: 1995

Perfect Lyrics

Sometimes is never quite enough
If you're flawless, then you'll win my love
Don't forget to win first place
Don't forget to keep that smile on your face

Be a good boy
Try a little harder
You've got to measure up
And make me prouder

How long before you screw it up
How many times do I have to tell you to hurry up
With everything I do for you
The least you can do is keep quiet

Be a good girl
You've gotta try a little harder
That simply wasn't good enough
To make us proud

I'll live through you
I'll make you what I never was
If you're the best, then maybe so am I
Compared to him compared to her
I'm doing this for your own damn good
You'll make up for what I blew
What's the problem, why are you crying

Be a good boy
Push a little farther now
That wasn't fast enough
To make us happy
We'll love you just the way you are
If you're Perfect

Writer/s: MORISSETTE, ALANIS NADINE / BALLARD, GLEN
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group, THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Perfect

The lyrics are about a parent who gently, and then more forcefully, pushes his/her child to excel. Alanis was a child in show business, appearing on the Nickelodeon show You Can't Do That On Television when she was just 10 years old, so she had lot of early experience with expectations. She has explained that the song is not about her relationship with her parents, but the pressures of society, which will love you as long as you're perfect.

This was the breakthrough song on the Jagged Little Pill album, which Alanis wrote with the producer Glen Ballard. They spent a lot of time trying to make Morissette's analytical lyrics work in the context of songs, and it was in the middle of work on another song that something clicked. They abandoned that song and cranked out "Perfect" in about 20 minutes. They recorded a demo of the song that night, and it was this original demo that ended up on the album. Alanis, who is an investigative, logical type, had a hard time understanding how this song could appear so quickly. She said she was "scared," since she had no explanation for it. Once the song was completed, she and Ballard found their groove and were able to complete the album.

Mindy McCready - Black And Blue

Mindy McCready - Black And Blue Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: not on an album
Released: 2005

Black And Blue Lyrics

Black And Blue

If ever a song was written from the heart, it is this one. McCready co-wrote it with Tim Johnson in 2005. In May that year her then former lover Billy McKnight was charged with attempting to murder her. When a pregnant McCready appeared on Larry King Live, she said proceeds from its sales were going to Women Against Domestic Violence.

The song was never officially released, although it has appeared on the internet. (thanks, Alexander Baron - London, England)

The Strokes - NYC Cops

The Strokes - NYC Cops Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Is This It
Released: 2001

NYC Cops Lyrics

NYC Cops

This was originally on the album but removed after September 11th because of the line "New York City cops ain't too smart" (thanks, Shaggy - Bristol, CT)

The song is about getting away with illegal activity. A snorting noise at the end implies someone snorting cocaine. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

Winger - Seventeen

Winger - Seventeen Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Winger
Released: 1988

Seventeen Lyrics

Yey I saw sparks fly, from the corner of my eye
When I turned, it was love at first sight
I said please excuse me, I didn't catch your name
Oh it'd be a shame not to see you again

And just when I thought she was comin' to my door
She whispered sweet and brought me to the floor, she said

I'm only Seventeen (seventeen), but I'll show you love like you've never seen
She's only seventeen (seventeen), daddy says she's too young, but she's old enough for me

Come to my place, we can talk it over, oh everything going down in your head
She said take it easy, I need some time, time to work it out, to make you mine

And just when I thought she was comin' to my door
She whispered sweet and brought me to the floor, she said

I'm only seventeen (seventeen), you ain't seen love, ain't seen nothing like me
She's only seventeen, seventeen yeah yea

Yes! Such a bad girl, loves to work me overtime
Feels good (ha), dancin' close to the borderline
She's a magic mountain, she's a leather glove
Oh she's my soul, it must be love

She's only seventeen (seventeen), I used to give her love, like I've never seen
She's only seventeen (seventeen), daddy says she's too young, but she's old enough for me (seventeen)
She's everything I need (seventeen), daddy says she's too young
But she's old enough, old enough for me

Writer/s: K. WINGER, R. BEACH, B. HILL
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Seventeen

Kip Winger was 27 years old when this song was released, making him a decade older than the groupie he sings about. Winger had long since lost interest in this game, but he certainly encountered many young vixens looking to share his company, which gave him plenty of inspiration for this song.

Winger says that most of his indulging came when he was 15. "I was playing in bars all the time and thinking I was a rock star and doing all that stuff," he told Kerrang! in 1989. "But I wasn't really anything. I was just in a bar band and I was having women every night. Now the women are in much more abundance and I don't really indulge myself at all. I feel more of a responsibility in this position."

Laws vary from state to state determining how young is too young, and in this song it sounds like Kip Winger might have something unlawful in mind when he sings, "Daddy says she's too young, but she's old enough for me."

In our 2014 interview with Winger , he explained that this wasn't the case. "Look, seventeen was legal in Colorado, so I didn't even get the joke, dude," he said. "I didn't get it. And then it hit and every seventeen-year-old girl in the United States thought that song was about her."

Thanks to a video directed by Mark Rezyka, this song did very well on MTV, where the photogenic frontman Kip Winger fit right in. The clip is mostly tight shots of the band, with fleeting images of the mystery girl seen in passing.

With help from the video, the song became Winger's first hit, going to #26 in the US. It was their second single; their first was "Madalaine," which didn't chart.

What does Led Zeppelin have to do with this song? A lot, it turns out. Listen to the Zeppelin song "The Crunge" for similarities. Kip Winger told us: "It's got that weird syncopation in it. It's got the same syncopation as 'Seventeen.' And I was like, 'Let's rip that Led Zeppelin song off on the verse.'"

Songwriting credits on this song go to Kip Winger, guitarist Reb Beach, and their producer Beau Hill. Beach was 15 when he came up with the riff, but he wasn't able to turn it into a song until he played it for Winger and Hill, who used it as a starting point.

Winger was the group's first album, but the group members were already very accomplished, especially their drummer Rod Morgenstein, who was acclaimed for his work in the Dixie Dregs. Winger songs are not easy to play, but that didn't stop folks from trying. Kip Winger explained in our interview: "Time and time again I've seen cover bands try to play it and there's no one I've ever seen be able to play that riff correctly. [Laughs] That song is very deceiving because it's cocky on the melody end and it's musically a difficult song for average bands to play, because it's all this intricate picking and a lot of riffs and syncopations and singing and playing that song has always been a challenge."

This is Winger's best-known song, but it wasn't their biggest hit: both "Headed for a Heartbreak" (#19) and "Miles Away" (#12) charted higher in America. According to Kip Winger, "Headed for a Heartbreak" is the song that most defines the band.

Winger never defined their sound as "Metal," but they became a piñata in the early '90s, taking the stick for everything regrettable about the late '80s Melodic Rock sound (also known as "Hair Metal"). More representative acts like Bon Jovi and Poison got their share of scorn, but nothing like what Winger endured: The kick-me character on Beavis and Butt-Head wore a Winger T-shirt; Lars Ulrich is shown throwing darts at a Winger poster in the Metallica video for "Nothing Else Matters ." Winger felt so besieged that they named their 1993 album Pull, as they felt like skeet shooting targets.

The derision was clearly out of proportion, and a bit ironic considering their credentials. Kip Winger and keyboard player Paul Taylor came from Alice Cooper's band, and guitarist Reb Beach was an in-demand session musician - a job that required extraordinary chops.

Bobby Marchan - There's Something on Your Mind

Bobby Marchan - There's Something on Your Mind Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Golden Classics
Released: 1960

There's Something on Your Mind Lyrics

There's Something on Your Mind

Original title: "There's Nothing on Your Mind."

A cover of Big Jay McNeely's #44 record from 1958. McNeely was a jazz saxophonist whose concerts were opened with fluorescent lights bouncing off his big band's shirts as he lay down on the stage, frantically playing away.

Prior to recording this song, Bobby Marchan made his name as part of the Powder Box Revue (a troupe of female impersonators) and, later, as the primary lead singer of Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns (he shared the lead for the group's #9 hit "Don't You Just Know It").

In early 1959, Marchan parted ways with Smith, formed his own group (the Tick Tocks), and recorded this. The release was delayed by legal wrangling caused by Marchan selling the single to three different labels. When it was finally released (by Fire Records), the label credited Marchan as a solo artist. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for all above)

Anberlin - Paperthin Hymn

Anberlin - Paperthin Hymn Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Never Take Friendship Personal
Released: 2005

Paperthin Hymn Lyrics

When your only friends are hotel rooms
Hands are distant lullabies
If I could turn around I would tonight

These roads never seemed so long
Since your paper heart start beating leaving me suddenly alone
Will daybreak ever come?

Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?
Who's gonna drive you home?
I just want one more chance
To put my arms in fragile hands

I thought you said forever
Over and over
A sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion

These thoughts run through my head
Over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends

August evenings
Bring solemn warnings
To remember to kiss the ones you love goodnight

You never know what temporal days may bring
So laugh, love, live free and sing
When life is in discord
Praise ye the lord

Who's gonna call on Sunday morning?
Who's gonna drive you home?
I just want one more chance
To put my arms in fragile hands

I thought you said forever
Over and over
The sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion

These thoughts run through my head
Over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends

I thought you said forever
Over and over
The sleepless night becomes bitter oblivion

These thoughts run through my head
Over and over
Complaints of violins become my only friends

I thought you said forever
Over and over
These thoughts run through my head

Writer/s: JOSEPH MILLIGAN (16580), DEON REXROAT (16581), NATHAN YOUNG (16578), STEVEN ARNOLD (16579)
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Paperthin Hymn

The second single from Anberlin's Never Take Friendship Personal album, this was inspired by the death of guitarist Joey Milligan's sister due to cancer. Frontman Stephen Christian explained during an interview with the Artisan News Service: "Right at the time the album was being written, the guitarist Joey Milligan, his sister had passed away from cancer, and she was very young. She was only 29 years old, she had a one-and-a-half year old son and it really, really, just affected the band. It felt like a giant weight was placed on our chest the entire time we were recording."

Christian added that he brought in powerful experiences of his own. "So, while I was writing that song, the memory of my Grandmother and also the circumstances that were surrounding us in the studio really made it almost a necessity to write a song getting that off our chests and really showing the listener what we were going through," he said. "So, out of that was derived the song, 'The Paperthin Hymn.'"

According to bassist Deon Rexroat, the song was originally going to be cut from the Never Take Friendship Personal album. "We started recording it and it just wasn't feeling right," he recalled to The Garden Statement . "We sat back and Joey and I discussed a verse from a song that we weren't recording that we thought maybe would fit. And once we put those two pieces together, it just worked."

"Talk about going from a song where I'm like, 'I'm not even worried about this song. It's dead in the water,' to it's now one of our biggest songs that we'll ever have," Rexroat added.

Little Richard - Good Golly Miss Molly

Little Richard - Good Golly Miss Molly Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Little Richard 2
Released: 1958

Good Golly Miss Molly Lyrics

Good golly, miss Molly
Yeah you sure like to ball
Well good golly, miss Molly
Yeah you sure like to ball
When you're shakin'
And a shoutin'
Can you hear your mama call

Well from the early, early morning
To the early, early night
When I caught miss Molly rocking
At the house of blue light, Oooh

Good golly, miss Molly
Yeah you sure like to ball
When you're
Rocking and a rolling
Can you hear your mama call

Well now Mama, papa told me, son
You better watch your step
What I knew about miss Molly
Got to watch my daddy myself

Good golly, miss Molly
Yeah you sure like to ball
Well good golly, miss Molly
Yeah you sure like to ball
When you're shakin'
And a shoutin'
Can you hear your mama call

Well from the early, early morning
To the early, early night
When I caught miss Molly rocking
At the house of blue light, Oooh

Good golly, miss Molly
Yeah you sure like to ball
When you're
Rocking and a rolling
Can you hear your mama call

Yeah good golly, miss Molly
Ah good golly, miss Molly, Oooh
Oh good golly, miss Molly
Yeah you sure like to ball
When you're shakin'
And a shoutin'
Can you hear your mama call

Writer/s: R. BLACKWELL, J MARASCALCO
Publisher: COHEN AND COHEN
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Good Golly Miss Molly

The title was taken from the pet phrase of one of Little Richard's favorite DJ's, Jimmy Pennick. Musically, the song was inspired by the sax player Jackie Brenston, famous for singing lead and playing with Ike Turner on the song "Rocket 88."

Like most of Little Richard's songs, this contains a lot of innuendo ("sure like to ball") but most people were too busy listening to the music to notice or didn't get the reference. At the time, the most common meaning for "balling" was dancing, it only later became a popular euphemism for oral sex. The term later took on a new meaning when it came describe a lavish and extravagant lifestyle, with these guys flashing their cash known as "ballers."

Little Richard's publisher sued Creedence Clearwater Revival over their song "Travelin' Band," which they claimed lifted from "Molly." A settlement was reached with Creedence giving up some of their royalties.

Bobby Bare - The All American Boy

Bobby Bare - The All American Boy Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Tacky Tunes
Released: 1959

The All American Boy Lyrics

Gather 'round, cats, and I'll tell you a story
About how to become an All American Boy
Buy you a guitar and put it in tune
You'll be rockin' and rollin' soon.
Impressin' the girls, pickin' hot licks, and all that jazz

I-I bought me a guitar a year ago
Learned how to play in a day or so
And all around town it was well understood
That I was knockin' 'em out like Johnny B. Goode
Hot licks, showin' off, ah number one.

Well , I 'd practice all day and up into the night
My papa's hair was turnin' white
Cause he didn't like rock'n'roll
He said "You can stay, boy, but that's gotta go."
He's a square, he just didn't dig me at all

So I took my guitar, picks and all
And bid farewell to my poor ole pa
And I split for Memphis where they say all
Them swingin' cats are havin' a ball
Sessions, hot licks and all, they dig me

I was rockin' and boppin' and I's a gettin' the breaks
The girls all said that I had what it takes
When up stepped a man with a big cigar
He said "come here, cat--I'm gonnna make you a star."
"I'll put you on Bandstand, buy ya a Cadillac, sign here, kid."

I signed my name and became a star
Havin' a ball with my guitar
Driving a big long Cadillac and fightin' the girls off ma back
They just kept a'comin', screamin', yeah-they like it

So I'd pick my guitar with a great big grin
And the money just kept on pourin' in
But then one day my Uncle Sam
He said (sound of 3 footsteps) "Here I am"
"Uncle Sam needs you, boy
I'm-a gonna cut your hair
ah-Take this rifle, kid
Gimme that guitar" yeah.

Writer/s: BROWNE, EDWARD SEVERIN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The All American Boy

This was written by the Country singer Bobby Bare and his friend Bill Parsons. It was inspired by the success of Elvis Presley and his conscription into the army.

Owing to a mix up at his record label the song was credited to Parsons though it was Bare singing on the record. Bare recalled to Billboard magazine: "Bill had just gotten out of the Army. He had a thing he wanted to record. So, we went down to King Studio in Cincinnati, and I played bass on his thing. We had about fifteen minutes. I said 'Let me put down this thing I've been working on.' So, I did."

"That same day, they wanted to make a copy of it.," Bare continued "The guy who was paying for it went to a company there to get an acetate made. It was Fraternity Records. When they heard the two records. They asked who was singing, and the guy told him Bill Parsons – which it was on the back side of that record. So, they put it out with his name on it. It scared him to death. He didn't even know the song."

Bobby Bare was drafted by the army just before the song's release so Bill Parsons toured with the hit, lip-synching to the record.

The Silhouettes - Get A Job

The Silhouettes - Get A Job Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Get A Job
Released: 1958

Get A Job Lyrics

Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get A Job, sha na na na, sha na na na na

Ev'ry morning about this time
She get me out of my bed
A-crying, get a job
After breakfast ev'ry nay
She throws the want ads right my way
And never fails to say
Get a job, sha na na na, sha na na na na

Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job, sha na na na, sha na na na na

And when I get the paper
I read it through and through
And my girl never fails to say
If there is any work for me
And when I go back to the house
I hear the woman's mouth
Preaching and a-crying
Tell me that I'm lying
'Bout a job that I never could find

Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job, sha na na na

And when I get the paper
I read it through and through
And my girl never fails to say
If there is any work for me
And when I go back to the house
I hear the woman's mouth
Preaching and a-crying
Tell me that I'm lying
'Bout a job that I never could find

Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job, sha na na na, sha na na na

Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na

Writer/s: Horton, William F / Beal, Earl T / Lewis, Richard A / Edwards, Raymond W
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Get A Job

This song was written by group member Richard Lewis when he was in the US army. When Lewis returned to his Philadelphia home, he joined a church quartet, the Gospel Tornadoes, which evolved into a secular group, the Thunderbirds.

The Thunderbirds recorded for a local label (Kae Records) owned by DJ Kae Williams, whose first act as manager of the group was to suggest that they change their name. Group member Earl Beal offered The Silhouettes, (after the hit by the Rays, and also the Diamonds), which all concerned liked.

When the single started to sell, the master recording was sold to Ember Records, which reissued the record for national distribution. It hit #1 -- the only single by the Silhouettes to make the national charts. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL, for all above)

Common - The Neighborhood

Common - The Neighborhood Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Nobody's Smiling
Released: 2014

The Neighborhood Lyrics

Thousand lives ago
We were young and we didn't know
We were trading our crowns for our souls
Made the sacrifice
Headed back to the light
But be careful don't drown in the gold
I know it glows but it's cold

I'm from the other side of town
Out of bounds
To anybody who don't live around
I never learned to share or how to care
I never had no teachings about being fair

Have you ever heard of Black Stone around Black Stones?
And Four C H'd, Vice Lords, Stony Island on Aces
The concrete matrix, street organizations
They gave violations, hood public relations
It was the basics to get big faces
Stay away from cases, bad broads, good graces
The hustles was the taste makers and trend setters
They the ones that fed us hopin' that the feds don't get us
The era of Reagan, the terror of Bush
Crack babies, momma's a push, we were the products of Bush
I'm wishin' for a Samurai Suzuki and a little Gucci
A bad ho to BBB do me, you heard of flukey?
Stokes it was folks and coke and dope
Fiends choked off of smoke, herringbones and rope
Rare jewels of a generation
Diamonds, blind enough so real shit we facin'
Forties wasted on seats, Dion makin' the beats
When they air it out on at the parties we escapin' the heat
I could break it down like whatever you need
He squinted his face and rolled the weed

You know they don't see sometimes
That in The Neighborhood
It's the exact same thing
It's the same thing over and over again
Feel me?

Have you ever heard of no limit, three hundred, six hundred?
Folly boy, O block, east side
Where it ain't no conversation they just let them heats ride
Can't nobody stop the violence, why my city keep lyin'?
Niggas throw up peace signs but everybody keep dying
Used to post up on that strip, I look like a street sign
I've been out there three days and I got shot at three times
Felt like every bullet hit me when they flew out each nine
I be happy when I wake up and I have a free mind
I know haters wanna clap me up, watch the morgue grab me up
But they can catch me later, I been cool, chasin' paper
Where I come from ain't no hope if you was claimin' that was major
Small crib, big fam, mom was workin', granny raised us
No food in the refrigerator, I was bangin', pullin' capers, that's real shit
Same niggas from day one boy, yeah I'm still with
Better watch out for that jump shot cause they will hit
Hungry take your shorty lunchbox, and won't feel shit
I came from a place where it's basic but you won't make it
Feds buildin' cases, judges who racist and full of hatred I mean
You ain't never seen the shit that I seen

Coming inbound
Forty six minutes from 3:55
Jim Bryant's twenty eight out, thirty two in
Lake Shore Drive's heavy south
North Avenue to Chicago, jammed north through Grant Park
Tri State heavy south coast to the Bensenville Bridge and
St. Charles to the Stevenson Ramp
Get traffic and weather together on the 8's
Every ten minutes on News Radio, 780 and 105.9 FM

Writer/s: MAYFIELD, CURTIS / LYNN, LONNIE / FAUNTLEROY, JAMES / WILSON, ERNEST / WRIGHT, HERBERT
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUB GROUP, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Neighborhood

This song paints a picture of the struggles for a young black kid in Common's native Chicago. It features Common's fellow Ch-town natives Lil Herb and James Fauntleroy of Cocaine 80s.

Speaking on a video posted on XXLMag.com, Common said Lil Herb added a unique perspective to the song. "'The Neighborhood' is - When I say that word it just makes me think of where I live and where I come from," he said. "And where a person comes from. And this song was really about - This is where I come from. This is the way I was raised. This is a place I've come from.

"And then I always thought about when we made the music," Common continued. "When we made that song it was like man, I wanted to hear somebody else's perspective. We knew that was gon' be the intro to the album. 'The Neighborhood' was. I wanted to hear somebody else's perspective on what the neighborhood was to them and where they come from."

"It happened to be Lil Herb point blank after No I.D. played me Lil Herb," the Chi-town rapper added. "I heard him and I kept listening to some of his other stuff. I was like 'This dude is raw.' And he was the perfect emcee, perfect artist to put on there. Cause he told his perspective in a cold way."

The song samples a few lines from Curtis Mayfield's 1970 dark tune "The Other Side of Town," in which the Chicagoan singer reflects on those who have it better the other side of the city. Its inclusion on this cut is an acknowledgement of how inner-city struggles carry on ad infinitum.

The Miracles - Shop Around

The Miracles - Shop Around Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Hi, We're The Miracles
Released: 1960

Shop Around Lyrics

When I became of age my mother called me to her side,
She said, "Son, you're growing up now pretty soon you'll take a bride"
And then she said, "Just because you've become a young man now,
There's still somethings that you don't understand now,
Before you ask some girl for her hand now
Keep your freedom for as long as you can now."

My mama told me, "You better Shop Around, (Shop, shop)
Oh yeah, you better shop around" (Shop, shop around)

Ah, there's somethings that I want you to know now
Just as sure as the winds gonna blow now
The women come and the women gonna go now
Before you tell 'em that you love em so now.

My mama told me, "You better shop around, (Shop, shop)
Oh yeah, you better shop around" (Shop, shop around)

A-try to get yourself a bargain son
Don't be sold on the very first one
A-pretty girls come a dime a dozen,
A-try to find one who's gonna give you true lovin'

Before you take a girl and say I do, now,
Make sure she's in love with-a you now.
My mama told me, "You better shop around."

Ooh yeah, a-try to get yourself a bargain son
Don't be sold on the very first one
A-pretty girls come a dime a dozen,
A-try to find one who's gonna give you true lovin'.

Before you take a girl and say I do, now,
Make sure she's in love with-a you now.
Make sure that her love is true now.
I hate to see you feelin' sad and blue now"

My mama told me, "You better shop around (Shop, shop)
Don't let the first one get you
Oh no 'cause I don't want to see her with you
Uh huh before you let her hold you tight, ah yeah make sure she's alright
Uh huh before you let her take your hand my son
Understand my son, be a man my son I know you can my son I love you"

Writer/s: ROBINSON, SMOKEY/GORDY, BERRY JR
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Shop Around

This was the first million-seller for Motown Records. It was also the label's first Top 10 single in the US.

Miracles leader Smokey Robinson wrote this in about 20 minutes. In a 2006 interview with NPR, he explained that some songs just flowed out of him, and those were often the hits. Robinson wrote the song for another Motown artist, Barrett Strong, but Motown leader Berry Gordy convinced him to record it with his group, The Miracles, and have Robinson's wife, Claudette, sing lead. Gordy worked on the song with Robinson, which was a slower and more Bluesy number when the Miracles first recorded it.

The song was released as a single, but late one night, Gordy woke Robinson up with a phone call announcing he thought up a different arrangement for the song and called the group into the studio to record it (it was not uncommon to re-record a song in those days after hearing it on the radio and considering improvements). Everybody made it to the studio except the piano player, so Gordy pounded the ivories while the tape was rolling. The hit version, which had a faster tempo and Smokey on lead, was recorded around 3 a.m.

Robinson made up the lyrics about his mother telling him go through lots of girls in pursuit of the perfect one. His mother died when he was 10.

A cover version by Captain & Tennille went to #4 US in 1976. In this version, the advice to "shop around" is delivered to a daughter.

A white singer on the Motown roster named Debbie Dean recorded an answer song called "Don't Let Him Shop Around" which hit #92 in 1961.

Dry the River - Everlasting Light

Dry the River - Everlasting Light Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Alarms in the Heart
Released: 2014

Everlasting Light Lyrics

Everlasting Light

The first single from Dry the River's Alarms in the Heart album was a creative breakthrough for the band. Frontman Peter Liddle explained: "At the time Dry the River were in something of a wilderness, creatively and temporally. For me, 'Everlasting Light' represents the path out of the wilderness - a kind of unlikely moment of clarity where we remembered what it's like to be a band in a room."

The band are seen taking on a black belt female judo team in the music visual. "The combative video came from these themes - of getting back up after a setback, dusting ourselves off.," said Liddle. "The black belts are real, and so is the pain."