Hats Off to Shel Silverstein

Our show last night focused on how musical tastes and general interests change as you get older. I may have pooh-poohed Boston years ago but now I have seen the light and celebrate "Foreplay/Long Time" like all other red-blooded Americans. I was never one for lyrics either but as I get older, or mature as some might say, I've been noticing them more and more and occasionally even poring over a lyric sheet or two. It may have started with "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" and it's inscrutable yet hypnotizing words. I may not have understood what he was saying on listens 1-20 but after a while the entirety of the lyrics sank in and I started to piece together my own interpretation of the mysteriously beautiful images Jeff Magnum created.
One of my current favorites in Sam Beam of Iron & Wine. His lyrics are incredibly poetic full of gorgeous visuals and heartbreaking confessions. For me they tow the line between easily understandable and just out of reach, which I like because I have to work at it a little. Here are two amazing examples of his writing:



mother don't worry, i killed the last snake that lived in the creek bed
mother don't worry, i've got some money i save for the weekend
mother remember being so stern with that girl who was with me?
mother remember the blink of an eye when i breathed through your body?

so may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
sons are like birds flying upward over the mountain

mother i made it up from the bruise of a floor of this prison
mother i lost it, all of the fear of the Lord i was given
mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to
mother forgive me, i sold your car for the shoes that i gave you

so may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
sons are like birds flying upward over the mountain

mother don't worry, i've got a coat & some friends on the corner
mother don't worry, she's got a garden we're planting together
mother remember the night that the dog had her pups in the pantry?
blood on the floor & the fleas on their paws
and you cried 'til the morning

so may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
sons are like birds flying upward over the mountain



Papa died smiling
Wide as the ring of a bell
Gone all star white
Small as a wish in a well
And Sodom, South Georgia
Woke like a tree full of bees
Buried in Christmas
Bows and a blanket of weeds

Papa died Sunday and I understood
All dead white boys say, "God is good"
White tongues hang out, "God is good"

Papa died while my
Girl Lady Edith was born
Both heads fell like
Eyes on a crack in the door
And Sodom, South Georgia
Slept on an acre of bones
Slept through Christmas
Slept like a bucket of snow

Papa died Sunday and I understood
All dead white boys say, "God is good"
White tongues hang out, "God is good"