IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE)

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes,
an aeroplane - Lenny Bruce is not afraid.
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn,
world serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs.
Feed it off an aux speak,, grunt, no, strength,
The ladder starts to clatter with fear fight down height.
Wire in a fire, representing seven games, a government for hire and a combat site.
Left of west and coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.
Team by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered cropped.
Look at that low playing!
Fine, then.
Uh oh, overflow, population, common food, but it'll do.
Save yourself, serve yourself. World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed dummy with the rapture and the revered and the right - right.
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o'clock - TV hour. Don't get caught in foreign towers.
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn.
Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood letting.
Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate.
Light a candle, light a votive. Step down, step down.
Watch your heel crush, crushed. Uh-oh, this means no fear cavalier.
Renegade steer clear! A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies.
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine.
(I feel fine)

It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine.

The other night I dreamt of knives, continental drift divide. Mountains sit in a line
Leonard Bernstein. Leonid Brezhnev. Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom!
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam book neck, right? Right.

It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine.

It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine.

It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it. (It's time I had some time alone)
It's the end of the world as we know it (It's time I had some time alone) and I feel fine...

BOB WEIR & FRIENDS: CASSIDY > BIRD SONG

Bob Weir & Friends - Cassidy > Bird Song


Cassidy

I have seen where the wolf has slept by the silver stream.
I can tell by the mark he left you were in his dream.
Ah child of countless trees, ah child of boundless seas.

What are you, what are you meant to be?
Speaks his name for you were born to me,
Born to me, cassidy.

Lost now on the country miles in his cadillac.
I can tell by the way you smile he is rolling back.
Come wash the nighttime clean, come grow the scorched ground green.

Blow the horn, tap the tambourine.
Close the gap on the dark years in between.
You and me, cassidy.

Quick beats in an icy heart, catch colt draws a coffin cart,
There he goes and now here she starts, hear her cry.

Flight of the seabirds,
Scattered like lost words,
Wheel to the storm and fly.
Fare thee well now, let your life proceed by it's own design.
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, Im done with mine.
Fare thee well now, let your life proceed by it's own design.
Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, Im done with mine.

Bird Song

All I know is something like a bird within her sang,
All I know she sang a little while and then flew on,
Tell me all that you know, I'll show you snow and rain.

If you hear that same sweet song again, will you know why?
Anyone who sings a tune so sweet is passin' by,
Laugh in the sunshine, sing, cry in the dark, fly through the night.

Don't cry now, don't you cry, don't you cry anymore.
Sleep in the stars, don't you cry, dry your eyes on the wind.

All I know is something like a bird within her sang,
All I know she sang a little while and then flew off,
Tell me all that you know, I'll show you snow and rain.

CSNY: MILITARY MADNESS

In an upstairs room in Blackpool
By the side of a northern sea
The army had my father
And my mother was having me
Military Madness was killing my country
Solitary Sadness comes over me
After the school was over and I moved
To the other side
I found another country but I never
Lost my pride
Military Madness was killing the country
Solitary sadness creeps over me
And after the wars are over
And the body count is finally filed
I hope that The Man discovers
What’s driving the people wild
Military madness is killing your country
So much sadness, between you and me

KINKS: A ROCK N' ROLL FANTASY

Song Factoids:
This Kinks classic is a salute to Rock N' Roll fans everywhere. Enjoy!

Hello you, hello me, hello people we used to be
Isn't it strange, we never changed
We've been through it all yet we're still the same
And I know it's a miracle, we still go, and for all we know
We might still have a way to go

Hello me, hello you, you say you want out
Want to start anew, throw in your hand
Break up the band, start a new life, be a new man
But for all we know, we might still have a way to go
Before you go, there's something you ought to know

There's a guy in my block, he lives for rock
He plays records day and night
And when he feels down, he puts some rock 'n' roll on
And it makes him feel alright
And when he feels the world is closing in
He turns his stereo way up high

He just spends his life, living in a rock 'n' roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living on the edge of reality
He just spends his life, in a rock 'n' roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living in a rock 'n' roll fantasy
He just spends his life, living on the edge of reality
He just spends his life, in a rock 'n' roll fantasy
He just spends his life, livingt in a rock 'n' roll fantasy

Look at me, look at you
You say you've got nothing left to prove
The King is dead, rock is done
You might be through but I've just begun
I don't know, I feel free and I won't let go
Before you go, there's something you ought to know

Dan is a fan and he lives for our music
It's the only thing that gets him by
He's watched us grow and he's seen all our shows
He's seen us low and he's seen us high
Oh, but you and me keep thinking
That the world's just passing us by

Dont' want to spend my life, living in a rock 'n' roll fantasy
Don't want to spend my life living on the edge of reality
Don't want to waste my life, hiding away anymore
Don't want to spend my life, living in a rock 'n' roll fantasy...

APRIL WINE: DROP YOUR GUNS

Performance @ PNE in Vancouver, 8-24-09

Song factoids:
-As the video demonstrates, this antiwar anthem from the early 70's remains as relevant today as it was when it was written.
-Every site I saw that listed these lyrics have a "misheard error" in the third stanza. Rather than the correct line, "You're the thing in us all, that really ought to be put away," these sites say, "You're the thing in *a song*, that really ought to be put away." Given the context, ask yourself which makes more sense. Viral errors like these demonstrate but one problem in our careless, copy and paste world.

Drop Your Guns
(David Henman)

Look at all the places we been, and look where we are
Something is amiss here cause we never seem to get very far
Now I got a feeling, a plan, some music to sing
And I'm looking for the right words to convey the message we bring

If you can hear it, mmm, I'm gettin' near it, if I can say it
Drop your guns, and raise your hands in the air
You're the one that started all the trouble out there

Grease me, I'm near you, blast me, I'm in your way
You're the thing in us all, that really ought to be put away
Now I got a feeling, a plan, some music to sing
And I'm looking for the right words to convey the message we bring

If you can hear it, I'm gettin' near it, if I can say it
Drop your guns, and raise your hands in the air

Drop your guns, and raise your hands in the air
Drop your guns, and raise your hands in the air
Drop your guns, and raise your hands in the air
Drop your guns, and raise your hands in the air

The Tragically Hip: Fireworks

Performance @ Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, 4-24-09

Song Factoids:
-Clearly this song is about the 1972 hockey Summit Series between Canada and the USSR.
-Trivia you can use at the pub: The Hip's lead singer, Gord Downey is the godson of Harry Sinden, long-time general manager, coach, and president of the Boston Bruins and coach of Team Canada during the 1972 Summit Series.


Fireworks

If there's a goal that everyone remembers it was back in ole' 72
We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger
And all I remember was sitting beside you
You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey
And I never saw someone say that before
You held my hand and we walked home the long way
You were loosening my grip on Bobby Orr
Isn't it amazing anything's accomplished
When the little sensation gets in your way
The Tragically Hip

Not one ambition whisperin' over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing you can do anything
We hung out together every single moment
Cause that's what we thought married people do
Complete with the grip of artificial chaos
And believing in the country of me and you
Crisis of faith and crisis in the Kremlin
And yea we'd heard all of that before
It's wintertime, the house is solitude with options
And loosening the grip on a fake cold war
Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish
When you don't let the nation get in your way
No ambition whisperin' over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing you can do anything

Next to your comrades in the national fitness program
Caught in some eternal flexed-arm hang
Droppin' to the mat in a fit of laughter
Showed no patience, tolerance or restraint

Fireworks exploding in the distance
Temporary towers soar
Fireworks emulating heaven
Til there are no stars anymore
Fireworks aiming straight at heaven
Temporary towers soar
Til there are no stars shining up in heaven
Til there are no stars anymore
Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish
When the little sensation gets in your way
No ambition whisperin' over your shoulder
Isn't it amazing what you can accomplish, eh
This one thing probably never goes away
I think this one thing is always supposed to stay
This one thing doesn't have to go away

Pearl Jam: World Wide Suicide (with lyrics)

Song Factoids:
-World Wide Suicide is about the Iraq War. Singer Eddie Vedder has said that it was written largely about Pat Tillman.
-It made chart history becoming the first digitally delivered #1 song in Canada's history.

Grateful Dead: Franklin's Tower

Performance @ Radio City 10-31-80:

Song Factoids:
-Wonder what this Grateful Dead second set standard is all about? Here is a long-winded explanation by GD lyricist Robert Hunter.


Franklin's Tower
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann

In another time's forgotten space
Your eyes looked from your mother's face
Wildflower seed on the sand and stone
May the four winds blow you safely home

Chorus
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew
Roll away the dew

I'll tell you where the four winds dwell
In Franklin's tower there hangs a bell
It can ring, turn night to day
It can ring like fire when you lose your way

[chorus]

God save the child who rings that bell
It may have one good ring, baby, you can't tell
One watch by night, one watch by day
If you get confused, listen to the music play

[chorus]

Some come to laugh their past away
Some come to make it just one more day
Whichever way your pleasure tends
If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind

[chorus]

In Franklin's tower the four winds sleep
Like four lean hounds the lighthouse keep
Wildflower seed in the sand and wind
May the four winds blow you home again

[chorus]
[chorus]
[etc]