GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

David Byrne - Self Made Man

We're living in a dump
Trying to figure out what sex we are
Exchanging chromosomes
Trying to bargain for a better future
Well I'll trade you my potential mental illness
For your bad teeth
How 'bout trading your sexy body for a full head of hair
Well we can't predict the future
But we're trying to do the best that we can
My cards are on the table
I'm gambling everything that I am
And some of us are hoping
To end up with a perfect life
I'll trade you everything that I got
For the chance to be someone else
But what you see is what you get
And what you give is what you choose
And what I am
What you see
Is exactly what I chose to be

Now we got a black market
Black market in designer genes
Most beautiful, most intelligent criminals you've ever seen
Now you're paying top dollar
For what you used to get for free
They'll stun you with their looks
And charm you with effortless ease

They've taken everything from you
The way you walk
The way you smile
The sound of your voice
Don't even know who you are
Who are you now?
Who are you now?

I'm a self made man, I'm a self-made man
I'm a self-made man (I got nothing left to give)
I'm a self-made man (I got nothing left to lose)

On down the hallway
The freaks are waiting for you
Somebody calls me
The freaks are waiting for you
And the clown will laugh in your face
Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho
The clown will laugh in your face
Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho
The clown will laugh in your face

Queensryche
Sign Of The Times

Heading for the classroom yesterday
The kids file through the metal machine
It finds what they may hide
No it just ain't right...
A sign of the times

Another church is burning to the ground...
Looking for the vandals and they're nowhere to be found
But the hate's alive
A sign of the times, Sign of the times...
A sign of the times, Sign of the times...

Would someone please let me know how we have spun out of
control?
Has the captain let go of the wheel?
Or could we please try to find a way to be a bit more kind?
I see the road to tomorrow in the haze!

On the Senate floor they congregate
Many pockets lined with green,
From those behind the scenes, yeah they take the bribe ( it's on the side )
A sign of the times, Sign of the times...
A sign of the times, Sign of the times...

One of the greatest songs ever: If I had a Hammer (by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger):

If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening
All over this land
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a song
I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening
All over this land
I'd sing out danger
I'd sing out a warning
I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

Well I've got a hammer
And I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing
All over this land
It's the hammer of justice
It's the bell of freedom
It's the song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

----
Sung by Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger:



Sung by Trini Lopez:



French version "Si j'avais un marteau" by Les Surf:



Spanish version by Victor Jara, "El Martillo":



Italian version, by Rita Pavone, "Datemi un martello":



One of the songs most widely translated, it's an anthem to civil rights around the world.

When Mary, Peter and Paul recorded it the song took off. Pete remarked on that later because he wrote it a workers organizing song. Read that as pro union and pro communist. It became a pro civil rights song in the early sixties and then spread around the word being picked up literally by every oppressed group which came together to march, protest or simply to voice their need for respect by oppressors. Pete used to say "I wrote it but PP&M made it".

The year was 1968. The country was in turmoil. There were riots in the south, west, east and north. Johnson withdrew his name from the presidential nomination process March 31, 1968. Vietnam raged. MLK Jr. was shot dead in Memphis April 4, 1968. One block from my meager apartment on 17th street in Nashville portions of 15th and 16th were torched that fateful night and sirens screamed from sundown until far into the next day. The night of his death and the following day there were riots in more than 100 cities with deaths and injuries in the thousands. There were protest marches on college campuses and on the streets of Washington. Rallies dwarfing anything since swelled up as if by magic. There was no instant internet communication.

Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey, and Robert Kennedy battled for the presidential nomination. George Wallace ran as a Southern Democrat in an independent bid for the presidency. Kennedy won the crucial California Primary and was shot just after midnight on my birthday in Los Angeles. Cities that were burned during the years after JFK's assasination in 1963 up until 1968 included Detriot - 67, Newark - 67, Harlem - 64, Watts section of L.A. 65 and again later. Portions of Detroit were never rebuilt.

Thousands played and performed "If I had a hammer". Tens of millions sang along. I don't personally know of a single performer active in the sixties who did not perform that song.

While I have it on my mind....

I worry about Obama. Some of the most radical racist groups in the USA are promoting voting for him because they feel 100% sure he will be assassinated, and that will bring about the RaHoWa (Racial Holy War) they have wanted since the 60s.

In a way, the worst case scenario is not a McCain victory, but an Obama victory, followed by widespread hope that ends in an assassination before six months. That'd be, by far, the worst possible outcome, I think.

I proposed my Buddhist group to sing "If I Had a Hammer" but they consider the song 'too violent'. Like good little Buddhists, they worry mostly about preserving the status quo.

BTW D., I'm thrilled that you know Pete IRL. Turn! Turn! Turn! sung by Judy Collins and Seegers:

I wouldn't stretch it to knowing Pete. It's not like we have talked in the last 40 years or so. I met him. I sat with others at a hootenanny or 2 and played along learning from his style as did thousands over the years. I had a banjo mandalin at the time which has a sound all its own.

Now look at the Banjo in this clip and notice that it is a "long neck" 5 string banjo. Pete invented it. It has 3 more frets than a regular 5 string banjo. The reason is that Pete played a lot of country and many of the country and bluegrass musicians love the key of E. The 5 string is tuned to an open G with the 5th string being a drone. By having 3 extra frets and using a capo on the third fret for the normal length neck the capo can be removed to drop the tuning to an open E. The high drone which is tuned to a G can be raised 3 additional frets to a B to become a natural part of the E tuning. This is done with a very tiny metal hook which you probably can not see in this clip. It sits just below and a bit to one side of the high drone string embedded in the fretboard. The string is simply slipped under it when the capo is removed to tune the other 4 strings to an open E.

Anyway here is an early banjo lesson filmed by Pete. I couldn't find a date on it but I think it must be about 1955 or so.

This is probably the best song ever written about a relationship breaking down


Joy Division ....Love Will Tear Us Apart

When the routine bites hard
And ambitions are low
And the resentment rides high
But emotions wont grow
And were changing our ways,
Taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again

Why is the bedroom so cold
Turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed,
Our respect run so dry?
Yet theres still this appeal
That weve kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again

Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings expose?
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold
Is it something so good
Just cant function no more?
When love, love will tear us apart again

Best Friend
by The Beat

i just found out the name of your best friend,
you been talkin' about yourself again,
and no one seems to share your views.
why doesn't everybody listen to you kid?
how come you never really seem to get through,
is it you?
talk about yourself again, you.
talk about yourself,
always you, you, you.
talk about yourself again.

she's on a holiday,
she's got her summer frock on.
suck on an ice cream,
it's meltin' in the hot sun.
first date's made you pray for more.
i wanted you, wanted.
everybody knows the score,
i wanted you, wanted.
what are we pretendin' for?
let's talk about ourselves on the floor.
let's talk about yourselves,
nothing more i promise.
talk about ourselves again.

i just found out the name of your best friend.
talk, talk, talk about yourself again.
yes i just found out the name of your best friend.

i just found out the name of your best friend,
you been talkin' about yourself again,
and no one seems to share your views.
why doesn't anybody listen to you kid?
how come you never really seem to get through,
is it you?

talk about yourself again, you.
talk about yourself,
always you, you, you.
talk about yourself again.
again, again, again, again.

i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend,
just found out the name of your best friend,
i just found out the name of your best friend.

this song is relevant to me

Nick Heyward - :Take That Situation

How can you take back my pride
And shout at me until i hide
But what makes me so dumb inside
Is waiting for my heart to die

Make me shout
Make me shout
Content to sin and pour it out
Going to Take that situation
And do it right, And put it right
And do it right , and do it right

Make me shout
You`re too Late
I let you get back in a state
Take my blame and take a break
Before you end this sorry state
Going to take that situation
And do it right. and put it right
And do it right, And do it right

I tried and knew that something
Was to keep me down
It`s all over with the justice
Of an empty clown
Sadness is the reason
I can`t stand out from the crowd
I only need a minute to look up and proud

How can we just sit about
And not Begin to work it out
The trouble is with your old friends
Is one who blames and just complains
Take that situation
And do it right

Come on and shout
And Pour it out
On a day that left me back in doubt
Take my blame and dance and shout
'Cause I'm still saying you make me shout
Take that situation
And do it right

Take that situation !