I’m Still Here (2002) – Tom Waits

Posted on July 12, 2025 by observationblogger — 4 Comments

I’m Still Here lasts just under 2 minutes, but it expresses more than most songs can in 5 minutes. It’s such a poignant exploration of enduring love and the passage of time. There are few other songs where I’ve heard Tom’s voice sound so tender and immersed in a song. He has this ability to capture complex emotions with simplicity and depth. When he sings the last line ‘I’m Still Here‘, it sends chills down my spine. The whole song is charming, sad and beautiful at the same time.

When Tom repeats the line – ‘You haven’t looked at me that way in years,’ it shows the emotional distance that has grown between him and his partner. Phrases like ‘Your watch has stopped and the pond is clear’ evokes a sense of stillness and stagnation, symbolizing the halted progression of their relationship. Despite these hardships Tom declares, ‘I’ll love you til all time is gone,’ revealing his steadfast commitment and belief that their love can endure.

Tom Waits is of course one of contemporary music’s most singular, incomparable figures. Very few (if any) artists have a more unique approach to creating and performing. Also, no one sounds like him, and most people who try just end up embarrassing themselves. Waits said that no artist can have just one voice, and that’s what drives him – and his peers – to continue creating….’I think there are other voices in there and I’m still looking for it.”

I’m Still Here is from Tom’s 14th studio album Alice (2002). The songs were written by Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan for the opera Alice ten years earlier. The opera was a collaboration with Robert Wilson, with whom Waits had previously worked on The Black Rider. Alice was co-released with Blood Money, an album containing songs Waits wrote for Wilson’s musical Woyzeck.
Waits described the songs on Alice as “adult songs for children, or children’s songs for adults“.

Alice was ranked No 2 in Metacritic’s Top 30 albums of 2002. It reached No. 30 in the US and No 20 in the UK.

You haven’t looked at me that way in years
You dreamed me up and left me here
How long was I dreaming for?
What was it you wanted me for?

You haven’t looked at me that way in years
Your watch has stopped and the pond is clear
Someone turn the lights back on
I’ll love you till all time is gone

You haven’t looked at me that way in years
But I’m still here

References:
1. Tom Waits on finding his voice: ‘I don’t really think there is anything genuinely new under the sun’ – ABC Double J
2. Alice (Tom Waits Album) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: alice, I'm Still Here, Tom waits
Posted in Music

For Free (1971) – Joni Mitchell

Posted on July 11, 2025 by observationblogger — 13 Comments

Yesterday on BBC Sounds, I was checking out David Gilmour’s Desert Island tracks when I spotted Joni Mitchell’s song For Free. Instantly, I assumed I’d already written about it and had it tucked away somewhere in my music project. But after checking – and re-checking – I can confirm a solid ‘Negative’ on both counts, which still boggles my mind. Needless to say, I realised I had to make amends, and quicksmart – so here we are today.

Wondering what makes Joni Mitchell such a revered songwriter? For Free might be a subtle but telling example. On the surface, the song seems simple – just a stroll through a town block, but her wordplay and melodic choices are as intricate as they are unforced. For instance, where “hotel” is made to rhyme with “jewels” through phrasing – well it’s not technically a rhyme, but it feels like one. Also, choruses in music are usually built around repetition – lyrically and musically – but here, each evolves and offers new imagery and emotional nuance. The phrase “For Free” closes each with stark simplicity, but resonates powerfully each time. It becomes a tribute to the overlooked street musician. Someone who the world ordinarily brushes past. But Joni doesn’t – she listens. Then paints such a vivid pictures and captures her ambivalence about her new fame as well.

The following was mostly extracted and abridged from the Wikipedia reference below:
For Free was released on Joni’s third studio album Ladies of the Canyon (1971). It peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard. The title refers to Laurel Canyon, a center of popular music culture in Los Angeles during the 1960s, where Mitchell lived while she was writing the album. This album is the most related to her long-standing friendships and relationships with Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. Mitchell was living with Graham Nash at the time much of the album was written.

Ladies of the Canyon is seen as a transition from her folky early work to the more sophisticated and poignant albums that followed. In particular, For Free foreshadows the lyrical leitmotif of the isolation triggered by success that would be elaborated upon in For the Roses and Court and Spark. From the same record – Big Yellow Taxi became a standard over the years becoming one of Joni’s most recognisable tunes.

Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey included a cover of For Free on her 2021 album Chemtrails over the Country Club. Other songs, but original compositions will feature here from that Lana record.

[Verse 1]
I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools

[Chorus 1]
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet for free

[Verse 2]
Now me I play for fortunes
And those velvet curtain calls
I got a black limousine and two gentlemen
Escorting me to the halls

[Chorus 2]
And I’ll play if you have the money
Or if you’re a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good for free

[Verse 3]
Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never been on their TV
So they passed his music by

[Chorus 3]
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
He was playing real good for free

References:
1. Ladies of the Canyon (album) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: for free, Joni mitchell, Ladies of the Canyon
Posted in Uncategorized

Angel In Blue (1981) – The J. Geils Band

Posted on July 10, 2025 by observationblogger — 11 Comments

I found today’s featured track – Angel in Blue while researching Centerfold, The J. Geils Band’s most famous hit – and I’m glad I did. Musically, the two tracks are worlds apart: Centerfold bursts with playful energy, a cheeky, upbeat romp, while Angel in Blue is a taut rock’n roll ballad which teeters on the emotional precipice by leaning into narrative depth. Centerfold tells of a high school crush who reappears – shockingly – as a magazine pin-up, while in Angel in Blue, the singer becomes enamoured with a troubled table-top dancer he meets at a bar. The girl in Centerfold is idealised from afar, forever out of reach. The woman in Angel in Blue, on the other hand, is heartbreakingly real, as her dreams fade and her spirit frays.

I can see why Critic Joe Viglione praised Angel in Blue as “arguably the smartest lyric in the J. Geils Band catalogue“. It’s just such a well written song. She never had dreams / so they never came true. You could read the lyrics as a stand alone-short story and find them poignant and tender. Classic Rock History critic Brian Kachejian noted influences from Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty in Angel in Blue. The song was written by the band’s keyboardist and songwriter – Seth Justman who wrote or co wrote most of the group’s songs and also sung lead after Peter Wolf’s departure from the band in 1983.

The band wanted Angel in Blue to be the album’s first single from their 1981 record Freeze Frame, but they were dissuaded by their record company and Centerfold was chosen. That reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard while Angel in Blue was released as the third single and peaked at No. 40. The album itself peaked at No 1.

We met in a bar
Out on Chesapeake Bay
With her white patent boots
And her blouse red lame
A table top dancer
She would smile on cue
Those lips of an angel
Angel in blue

She’s been dancing for ages
Through cities of bars
She was kickin’ the habit
Of scoring in cars
She’d been drained of her spirit
All caged up in this zoo
A wildcat angel
Angel in blue

And as she stared out into nowhere
I thought, yes, I thought she might break down and cry
When I whispered I thought I could love her
She just said “Baby, don’t even bother to try”

And I watched as she spoke
Her words chilled my bones
All her friends did her favors
That were really just loans
And she never had dreams
So they never came true
The palest of angels
Angel in blue

And the bees they had stung her
The birds they had flown
There were guys she could number
But none had she known
And she never had dreams
So they never came true
My fade away angel
Angel in blue

References:
1. Angel in Blue – Wikipedia

Tagged with: angel in blue, freeze frame, The J. Geils Band
Posted in Music

Slip Away (1968) – Clarence Carter

Posted on July 9, 2025 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

Today’s featured song is the 1968 soul classic Slip Away. It’s a bit of a cheeky one too because it’s focused on infidelity. The singer asks a girl to cheat with him. Tough to resist those pleas for the one Clarence Carter is singing it to. The backstory below is curious as well:

Bassist Marcus Daniel, Carter’s sideman recalled when in 1967 he had been feeling uneasy about his musical career: “I got down on my knees and asked God to allow me to do better” – as a songwriter and musician – “and stay with the band, and within twenty minutes I sat up in bed with both the melody and the lyrics of ‘Slip Away’ in my mind.”
Asked how a divinely inspired song could be centred on infidelity, Daniel stated – “I wrote about what I knew”:”back then…I was a bad womanizer, which…shames to this day‘. In 1988 Daniel would leave his musical career behind, serving as pastor in Alabama.
In 2009 Clarence Carter had a contrasting recollection of the origen of the song: “My bass player had written some lyrics…and he and I sat down and really put ‘Slip Away’ together.“
The co-writing credits in the end were given to musicians Marcus Daniel, William Armstrong and Wilbur Terrell. It’s said that the latter two didn’t contribute, but they were in bad financial shape and Carter wanted to help.

Slip Away appeared on the 1968 album This Is Clarence Carter. It would eventually serve as the B-side of the April 1968 single release Funky Fever was according to Carter his own suggestion, made in the hopes that Slip Away would prove to be a “flip hit“. But Funky Fever had a bad chart run just pipping just inside the 100 at No 89 on the US Charts. But Slip Away would break out as a flip hit peaking in October at No. 6 on the Billboard and the 44th biggest pop hit of 1968.

Gregg Allman released a version of the song as a single in 1988 which reached No. 17 on the U.S. rock chart.

What would I give just to have you near
Tell me you will try to slip away somehow
Oh, I need you darling, I want to see you right now

Can you slip away, slip away, slip away, yeah
Oh, I need you so

Love, oh love, how sweet it is
When you’re still in, darling, let me tell you something now
How sweet it is

Now I know it’s wrong, the things I ask you to do
But please believe me darling, I don’t mean to hurt you
But could you just slip away without him knowing you’re gone
Then we could meet somewhere, somewhere where we’re both unknown

Can you just, can you slip away, slip away, slip away, yeah
I need you so

Oh, can you slip away, baby
I’d like to see you right now, darling
Can you slip away now, baby
‘Cause I got to, I got to see you
I feel a deep burning inside

References:
1. Slip Away (Clarence Carter song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: clarence carter, slip away, this is clarence carter
Posted in Music

Blow Away (1979) – George Harrison

Posted on July 8, 2025 by observationblogger — 10 Comments

I grew up on the music of John Lennon, and since his life was tragically cut short, my musical appreciation gradually leaned more towards George Harrison in recent years. My parents didn’t own any of George’s solo records, and it wasn’t until the Traveling Wilburys burst onto the scene that I really heard Harrison outside of the Beatles. Even then, for years I remained largely unfamiliar with his solo work – until I started this blog. It was thanks to other people’s music articles that I finally discovered just how wonderful George’s solo output truly is. It’s crazy to think how talented the Beatles were when this guy is considered their third best songwriter.

Blow Away is such a lucid and sunny song although funnily enough its starts out being about rain and clouds, however in the latter verses the day turns brighter with rainbows even appearing.

George Harrison said in an interview with Rolling Stone 1979:
‘Blow Away’ I like because it’s so catchy; in fact, I was a bit embarrassed about it at first, but it turned our good and people seem to like it. That was the first new tune I wrote. I was in the garden and it was pouring down with rain, and I suddenly became aware that I was feeling depressed, being affected by the weather. And it’s important to remember that while everything else around you changes, the soul within remains the same; you have to constantly remember that and fight for the right to be happy.

Blow Away is one of George’s most popular recordings from his solo career whilst also being one of his simplest compositions. The track if often cited as one his “10 Best Songs” amongst his fans.
Blow Away was the lead single from his 1979 album titled George Harrison. It reached number 51 in the UK and peaked at number 16 and number 34, respectively, in the United States and Australia.

[Verse 1]
Day turned black, sky ripped apart
Rained for a year ’til it dampened my heart
Cracks and the leaks, the floorboards caught rot
About to go down, I had almost forgot

[Chorus]
All I got to do is to
To love you
All I got to be is
Be happy
All it’s got to take is some warmth to make it
Blow away, blow away, blow away
All I got to do is to
To love you
All I got to be is
Be happy
All it’s got to take is some warmth to make it
Blow away, blow away, blow away

[Verse 2]
Sky cleared up, day turned to bright
Closing both eyes, now the head’s filled with light
Hard to remember what a state I was in
Instant amnesia, yang to the yin

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
Wind blew in, cloud was dispersed
Rainbows appearing, the pressures were burst
Breezes a-singing, now feeling good
A moment had passed, like I knew that it should

[Chorus]

References:
1. Blew Away – Wikipedia

Tagged with: blow away, george harrison
Posted in Music

The Rising (2002) – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on July 7, 2025 by observationblogger — 8 Comments

Bruce Springsteen’s music slipped off the radar for many after his much-maligned 1992 double album. Yet, in my humble opinion, if the strongest tracks from both had been combined into a single cohesive record, it could have stood as one of his greatest. Thereafter he went on a solo phase in the 1990’s and made some great tracks which featured here including Philadelphia (1994), Secret Garden (1995) The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995), Dead Man Walkin’ (1996), Happy (1998), and Loose Change (1998). So it goes without saying, Bruce was always in my field of vision.
Then Boom! The 2002 The Rising record came out with the one and only E Street Band. Saying ‘comeback to form‘ as far as the group are concerned makes big sense.

Three other songs have already featured here from the record which was dedicated to the victims of 9/1, namely: Countin’ on a Miracle, Lonesome Day and Nothing Man. Now to the title track…The Rising. It was symbolically named to praise the heroism of the firefighters and emergency teams heading up the stairwells of the Towers before they collapsed. Springsteen said he got the inspiration for the album a few days after the 9/11 attacks, when a stranger in a car stopped next to him, rolled down his window and said: “We need you now”. Songs from his Rising record projects my mind back to the impact of the events of that fateful day. And the version of the song I presented below is his live Barcelona concert for The Rising which remains one of my favourite music concerts.

To not put to finer point on it; to me this track is about as good as anything he’s done and accordingly I have it located in his top tier. Obviously that shelf is loaded, but because this is a latter career track, I think The Rising doesn’t get its just deserts regarding his career output.
Also, the ‘bridge’ in this – is spectacular, as is the one in Countin’ on a Miracle. Normally these fillers seem to labour songs, but Bruce is the ‘Master’ of turning these into magnificent beasts as he does here at 1:50. Also his guitar solo proceeding it is nothing short of penetrating, then the bridge with Steven Van Zandt’s voice zapping in with Faces gone black, eyes burning bright, is legendary stuff.

[Verse 1]
Can’t see nothing in front of me
Can’t see nothing coming up behind
Make my way through this darkness
I can’t feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I’ve gone
How far I’ve gone, how high I’ve climbed
On my back’s a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder, a half-mile line

[Chorus]
Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

[Verse 2]
Left the house this morning
Bells were ringing and filled the air
I was wearing the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire, I come rolling down here

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
There’s spirits above and behind me
Faces gone black, eyes burning bright
May their precious blood bind me
Lord, as I stand before your fiery light

[Verse 3]
I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There’s holy pictures of our children
Dancing in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancing on the end of the line

[Bridge]
Sky of blackness and sorrow (A dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (A dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness (A dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear (A dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow (A dream of life)
Your burning wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (A dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life (A dream of life)

[Chorus]

References:
1. The Rising (Bruce Springsteen song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Bruce Springsteen, The Rising
Posted in Music

I’m Not Supposed to Care (1976) – Gordon Lightfoot

Posted on July 6, 2025 by observationblogger — 21 Comments

I came to this song hearing Bob Dylan’s live version (1998), which I thoroughly enjoyed although the recording quality isn’t top notch. When I heard Gordon Lightfoot’s original version I thought it was wonderful as well and here we are today. Gordon’s music has featured here once with If You Could Read My Mind, but the focus of that article was on Don William’s version. Apart from the aforementioned song, he had big hits with Sundown and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. You can see my blogger friend Max’s articles on those two. It would appear by accounts that Gordon Lightfoot was somewhat of a songwriter’s songwriter. He inspired peers such as Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley and Neil Young.

I’m Not Supposed to Care is from what some regard as Gordon Lightfoot’s strongest album, 1976’s Summertime Dream. This is one of his more reflective songs about lost love, told from the perspective of someone struggling to move on from a relationship that’s run its course. In lesser hands, it might have come off as overly sentimental, but Lightfoot’s nuanced delivery and emotional storytelling bring a tender, aching honesty that makes it resonate deeply.

Gordon Lightfoot was a Canadian singer-songwriter known for his poetic lyrics and distinctive voice, becoming one of folk and country music’s most respected figures as alluded to above. Born in Ontario in 1938, he rose to fame in the 1960s and 70s with the aforementioned songs. His music often reflected themes of love, loss, nature, and Canadian identity. Lightfoot earned international success, while remaining deeply tied to his Canadian roots. He continued performing and recording well into his later years, and by the time of his death in 2023, he was widely regarded as a national treasure and a master storyteller in song.

[Verse 1]
I think you had somebody waiting outside in the rain to take you away
You got places to go, you got people to see, still I’m gonna miss you
But anyway
I wish you good spaces in the far away places you go
If it rains or it snows may you be safe and warm and never grow old
And if you need somebody some time
You know I will always be there
I’ll do it although I’m not supposed to care

[Verse 2]
I’ll give you the keys to my flying machine if you’d like
I will show you the light and when you call
I’m gonna come to you
And when you find someone who loves you
I’ll know you would treat me the same
Just lie there, you’re not supposed to care

[Verse 3]
I think you had somebody waiting outside in the rain to take you away
That’s some kind of a game, still I’m glad it came down to the final round
But anyway
If you think you need someone who needs you
You know I will always be there
I’ll do it although I’m not supposed to care
I’ll do it although I’m not supposed to care

References:
1. Gordon Lightfooot – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, I'm Not Supposed to Care, summertime dream
Posted in Music

Portobello Belle (1979) – Dire Straits

Posted on July 5, 2025 by observationblogger — 11 Comments

I first heard the live version of today’s featured track on the above ‘Money For Nothing‘ greatest hits record (1988) which I purchased in my teens. It was a previously unreleased outtake from Alchemy: Dire Straits Live, 1984. Only 2 days ago did I hear for the first time the original acoustic version from the album Communiqué which I also enjoyed. Both versions are presented below. Portobello Belle always struck me as such an underrated and beautiful song in the Dire Straits collection. It’s sad, amusing, infectious, mysterious, accurate (according to accounts below), and uplifting at the same time. All in all, it’s just great songwriting and makes me smile whatever mood I’m in.

According to Song Meanings, Mark Knopfler wrote this song at Portobello Road London, in a pub called The Duke of Wellington. He was there often as a guest and wrote it for a pretty young lady who was the sister of the manager. The pub was often visited by the Dubliners, Donovan and Jimi Hendrix who celebrated his last night there. Also it’s said Adele signed her first contract at The Duke and it was also her hang out place before she became famous.

Described as an Irish reggae number it sees Mark exploring the streets of his adopted home Portobello Road. It’s also said the Irish and Jamaicans very much the low-status immigrants from the area in those days.

One contributor in Song Meanings said he worked as a street performer in the 80s in Portobello road. Here is what he wrote:
I recognise some of the people in the song. The “man on his back there escaping from a sack there” was a hard-drinking escapologist up at the top end near the Earl of Lonsdale who had one trick getting free of a chain he asked someone from the crowd to tighten, collect the money and down to the pub. He was miserable old bastard who had been there since the 50s I was told by some stallholders. He actually threatened me once cos I took his pitch and he was desperate for a drink. “The blind man singing Irish” was a blind busker on the corner further down the road. He collected his money in a kind of brass collection dish that organ grinders usually had. The song (he sang “about the long gone Irish girl” was “Molly Malone”, (She wheels her barrow through streets broad and narrow etc) , with which MK also hinted at the long-goneness of the Belle.

The following was extracted from the Wikipedia reference below:
Portobello Belle was released on Dire Straits‘ second album Communiqué in 1979. The album featured the single Lady Writer, which reached number 45 on the Billboard chart and number 51 in the UK. The album reached number one on album charts in Germany, Spain, New Zealand, and Sweden, number 11 in the United States and number 5 in the United Kingdom.

It is the last album to feature David Knopfler, who departed from the band during the making of their following album, and the last with the original lineup. He left over creative differences with his brother during the recording of their third album in August 1980.

[Verse 1]
Bella donna’s on the high street
Her breasts upon the off beat
And the stalls are just the side shows
Victoriana’s old clothes
And yes, her jeans are tight now
She got to travel light now
She got to turn up all her roots now
She got to turn up for the boots now

[Chorus]
She thinks she’s tough
She ain’t no English rose
Ah, but the blind singer
He’s seen enough and he knows
Yes, and he do a song about a long-gone Irish girl
Ah, but I got one for you, Portobello Belle

[Verse 2]
She sees a man upon his back there
Escaping from a sack there
And bella donna lingers
Her gloves ain’t got no fingers
Yeah, the blind man sing in Irish
He get his money in a tin dish
Just a corner serenader
Upon a time he could have made her, made her

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
Yes, and the barrow boys are hawking
And the parakeet’s squawking
Upon a truck there is a rhino
She get the crying of a wino
And then she hear the reggae rumble
Bella donna’s in the jungle
But she is no garden flower
There is no distress in the tower

[Outro]
Bella donna walks
Bella donna taking a stroll
She don’t care about your window box or your buttonhole
Yes, and she sing a song about a long-gone Irish girl
Ah, but I got one for you, Portobello Belle

References:
1. Song Meanings – Portobello Belle
2. Communiqué (Dire Straits album) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Communiqué, Dire Straits, Portobello Belle
Posted in Music

Push the Sky Away (2013) – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Posted on July 4, 2025 by observationblogger — 7 Comments

One of Australia’s most successful musical exports in Alternative – Indie music is back again, this time with the title track to his 15th studio album – Push The Sky Away. Nick Cave’s career spans over 4 decades working not only as a musician, but also as a writer, actor and director. He has amassed quite the cult following over that time. Anyone who’s listened to the wide range of his songs featured here and followed his lyrical journey would understand he shouldn’t be boxed in as just ‘that goth rock guy.’

As is evident in the live performance below, Push the Sky Away takes a minimal approach to the Bad Seeds signature sound. In the early days Cave seemed obsessed with the themes of Love, death, religion and dark fantasies, and Push the Sky Away is consistent with theses themes as well; however, the narratives have become more obtuse. The sound here is uncharacteristically weightless and eerily atmospheric. The song is less narratively focussed, and more stream-of-consciousness haze. It’s just another understated yet telling piece in the mosaic of Cave’s creative arc.

Push the Sky Away is the second song to feature here from his 2013 record after the previous entry – Jubilee Street. It was recorded at La Fabrique in southern France and was the Bad Seeds first album not to include founding member Mick Harvey, following his departure from the group in January 2009. The songs on the album were written over the course of twelve months and “took form in a modest notebook” kept by Cave. The cover image (see above) shows Cave opening a window shutter to illuminate his naked wife, Susie Bick in the couple’s own bedroom. The process of the recording was documented in the documentary, 20,000 Days on Earth, which I thoroughly enjoyed viewing.

Push the Sky Away went to No 1 in Australia, which was a first for the group. It also reached number one in six other countries. It also got a career high peak at No. 3 in the UK and No. 29 in the US. It was their first album to reach the top 50 in the US. It was acclaimed by music critics where at Metacritic, the album received an average score of 81.

In the video below, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis perform a rendition of Push the Sky Away recorded at their Film Music concert in December 2019 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

[Verse 1]
I was riding, I was riding home
The sun, the sun, the sun was rising from the field

[Verse 2]
I got a feeling I just can’t shake
I got a feeling that just won’t go away

[Chorus]
You’ve got to just keep on pushing it
Keep on pushing it
Push the sky away

[Verse 3]
And if your friends think that you should do it different
And if they think that you should do it the same

[Chorus]

[Verse 4]
And if you feel you got everything you came for
If you got everything and you don’t want no more

[Chorus]

[Verse 5]
And some people say it’s just rock and roll
Ah but it gets you right down to your soul

[Chorus]

References:
1. Push the Sky Away – Wikipedia

Tagged with: nick cave and the bad seeds, push the sky away
Posted in Music

The Promised Land (1978) – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on July 3, 2025 by observationblogger — 6 Comments

Vintage Bruce coming right up… and it more than aptly takes the wheel from where yesterday’s slice of American dream realism – Jackson Browne’s The Pretender – left us.

If there’s one song which immediately transports back to my 15 year-old self accompanied with all hopes and dreams that stir inside, it’s The Promised Land. This song did something to me back then, and it never let go. To me, it’s Bruce’s quintessential coming-of-age song: Mister, I ain’t a boy, no, I’m a man / And I believe in a promised land. It comes from Darkness on the Edge of Town, one of my favourite records growing up too. If Born in the U.S.A. is the high-performance machine built for the open highway, then Darkness is the raw, oil-slicked garage where the engine was forged—Working all day in my daddy’s garage / Driving all night chasing some mirage.

The idealism which the song pulses is captured right from the get-go, with Bruce’s iconic harmonica intro which exudes this gritty and defiant hope. And its quite the ride too as the piano sets a steady, soulful rhythm and the melody gets cracking. The track has a sense of motion – as if you the listener were being driven across the county line. Then you have Clarence’s superb saxophone solo which truly makes one soar. Also, the following passage is possibly one of the most uplifting and inspiring messages I’ve heard from Bruce – and at the time of writing this, I found very cathartic. It would also lead to one of his most underrated songs – With Every Wish from the maligned double album:

Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing
But lost and brokenhearted

Background (From Wikipedia)

The Promised Land originated through a trip to Utah and Nevada in 1977, with photographer Eric Meola (who shot the Born to Run cover) and guitarist Steven Van Zandt. The group set out towards Reno, Nevada, Meola looking for photo ops, Springsteen to see some of the places he envisioned in his dreams. He was also upset, because one of his heroes, Elvis Presley, had just died. Springsteen “wanted to take every single side road that we could in Nevada“, according to Meola…. Thirty days later, Springsteen came to the Record Plant with the words and music he had been working on since he left Nevada, for a song called “The Promised Land“…The song’s title pays homage to Chuck Berry’s song “Promised Land“. In Berry’s song, the singer leaves his Virginia home to go to the “promised land” of California.

Different authors have different answers as to what the “promised land” represents. June Skinner Sawyers believes it means the American ideal or even America itself… Springsteen’s promised land is defined by what doesn’t happen there: “you aren’t ‘lost or broken hearted,’ your dreams don’t ‘tear you apart‘ and your blood doesn’t ‘run cold.’ Springsteen noted that elements of the song reflected his own situation when he wrote it. He was unable to record a new album due to a lawsuit, and felt weak, unable to do what he wanted and that he was letting down the other members of the band. The song reflects the sense of despair but also of resilience and determination and desire to transcend his limitations that he was feeling at the time.

[Verse 1]
On a rattlesnake speedway in the Utah desert
I pick up my money and head back into town
Driving ‘cross the Waynesboro county line
I got the radio on and I’m just killing time

[Pre-Chorus 1]
Working all day in my daddy’s garage
Driving all night chasing some mirage
Pretty soon, little girl, I’m gonna take charge

[Chorus]
The dogs on Main Street howl ’cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister, I ain’t a boy, no, I’m a man
And I believe in a promised land

[Verse 2]
I’ve done my best to live the right way
I get up every morning and go to work each day
But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold
Sometimes I feel so weak, I just wanna explode

[Pre-Chorus 2]
Explode and tear this whole town apart
Take a knife and cut this pain from my heart
Find somebody itching for something to start

[Chorus]

[Verse 3]
Well, there’s a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I’m heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain’t got the faith to stand its ground

[Pre-Chorus 3]
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing
But lost and brokenhearted

[Chorus]

References:
1. The Promised Land (Bruce Springsteen song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: Bruce Springsteen, darkness on the edge of town, promised land
Posted in Music

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