Topic: Lyrics as poetry

[Cran]

 
I don't remember... by the way, have we met? 

[Cran]

It was a time when half the world was waiting while fingers were poised over buttons that would lead to MAD ... 

Some years before, I had seen a documentary about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and it included a collection of scenes of the devastation ... blackened and broken walls around the white silhouettes of children who were playing or walking in front of the buildings when the bombs exploded.

One of the first songs I wrote came from those images.

SHADOWS ON THE WALL
words and music by Cran Herlihy June 1983


Chase the ripples in a glass of wine
Dream about a life that's fine
Take a trip across an open sea
To a land that's free
For you and me
That?s where I?ll be
Down the alley of endless time
In a fog that clouds the mind
Ah the silver birds take flight
Scream into the night
But it's alright, my child,
It?s alright
And as the sun comes shining thru
On me and you
Designing the shadows on the wall
That's all
Defining the shadows on the wall

Over cities in a pre-dawn haze
Turn the night into brightest days
With missiles now to keep the peace
Go on and press release
And Rest In Peace
But the children down below
They never know
They're only the shadows on the wall
So small
Just millions of shadows on the wall

As the children watch the sky
A little girl is asking why
Some people have to try
To find an alibi for
For killing anyone who
Any daughter, any son who
Anybody meets the gun who
Hasn't anywhere to run to
I've seen the right, I've seen the wrong
I've seen the weak, I've seen the strong
I've seen the pain of a world gone wrong
I've seen the horror of a nuclear bomb
And in the smoke and pain
Washed over the blood-soaked stain
Red wind, blackened rain
I heard the words of the Free State's Refrain
That says, says I believe in the power of God
I believe in the state of love
And I will fight for the right to be right
I will kill for the good of the fight to be right
And as the sirens call
Peacekeepers start to fall
There?s equal rights for one and all
For shadows on the wall
In the desolation children crawl
Past the shadows on the wall
And then I heard the starving cry
Of another victim doomed to die
In my trembling hands
While voices fill the stands
With every woman and every man
Who wants to give peace a chance

And now the time has come to say
We want to throw the guns (bombs) away
We want to let our children play
We want to have some peace today
(Repeat and alternate lyric time)

But the children down below
Never know
They're only the shadows on the wall
So small
Just millions of shadows on the wall

[piersdad]

true
in war people are just numbers
    

[Cran]

I'm getting to the point where the only song lyrics I have left are anti-war, anti-establishment (church and government), mostly 'angry young man' stuff.
In 1984, I was a youth worker, crisis counsellor, part time journalist and editor. Under 25 (youth) unemployment at that time was around 37% in the cities, and over 50% in some regional areas. I was one of the lucky ones, I guess, but my employment only existed because there was so much unemployment ... two-edged sword. 

One way to deal with it, was to write songs about it ...

Blood on the Line
Words and music by Cran Herlihy (1984)

He crawls out of bed on a cold grey morning
And the sun's not ready to rise
Strong black coffee and a cigarette
He paws  through the classifieds
There's engineers and teachers
And a manager or two
But starting each day in a positive way
Well that's  bloody hard to do!
Cos Johnny dropped out early
Now he lives one day at a time
There's blood on the line

And down at the local job centre
Matthew stares at the bored
There's plenty of schemes in this Land of Dreams
But nothing we can afford!
Fifty show for a job to go
Just one gets the pay
For forty nine on the dole form line
Tomorrow's just another day!
And he wanders home that evening
Knowing that the morning will find
There's blood on the line

Oh yeah, cutbacks come and kids leave school
And the nation wears the sign
There's no work round here, try again next year
There's blood on the line

And Karen lives in a cheap hostel
Near the university
Four long years of full time study
That's full time poverty!
And she sends out applications
For the job she wants next year
And lies in bed and fills her head
With dreams of her career
But you know it's just fantasy
And at the proper time
There's blood on the line

And Dave got sacked but he needed cash
So he turned his hand to crime
When 'things went down he was caught in the act
Now he's doing time!
His wife and kids have left him
And they moved to Adelaide
And Dave admits he understands
But he wishes that they'd stayed
He has no doubt when he gets out
He'll serve the rest of his time
There's blood on the line

Oh yeah, cutbacks come and kids leave school
And the nation wears the sign
There's no work round here, try again next year
There's blood on the line

[piersdad]

 :cuppa:good one
you look at all the poverety and then  the cheap high standard of living or the rich
 this  comes from the efficiencies of less people doing more work
 and governments taxing the people buying the cheap things to pay the dole for the people unemployed

many years ago one of out prime ministers said
" we have to have 6% unemployment or the economy will suffer"
meaning to me
if you dont work hard there is some one wanting to have your job

[Cran]

1987 was the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless ... a condition I had known for much of the preceding 12 years ... in 1975 I was a street kid among homeless immigrants ... for some reason they translated my names Cranston John to Brownstone Joe ... and so I was known for some time ... but in 1987 the National Youth Coalition for Housing adopted the catchcry "Shelter or the Street" ... this song was performed in Newcastle for the national convention ... and then about two weeks later in Brisbane at an open air rally for the homeless ...


Shelter or the Street
by Cran Herlihy

The neon light flickers like a candle in a winter’s dream
And caught between the shadows is a portrait in torn & faded jeans
The plaster walls lean cracked and broken, silent in their shame
And a tattered curtain dances in the wind
And Brownstone Joe paid the price playing someone else’s game
The punishment for someone else’s sin


Chorus - And ahhh, you can see them on the street
They go “ahhh” to the sound of shuffling feet
And they try, they try to make ends meet
And they cry, (I heard the cry) for shelter or the street


He came to town on Greyhound one rainy Thursday night all alone
A swelling bruise below one eye, a reminder of the fight he had at home
A backpack stuffed with memories, a pocket full of hopes,
And the wisdom born of fifteen summers seen
The past is put behind him as he starts his time again,
Searching for his great Australian dream

(Chorus)

(This is Joe’s story)
Brownstone Joe had nowhere to go so he took a ride
The outback dust was in his blood, but now he’s citified
You try to find a job & you look for a home
But you know you can’t afford it when you go it alone
Brownstone Joe, you’re just biding your time
Big City ambition, boy, fills my TV screen
With plastic faces in plastic places, it’s the great Australian dream
(Know what I mean?)

Ch-ch-ch-charcoal chicken and a bowl of soup in a can
And a big yellow taxi took away our old man
Now mama doesn’t cook cos she don’t have a stove
And we don’t make the beds cos we don’t live at home
They came and tore it down for some new freeway plan
Silicon numbers, computer forms, and welfare walks the beat
In refuge rooms and hospital wards, it’s shelter or the street
(and aching feet)

Who will choose if you win or lose in the housing game of cards?
Can I make my bed in your garden shed, can I sleep in your backyard?
(it’s just too hard)

And the vast suburban wilderness is a desert in disguise
Where loneliness can hide behind a door
And the city streets sound hollow on a Sunday afternoon
But on Monday night they come right back for more

(Chorus and outro)

[piersdad]

as always the best stories and the best lyrics come from the heart and real life.

thanks for that  C J H

[dbackfan]

Excellent imagery, Cran.  Do you have a website where you feature your music? (like myspace.com.  If you're not familiar with that free site, check out my son's at MYSPACE.COM/JOEDRAPER)   I'd love to hear you do your songs.  Terri