Song Poems 5: Life's a Beach

Uncle John's Band (1969) by guitarist Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter, from Workingman's Dead (1970), Grateful Dead. I actually heard this song for the first time in a cave below Big Sur, California in 1970 while I was hitchhiking across the country. It's amazing what I still recall from those days. To me there is no other song that can match it's complacent mood and thoughtful lyrics.

Well the first days are the hardest days, don't you worry any more,
'Cause when life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door.
Think this through with me, let me know your mind,
Wo, oh, what I want to know, is are you kind?

It's a buck dancer's choice my friend; better take my advice.
You know all the rules by now and the fire from the ice.
Will you come with me? Won't you come with me?
Wo, oh, what I want to know, will you come with me?

Goddamn, well I declare, have you seen the like?
Their wall are built of cannonballs, their motto is "Don't tread on me".
Come hear Uncle John's Band playing to the tide,
Come with me, or go alone, he's come to take his children home.

It's the same story the crow told me; it's the only one he knows.
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go.
Ain't no time to hate, barely time to wait,
Wo, oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?

I live in a silver mine and I call it Beggar's Tomb;
I got me a violin and I beg you call the tune,
anybody's choice, I can hear your voice.
Wo, oh, what I want to know, how does the song go?

Come hear Uncle John's Band by the riverside,
Got some things to talk about, here beside the rising tide.

Come hear Uncle John's Band playing to the tide,
Come on along, or go alone, he's come to take his children home.
Wo, oh, what I want to know, how does the song go.

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If I Had a Boat, (1987) Lyle Lovett, from Pontiac (1988). At once whimsical and catchy, this song confirmed me as a die hard fan of this home grown (Klein, Texas) singer, songwriter, actor.

If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

If I were Roy Rogers
I'd sure enough be single
I couldn't bring myself to marrying old Dale
It'd just be me and trigger
We'd go riding through them movies
Then we'd buy a boat and on the sea we'd sail

And if I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

The mystery masked man was smart
He got himself a Tonto
'Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free
But Tonto he was smarter
And one day said kemo sabe
Kiss my ass I bought a boat
I'm going out to sea

And if I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

And if I were like lightning
I wouldn't need no sneakers
I'd come and go wherever I would pleaseAnd I'd scare 'em by the shade tree
And I'd scare 'em by the light pole
But I would not scare my pony on my boat out on the sea

And if I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

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Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman), (1992) by Adam Duritz, performed by the Counting Crows from DCG Rarities (1993). Dismissed as clever, but not meaningful by Duritz, this song was inspired by Philip Glass's stage composition of the same name. Despite Duritz' dismissal, it did reach number one in the charts, even though never released as a single. This poem plays with the construct of Einstein cracking the universal code with an approach somewhat borrowed from paeans to Buddha.

Albert's always sincere, he's the sensitive type
His intentions are clear, he wants to be well-liked
But if everything is nothing, then are we anything?
Is it better to be better than to be anything?

And Albert's vision is blooming uncontrolled
All his wings are slowly sinking

The world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
All the king's men reappear
For an eggman, falling off a wall
He'll never be together again

Einstein's down on the beach staring into the sand
As everything he believes in is shattered
What you fear in the night in the day comes to call anyway-ay
We all get burned as:

One more sun comes sliding down the sky
One more shadow leans against the wall, and

The world begins to disappear The worst things come from inside here
And all the king's men reappear
For an eggman, falling off a wall
He'll never be together again

Albert's waiting in the sun
On a field American
For the cause of some inflated form of hit and run

One more sun comes sliding down the sky
One more shadow leans against the wall, and

The world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the king's men reappear
For an eggman, falling off a wall
He'll never be together again

Albert's fallen on the sun
Cracked his head wide open

The world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the king's men reappear
For an eggman, falling, falling

The world begins to disappear
The worst things come from inside here
And all the king's men reappear
For an eggman, falling off a wall
He'll never be together again

No never be together again
No no never never never again, uh huh
What you fear in the night in the day comes to call anyway