cool pairs – the trigger of your gun

When they kick at your front door

How you gonna come?

With your hands on your head

Or on the trigger of your gun

When the law break in

How you gonna go?

Shot down on the pavement

Or waiting on death row

You can crush us

You can bruise us

But you'll have to answer to

Oh, the guns of Brixton

The money feels good

And your life you like it well

But surely your time will come

As in heaven, as in hell

You see, he feels like Ivan

Born under the Brixton sun

His game is called survivin'

At the end of The Harder They Come

You know it means no mercy

They caught him with a gun

No need for the Black Maria

Goodbye to the Brixton sun

You can crush us

You can bruise us

Yes, even shoot us

But oh-the guns of Brixton

When they kick at your front door

How you gonna come?

With your hands on your head

Or on the trigger of your gun

You can crush us

You can bruise us

Yes, even shoot us

But oh-the guns of Brixton

Shot down on the pavement

Waiting in death row

His game is called survivin'

As in heaven as in hell

You can crush us

You can bruise us

But you'll have to answer to

Oh, the guns of Brixton

The Guns Of Brixton (a little anti-establishment rant, to get the juices flowing) – 

Rupa & The April Fishes sing The Clash

cool pairs – let the hills rejoice

If it be your will

That I speak no more

And my voice be still

As it was before

I will speak no more

I shall abide until

I am spoken for

If it be your will

If it be your will

That a voice be true

From this broken hill

I will sing to you

From this broken hill

All your praises they shall ring

If it be your will

To let me sing

From this broken hill

All your praises they shall ring

If it be your will

To let me sing

If it be your will

If there is a choice

Let the rivers fill

Let the hills rejoice

Let your mercy spill

On all these burning hearts in hell

If it be your will

To make us well

And draw us near

And bind us tight

All your children here

In their rags of light

In our rags of light

All dressed to kill

And end this night

If it be your will

If it be your will

If It Be Your Will – Antony sings Leonard Cohen 

not a pair (a cool recent find) – the long crawl to the tide

This is my conquering song

Played on a wave so strong

Pulled the broke-down ride for far too long

This is my conquering song

Where only my love survive

The long crawl to the tide

All else at the door be denied

Only my love survive

This is my thankful song

For all that has been and gone

For the spirit of the eternal drum

This is my thankful song

Only my love survive

The long crawl to the tide

All else at the door be denied

Only my love survive

The long crawl to the tide

All else at the door be denied

Only my love survive

Love Survive – Michael Nau

cool pairs – your guineas are too few

As we rode out to Fennario, as we rode on to Fennario

Our captain fell in love with a lady like a dove

And called her by a name, pretty Peggy-O.

Will you marry me pretty Peggy-O, will you marry me pretty Peggy-O

If you will marry me, I'll set your cities free

And free all the ladies in the area-O.

I would marry you sweet William-O, I would marry you sweet William-O

I would marry you but your guineas are too few 

And I fear my mama would be angry-O.

What would your mama think pretty Peggy-O,

What would your mama think pretty Peggy-O,

What would your mama think if she heard my guineas clink

Saw me marching at the head of my soldiers.

If ever I return pretty Peggy-O, if ever I return pretty Peggy-O 

If ever I return your cities I will burn

Destroy all the ladies in the area-O.

Come steppin' down the stairs pretty Peggy-O,

Come steppin' down the stairs pretty Peggy-O,

Come steppin' down the stairs combin' back your yellow hair 

Bid a last farewell to your William-O.

Sweet William he is dead pretty Peggy-O,

Sweet William he is dead pretty Peggy-O,

Sweet William he is dead and he died for a maid

And he's buried in the Louisiana country-O.

As we rode out to Fennario, as we rode out to Fennario

Our captain fell in love with a lady like a dove,

And called her by a name, pretty Peggy-O.

Peggy-O – The National sing The Grateful Dead

cool pairs – the colours of my father's dreams

My father always promised us

That we would live in France

We'd go boating on the Seine

And I would learn to dance

We lived in Ohio then

He worked in the mines

On his dreams like boats

We knew we would sail in time

All my sisters soon were gone

To Denver and Cheyenne

Marrying their grownup dreams

The lilacs and the man

I stayed behind the youngest still

Only danced alone

The colors of my father's dreams

Faded without a sound

And I live in Paris now

My children dance and dream

Hearing the ways of a miner's life

In words they've never seen

I sail my memories of home

Like boats across the Seine

And watch the Paris sun

As it sets in my father's eyes again

My father always promised us

That we would live in France

We'd go boating on the Seine

And I would learn to dance

I sail my memories of home

Like boats across the Seine

And watch the Paris sun

As it sets in my father's eyes again

My Father – Nina Simone and This Mortal Coil sing Judy Collins

cool pairs – you knew just what i was there for

Blue moon

You saw me standing alone

Without a dream in my heart

Without a love of my own

Blue moon

You knew just what I was there for

You heard me saying a pray for

Someone I really could care for

Blue moon

You saw me standing alone

Without a dream in my heart

Without a love of my own 

Blue moon

Without a love of my own

Blue Moon – Bob Dylan and The Cowboy Junkies sing Rogers & Hart

cool pairs – riding with the wind

Well she's walking through the clouds

With a circus mind

That's running wild

Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams

And fairy tales, 

That's all she ever thinks about

Riding with the wind

When I'm sad she comes to me

With a thousand smiles

She gives to me free

It's alright, she says

It's alright

Take anything you want from me

Anything

Fly on, little wing

Little Wing – Sting sings Jimi Hendrix

cool pairs – he wishes he could cure the scars

 

The jeweler has a shop on the corner of the boulevard

In the night, in small spectacles, he polishes old coins

He uses spit and cloth and ashes

He makes them shine with ashes

He knows the use of ashes

He worships God with ashes

The coins are often very old by the time they reach the jeweler

With his hands and ashes he will try the best he can

He knows that he can only shine them

Cannot repair the scratches

He knows that even new coins have scars so he just smiles

He knows the use of ashes

He worships God with ashes

In the darkest of the night both his hands will blister badly

They will often open painfully and the blood flows from his hands

He works to take from black coin faces the thumbprints from so many ages

He wishes he could cure the scars

When he forgets he sometimes cries

He knows the use of ashes

He worships God with ashes

The Jeweller – Pearls Before Swine and This Mortal Coil sing Tom Rapp

cool pairs – navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse

O barco, meu coração não aguenta

Tanta tormenta, alegria

Meu coração não contenta

O dia, o marco, meu coração

O porto, não

Navegar é preciso

Viver não é preciso

Navegar é preciso

Viver não é preciso

O barco, noite no céu tão bonito

Sorriso solto perdido

Horizonte, madrugada

O riso, o arco, da madrugada

O porto, nada

Navegar é preciso

Viver não é preciso

Navegar é preciso

Viver não é preciso

O barco, o automóvel brilhante

O trilho solto, o barulho

Do meu dente em tua veia

O sangue, o charco, barulho lento

O porto, silêncio

Navegar é preciso

Viver não é preciso

Navegar é preciso

Viver não é preciso

Navegar é preciso

Viver não é preciso

Navegar é preciso

Viver não é preciso

Navegar é preciso

Viver . . .

Os Argonautas – Elis Regina sings Caetano Veloso

a (borderline) cool pair – words that jangle in your head

Round,

Like a circle in a spiral

Like a wheel within a wheel

Never ending or beginning

On an ever-spinning reel

Like a snowball down a mountain

Or a carnival balloon

Like a carousel that's turning

Running rings around the moon

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping

Past the minutes of its face

And the world is like an apple

Whirling silently in space

Like the circles that you find

In the windmills of your mind

Like a tunnel that you follow

To a tunnel of its own

Down a hollow to a cavern

Where the sun has never shone

Like a door that keeps revolving

In a half-forgotten dream

Like the ripples from a pebble

Someone tosses in a stream

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping

Past the minutes of its face

And the world is like an apple

Whirling silently in space

Like the circles that you find

In the windmills of your mind 

Keys that jingle in your pocket

Words that jangle in your head

Why did summer go so quickly?

Was it something that you said?

Lovers walk along a shore

And leave their footprints in the sand

Is the sound of distant drumming

Just the fingers of your hand?

Pictures hanging in a hallway

And the fragment of a song

Half-remembered names and faces

But to whom do they belong?

When you knew that it was over

You were suddenly aware

That the autumn leaves were turning

To the color of his hair?

Like a circle in a spiral

Like a wheel within a wheel

Never ending or beginning

On an ever-spinning reel

As the images unwind

Like the circles that you find

In the windmills of your mind

The Windmills of Your Mind – Noel Harrison and Sting 

sing Michel Legrand/Alan & Marilyn Bergman

cool pairs – now those salad days are over

You used to be my party doll

But now you say the party's over

You used to love to honky tonk

But now the honky tonking's over

Now life is a bitter thing, my sweet

Now life is a mystery to me

Love's pain, I ain't buying

Love's strange. I keep trying, trying, trying

You used to be my party doll

But now you want to live in clover

You used to be my number one

But now those salad days are over

Times change but fascination stays

Love wins but the passion just fades

I'll drink to the dancing days

I'll drink to your crazy ways

Through the whiskey haze

Face the music, face the truth

Chase that fleet sweet bird of youth

Grow up sweetly, grow up strong

Hear the heartbeat, in my song

Love's pain, I ain't buying

Love's strange. I keep trying, trying, trying

You used to be my party doll

But now you say the party's over

You used to love to honky tonk

But now those dancing days are over

You used to be my number one

But now you vanished in the ozone

Party Doll – Mary Chapin Carpenter sings Mick Jagger

cool pairs – thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box

Words are flowing out like 

Endless rain into a paper cup

They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe.

Pools of sorrow waves of joy

Are drifting through my opened mind

Possessing and caressing me.

Jai Guru Deva. Om

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light, which 

Dance before me like a million eyes,

They call me on and on across the universe.

Thoughts meander like a 

Restless wind inside a letter box

They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe.

Jai Guru Deva. Om

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter, shades of life

Are ringing through my opened ears 

Inciting and inviting me.

Limitless undying love, which

Shines around me like a million suns,

It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai Guru Deva, om.

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Nothing's gonna change my world

Jai Guru Deva

Jai Guru Deva

Jai Guru Deva

Jai Guru Deva

Jai Guru Deva

Across The Universe – Rufus Wainwright and Fiona Apple sing Lennon & McCartney

cool pairs – did our boy do something rash?

Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear,

And he shows them pearly white;

Just a jack-knife has Macheath, dear,

And he keeps it out of sight!

When the shark bites with his teeth, dear,

Scarlet billows start to spread;

Fancy gloves, though, wears Macheath, dear,

So there's not a trace of red!

On the sidewalk Sunday morning

Lies a body oozing life;

Someone sneaking 'round the corner;

Is the someone Mack the Knife?

From a tugboat by the river,

A cement bag's dropping down;

The cement's just for the weight, dear;

Bet ya Mackie's back in town!

Louie Miller disappeared, dear,

After drawing out his cash,

And Macheath spends like a sailor;

Did our boy do something rash?

Suky Tawdry, Jenny Diver,

Polly Peachum, Lucy Brown;

Oh, the line forms on the right, dears,

Now that Mackie's back in town!

Mack The Knife – Ella and Louis sing Kurt Weill/Bertold Brecht-Marc Blitzstein