Click the link below for the lyrics
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The ‘music’ Category
what we all want
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010we, myself and i
Friday, September 24th, 2010Here is a newest video release by Shad.
Click the link below for the lyrics.
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i heard you had a voice like an angel/psalm 137
Thursday, August 26th, 2010Here is another song by Shad K. This one is my personal favorite. I have listened to this on repeat for hours while I work somedays. Lyrics are below the player. I highlighted the most powerful part of the song in red. Enjoy.
I heard you had a voice like an angel
I heard a strange tale
About a saint that fell
Music became jail
These bars I hear you rapped/wrapped in em
Wove in the beats
Like the clothing of sheep
Wolves tracks – spin em
Dj’s, cd’s, c-notes, g’s thrown on d’s
we’ll be king like T. I hope
I heard you even sang when you spoke
And the emotion you evoked got you choked
When your beauty struck a vocal chord broke
Boatless dove overboard
Looked upon the ocean
Caught your reflection before the Lord’s
I heard you had a voice like an angel
Strange though, you were blinded by the light
shining from your own halo
fell off sort like a rainbow when heaven watched
your faint glow fade slow
I heard you had a voice like an angel…I heard that fame’s a killer that can murder great princes
like Kurt Cobain singing Purple Rain from a distance
Hope home ain’t a virtual game
Nor this cursed place Earth
Where the dollars and the karma don’t circulate
The world’s a stage and you know this play well
Gee I bet you even know how it ends, pray tell
Had a voice like an angel, now you score the drama scenes
The comedy’s the fact
We enact what you want to be
Had some old songs still stuck in your memory
Distorted though
So you sort of re-assembled melodies
And fine-tune and turned em into single after single
In this industry you built so sinfully simple for
You to write cuz, a song is what your life was
The destiny of stars is their light must fight dusk
With sparks of brilliance to ignite us
And of all the billions of stars
You were by far the brightest
I heard you had a voice like an angel
Now its just a light hush…
Now you keep everybody’s eyes on charts and schedules
And the trends try to stack gold bars and medals
They want vessels void and dark as space
Fools wanna make stars instead of music that’s smart or special
Because art at a level that’s real can be harder to peddle
Business prefers a market that settles for 2nd rate
Kill the true artists martyr the rebels
That’s the system and its straight from the heart of the devil
See merchants of dreams sold to souls eyes-wide shut
Passin the buck to purchase a pass to buy stuff
Workin in this circus get hired up
To walk over have-(k)nots on a tight rope
Tied-up in my gut
It’s a delicate balance
Developin talent into persons that we worship
To it’s a hell of a challenge
I heard you had a voice like an angel
But don’t really sing no more
But you still running the game so
If we don’t behave like them
They call us crazy
And if we wont slave for them
They call us lazy
Lately
I’ve started to see why you hate me
Hearin this voice it must be painful
To the ears when for years
You had a voice like an angel
If you don’t behave as them
They call you crazy
And if you wont slave for them
They call you lazy
Well I say…
They wanna take your mind
Turn it into a prison
And lock you inside
Then they call that livin
Well I say…
(x2)
Smile for the camera
Smile for the camera
While they take your children
Smile for the camera
While we rape your women
Smile for the camera
While we make our millions
Smile for the camera
While they make their billions
Smile for the camera
Smile for the camera
Smile for the camera…
If that song doesn’t move you on some level check yourself for a pulse. What is the Psalm 137 portion of the title? I’m glad you asked. It is one of the Psalms from the Bible. It’s not exactly an uplifting and light hearted piece of scripture but it has some paralells to what Shad is trying to convy in this song.
As for the verse I highlighted in red… it jus screams to me as some good truth of what the music industry is today. I know there is good music out there but why is it invisible in the mainstream media? MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic, MTV (who doesn’t even play music anymore, just garbage TV) is just bogged down with empty music and trashy videos. Maybe I am just getting older but still. I remember what I was raised on with MuchMusic and that is tame by today’s standard. What is the motive behind all of it? Things are taking the path they are for a reason. We need more music that is smart and special. Look for a post in the future titled “Basic Economics – The Supply and Demand of Bad”.
exile
Sunday, August 15th, 2010Here is another great song from Shad K. Lyrics found below the player.
Though I sympathize with em
And empathize with em
I don’t synchronize with em
Or enterprise with em
We don’t fratenize with em
We’re not allies with em
We don’t strategize with em
Let em patronize
We don’t want no ties with em
Wont monopolize with em
Let em ostracize
We don’t compromise with em
We wont victimize with em
Commit genocide with em
Spit their lies with em
Or objectify women with em
Socialize with em
Broke my ties with em
Now we open-eyed in this over-hyped system
We know…
Chorus:
This wisdom of man
Is foolishness to God
Don’t build on the sand
Or trust in the odds
Be shrewd as the snakes
And innocent as doves
Don’t succumb to hate
Overcome hate with love
(x2)
We’re taught not to question the status
quo cuz the masses never get heard
that’s unless your established
with expert professors in dress-shirts
and glasses that lecture to classes
from lecterns where next term the best third will pass an’
earn cash working as dresk clerks for the best firms in manhattan
where the pressure can crack em
cuz networks and net worth and class
get treasured over pleasures that last
always measuring stacks of passion for lesser
God’s growing seeds of distraction is clever
but trust
(chorus)
Though I sympathize with em
And empathize with em
I don’t synchronize with em
Or enterprise with em
We don’t fratenize with em
We’re not allies with em
We don’t strategize with em
Let em patronize
We don’t want no ties with em
Wont monopolize with em
Let em ostracize
We don’t
compromise with em
We wont victimize with em
Commit genocide with em
Spit their lies with em
Or objectify women with em
Socialize with em
Broke my ties with em
Now we open-eyed in this over-hyped system
We know…
get up
Monday, August 9th, 2010This song is by a rapper from London Ontario that goes by the name of Shad K. I have never been a fan of rap but this guy has turned me with the positive messaging that he puts into his music. His music made me realize that I didn’t like rap all this time because of the empty and meaningless garbage that most rap is comprised of. The lyrics for this song are below that video. I am going to feature a song of his from time to time going forward. I wish more youth were listening to stuff like this. What enters the ear enters the mind. I believe what we listen to and watch does influence us whether we admit it or not. Watch MuchMusic for 30 minutes a day while then paying attention to the youth of today and try to tell me there is no co-relation between music, TV, movies and their pursuits. So for your consideration, Get Up by Shad K.
Before I take a mic, take a break beat or a break to write
Break me down Lord please and shape my life
We need leaders, these elitists got nothing to teach us by they strength
Our children need to see Jesus in their weakness
And keep seekin’ where free speech is rare
And realness gets kept less frequent than these secrets
Share a couple stories like a townhome or brownstone
Over loud phones about my hang ups and dial tones
Swim in heaven and at worst you get drowned toe’d down
To the place where the clouds roam
So we get up
All my people feeling bored and strange
If you don’t feel at home in this conformist state
Then don’t ignore the pain
That’s the Lord that’s sayin
To you stand up King you were born to reign
That’s the war that’s waged
And the important thing
Ain’t what you’d die for
Its what you live for today
Get up
Even if they knock us down
They cant can’t stop us smile right back at em laugh and then
Get up
Actions speak louder than a thousands talkers
So make em blast that in their walkmans (x2)
Its hard to stand in a nation where the masses sit idle and passionless
Politics is polls
In the papers all the facts are skipped
Can’t ascertain so the scholars place an asterix
And stories on the stars to dumb down and distract us with
We can’t help but feel detached from this capitalist confusing communion of coportate sponsors and advocates
Where every actor is an activist
But a movie cast wont fix these broken homes full of fractured kids
Our broken bones you can wrap up quick
Folks trying to master this game that I call money for masochists
Where if you wanna make a cut
Gotta match their risk
Dig in your pockets, not for cash
But to slash your wrists
And fashion’s just a game of who can follow fads fastest
Where some kind of miraculous world change can happen quick
But these problems don’t take seconds to solve
And getting mad aint the same thing as getting involved
We need to…
(chorus x2)
Get a mic
Get ill
Get ice
Get bills
Get the life that you always wanted and then get killed
Get slain cuz the rappers that do get fame
Its insane all they talk about is who should get blamed
Young brothers get steel before they get aim
And they wanna get it pulled before they get trained
Cuz they wanna get respect
Get cheques
Get dames
Things we all wanna get
But end up getting drained trying to get em
We get stressed and we get strained
We don’t all get the ghetto
But we all get pain
Before I get to the refrain
I hope you get what im sayin
Its messed, but we just might get some change if we…
(chorusX2)
blue skies over bad lands
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009As promised, and entirely to late in arriving, here is my dissection of blue skies over bad lands… a great song by Matthew Good.
The song sets the stage in the middle of the night and a person unexplainably awakes from their sleep and wanders outside without shoes.
What if you woke up in the middle of the night
And in your bare feet you walked outside
I think here the song takes a turn from someone being awake to someone thinking their awake but really find themselves in a vivid dream in which they can fly anywhere.
And realizing that you were awake that you could fly
Out over the world
This person then finds them self in a place they do not know but have only heard of, maybe in school, but presumably on the TV. I interpret the person in this song is somewhere in the middle east and is seeing people that the news has “sold” as evil people and terrorists, or in his words, murderers. Matt is pointing out that we really don’t know the people on the other side of the planet. We only know what the government, TV or the newspapers tell us.
To places that you’ve only heard of
See faces that you were sold as murderers
He suggests that they are people just like us. They are struggling with life and emotionally lonely like most people everywhere.
But just like you they’re only lonely boys and girls
Like all over the world
The question is asked, what if we could do something to change the situation. What if we could take some accountability for our role in the world and do something that would make times not so rough for other people that struggle too.
What if you could lift them up?
What if you could make it so that times weren’t tough?
The result of personal accountability would leave nothing but the weather to be reported on the news everyday.
So every morning when the world woke up
There’d only be weather on the news
Then something interesting happens. Matt reverses the situation with us back at home and our perceived enemies flying around above us. A lot of people don’t realize that people in the middle east live in the same situation as we do… fed lies to keep us scared and fighting with each other.
And what if you were back in bed
With one of them floating over your head
The next statement, I think, is the most powerful in the song. So many of us hate people we don’t even know. Really, what would you say to someone you “hate” when you don’t really know what kind of relationship could have existed had our minds not been poisoned.
What do you say to your enemies
When you don’t know what it is that could have been between you?
Then in concluding Matt says the following statement which conveys that there is nothing good going on anywhere. Even when it seems like a pleasant day there is still this ugliness in the air. It may be unseen but it is there.
There ain’t no blue skies over bad lands
Even if it ain’t raining in the mornings
Lastly, a very modest statement. We don’t have to have dreams and fly anywhere to get whats going on. We just need to have understanding of each other and compassion, not being swept up in the media hype.
But you don’t need to fly to understand it
Just understand understanding
The image I created focuses on the aspect of being sold lies and I chose to pick on Capitol Hill. I think most of the information that is brought to us from that building is very self serving and skewed. The blue dark sky is dreamy and ominous in nature. I inverted the image with the intent of communicating that a lot of news is confusing and in reality upside down in nature. This also puts the blue sky under everything… making no blue skies over bad lands.
Please view this post if you want to hear the song, it is the second video in the post.
This is such a powerful song. How does it make you feel? Do you have any opinions? Please share, I would like to hear from you.
this is an interpretive image I design inspired by this song... I think it's as moody and heavy as the song.
matthew good – human being & human doing
Sunday, September 6th, 2009I suppose to give a little context of where this is going I will start this post off with the following comment. You could ask anyone I know to tell you three things they know about me and every time one of the three things would be that I am a gigantic fan of Matthew Good.
Why you ask? How long do you mind this post being?
Let’s get the obvious out of the way, I love his music. Lyrically and musically I find it very complete. It goes through me and satisfies my mind and heart. It appeals to my sensibilities and intellect. It challenges me to think and feel, unlike so much of the other crap out there now a days. Today I made a brief stop at Much Music and happened to see a video by some dude named Pitbull singing about all the girls he hooks up with at the hotels. Thanks for the contribution to society Mr.Bull. I’m sure the 13 year old boys are untucking their shirts and talking about the girls and their “assets” in your video. That’s the allure of tits and ass for you.
Music aside Matt is about a whole lot more. He maintains and writes a blog about many different societal and human rights issues. He sheds a lot of light on political dealings that get glossed over by the mainstream media. He makes every effort to flip the attention he receives into an opportunity to wake people up to the reality we live in. Honestly he is one of my inspirations as to why I am writing this blog. Last week he added a great post of Rumsfled getting absolutley faced infront of a crowd. Check out the video in the post. One of the things that stands out to me in the video is when things are going prooly for old Rummy there is a point where he says to “them” to allow the questioner to stay. Obviosly security was moving in on him to get him out of the room. Land of the free huh? So long as you say the things that don’t make the power structure look bad.
As I write this I am listening to his new album entitled Vancouver (available to stream on his homepage) that is due to be released on October 6th this year. The last three albums he has made I have bought without listening to first. I trust his work that much. But at the same time I am such a fan of his work I would only be disappointed if the album was him farting into a tuba. Even then I might look to find some artistic merit in it. Like Matt calling out societies obsession with fart jokes.
So if this is the first you have heard of Matt, check out his music and his other works. If you have heard of him and gotten the skewed media version, discover him for yourself. He is completely misunderstood. He is free from caring about what the world thinks of him and that is an unpopular and very unique stance to take given the line of work he is in. But that’s the best part of him. He is about so much more than just heaping onto himself all the things that he can get. The world teaches us to go with the flow and think of number one only. It’s possibly the biggest disease the world suffers from, cancer included. Matt makes the most of his life, the good and the bad. He works incredibly hard and makes the most of whats been given to him. Truely he is a human being and a human doing. The world could greatly benefit from his example. If Matt is a salmon, I for one want to swim against the current with him. Thanks Matt.
To conclude here is one of my favourite songs by him, although I could say that about nearly all his songs. For your consideration, Blue Skies Over Badlands.
What if you woke up in the middle of the night
And in your bare feet you walked outside
And realizing that you were awake that you could fly
Out over the world
To places that you’ve only heard of
See faces that you were sold as murderers
But just like you they’re only lonely boys and girls
Like all over the world
What if you could lift them up?
What if you could make it so that times weren’t tough?
So every morning when the world woke up
There’d only be weather on the news
And what if you were back in bed
With one of them floating over your head
What do you say to your enemies
When you don’t know what it is that could have been between you?
There ain’t no blue skies over bad lands
Even if it ain’t raining in the mornings
But you don’t need to fly to understand it
Just understand understanding
This song is immensely powerful. Do you get it? I’ll pull this song apart in my next post, let it sink in for a day or two.
testify
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009Yesterday I wrote a brief but heated counter position to government. Also recently I have found myself having an ear for Rage Against the Machine. In particular I have been listening to the song Testify, mainly because I am a fan of Rock Band 2 and that song is found on the play list… man I love bangin that song out in the drums… if you can call them that.
The point I am pursuing here is the lyrical content of that song, coupled with the video is a pretty powerful message. I had never looked into the lyrics until yesterday, nor had I ever seen the video. So for your consideration, here it is.
Lyrics:
The movie ran through me
The glamour subdued me
The tabloid untied me
I’m empty please fill me
Mister anchor assure me
That Baghdad is burning
Your voice it is so soothing
That cunning mantra of killing
I need you my witness
To dress this up so bloodless
To numb me and purge me now
Of thoughts of blaming you
Yes the car is our wheelchair
My witness your coughing
Oily silence mocks the legless boys
Who travel now in coffins
On the corner
The jury’s sleepless
We found your weakness
And it’s right outside your door
Now testify
Now testify
It’s right outside your door
Now testify
Yes testify
Its right outside your door
With precision you feed me
My witness I’m hungry
Your temple it calms me
So I can carry on
My slaving sweating the skin right off my bones
On a bed of fire I’m choking on the smoke that fills my home
The wrecking ball is rushing
Witness your blushing
The pipeline is gushing
While here we lie in tombs
While on the corner
The jury’s sleepless
We found your weakness
And it’s right outside your door
Now testify
Yeah testify
It’s right outside your door
Now testify
Now testify
It’s right outside your door
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Mass graves for the pump and the price is set
And the price is set
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now controls the past
Who controls the past now controls the future
Who controls the present now?
Now testify
Testify
It’s right outside your door
Now testify
Testify
It’s right outside your door