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Pianolude

Can I love you darling,
Can I love you darling,
Ladies are you in there (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah),
Said ladies are you in there (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah),
Can I love you darling,
Chattanooga are you in there (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah),
Said Chattanooga do you hear me (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah),
Can I love you darling,
Can I love you darlin' love,
Ladies are you in there (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah),
Said ladies do you hear me (yeah, yeah, yeahhh),
Can I slow it down

song performed by Usher
Added by Lucian Velea
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Chattanooga Choo Choo

Music By Harry Warrem
Lyrics by Mack Gordon
Featuring the Glenn Miller Orchestra
(Hi there Tex, what you say?)
Step Aside partner, it's my day
Bend an ear, and listen to my version
OF A REALLY SOLID TENNESSEE EXCURSION
Pardon me boys, is that the Chattanooga Choo-Choo?
(Yes, Yes, Track 29)
Hey would you give me a shine?
(Can you afford to board Chattanooga Choo-Choo?)
I got my fare
AND JUST THE TRAVEL TO SPARE
You leave the Pennsylvania Station by a quarter to four
You read a magazine and then your in Baltimore
Dinner in a diner
Nothing could be finer
AND THEN TO HAVE A HAMMER IN THE CAROLINA
When you hear the whistle blowing into the bar
Then you know the Tennessee is not very far
Shove a all the coal in
Gotta keep a rollin'
WOO-WOO CHATTANOOGA THERE YOU ARE
There's gonna be
A certain party at the station
Satin and Lace (Ooh)
I use to call funny face (Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo)
She's gonna cry
Tha I promise to never ever roll,
SO CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO
won't you choo choo me home
(Chattanooga Chattanooga)
All aboard
(Chattanooga Chattanooga)
Get aboard
(Chattanooga Chattanooga)
CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO
won't you Choo-Choo me home
CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO
let's dance

song performed by Barry Manilow
Added by Lucian Velea
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Ladies Pay

All the sailors theyre all home from leave
And everybodys waiting for them to try to deceive
The storekeepers have drawn their lace curtains bare
And all the women and the wee young girls all waiting there
Oh, but how the ladies pay
Oh, if they only knew how the ladies pay
Yeah now, how the ladies pay
Oh, when the men theyve gone away
Nobody is standing on upon the door
And nobody is feeding any of the poor
The poor sick soldier lies in bed beside his girl
Thinking of another place on the other side of the world
Ah
How the ladies pay
Oh-oh, oh, how the ladies pay
When the men theyve gone away
Oh, I wish I knew how the ladies pay
Day and night, night and day
How the ladies pay
Day and night, night and day
How the ladies pay
Day and night
Night and day
Day and night
Day and night, night and day, ladies pay now
Night and day, day and night
How the ladies pay
Day and night, night and day
How the ladies pay
Day and night now
Night and day and now
How the pay now
Oh, how the pay now
Ladies pay, ladies pay
Ah, ladies pay the way now
Ladies pay, ah, ladies pay
Ah, ladies pay
Night and day, night and day, night and day
Oh, how the ladies pay
Oh, night and day, night and day, night and day
Oh, how the ladies pay

song performed by Lou Reed
Added by Lucian Velea
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Ladies In Waiting

So you been to the market
And the meat looks good tonight
And the ladies in waiting
Will show you what its all about
Their selection is inviting
They sure look hot tonight
And the ladies in waiting
Will show you what its all about
And so you move on down the line
All the ladies are lookin fine, so fine
Ladies in waiting, ladies in waiting, ladies in waiting
So you move on down the line
All the ladies are lookin fine
Their selection is inviting
They sure look hot tonight
And the ladies in waiting
Will show you what its all about
And so you move on down the line
All the ladies are lookin fine, so fine
Ladies in waiting, ladies in waiting, ladies in waiting
Ladies in waiting, ladies in waiting, ladies in waiting
Ladies in waiting, ladies in waiting, ladies in waiting
Ladies in waiting

song performed by Kiss
Added by Lucian Velea
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Ladies Night

Oh, yes, it's ladies night
and the feeling's right
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
Oh, what a night
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
and the feeling's right
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
Oh, what a night
Girls, ya'll got one
A night that's special everywhere
From New York to Hollywood
It's ladies night, and girl, that feeling's good
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
and the feeling's right
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
Oh, what a night
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
and the feeling's right
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
Oh, what a night
On disco nights, your names will be seen
You can fulfill all your dreams
A party here, a party there....everywhere
This is your night, baby,
You got to be there
This is your night tonight
Everything's gonna be allright
This is your night tonight
Everything's gonna be allright
This is your night tonight
And everything is gonna be allright
This is your night tonight.....whew
Owwwww.
Girls, ya'll got one
A night that's special everywhere
From New York to Hollywood
It's late at night, and girl, that feeling's good
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
And the feeling's right
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
Oh, what a night
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
And the feeling's right
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
Oh, what a night
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
And the feeling's right
Oh, yes, it's ladies night
Oh, what a night
Oh, yes, it's ladies night

[...] Read more

song performed by Tom Jones
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Flower And The Leaf, Or the Lady In The Arbour. A Vision

Now turning from the wintry signs, the sun
His course exalted through the Ram had run,
And whirling up the skies, his chariot drove
Through Taurus, and the lightsome realms of love;
Where Venus from her orb descends in showers,
To glad the ground, and paint the fields with flowers:
When first the tender blades of grass appear,
And buds, that yet the blast of Eurus fear,
Stand at the door of life, and doubt to clothe the year;
Till gentle heat, and soft repeated rains,
Make the green blood to dance within their veins;
Then, at their call emboldened, out they come,
And swell the gems, and burst the narrow room;
Broader and broader yet, their blooms display,
Salute the welcome sun, and entertain the day.
Then from their breathing souls the sweets repair
To scent the skies, and purge the unwholesome air:
Joy spreads the heart, and, with a general song,
Spring issues out, and leads the jolly months along.
In that sweet season, as in bed I lay,
And sought in sleep to pass the night away,
I turned my weary side, but still in vain,
Though full of youthful health, and void of pain:
Cares I had none, to keep me from my rest,
For love had never entered in my breast;
I wanted nothing Fortune could supply,
Nor did she slumber till that hour deny.
I wondered then, but after found it true,
Much joy had dried away the balmy dew:
Seas would be pools, without the brushing air
To curl the waves; and sure some little care
Should weary nature so, to make her want repair.
When Chanticleer the second watch had sung,
Scorning the scorner sleep, from bed I sprung;
And dressing, by the moon, in loose array,
Passed out in open air, preventing day,
And sought a goodly grove, as fancy led my way.
Straight as a line in beauteous order stood
Of oaks unshorn a venerable wood;
Fresh was the grass beneath, and every tree,
At distance planted in a due degree,
Their branching arms in air with equal space
Stretched to their neighbours with a long embrace;
And the new leaves on every bough were seen,
Some ruddy coloured, some of lighter green.
The painted birds, companions of the spring,
Hopping from spray to spray, were heard to sing.
Both eyes and ears received a like delight,
Enchanting music, and a charming sight.
On Philomel I fixed my whole desire,

[...] Read more

poem by John Dryden
Added by Poetry Lover
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Cry For Home

Ill be waiting
Ill be waiting on that shore
To hear the cry for home
You wont have to worry anymore
When you hear the cry for home
When you hear, hear the call
You wont have to fake at all
Hear the cry for home
Ill be standing
Ill be standing within reach
When you hear, hear the call
Ill be waiting
Ill be waiting in the breach
For you, when you hear
When you hear, hear the call
You wont have to fake at all
Hear the cry for home
(instrumental)
When I listen
When I listen to the song
Well it feels, it feels so free
And you tell me
You will come and go with me
When you hear the cry for home
When you hear the call
You wont have to think at all
Hear the cry for home
Spoken (one more, one more time)
When you hear, hear the call
You wont have to fake at all
Hear the cry for home
(one more open it up, open it up) (spoken)
When you hear, hear the call
You wont have to fake at all
Hear the cry for home
Hear (when you hear, hear the call)
Hear (when you hear, hear the call)
Hear (when you hear, hear the call)
Hear (when you hear, hear the call)
Hear (when you hear, hear the call)
Hear (when you hear, hear the call)

song performed by Van Morrison
Added by Lucian Velea
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Big City Girls

(myles goodwyn)
Published by northern goody two tunes, ltd./capac - ascap
Late night hustle goin down in the city
A one way street on the wrong side of town
Young and foolish, man dont you know
All we could see were
Ladies in the night, walkin a straight line
Ladies in the night, workin overtime
Ladies in the night, doin the hustle
Ladies in the night, flexin their muscles
Ladies in the night, big city, big city girls
We worked out a deal with some chicks on the corner
Back at the room it was never to be
No one had money and the girls got so uptight
Ladies in the night, walkin a straight line
Ladies in the night, workin overtime
Ladies in the night, doin the hustle
Ladies in the night, flexin their muscles
Ladies in the night, big city, big city girls, so tough
Baby I know, its just what I see
Baby I know, its not what I need
Big city, big city girls
The next thing you know, things got rough, babe
They carved out a warnin with a switch blade knife
The message was clear, if you wanna play, you gotta pay
Ladies in the night, walkin a straight line
Ladies in the night, workin overtime
Ladies in the night, doin the hustle
Ladies in the night, flexin their muscles
Ladies in the night, big city, big city girls

song performed by April Wine
Added by Lucian Velea
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Ladies Room

Every time its the same
What follows me is my fame
Youre what I need to play the game
You say you like to dance
Mmm, I think Ill take a chance
Ooh, baby, maybe its time for romance
Youre such a jewel in the rough
You wanna show me your stuff
For my money, you cant be too soon
Meet, meet you in the ladies room
Meet, meet you in the ladies room
For my money, you cant be too soon
You say you like to play
Well, its too late for you to get away
And youve gotta believe me, when I say
Baby, youre such a jewel in the rough
You wanna show me your stuff
For my money, you cant be too soon
Meet, meet you in the ladies room
Meet, meet you in the ladies room
For my money, you cant be too soon
You cant be too soon
Youre such a jewel in the rough
You wanna show me your stuff, come on baby
For my money, you cant be too soon
Meet, meet you in the ladies room
Ill meet you, greet you in the ladies room
For my money, you cant be too soon
Meet you, greet you in the ladies room
Ill meet you, greet you in the ladies room
For my money, you cant be too soon
Meet you, greet you in the ladies room
Mmm, meet, meet you in the ladies room
For my money, you cant be too soon
Meet, meet you in the ladies room
Ill meet you, greet you in the ladies room
For my money, you cant be too soon
Ill meet, meet you in the ladies room
Ill meet you, greet you in the ladies room
For my money, you cant be too soon
Meet, meet you in the ladies room

song performed by Kiss
Added by Lucian Velea
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Ladies' Night

Uh, yeah, uh huh, uh
Go ladies, go ladies
Go ladies, go ladies
Go ladies, go ladies
Go ladies, go ladies
Uh, whoo!
She's like the sun shining bright
A romantic moonlight
Like white clouds and blue skies
She's got diamonds in her eyes
My rainbow after the rain
She's my joy after the pain
Far away paradise
Make you wanna touch the sky
Like the highest mountain peak
As the ocean goes deep...
I wanna dance with that woman, yeah
Dance with that woman, yeah
I wanna dance with that woman, yeah
I'm gonna...
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Make her smile (yeah)
Keep her happy (yeah)
Take her stepping yeah (yeah, yeah)
Oh yeah
She's like the greatest waterfalls
On Christmas she's Miss Santa Claus
Just like Grandma's apple pie
Girl you're all the reasons why
She's a comforter and friend
I tell you she's that peace within
She's the lover in my home
She's the strength when I'm not strong
Every day my valentine
I'm so glad heaven made her mine...
I wanna dance with that woman, yeah
Dance with that woman, yeah
I wanna dance with that woman, yeah
I'm gonna...
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Make her smile (yeah)
Keep her happy (yeah)
Take her stepping yeah (yeah, yeah)
(Oh sometimes)

[...] Read more

song performed by R. Kelly
Added by Lucian Velea
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Ladies Night (Treat Her Like Heaven)

Uh, yeah, uh huh
Go ladies, go ladies
Go ladies, go ladies
Go ladies, go ladies
Go ladies, go ladies
Uh, woo!
She's like the sun shining bright
A romantic moonlight
Like white clouds and blue skies
She's got diamonds in her eyes
My rainbow after the rain
She's my joy after the pain
Far away paradise
Make you wanna touch the sky
Like the highest mountain peak
As the ocean goes deep...
I wanna dance with that woman, yeah
Dance with that woman, yeah
I wanna dance with that woman, yeah
I'm gonna...
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Make her smile (yeah)
Keep her happy (yeah)
Take her stepping (yeah)
Yeah (yeah) oh yeah
She's like the greatest waterfalls
On Christmas she's Miss Santa Claus
Just like grandma's apple pie
Girl you're all the reasons why
She's a comforter and friend
I tell you she's that peace within
She's the lover in my home
She's the strength when I'm not strong
Every day my valentine
I'm so glad heaven made her mine...
I wanna dance with that woman, yeah
Dance with that woman, yeah
I wanna dance with that woman, yeah
I'm gonna...
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Treat her like heaven (yeah)
Make her smile (yeah)
Keep her happy (yeah)
Take her stepping (yeah)
Yeah (yeah)

[...] Read more

song performed by R. Kelly
Added by Lucian Velea
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I Love Ladies

Ya heard the ice was rockin, ticket sales were high
Bought some fresh adidas so you could look fly
Broke out from your crib rushin to get here
Tripped ans stumbled almost broke your neck comin down the stairs
Jumped into your ride, pushed the speed to the limit
Jumped out of your car faster than you jumped in it
Now youre at the jam but in for a shock
Stupid big line wrapped around the block
Through the walls of the hall you could hear me rhyme
Methodically you schemed a way to cut in line
But when you got inside the sight straightened your curls
Cause as you look around all you could see were girls
I love ladies
I think its time that I tell the truth
I been dissin females since my early youth
But you know thats a drag and theres no doubt
Cause females are the one thing that I cant do without
Female companionship is my one vice
I love to buy the girls things, love to treat em real nice
Homeboys you must admit the best part of each day
Is when a beautiful lady comes walkin your way
Females possess that one commodity that no man will ever have
Not that hangs around me
They got it, we want it, they move it, and flaunt it
They shake it and sway it, well die just to lay it
We try to supress it until they undress it
And beg em to use it, and cry not to lose it
No man can deny it so dont even try it!!!
I love ladies
Ladies are you with me? (yeeaahh!!)
I love ladies
Ladies are you with me? (yeeaahh!!)
That sounds nice (you know we love you ice!!)
Im junkie for females and thats a fact
Im not into havin my homeboys rubbin my back
Dont dig goin to the movies alone
Or talkin to myself on the telephone
Goin to a disco thats packed with men
Thats like tryin to get a dance in the federal pen
Walkin through a park with a gang of the guys
And a beach full of fellas never opened my eyes
And man if females are one thing that you dont need
You better get away from me at a high rate of speed
Cause if you dont like them you must like men
And homeboy thats where our serious problems begin
Because to me women are gods true gift
Theres absolutely no question who Id rather be with
I love ladies
I seen this fly girl walkin down the street
Jammin a box rockin to the beat

[...] Read more

song performed by Ice T
Added by Lucian Velea
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Little Darlin'

Little Darling (Lynott)
--------------
Little darling, gonna be a rock and roll star
Little darling, gonna play electric guitar
Little darling, I'd like to get to know you
Pleased to meet you, how do you do?
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling, gonna love you tonight
Little darling, gonna shake, shake, boogaloo
Little darling, can I rattle my bones and dance with you?
And later on there'll be some lovie dovin'
A little kissing
A little hugging
A little holding you
Little darling, what's your mama mama going to do?
Little darling, when she finds out I stayed out all night with you?
Little darling, I'm gonna miss kissing you
Little darling, I'm gonna miss kissing you
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling, gonna love you tonight

song performed by Thin Lizzy
Added by Lucian Velea
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Hudibras: Part 3 - Canto I

THE ARGUMENT

The Knight and Squire resolve, at once,
The one the other to renounce.
They both approach the Lady's Bower;
The Squire t'inform, the Knight to woo her.
She treats them with a Masquerade,
By Furies and Hobgoblins made;
From which the Squire conveys the Knight,
And steals him from himself, by Night.

'Tis true, no lover has that pow'r
T' enforce a desperate amour,
As he that has two strings t' his bow,
And burns for love and money too;
For then he's brave and resolute,
Disdains to render in his suit,
Has all his flames and raptures double,
And hangs or drowns with half the trouble,
While those who sillily pursue,
The simple, downright way, and true,
Make as unlucky applications,
And steer against the stream their passions.
Some forge their mistresses of stars,
And when the ladies prove averse,
And more untoward to be won
Than by CALIGULA the Moon,
Cry out upon the stars, for doing
Ill offices to cross their wooing;
When only by themselves they're hindred,
For trusting those they made her kindred;
And still, the harsher and hide-bounder
The damsels prove, become the fonder.
For what mad lover ever dy'd
To gain a soft and gentle bride?
Or for a lady tender-hearted,
In purling streams or hemp departed?
Leap'd headlong int' Elysium,
Through th' windows of a dazzling room?
But for some cross, ill-natur'd dame,
The am'rous fly burnt in his flame.
This to the Knight could be no news,
With all mankind so much in use;
Who therefore took the wiser course,
To make the most of his amours,
Resolv'd to try all sorts of ways,
As follows in due time and place

No sooner was the bloody fight,
Between the Wizard, and the Knight,

[...] Read more

poem by Samuel Butler
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Little Darling

Little darling, gonna be a rock and roll star
Little darling, gonna play electric guitar
Little darling, Id like to get to know you
Pleased to meet you, how do you do?
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling, gonna love you tonight
Little darling, gonna shake, shake, boogaloo
Little darling, can I rattle my bones and dance with you?
And later on therell be some lovie dovin
A little kissing
A little hugging
A little holding you
Little darling, whats your mama mama going to do?
Little darling, when she finds out I stayed out all night with you?
Little darling, Im gonna miss kissing you
Little darling, Im gonna miss kissing you
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling
Little darling, gonna love you tonight

song performed by Thin Lizzy
Added by Lucian Velea
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Cruel Young Lover

Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Just because you can
You treat me like a fool
But just because you can
Dont make it right
Can it be so hard
To be a little kind
And you could be here
With me tonight
Ive got feelings
Dont be unkind
Feelings
Dont be unkind
Feelings
Stay with me tonight
Youve been stealing
Thats so unkind
Stealing
A heart, a mind
Stealing
Stay with me tonight
Cruel young lover
Blow your mind out
Time will come when
You will find out
Time will take your cruel power away
Cruel young lover
Try to stand out
Will it always pay
To bland out?
Time will take your cruel power away
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
Once again youre gone
Somewhere in the night
Disappearing
Leaving me alone
The lure of city streets
The pull of unknown souls
The overpowering draw

[...] Read more

song performed by Human League
Added by Lucian Velea
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Canto the First

I
I want a hero: an uncommon want,
When every year and month sends forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
The age discovers he is not the true one;
Of such as these I should not care to vaunt,
I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan—
We all have seen him, in the pantomime,
Sent to the devil somewhat ere his time.

II
Vernon, the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe, Hawke,
Prince Ferdinand, Granby, Burgoyne, Keppel, Howe,
Evil and good, have had their tithe of talk,
And fill'd their sign posts then, like Wellesley now;
Each in their turn like Banquo's monarchs stalk,
Followers of fame, "nine farrow" of that sow:
France, too, had Buonaparté and Dumourier
Recorded in the Moniteur and Courier.

III
Barnave, Brissot, Condorcet, Mirabeau,
Petion, Clootz, Danton, Marat, La Fayette,
Were French, and famous people, as we know:
And there were others, scarce forgotten yet,
Joubert, Hoche, Marceau, Lannes, Desaix, Moreau,
With many of the military set,
Exceedingly remarkable at times,
But not at all adapted to my rhymes.

IV
Nelson was once Britannia's god of war,
And still should be so, but the tide is turn'd;
There's no more to be said of Trafalgar,
'T is with our hero quietly inurn'd;
Because the army's grown more popular,
At which the naval people are concern'd;
Besides, the prince is all for the land-service,
Forgetting Duncan, Nelson, Howe, and Jervis.

V
Brave men were living before Agamemnon
And since, exceeding valorous and sage,
A good deal like him too, though quite the same none;
But then they shone not on the poet's page,
And so have been forgotten:—I condemn none,
But can't find any in the present age
Fit for my poem (that is, for my new one);
So, as I said, I'll take my friend Don Juan.

[...] Read more

poem by Byron from Don Juan (1824)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Can You Hear Me

Can you hear me
I must have been blind to leave you this way
It's hard to say I miss you
I can't live without your love
Can you hear me can you hear me
I know you've got the key
With you I feel so strong
Can you hear me can you hear me
Your love can set me free
I know that I was wrong
Let us try again just one more time
Let the love we found be back cause your's mine
One more chance we're gonna taste it
Now or never no time to waste it
Hold me the moonlight is shining bright
Touch my body soft tonight and tight
Your love's so strong
I'm dreamin' of you all night long
Can you hear me can you hear me
I know you've got the key
With you I feel so strong
Can you hear me can you hear me
Your love can set me free
I know that I was wrong
What I'm gonna do
Can you guide me through
Oh can you hear me
Where are you
What I'm gonna do
Can you guide me through
Oh can you hear me
Where are you
Original you need like a melody
The harder I try the bigger is the tragedy
Heartbeat energy for now and eternaly
Take my dreams and be my destiny
I feel there is a vibration
You and me as one what a combination
Love is the promtantation
Can you hear me my imagination
Can you hear me can you hear me
I know you've got the key
With you I feel so strong
Can you hear me can you hear me
Your love can set me free
I know that I was wrong
Can you hear me can you hear me
I know you've got the key
With you I feel so strong
Can you hear me can you hear me

[...] Read more

song performed by DJ Bobo
Added by Lucian Velea
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Now, Heart' - Some Of What I Remember When I Listen

A river is a process through time, and the river stages are its momentary parts.
—Willard Van Orman Quine

From early poems,1970s, youthful indiscretions/attempts to vocally/poetically arrive at/derive a worthwhile writer's voice. Some explication might serve or enhance these under serving, undeserving though 'striving-after' poems hidden in old journals understandably unpublished but now so with apologies which are these expiatory explanations. Recently rediscovering these early arrivals, derivative yet aspiring I recognized and reembraced an enduring self maturing, arriving into late middle age:

Obsessed newly by jazz, mad about the many miraculous lady singers, entranced all too easily as youth are wont to be by sorrows and sexual infatuations which feel, emphasis on 'feel', like love, here are two of many 'songs' as tributes and life markers to jazz singers who provided soundtrack and felt expression to my angst and easily inflated/deflated sense of self, of beloved others, and of that new territory, independent life away from parental home and childhood community discovering, blundering into the fray of separate hearts and minds, irresponsible genitals and insouciant jouissance ('juiciness', in French) , discovering then and again and again that like Walt Whitman I 'contain worlds' and many disparate selves poorly formed, most of them collective projections and expectations of who or what I wanted to be, what others wanted and expected me to be, resulting in much confusion, tumult and multitudes of momentary throw-away selves. Thus singers like Bessie Smith and Dinah Washington became anchors, warm contexts and containers, for my daily fragmentation and re-formation.

I lived on 3rd street in downtown Chattanooga, a refugee from zealous, politically conservative white evangelicals and the vestigial yet still viral Southern Confederacy. Just a block or two from where Bessie Smith was born, I used to watch from my upstairs porch the steep hilly street's comings and goings with a glimpse of the Tennessee River between tenements across the street, its persistent rich aroma heavy in the air. I imagined Bessie Smith as a little girl playing up and down the street like the kids I saw then - once, two of them gleefully chasing a frighteningly large and confused looking rat.

William—he insisted on 'Willie'—an old man down the street who knew Bessie as a little girl, used to come up to my porch after one day hearing Bessie from my phonograph singing blues onto the always busy but attentive street. One of the first and permanent things I learned from my porch is that a city street has keen, observant eyes, acute ears, omnivorously seeing/hearing everything, indifferently, perhaps, but nothing escapes it, a roving, all-knowing urban Eye of God.

Extremely green and eager as green always is though stutteringly, and without apology, I enjoyed Willie's many stories and back pocket bottles of Old Mr. Boston Apricot Brandy, both of which—story and spirits/spirited story —dissolved or appeared to, age, racial, cultural, and sociological differences, along with those catalysts/cata-lusts, the forever alchemical Bessie and other jazz singers, Billie! Dinah! Ella! Sassy! Lil Ester Phillips! Nina Simone! to name only a few of the sensuous solutio chanteuses resolving sexual confoundaries by Miss-ambiguating sins' plethera with loose lilt and will- o-the-lisp whisper tongues.

One night Willie, much 'in the pocket'—an expression for being well onto tipsy which I've never heard from anyone but him—wanted to dance to a Bessie tune playing, 'Back Water Blues', him recalling nights as a young man in rural Tennessee where he'd worked hard days in oppressive vegetable fields then hit the after hours juke joints for 'colored, twas segregation days, ' he explained, where he would go to drink, dance then dive/delve, as it were, into the sensual mysteries of moist skin, hot breath, mutually open mouths with their commodious moans and mumbles, venial hands, always vital parts, private hearts mutually pounding ancient known rhythms, odors and tastes of gin and those slender, forbidden, now greedily stolen bites in those all too short nights with their damned intrusive dawns.

'Dawnus interuptus, ' I quipped, us both slapping knees, passing the narrative bottle fore and aft hefting moments re-grasped between us, offerings to the equally narrative river, the all-knowing hungry street.

Jumping to his feet, Willie described 'powder dancin'' (pronounced marvelously, 'powdah') which I had never heard of. Talcum powder would be copiously scattered onto the dance floor where couples in stocking or bare feet would ecstatically dance, gliding and sliding sweetly scented, muskily bent toward later glides and slides in the slippery joy of momentary allure and amour on dimmed porches or surrounding woods often enough and gratis upon delicate slabs of moonlight gratuitously dewy providing cushion for Passion's out and in, honoring and dignifying deities of skin wanting more making more skin, headlong Nature's frictional algo-rhythms indelibly scored in every/each his/her yawing yen.

Willie shouted, 'YOU GOT ANY TALC POWDER? ! '

...The jazz us trembled...

'NO! ' I bellowed, curious.

'YOU GOT ANY FLOUR? ! '

Even more curious, 'YEAH! ! '

'GO GIT IT! QUICK! ! '

He grinned an Old Mr. Boston juke-joint night-memories quaff-again grin.

Martha White, a brand of flour sold down South, has never been put to better use. Willie threw handfuls of 'Martha' over the tenement-planked living room floor as I half protested at the mess it (and me and Willie) was and would become. Completely gripped by his present-in-the-past brandy trance, a much younger man now, he suddenly grabbed me, brandied and tranced, too, my long hair flying, and danced me all over the floor the night through with swigs of Old But Now Spry 'n' Sprightly Mr. Boston with pauses to change record albums on the phonograph, 'catching up our breaths, ' he panted.

Next morning (more likely early afternoon) , Willie long gone, I awakened sprawled on the penitent porch—a cool concrete floor my sinner's bench—sweaty and thick as pan gravy, mosquito bitten, marinaded in Tennessee night mists. I staggered into the living room onto the ghostly floor powdery white, 'stroked' with two attached, or close to, sets of foot prints, heel slides and smears, a kind of 'Jackson Pollock meets Tibetan sand painting 'yazzed' yantra'**' with cigarette ashes flicked into the flickering impermanent mix. I've not powder danced since when we drank discovering oral history's joys, opened eager ears and fraternal arms forgetting fears of race and religion, age and expressed/ espressed Desire's multilingual disseminations.

I know that wheat is anciently sacred but now even more so for flour, the sight and feel of it, its unbaked smell, turns me again toward a Chattanooga 3rd street, its compass river swelling like bread nearby bearing witness still for one cannot say too much about rivers—their irreverence of edges scored, spilling themselves, proclaiming natural gods deeper than memory yet dependent upon it for traced they must be in every human activity, no matter the breech, for something there is to teach even deity though it may be wrong to do so, or hearsay to say it or sing, but the song is there for those whose ears are broken onto bottoms from which cry urgencies of Being and between, dutiful banks barely containing the straining Word.

**From Tibetan Buddhism. Visual meditation devices,
Yantras function as revelatory conduits of cosmic truths.

1. To Bessie Smith,3rd Street Chattanooga (circa 1971)

Already the river begins its sweat.
April to September I'll be on the porch
Come sunsets listening to cars in the
Dark and you, remembering the flour
On the floor and me and Willie in
Stocking feet dancing till dawn,

[...] Read more

poem by Warren Falcon
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Dont Be Afraid

Dont be afraid to reveal what you know
Dont be afraid to conceal what you show
Oh darling
Dont be afraid
Oh darling
I said, dont be afraid to ray what you need
Dont be afraid
What you feel about me
Oh oh oh darling
Count me lucky I dont follow you
Dont be afraid of me feeling so blue
Oh darling
Lucky forever
Oh darling
I said, dont be afraid to ray what you need
Dont be afraid
What you feel about me
Oh oh oh darling
Dont be afraid to reveal what you know
Dont be afraid to conceal what you show
Oh darling
Dont be afraid
Oh darling
I said, dont be afraid to ray what you need
Dont be afraid
What you feel about me
Oh oh oh darling
Oh darling
Oh oh oh darling
Oh darling
Oh oh oh darling
Oh darling
Oh oh oh darling
Oh darling
Oh oh oh darling

song performed by David Bowie
Added by Lucian Velea
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Ladies Man

Well, Ive heard of heartbreakers
But you take the cake
Ladies man
You could charm the diamonds
Off a rattlesnake
Ladies man
Ladies bring it on over
When you give em the glance
They dont stand a chance
First, you unfold them
Then you pigeon-hole em
Ladies man
Well it sure takes a lot of
Good natured self-control
Ladies man
When Im so hot for you and
Youre so cold, so cold
Ladies man
Why do you keep on trying to
Make a man of me
Couldnt you just love me--
Like you love cocaine
Cocaine head games
Cross my heart I swear
Im not trying to trick you
No tricks
Ladies man
Its just a straight ahead feeling
I have for you
Nothing slick
Ladies man
I guess you learn to refuse
What you think you cant handle
Youre acting like a vandal
Wrecking the dream
At the first bad scene
Ladies man
Ladies man
Ladies man
Ladies man

song performed by Joni Mitchell
Added by Lucian Velea
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