Tag Archives: rock

song of the week 05: welcome to the jungle

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“Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns ‘n’ Roses

This was the first song written by the band as a collective, their second released single and featured on their debut album. It was named the greatest hard rock song of all time in 2009 by VHI and has received many high accolades since its release. To me it is Guns ‘n’ Roses at their purest.

As a hard rock song of the 80s though it hasn’t aged well. The original album cover art featured a robot attempting to rape a woman and the lyrics are highly suggestive of the same.

The video contains footage of violent riots mixed in with a live performance of the song. Some of this footage is taken from riots and disturbances in Northern Ireland including some from Bloody Sunday in Derry, 1972.

Lyrics

Oh my god

Jump

Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun and games
We got everything you want honey, we know the names
We are the people that can find whatever you may need
If you got the money, honey, we got your disease

In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
Mwah, I, I wanna watch you bleed

Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day
If you want it you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay
And you’re a very sexy girl who’s very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights but you won’t get there for free
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my, my serpentine
Ooh, ah, I want to hear you scream

Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day
You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play
If you got hunger for what you see you’ll take it eventually
You can have anything you want but you better not take it from me

In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
Mwah, I’m gonna watch you bleed

And when you’re high, you never ever wanna come down
So down, so down, so down, yeah

You know where you are?
You’re in the jungle, baby, you’re gonna die
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my my, serpentine
Jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
Down In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to you
It’s gonna bring you down, huh

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 03: the sound of silence

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“The Sound of Silence” by Disturbed

  • Genre: Orchestral Pop
  • Single Release Date: December 2015
  • Album: “Immortalized“

This is a cover of the original song written by Simon and Garfunkel in the mid 60s. Disturbed have retained the original lyrics and style of the song but have tweaked it slightly. With the powerful voice and barely controlled anger this version has a new and stronger power that truly captures the original ethos of the song:

“the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly intentionally but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other.“

Simon & Garfunkel, Denver, June 1966

I first discovered this cover version having seen the video shared by a friend on Facebook. The power of the voice combined with the imagery in the video simply blew me away. This is one of those songs that when it comes up on Spotify I turn the volume way up and can’t help but sing along.

Lyrics

Hello, darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening

People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence

“Fools,” said I, “You do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”

But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming

And the sign said
“The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound
Of silence”

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 02: under the bridge

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“Under the Bridge” by Red Hot Chilli Peppers

I was aware of Red Hot Chilli Peppers but hadn’t listened to them really throughout my teens. In my mid 20s with money to spend from my first real job I started to buy CDs and try out bands I’d heard of but hadn’t listened to. My first Chilli Peppers’ album was Californication but it is this track that is very much my favourite.

Lyrics:

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, the city of angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry
I drive on her streets ’cause she’s my companion
I walk through her hills ’cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy
Well, I never worry, now that is a lie

I don’t ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
I don’t ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
Yeah, yeah, yeah

It’s hard to believe that there’s nobody out there
It’s hard to believe that I’m all alone
At least I have her love, the city, she loves me
Lonely as I am, together we cry

I don’t ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
I don’t ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, no, no-no, yeah, yeah
Love me, I say, yeah yeah
One time

Is where I drew some blood
(Under the bridge downtown)
I could not get enough
(Under the bridge downtown)
Forgot about my love
(Under the bridge downtown)
I gave my life away
Yeah, yeah
Oh, no, no-no-no, yeah, yeah
Oh, no, I said, oh, yeah, yeah
Where I stay

Header image from 8Tracks.com

song of the week 01: the beautiful people

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“The Beautiful People” by Marilyn Manson

Although I’ve been a fan of rock and metal music since my early teens I’ve never really clicked with Marilyn Manson. Then I heard this track and it quickly became one of my favourites. That may be as much to do with how I first heard it as the song itself…

One of my favourite TV shows is Stargate and especially the Stargate Atlantis series. S5:E19 “Vegas” is set in an alternative universe where a wraith is living incognito on Earth and being hunted by the alternative version of John Sheppard. During one scene the wraith disguises himself as human and heads out into the city. There is lots of other great music in that episode but for some reason this particular track caught and held my attention.

I particularly like the following lines, for some reason they really resonate with me…

You can’t see the forest for the trees

And you can’t smell your own shit on your knees

Lyrics:

And I don’t want you and I don’t need you
Don’t bother to resist, or I’ll beat you
It’s not your fault that you’re always wrong
The weak ones are there to justify the strong

The beautiful people, the beautiful people
It’s all relative to the size of your steeple
You can’t see the forest for the trees
And you can’t smell your own shit on your knees

There’s no time to discriminate,
Hate every motherfucker
That’s in your way

Hey you, what do you see?
Something beautiful or something free?
Hey you, are you gonna to be mean?
You live with apes man, it’s hard to be clean

The worms will live in every host
It’s hard to pick which one they hate the most

The horrible people, the horrible people
It’s all anatomic as the size of your steeple
Capitalism has made it this way,
Old-fashioned fascism will take it away

Hey you, what do you see?
Something beautiful or something free?
Hey you, are you gonna to be mean?
You live with apes man, it’s hard to be clean

There’s no time to discriminate,
Hate every motherfucker
That’s in your way

The beautiful people
The beautiful people (ah) [4x]

[2x]
Hey you, what do you see?
Something beautiful or something free?
Hey you, are you gonna to be mean?
You live with apes man, it’s hard to be clean

The beautiful people [8x]

Header image from 8Tracks.com