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There are so many unforgettable melodies I cherish todate, it may not be possible to list them all here. Click below to listen to few of them. Be sure  to brows on the other pages shown in the right hand side column. CLICK AWAY to Listen and Savour the Music of THE Past.  YOU CAN NOT DOWNLOAD MUSIC FROM THIS BLOOG, But are encouraged to BUY these fabulous tracks from an authorised dealer like AMAZON.

BURT BACHARACH and HAL DAVID,  You are so good to be true, Close to you, Say a Little Prayer, From the movie  “Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid” Rain drops keep falling on my head

BEATLES,  (Norwegeian Wood), George Harrison ( My Sweet Lord), Paul McCartney and The WINGS: Band on the run,  Silly Love Song, My Sweet Lord

Happy Songs : Sugar Sugar Honey Honey, There’s a hole in the bucket, In the Summer Time, From Godfather, Felicita

Don McLean Vincent, Miss American Pie, Castles in the Air, Winterwood

Simon & Garfunkel : Sound of Silence,  Bridge over Troubled Water, Scarborough Fair, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, You can call me Al,

Bob Dylon: Blowing in the Wind, If Not For You

Billy Joel: We Didn’t Start The Fire,

James Taylor :  You Got a Friend,  Fire and Rain

Roger Whittaker: The Last Farewell,  Streets of London,

CLASSICAL ROCK: Nights in White Satin, A Whiter Shade of Pale, Bohemian Rhapsody, Venus

Herman’s Hermits: No Milk Today, A Wonderful World, There is a Kind of Hush

Chicago: Saturday in the Park,  If you leave me now

Dire Strait: In my Parties, Brothers in Arms, Calling Elvis

Elton John : Candle in the Wind,  Your Song,   Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

Janis Joplin :Mercedez Benz,

Real Life Stories: Honey I miss You, Little Green Apples,

Cat Stevens: Morning Has Brocken, Oh Very Young, My Lady d’Arbanville

YESTERDAY ONCE MORE – Carpnters ( Richard and Karen Carpenter)

When I was young
I’d listened to the radio
Waiting for my favourite songs
When they played I’d sing along
It made me smile

Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wonder where they’d gone
But they’re back again
Just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well
(*) every sha-la-la-la
Every wo-wo-wo
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they’re starting to sing is
So fine

When they get to the part
Where he’s breaking her heart
It can really make me cry
Just like before
It’s yesterday once more

Looking back on how it was
In years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad
So much has changed

It was songs of love that
I would sing to then
And I’d memorize each word
Those old melodies
Still sound so good to me
As they melt the years away

Repeat (*)

All my best memories
Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry
Just like before
It’s yesterday once more

Mercedez Benz – Janis Joplin

Oh lord , won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
My friends all drive porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends.
So oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz

Oh lord won’t you buy me a color TV.
Dialing for dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until 3.
So oh lord won’t you buy me a color TV.

Oh lord won’t you buy me a night on the town.
I’m counting on you lord, please don’t let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round.
Oh lord won’t you buy me a night on the town.

Oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz
My friends all drive porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends.
So oh lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz

Reminiscing the history:

Janis Joplin was born in 1943 and, by her tragic death in 1970 she had really made her mark as one of the greatest artists of all time. She was among those who made such changes come about our world, Freedom, exploration, Seeking truth.

The lyrics depict the recognition of the artist  of the fruitless pursuit of material pleasures of the west.

JAMES TAYLOR

James Taylor

Any good singer can interpret a song, but it takes a stylist to make it his own. James Taylor is a stylist. The term “singer/songwriter” was almost invented for Taylor. He is well known for his sensitive and dark lyrics.

You’ve Got a Friend obviously can’t chronicle much more than the hits and high points of Taylor’s career, but it nonetheless captures the artistic essence of a performer who’s become a virtual synonym for “singer-songwriter” since his emergence in the late 1960s. A lot of ink has been spilled ruminating about Taylor’s role in soothing a 60s-burned generation, but given his own well-known demons (depression, addiction) his gentle voice often sounds like the physician wisely healing himself.

 

YOU GOT A FRIEND

When  you’re down and troubled
And you need a helping hand
And nothing, whoa nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest nights.
You just call out my name,
And you know where ever I am
I’ll come running, oh yeah baby
To see you again.
Winter, spring , summer, or fall,
All you got to do is call
And I’ll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You’ve got a friend.

If the sky above you
Should turn dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind should begin to blow
Keep your head together and call my name out loud
And soon I will be knocking upon your door.
You just call out my name and you know where ever I am
I’ll come running to see you again.
Winter, Spring, summer or fall
All you got to do is call
And I’ll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Hey, ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend?

People can be so cold.
They’ll hurt you and desert you.
Well they’ll take your soul if you let them.
Oh yeah, but don’t you let them.
You just call out my name and you know wherever I am
I’ll come running to see you again.
Oh babe, don’t you know that,
Winter Spring summer or fall,
Hey now, all you’ve got to do is call.
Lord, I’ll be there, yes I will.
You’ve got a friend.

You’ve got a friend.
Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a friend.
Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a friend.
You’ve got a friend.

. He struggled with addiction from around 1968 through the end of his marriage with Carly Simon in 1981. Simon divorced him, because of his continued heroin use.

Taylor’s hit song “Fire and Rain” is about the suicide of a woman he became close to while in rehab and about getting off heroin itself.

There is an amusing myth about the meaning of the song. According to the myth, the song tells the story of Taylor’s girlfriend, Suzanne, being killed in an airplane crash on her way to meet him at a concert. The myth is very popular among Taylor fans, and this is why I find it particularly pathetic. The idea of the plane crash comes from the line, “Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.” One would think that fans would know the history of their idols. “The Flying Machine” was the name of a band Taylor had in New York–a band that broke up (“in pieces”) in large part because of Taylor’s drug use. There is an excellent discussion of this Urban Legend on the Snopes Web Site.

F I R E   A N D    R A I N

Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it to

I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way

Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things
to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you, baby, one more time again, now

Thought I’d see you one more time again
There’s just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I’d see you, thought I’d see you fire and rain, now

ROGER WHITTAKER

Roger Whittaker (born March 22, 1936 in Nairobi, Kenya) is an Anglo Kenyan singer/songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of more than 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability.

STREETS OF LONDON – Composer Ralph McTell

STREETS  OF  LONDON

Have you seen the old man
In the closed-down market
taking out the papers,
with his worn out shoes?
In his eyes you see no pride
hands held loosely by his side
Yesterday’s paper telling yesterday’s news

Chorus:

So how can you tell me that you’re lonely,
say for you that the sun don’t shine and
Let me take you by the hand lead you through the streets of London
I’ll show you something to make you change your mind

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rag
She’s no time for talking
she just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags.

Chorus

In the all night cafe
At a quarter past eleven,
Same old man sitting there on his own
Looking at the world
Over the rim of his tea-cup,
and each tea last an hour,
And he wanders home alone

Chorus

And have you seen the old man
Outside the Seaman’s Mission
Memory fading with the meadow ribbon that he wears
And in our winter city
The rain cried a little pity
A one more forgotten hero
And the world that doesn’t care

Chorus

STORY LINE:

The composition addressed a burning issue in the Sixtees. The homeless problem. It  was very much about older people, thus the lyrics ‘Old man’, ‘Old Girl’. This song changed the nations attitude to homeless people, it resulted in more hostels and much of the rough sleeping was reduced, however the problem did not go away, but it did change, the age of the homeless in London and our other major cities dropped.  But there are countless homeless men and women in Sri Lanka where no government welfare exist just surviving on little hand out few dole out. Please help one if you can.

THE  LAST  FAREWELL

There’s a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbour
Tomorrow for old England she sails
Far away from your land of endless sunshine
To my land full of rainy skies and gales
And I shall be aboard that ship tomorrow
Though my heart is full of tears at this farewell

Refrain:
For you are beautiful
And I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
(repeat)

I heard there’s a wicked war a blazing
And the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a raising
Their guns on fire  as we sail into hell
I have no fear of death; it brings no sorrow
But how bitter will be this last farewell

Refrain:
For you are beautiful
And I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
(repeat)

Though death and darkness gather all about me
And my ship be torn apart upon the seas
I shall smell again the fragrance of these islands
In the heaving waves that brought me once to thee
And should I return safe home again to England
I shall watch the English mist roll through the dell

Refrain:
For you are beautiful
And I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
(repeat)

SOUND OF SILENCE

Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel ( Simon & Garfunkel)

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 turn 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 shared
No one dared
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

Simon began working on the song sometime after the Kennedy assassination. He had made progress on the music but had yet to get down the lyrics. On 19 February 1964 the lyrics apparently coalesced, and Simon showed the new composition to Garfunkel the same day. Shortly afterward, the duo began to perform it at folk clubs in New York. They recorded it for the first time on March 10, and included the track on their debut album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., released that October.^[2] The album flopped upon its release, and the duo split up, with Simon going to England for much of 1965. There he often performed the song solo in folk clubs, and recorded it for a second time on his solo LP in May 1965, The Paul Simon Songbook.

WATCH VIDEO CLICK BELOW

HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY THAT I LOVE YOU

Singer: Rod Stewart         Composer: Van Morrison

Have I told you lately that I love you
Have I told you there’s no one above you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles, that’s what you do
Oh the morning sun in all its glory
Greets the day with hope and comfort too
And you fill my life with laughter
You can make it better
Ease my troubles that’s what you do

There’s a love that’s divine
And it’s yours and it’s mine
Like the sun at the end of the day
We should give thanks and pray to the One

Have I told you lately that I love you
Have I told you there’s no one above you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles, that’s what you do

There’s a love that’s divine
And it’s yours and it’s mine
And it shines like the sun
At the end of the day we will give thanks
And pray to the One

Have I told you lately that I love you
Have I told you there’s no one above you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles, that’s what you do

Take away my sadness
Fill my life with gladness
Ease my troubles that’s what you do
Fill my life with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles that’s what you do.

Click Above to Watch the Video

One of the finest love songs of the century, which I remember devastated me when I first heard it, as it seemed both something never quite said before, and yet a song I felt I had known forever. Earthly love transmutes into that for God, just like in Dante, “there’s a love that’s divine and it’s yours and it’s mine”. The morning sun has set by the end of the song, suggesting love shading into death, but subtly.^[1]

• When released as a single in 1989, it charted at #12 on US Adult Comtemporary Charts and has been covered by numerous artists.
• In 1993 Rod Stewart‘s cover of the song was released that was his last Top Five solo hit to date, becoming a #5 hit in the US and the UK. This version also spent five weeks at #1 on the US adult contemporary chart.
• In 1996 “Have I Told You Lately” by the The Chieftains and Van Morrison was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
• “Have I Told You Lately” by Van Morrison was listed as No. 261 on the All Time 885 Greatest Songs compiled in 2004 by WXPN from listener’s votes.^[2]
• In August 2006, Van Morrison’s original recording was voted #6 on a list of the Top 10 First Dance Wedding Songs, based on a poll of 1,300 DJs in the UK.^[3]
• Van Morrison’s original version of this song was #98 on the New York Daily News, The 100 Greatest Love Songs, from the list published on February 12, 2007.
• In October 2007, Van Morrison received a Million-Air certificate for over 4 million air plays of “Have I Told You Lately” from the prestigious BMI awards held in London, England.

BOB DYLON

BLOWING IN THE WIND

Written and sung by:  Bob Dyon

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ‘n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, ‘n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?

Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

In the Wind from Ranjith Daluwatta on Vimeo.

“Blowin’ in the Wind” was written by Bob Dylan and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of questions about peace, war, and freedom. The refrain “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind” has been described as “impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind”.

In 1999, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, it was ranked #14 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

In 2009, the song was licensed for commercial use when The Co-operative Group used it as the soundtrack to a £10 million brand re-launch.

In 1975, the song was included as poetry in a new high school English textbook in Sri Lanka. The textbook caused controversy because it replaced Shakespeare’s work with Dylan’s.

IF  NOT  FOR  YOU:

If not for you, babe, I couldn’t find the door

Couldn’t even see the floor

I’d be sad and blue if not for you.

If not for you, baby, I’d lay awake all night

Wait for the morning light

To shine in through

But it will not be new if not for you.

If not for you, my sky would fall, rain would gather too

Without your love I’d be nowhere at all

I’d be lost if not for you

And you know it’s true.

If not for you, my sky would fall, rain would gather too

Without your love I’d be nowhere at all

Oh what would I do if not for you ?

If not for you, winter would have no spring

I couldn’t hear the robins sing

I just wouldn’t have a clue

Anyway it wouldn’t ring true if not for you

If not for you, if not for you.

The social reformer and the rebel artist  reveals his lovable soft nature in this easy balad. Inspite of his simple words used in the composition, the interwoven fabric of tenderness and attachment move you to a beautiful mind state. Even though his raspy voice is not the best of vocals it delivers the feeling like no other did.

We Didn’t Start The Fire

1. WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE – Billy Joel

Lyrics

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, “The King and I”, and “The Catcher in the Rye”

Eisenhower, vaccine, England’s got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

CHORUS
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu and “Rock Around the Clock”

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn’s got a winning team
Davy Crockett, “Peter Pan”, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, “Peyton Place”, trouble in the Suez

CHORUS

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, “Bridge on the River Kwai”

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, “Ben-Hur”, space monkey, Mafia
hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, “Psycho”, Belgians in the Congo

CHORUS

Hemingway, Eichmann, “Stranger in a Strange Land”
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs Invasion

“Lawrence of Arabia”, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

CHORUS

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon, back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollolah’s in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

“Wheel of Fortune” , Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shore, China’s under martial law
Rock and Roller Cola Wars, I can’t take it anymore

CHORUS

We didn’t start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on…

Watch the Vedio

Joel has a strong interest in history. ^[1] Unlike most of Joel’s songs, the lyrics were written before the melody, owing to the somewhat unusual style of the song. The song was a huge commercial success and was Joel’s third Billboard #1 hit. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year

Though the lyric is rapid-fire with several people and events mentioned in a single word each, there is wide-spread agreement on the meaning of the lyrics.