Sharing Music Lyrics that I Like (Part 1)

by Robert Hackman

Photograph by Sterling Lanier on Unsplash 

I got lyrics to go Everybody
(I got lyrics to go) Ah c’mon now
I got lyrics to go Ah, check it out y’all
(I got lyrics to go) It’s like that now

Lyrics from the song ‘Lyrics to Go’
By A Tribe Called Quest

It’s August, and time to shift my articles to something fun. Last year I did three posts about the fun of cover songs, which I have begun reposting on LI, FB, and X again this year. 

This year I am publishing some song lyrics I like. Some of them are grouped together by theme or artist, and mostly they are random. I ran out of time. 

As with the cover songs, way more lyrics and artists were left on the ‘cutting room floor.’

Some of them are for fun. Others are more meaningful. You will find, in most cases, there are many other great lyrics throughout the songs. 

Sometimes the definitive versions are performed by other artists. I have included those performed by the original artists here.

There are so many elements that go into each song – the arrangement, the time signature, the tempo, the pitch, the arrangement, the mixing, the production, the vocals, the melody, and the vocals. 

Yet when the music and lyrics combine and interplay with one another, they produce something that transcends either of them by themselves. 

A big believer in music’s ability to touch the heart and evoke memories and associations, they help make a moment. Music, like movies, books, poetry, and other forms of artistic expression, touches us in ways that defy explanation.

Songs are a good metaphor for leadership. There are so many ways to interpret similar themes. The most vital aspect of both is that they genuinely come from the heart in an effort to influence others to generate positive impact.

As with leaders and followers, music creates meaningful connections between the artists and the listener, amongst those listening, and between the individual listening and themselves. It creates the soundtrack of our lives.

I do not want this to be one way. I encourage you to post your favorite lyrics in the comments or send them to me directly. 

I hope you find this fun. Thanks for playing with me.

Hamlet Meets John Doe

I’ve got nothing to say

And twelve ways to say it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqQhGe9Wgns

 Written by: Jimmer Podrasky

Performed by: The Rave-ups

Check the Rhyme 

Okay, if knowledge is the key then just show me the lock
Got the scrawny legs, but I move just like Lou Brock
With speed, I’m agile plus I’m worth your while
One hundred percent intelligent black child
My optic presentation sizzles the retina
How far must I go to gain respect? Um
Well, it’s kind of simple, just remain your own
Or you’ll be crazy sad and alone

Written by: Malik Izaak Taylor, Leon Ware, Ali Shaheed Muhammed, Richard Rudolph, Minnie Riperton, Roger Ball, Kamal Ibn John Fareed, Owen Onnie Mc Intyre

Performed by: A Tribe Called Quest 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQT2DfzpCLA

Southern Cross

And we never failed to fail
It was the easiest thing to do

Written by: Richard Lee Curtis, Michael Curtis, Stephen A. Stills

Performed by: Crosby, Stills, Nash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cBsnopTVmo

Some favorites from Jackson Browne

The Long Way Around

I’m a long way gone
Down this wild road I’m on
It’s going to take me where I’m bound
But it’s the long way around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2GMr1GtzNo

Late for the Sky

Now, for me some words come easy
But I know that they don’t mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
You never knew what I loved in you
I don’t know what you loved in me
Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3SJz9jujEA

A Song for Adam

Though Adam was a friend of mine, I did not know him well
He was alone into his distance, he was deep into his well
I could guess what he was laughing at, but I couldn’t really tell
Now the story’s told that Adam jumped, but I’ve been thinking that he fell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSmKhW2jUEM

Written and Performed by: Jackson Browne

Songs About Cities:

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters

Now I know
“Spanish Harlem” are not just pretty words to say
I thought I knew
But now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City
Subway’s no way for a good man to go down
Rich man can ride and the hobo, he can drown
And I thank the Lord for the people I have found
I thank the Lord for the people I have found

Written by: Elton John, Bernie Taupin

Performed by: Elton John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tRgYfQ48A0

Open Letter (To a Landlord)

This is my neighborhood

This is where I come from

I call this place my home

You call this place a slum

You want to run all the people out

This what you’re all about

Treat poor people just like trash

Turn around and make big cash

Written by: Tracie Morris, Vernon Alphonsus Reid

Performed by: Living Colour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEeyR6F-RCI

Living for the City

I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow
And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow
This place is cruel, nowhere could be much colder
If we don’t change, the world will soon be over
Living just enough, stop giving just enough for the city

Written and Performed by: Stevie Wonder 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc0XEw4m-3w

Ill With Want

I am sick with wanting
And it’s evil how it’s got me
And everyday is worse than the one before
The more I have the more I think
I’m almost where I need to be
If only I could get a little more

Written by: Robert William Crawford, Scott Yancey Avett, Timothy Seth Avett

Performed by: The Avett Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWoNCxq7bGA

Who’s Gonna’ Ride Your Wild Horses

You’re dangerous, ‘cos you’re honest.
You’re dangerous, you don’t know what you want.
Well you left my heart empty as a vacant lot
For any spirit to haunt.

You’re an accident waiting to happen
You’re a piece of glass left there on a beach.
Well you tell me things
I know you’re not supposed to
Then you leave me just out of reach.

Written by: Paul David Hewson, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Dave Evans

Performed by: U2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw2N3tjGIP0

Bad

I’m wide awake, I’m wide awake, wide awake
I’m not sleeping

Written by: Paul David Hewson, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Dave Evans

Performed by U2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEBOLXLODbM

Songs About Towns:

Our Town

And you know the sun’s settin’ fast,
And just like they say, nothing good ever lasts.
Well, go on now and kiss it goodbye,
But hold on to your lover,
‘Cause your heart’s bound to die.
Go on now and say goodbye to our town, to our town.
Can’t you see the sun’s settin’ down on our town, on our town,
Goodnight.

Written and Performed by: Iris Dement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiSX9PNRyyc

I Am a Town

My porches sag and lean
With old back men and children
My sleep is filled with dreams
I never can fulfill them
I am a town

Written and Performed by: Mary Chapin Carpenter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBy1EpCQeEE

Something Small

It’s a small town. It doesn’t ask for much
Broken down and always building back up

Written and Performed by: Joan Shelley 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpCBShBfb5k

Songs by John Prine:

Angel From Montgomery

How the hell can a person
Go to work in the morning
Then come home in the evening
And have nothing to say?

Hello In There

You know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder every day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say
“Hello in there, hello”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKoYHFVBpEA

Ain’t Hurtin Nobody

Perfectly crafted popular hit songs
Never use the wrong rhyme
You’d think that waitress
Could get my order right the first time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgngl4aVe9g

Songs by Elvis Costello

Less Than Zero 

He said he’d heard about a couple in the USA
He said they’d traded their baby for a Chevrolet
Let’s talk about the future now that we’ve put the past away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJygTz0gB6g

(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes

Oh, I said, “I’m so happy I could die.”
She said, “Drop dead,” then left with another guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS8oaMFsBEk

Planet Claire

Some say she’s from Mars
Or one of the seven stars
That shine after 3:30 in the morning

Well, she isn’t!

Written by: Henry Nicola Mancini, Frederick William Iii Schneider, Cynthia Leigh Wilson, Ricky Helton Wilson, Catherine Elizabeth Pierson, J. Keith Strickland

Performed by: The B-52’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaXtqSmUlxA

Dance Little Sister 

Get up ‘outta’ your rockin’ chair, grandma!
Or rather, would you care to dance, grandmother?

Written and Performed by: Terence Trent D’arby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tngAfpI5jrM

Change 

Don’t you go
Don’t you go and change for me
Don’t you go and change for me
Change for me

Written by: Kelsey Joy Kopecky, David Daniel Krohn, Corey Marion Oxendine, William Mark Jr Midkiff

Performed by: Kopecky Family Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSHDct0Flsk

Driven to Tears 

Seems that when some innocent die
All we can offer them is a page in some magazine
Too many cameras and not enough food
This is what we’ve seen

Written by: Gordon Matthew Sumner

Performed by: The Police

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPkChi1ckq0

A Change is Gonna Come

There been times that I thought
I couldn’t last for long
But now, I think I’m able
To carry on

It’s been a long
A long time coming, but I know
A change gon’ come
Oh yes, it will

Written and Performed by: Sam Cooke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPr3yvkHYsE

Whose Making Love 

Who’s making love to your old lady
While you were out making love

Written by: Homer Banks, Raymond E. Jackson, Bettye Jean Barnes Crutcher, Donald Davis

Performed by: Johnnie Taylor 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jO3TfsTxcI

Mama Tried

And I turned twenty-one in prison doin’ life without parole
No one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied
That leaves only me to blame ’cause Mama tried

Written by: Merle Haggard

Performed by: Merle Haggard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppEfGIGVteo

The Wheel

The wheel is turning, and you can’t slow down
You can’t let go and you can’t hold on
You can’t go back and you can’t stand still
If the thunder don’t get you, then the lightning will

Written by: Robert C. Hunter, Jerome J. Garcia, William Kreutzmann

Performed by: Jerry Garcia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYGatU18PMQ

Songs from Pink Floyd:

Wish You Were Here

How I wish, how I wish you were here
We’re just two lost souls
Swimming in a fishbowl
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here

Written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdNnw99-Ic

On the Turning Away

Don’t accept that what’s happening
Is just a case of others’ suffering
Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
The turning away

Written by: David Gilmour and Anthony Moore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojf18wT_Xtk

Time

Tired of lying in the sunshine
Staying home to watch the rain
And you are young, and life is long
And there is time to kill today

And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun

Written by: Donald Dennis, Melbourne George Miller, Ingo Rheinbay, Paul Ellingston Crosdale, Raymond Wright, Mitchum Khan Ivanhoe Chin

Performed by: Pink Floyd 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl-Ms_ek-kE

Everyone Deserves Music

We all vain, we all strange
We all drained, we all love to just complain
But nobody wants to seem to get along, ya see

We got shame, we got pain
We got blame, we all a little bit insane
So that’s why I sing this song ya know because

Everyone deserves music, sweet music
Everyone deserves music, sweet music
Even our worst enemies Lord, they deserve music, music

Written by: Michael Franti, David Shul, Carl Rogers Young

Performed by: Michael Franti and Spearhead 

Wake Up Little Susie

We’ve both been sound asleep
Wake up, little Susie and weep
The movie’s over, it’s four o’clock
And we’re in trouble deep

Written by: Boudleaux Bryant, Felice Bryant

Performed by; The Everly Brothers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LojqhHnmyvc

Pacing the Cage 

Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can’t see what’s round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend

Written and Performed by Bruce Cockburn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqfWoLIwJsk

Rockin’ In the Free World

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand

Written by: Neil Young, Frank Sampedro

Performed by: Neil Young  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvxxdZpMFHg

Good Intentions

And if I could forgive
The honey-I-swear-it-didn’t-mean-a-thing-to-me
Attempt at abstention
I could forgive the rest too
It’s just a fact of life
That no one cares to mention
She wasn’t good
But she had good intentions

Written and Performed by Lyle Lovett

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9qYFGpIc_E

It All Comes True

And it all comes true, yes, it all comes true
Like a wheel inside a wheel, it turns on you
And you think, “What have I done? What can I do?”
What you believe about yourself
It all comes true

Written by: John Mellencamp, George Michael Green

Performed by: John Mellencamp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFKkw0BZLRI

Another Life Goes By

Where does hate come from
And how can we make it stop
We got to make some changes
Before somebody else gets shot
We need to pay attention to the helpless cries
We need to stop the madness
Before another life goes by

Written by: Tom Hambridge, Christone Ingram

Performed by: Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram and Big K.I.R.T. Release 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE8kC7drT_E

Hoping Machine

Whatever you do, wherever you go
Don’t lose your grip on life and that means
Don’t let any earthy calamity knock your dreamer and your hoping machine

Out of Order

Words by: Woodie Guthrie and Music by: Jay Farrar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OG6argvHKA

What’s Good

What’s good? (Life’s good)
Life’s good (Life’s good)
What’s good? (Life’s good)
But not fair at all

Written and Performed by: Lou Reed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVRtMsEp-CM

Please reach out to me to share your favorite lyrics and to discuss developing your leadership words to benefit yourself, your team, and your company. I welcome the conversation.

Robert Hackman, Principal, 4C Consulting – Courageously Curious Consulting and Coaching, helps people live and lead with fewer regrets. He grows and develops leaders through executive coaching, strategy consulting, facilitation, and training of individuals, teams, and organizations. He is committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He facilitates trusting environments that promote uncommonly candid conversations. Rob is also passionate about the power of Everyday Legacies and developing Legacy Mindsets. He has conducted over 50 Legacy interviews with people to date. 

A serious man with a dry sense of humor who loves absurdity. Rob can often be found hiking rocky elevations or making music playlists. His varied mixes, including Pandemic Playlists and Music About Men, can be found on Spotify.

Bravely bring your curiosity to a conversation with Rob, schedule via voice or text @ 484.800.2203 or rhackman@4cconsulting.net.