Does this really belong among the satirical songs? It started out as an attempt to parody the depressing nature of so many, actually all, blues songs, but then that refrain came along, a fatuous and futile ray of hope and light in the midst of total melancholia. "Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows", as the man said.
The quotes in the song, in case you hadn't recognised them, are from Yeats and Dylan.
The lyrics below include some alternate and variant verses.
Well I wake up every
morning, you know it’s lonely in my bed
My eyes are red
from weeping, the blues are in my head
I’m aching from
the wounds and scars you get from Cupid’s dart
But then your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
(Well I woke up late this morning,with the blues inside my head
I couldn't find a razor blade, so I wrote this song instead
I'm vocally disabled and I've broken my guitar
But then your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart)
You’ve left me
like this many times your favours all withdrawn
Wrestling with the
angel from the dusk till early dawn
Now I’m gazing at
your double in the broken-marriage mart
When your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
(I've been lain low by this fever a hundred times before
I've been dragged and thrashed and beaten and left begging on the floor
I’m aching from
the wounds and scars you get from Cupid’s dart
But then your love comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart)
But then your love comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart)
My analyst retired
me and the pills don’t do no good
I’m smoking 7
packs a day, that’s 8 more than I should
I’ve tried the
whole damned menu, now I’m eating a la carte
When your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
I prayed to God
and worshiped girls, I even bought a yacht
But guilt and
bills and STD were all I ever got
I’ve been at home
for fourteen years, drinking in the dark
When your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
Now I’m looking
for the silver lining but all I see is clouds
My shoes are torn
and ragged, my clothes are black as shrouds
I’ve tried drugs
and yoga, gym and sex, what I need is a fresh start
And then your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
I’m turning and
I’m turning in an ever-widening gyre
Mere anarchy has
been set loose, I’m drowning in the mire
The centre cannot
hold for long before things fall apart
But then your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart.
Ah the music in
the distance is the sound of driving rain
That light beyond
the tunnel’s just a fast-approaching train
My suicidal
tendencies are truly state of art
But your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
Well I look down
on the needy ones with nothing left to eat
So many fat and
greedy ones who’ll rob and steal and cheat
If this is God's
Utopia, I tell you I don't want no part
But then your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
My landlord, he’s
a banker, has just put up the rents
His interest is
liberally pursued in ten per cents
Let’s drive him
from the Temple,
let’s rehearse the martial arts
But then your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
Now that’s such a
sorry sunset bleeding in the sky
Another day nearer
to death, it makes you want to cry
I’m gonna buy
myself a gravestone, and write my epitaph
But then your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
I’m worn out from
the struggle, I can’t take this much doubt
Where the angels
on the pin-head dance a crazy twist and shout
(I'm fat and bald and turning grey, my teeth are falling out)
Just one single
human moment, hell is that too much to ask?
And then your love
comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
Now I've read in Jeremiah that it's all just vanity
And selfishness and pointlessness and sheer futility
If this is human progress, why ever did we start?
But then your love comes to revive me and it heals my broken heart
Well I sing this
for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless
confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones and worse
And for every
prozacked person whose soul is torn and scarred
May love come to revive you, may it heal your broken heart
(Ah look out from your window in the early morning light
When the world is bathed in shadows that are breaking from the night
Put on some Leonard Cohen, take the cure of Art
May love come to revive you, may it heal your broken heart)
You can find David Prashker at:
If
you would like to include "Ultimate Blues" in your repertoire,
either for paid public performance or to record for commercial
purposes, or if you would like to re-use the recordings attached to this
blog-page for commercial purposes, contact
argaman@theargamanpress.com.
Use of this song, and/or these recordings, for
non-commercial purposes, is not simply permitted but invited.
Words and music by David Prashker
Copyright © 2014 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
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