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Post by Kathy on Jul 25, 2008 20:48:00 GMT -5
For this one, I listened to it on just one channel so that I could make out the lyrics since it gets tough where I indicated below because another song starts coming in through the other channel. I have to twirl pass this part of 49:00 on the iPod on the way to work in the morning otherwise, I'm afraid I will start crying.
When the morphine kicked in We watched our drowning man fight I took 2 hits myself And held his hand as he died Just between here and there I leaned and I whispered "Goodnight, sweet prince, if you're at all still there"
I whipped out my harp And blew the old man some "Taps" They said "Don't wake up Ma, she's been up since the day of the last rites, don't get her out of bed" I said "She's got to see her husband dead"
I stroked her hair And whispered in her ear "Daddy's gone" Then she walked And she knelt down And she prayed at the foot* of his bed
I found a bottle of brandy I fixed her one And I already had mine They slipped him in a body bag And then they put him in a hearse
Between here and there I whispered once in his ear "Goodnight, sweet prince, if you're still there" I never shed a tear and I, I've been trying for a year
Good night, I've been crying for a year "Goodnight, sweet prince" if you're still there" I leaned and I whispered in his ear
*is where another song starts playing intermittently in the other channel
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Post by TomT on Jul 26, 2008 5:53:33 GMT -5
Those are some pretty personal lyrics. I didn't get all that by listening to it because of the interuptions so thanks for doing this Kathy.
I understand the thing about him not being able to cry. He knew it was coming for a long time (*his Dad was sick). It's way different I'm sure to lose a parent like that where you know it's going to happen instead of a sudden unexpected death.
I'll just add how strange life can be sometimes. 9 years ago my wife's mother was at our house celebrating my birthday. The next day while sitting at her desk with her husband in the next room she fell off her chair from a heart attack and never was revived. She was 63. My wife still has a very tough time with this.
I haven't lost a parent yet am very apprehensive about it. It's unsettling.
Sorry to get personal. Paul's songs can really hit a nerve sometimes.
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Post by timtoast on Jul 26, 2008 9:45:52 GMT -5
I thought he says "I whipped out my heart", not harp. Anybody else hear that?
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Post by GtrPlyr on Jul 26, 2008 10:25:26 GMT -5
I thought he says "I whipped out my heart", not harp. Anybody else hear that? I hear harp. The "blew the old man some Taps" has me convinced that it can only be harp. Paul is a pretty good harp player so it makes sense. Harp = harmonica - just thought I'd add that in case it's not apparent .
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Post by kgp on Jul 26, 2008 11:45:54 GMT -5
Damn.
This is an incredibly difficult song to listen to, as raw and as honest as anything he's ever done. I love that "Outta My System" follows -- a song where he's basically telling us how he keeps it all inside.
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Post by wecantgetanybetter on Jul 29, 2008 0:34:51 GMT -5
I'm with you on this. Makes "23 Years Ago" seem like easy listening. It's the "if you're still there" part that gets me especially.
He tends to cast himself in a central role in songs re: his birth family's doings. For an aging rocker he seems like a very good son, or writes himself that part at least.
I'd vote for this as most improved song, over its earlier and perhaps necessary predecessor, A Star Is Bored.
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Post by BronxTeacher on Jul 29, 2008 21:22:25 GMT -5
This one really hits home with me as well. It's very painful for me to listen to, with some details that sound eerily like my own father's recent death. The morphine drip... the sensitivity towards mom... the inability to cry, part of which, I think, stems from the trauma of watching your dad die a slow, painful death combined with a certain amount of relief that he's now pain-free in eternal sleep...and then the guilt over being unable to cry.
The importance of the song is emphasized by its central placement in 49:00--it's song #9 of 17 (or #11 of 20, depending upon which unofficial track list you consult), and begins at 21:58, right smack in the middle of the album. I notice, too, that after it ends we hear the fragment, "Guess I'll be going there," and I'm thinking that by "there" he means death. Thus, to me the song is in one way about the awareness of one's own mortality, an idea that I find underscores several of the other songs that pertain to family, friends, life, and love.
Am I reading too much into it? Maybe.
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Post by TomT on Jul 30, 2008 6:14:58 GMT -5
No, I think you make a lot of sense or at least open up possibilities. I think it's one of Paul's best songs.
I'd just like to know why he made the conscious decision to smack another song right over it at certain points in the other channel. What is the motivation for doing that?
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Post by karenripington on Jul 30, 2008 9:13:48 GMT -5
I'd just like to know why he made the conscious decision to smack another song right over it at certain points in the other channel. What is the motivation for doing that? Maybe just an attempt to deflect some of the raw anguish or to distract the listener a bit from the searing pain in the song....I dunno?
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Post by FreeRider on Jul 30, 2008 10:02:00 GMT -5
I'd just like to know why he made the conscious decision to smack another song right over it at certain points in the other channel. What is the motivation for doing that? Maybe just an attempt to deflect some of the raw anguish or to distract the listener a bit from the searing pain in the song....I dunno? hmm, that's what I kind of thought---almost like it was a little embarrassing to be so openly honest that he wanted to draw attention away from some really personal moments.
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Post by FreeRider on Jul 30, 2008 10:10:08 GMT -5
This one really hits home with me as well. It's very painful for me to listen to, with some details that sound eerily like my own father's recent death. The morphine drip... the sensitivity towards mom... the inability to cry, part of which, I think, stems from the trauma of watching your dad die a slow, painful death combined with a certain amount of relief that he's now pain-free in eternal sleep...and then the guilt over being unable to cry.... ...Am I reading too much into it? Maybe. Yep, for any of us who've lost a parent in this fashion, it sure does bring back a flood of memories. Especially the morphine thing. Your interpretation is as valid as anyone else's....art means different things to different people. Only Paul knows what was meant but that shouldn't color our own reaction to the work and what it means to us.
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Post by kgp on Jul 30, 2008 10:20:34 GMT -5
Maybe just an attempt to deflect some of the raw anguish or to distract the listener a bit from the searing pain in the song....I dunno? hmm, that's what I kind of thought---almost like it was a little embarrassing to be so openly honest that he wanted to draw attention away from some really personal moments. Not to play message board psychologist, but the overlaps, the short "Guess I'll be going there (I hear "now," but whatever), and the next song in which he's telling us he "keeps it inside," I think the whole sequence is deliberate -- and brilliant.
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Post by FreeRider on Jul 30, 2008 11:05:05 GMT -5
Not to play message board psychologist, but the overlaps, the short "Guess I'll be going there (I hear "now," but whatever), and the next song in which he's telling us he "keeps it inside," I think the whole sequence is deliberate -- and brilliant. Oh absolutely, I think Paul was very conscious about the sequencing of the songs. This is no slap-dashed effort. I just sort of felt he bled that other song into "GSP" because it's also a really personally painful moment he's sharing with us and he wanted to blunt that raw emotion a little. And yes, it is indeed brilliant.
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Post by BronxTeacher on Jul 30, 2008 12:17:13 GMT -5
Has anyone made out the lyrics to the song that overlaps "Goodnight Sweet Prince?" I wonder if there's any connnection between the subject matter of the two songs.
I hear the repeated line, "his carpenter's hands," and as an English teacher my mind is immediately trained to link carpenters with Jesus.
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Post by ih8music on Jul 30, 2008 14:03:02 GMT -5
Has anyone made out the lyrics to the song that overlaps "Goodnight Sweet Prince?" I wonder if there's any connnection between the subject matter of the two songs. I hear the repeated line, "his carpenter's hands," and as an English teacher my mind is immediately trained to link carpenters with Jesus. This might help. I don't think anyone has fully deciphered the lyrics, but I also hear a "with his carpenter's hands" lyric in there. paulwesterberg.proboards107.com/index.cgi?board=generalpw&action=display&thread=6102&page=9#100781
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Post by mrblasty on Jul 30, 2008 15:43:15 GMT -5
Here's my best stab at the lyrics to the song that overlaps "Goodnight Sweet Prince"
it is a rough night my head hurt so deep Do me a favor don't fall asleep and when they woke the ________ ______ and the actor in the street he said rise then they rose and tried to hide by the stone a rat on a sinking ship they left him all alone
His character said magician you still mean ____________ and he's too excited his carpenter's hands he was born in a barn and he stood quiet with his carpenter's hands he was born in a barn and he stood like a man with his carpenter's hands he was born in a barn
The carpenter's hands, born in a barn, and tried to hide by the stone all point to Jesus. It may seem like this song was put in haphazardly, or to mask the pain of the lyrics of GSP, but (to me) this was a clever method of blending a song about his father's death, and his father's new life in heaven.
I also recently lost my dad. Sat holding his hand at his bedside as he took his last breath. This song is fascinating, and also painful to listen to.
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Post by BronxTeacher on Jul 30, 2008 20:44:07 GMT -5
The carpenter's hands, born in a barn, and tried to hide by the stone all point to Jesus. It may seem like this song was put in haphazardly, or to mask the pain of the lyrics of GSP, but (to me) this was a clever method of blending a song about his father's death, and his father's new life in heaven. That's an astute interpretation. And of course the "actor in the street" line refers to the song "Actor in the Street" on Suicaine, which in turn refers to Jesus ("they nailed him in the hands and feet," etc.).
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Post by Veets on Aug 1, 2008 10:20:37 GMT -5
Thanks for the transcription, Kathy. Picked up a few things that I didn't hear before. Here's one I hear different. Works either way, though. Great song, and probably another fine example of Paul's best on his first take, like he says...
I never shed a tear that night, I've been crying for a year
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Post by wecantgetanybetter on Aug 17, 2008 17:44:06 GMT -5
To me this is 49's "23 Years Ago" and probably more wrenching if it didnt have a big dollop of other song on top of it. The lyric moment that grabs me is "Goodnight sweet prince, if you're still there." Somehow that seems like a possible answer to the question posed long ago to another person who may or may not be there ... "How do you say good night to ... an answering machine?"
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Post by pm on Aug 19, 2008 14:42:12 GMT -5
I always get choked up on this line: "Don't wake up Ma, she's been up since the day of the last rites ..."
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