Old Verse of the Moment: Chumbawamba, "I Want More!"

It’s been down there for most of the summer, and I finally felt like getting a new one.

But here’s the old one, saved for posterity.

Chumbawumba, “I Want More!”

This is Tearoom England
They’ll kick your face in
Oh so nicely

I want more!
–No hurry
More!
–So sorry
I want more!
–Don’t worry
More!

I want more!
–No hurry
More!
–So sorry
I want more!
–Don’t worry
More!

Sung as a counterpoint, that is, the “More” from one singer and the “–” parts from another.  This gives the impression of some sort of argument, where one side is demanding more and the other is trying to placate them. 

I can look at this song as the current leaders and their ilk calling us to give in just a little bit more.  See Lawdog’s cake story, at the bottom of the link.  They are doing it for our own good, don’t you know!  …Tyranny with a smile.

I prefer to look at it as a cry to arms.  I want more.  I want my rights to be supported.  I want my government to be able to add and subtract.  I want my power back from the endless acronymed bureaucracies that are trying to regulate the minutia of our lives. 

It’s weird, the thoughts that a british Anarcho-Punk band can get me thinking.

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Old Verse of the Moment

I thought it was about time to update my “Verse of the Moment” sidebar. The Chumbawumba got me off on something. Be sure to scroll down to read the new one.  Here’s the old one.

Come ride with me
Through the veins of history
I’ll show you a god who falls asleep on the job
How can we win, when fools can be kings?
Don’t waste your time or time will waste you

No one’s gonna take me alive
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive

Muse, “Knights of Cydonia”

And the video, which is freekin awesome:

No more compromises!

Old Verse of the Moment: Once to Every Man and Nation

Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.

Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses while the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.

By the light of burning martyrs, Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calv’ries ever with the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.

Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.

–James R. Lowell, in 1845 to protest the war with Mexico. Music later added to become the hymn known as “Once to Every Man and Nation.”

Old Verse of the Moment: The Kinks

 I’m going to put up a new one on the sidebar, so this one gets it’s own post to be saved for posterity!

…

Now another century nearly gone,
What are we gonna leave for the young?
What we couldn’t do, what we wouldn’t do,
It’s a crime, but does it matter?
Does it matter much, does it matter much to you?
Does it ever really matter?
Yes, it really, really matters.

Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?
Living on a thin line,
Tell me now, what are we supposed to do?

Now another leader says
Break their hearts and break some heads.
Is there nothing we can say or do?
Blame the future on the past,
Always lost in blood and guts.
And when they’re gone, it’s me and you.

…

–Living on a Thin Line, The Kinks

Old Verse of the Moment: Snow

On the list of things that I want to try to keep track of are verses of poems, song lyrics, psalms, etc. that strike me.  I’ll keep the newest one on the side bar over there, and then put the old one in a blog post with it’s own label so they are easily track-able.  So here is the first one, from Archibald Lampman’s poem, “Snow”

The evening deepens, and the gray
Folds closer earth and sky;
The world seems shrouded far away;
Its noises sleep, and I,
As secret as yon buried stream,
Plod dumbly on, and dream.

I like this one because I like to take long, slow hikes where I basically do what the poem describes.

By the way, is the title of this one an oxymoron?