I knew a man without a name,
I met him on the street,
He handed me a business card,
And offered me a seat.
Said he'd led a different life,
A hundred years ago,
He could tell me stories,
'Bout things I didn't know.
I told him I was listening,
Said I was mostly ears,
The spinning world is dizzying me,
I've got so many fears.
He told me all that mattered,
In all the years he's seen.
Was people telling stories,
Singing songs they sing.
They used to sing of love,
In a better time.
They used to sing of broken hearts,
As if it was a crime.
Now they sing of peace,
Cause times have got so bad.
And love's a distant memory,
Like good times that we had.
One kind will tell you how to hate,
Others who to blame.
Others show you who to fear,
Said the man without a name.
A man don't need very much,
He said with a wry smile,
Someone to tell his stories,
And sit with him a while.
2 comments:
This one draws you in (it's always interesting when some "man without a name" wants to tell you something ... kind of like the Rime of the Ancient Mariner)... but I'm not sure I agree with the thesis. While it may be true that they used to sing about love, they also used to sing about peace ("All we are saying ..."). Who sings about peace now? Am I tuned in to the wrong radio station? Should I be revising my spotify playlist?
I hear you. Should’ve written now they chant for war. Probably truer. I had in mind that when times are good we can think about our emotional machinations, games of love etc. When times are bad, the outside conditions do not allow it, the world infringes on our private emotional concerns, and all we want are the basics. But ultimately it always comes down to basic human contact and exchange. Whether we’re talking about the big public things or the intimate private things. But you’re absolutely right to observe that there seems to be a disturbing dearth of peace songs in these troubled times. I wonder what that says about us? Have we lost hope? Have we been conditioned to accept strife as ‘normal’?
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