Song of the Day Catch-Up

Well then Pete. I guess I'll have to do a few songs to make up for my time away from the computer  :P

Today's song has been inspired by a study avoidance prompted SeaChange marathon... classic show :)

So today it's Colin Hay's 'Death Row Conversation'

You can have a free listen at www.last.fm/music/Colin+Hay/_/Death+Row+Conversation

A moment of your time now
As mine is closing in on me
A simple farewell rhyme to
Anyone who hears me

I have walked in shadows
I have walked in blindness
My life now lies behind me
I have only one tomorrow

My name is Jake
I have made more than one mistake
Where I lost all sense of good reason
Now my time has come
There's nowhere I can run
Oh Lord, please give me courage

The Sister she's my saviour
She's my one and only friend
I know I do so love her
She says that she will miss me

Tomorrow they will burn me
They say that it will cause no pain
But what greatly concerns me
Is who of them would really know

Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
With one more setting sun
And dinner just for one
Oh Lord, please give me courage

And as the night grows darker
My fear it now surrounds me
I wish I could be stronger
Oh Sister can you hear me

Take this wretched soul
Try to make it whole
It's true I have been a sinner
I know I've done wrong
And all I have is this song
Oh Lord, please give me courage

Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Now my time has come
There's nowhere I can run
Oh Lord, please give me courage

A little sad, but it's a song that seems to really strike something within me when I listen to it, maybe it's just the combination of Colin's voice, a voice that seems to have lived a lot, and the basic guitar accompaniment. Anyway, I like it, so have a listen and let me know what YOU think.

The second song, is from the AWESOME Fred Smith, called 'You And Me'

Written about when he was in Bougainville, it really reminded me what a personal sacrifice he made going over as a civilian to do his part in restoring peace, and that while his is a great story about the power of song to communicate, that it wasn't all happy happy joy joy campfire singing. Anyway, beautiful song, fascinating man.

Young people these days burn their CDs

They're dropping their 'H's, dropping their 'E's

They don't go up drinking in proper bars

And are deeply suspicious of men with guitars

So I took this job, that's what I did

There's gotta be a better way of making a quid

Than playing the pub circuit and selling CDs

Full of songs about you and songs about me

See the sun come on the Buka Passage

Could be six weeks 'til you get this message

I spent last night drinking with Tor

Down at the Kuri Village Resort

Remind me never to drink with Norwegians

It causes the boys to doubt my allegiance

I tell it's better than drinking with Swedes

And thinking about you and thinking about me

The wash-wash Marys are sweeping the floor

A flak jacket hangs from a nail on the door

As the years go by the problems here grow

But the milk of kindness still seems to flow

And it's there in their laughter, there in their eyes

Even the killers here are nice guys

There's a grace and a softness that sets me at ease

So far from you and so far from me

Like I wrote in the Cit-Rep I've got a hunch

That the Deputy Governor has gone out to lunch

And he won't be back 'til June or July

Someone saw him setting off for Hawaii

In a boat with his guards and his number two Mary

I tell you that bloke, he's worse than Wayne Carey

He oughta no better at sixty three

Better than you and better than me

Out on a Sunday under coloured umbrellas

The girls with the girls, the men with the fellas

Shirts and collars and frocks and sarongs

And everyone's out in their best pair of thongs

Down to House Lotu they walk hand in hand

To pray to a God that was brought to their land

God is hope, and hope is free

I'm hoping that you are still hoping for me

Well the Colonel got busted and Jim's been sick

I had to ask William to stop being a prick

It happens each day 'round a quarter to three

Like a gentleman's version of PMT

Some nights I work through 'til after twelve

See your photograph blu-tacked to the plywood shelf

Slip under my mosquito net and drift out to sea

Dreaming of you and dreaming of me

Well I heard that Ted's finally fixed up the Bedford

While I'm out here pretending to be Robert Redford

And all my friends getting on with their lives

Raising a family and keeping a wife

I know life's never a walk in the park

And we live as we dream, alone in the dark

But right now I could use your company

Send this letter with love, to you from me

(some of the words are guesses, I apologise for any mistakes)

Check it out at http://www.last.fm/music/Fred+Smith/_/You+And+Me

My last song is 'Song of Peace', as sung by David LaMotte

This is my song oh God of all the nations
A song of peace for lands afar and mine
This is my home, the country where my heart is
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight too and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine
This is my song oh God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine 

Just a short one, reflects how I'm feeling at the moment about some world events

Dave's done some amazing work for peace and towards a better world, so I applaud him (plus he's genuinely a nice guy)

Not sure where you can listen to it, but on itunes there's a short clip