Post four lines of perfect lyrics from first verse

[anonymous-user]

Pupp said:

Says Red Molly, to James, "Well that's a fine motorbike.
A girl could feel special on any such like."
Says James, to Red Molly, "My hat's off to you.
It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952.

Such a great song

[Chimune]

The Mystery Man came over
An' he said: "I'm outa-site!".
He said, for a nominal service charge,
I could reach nirvana t'nite.

[Chimune]

High and dry in the long hot day.
Lost and lonely every way.
Got the flats all around me, sky up above.
Yes I need a little water of love.

[Pupp]

swiveleyedgit said:

Pupp said:

Says Red Molly, to James, "Well that's a fine motorbike.
A girl could feel special on any such like."
Says James, to Red Molly, "My hat's off to you.
It's a Vincent Black Lightning, 1952.

Such a great song

Indeed. There are any number of hugely evocative songs with a narrative to compete with but, for my money, this is amongst the very finest. Unfailingly raises goosebumps. Cannot recommend enough...

[grumbledoak]

Slightly cheating, picking some from the middle, but...

Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

[Pupp]

Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic till I'm gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Dance me to the end of love

[james-witton]

Steve walks warily down the street
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet,
Machine guns ready to go

[RowntreesCabana]

In france a skinny man
Died of a big disease with a little name
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle
And soon she did the same

[Frank7]

You don’t bring me flowers,
You don’t sing me love songs,
You hardly talk to me anymore,
When I come through the door at the end of the day.

[Camoradi]

I left by the back door
With my wife's lover's smoking gun
I don't know what I was hoping for
I hit the road at a run

[Police State]

One of Mr Cohens' finest openers

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

[Johnny Raydome]

I love the tone that's in your laugh,
Gasping for an extra breath, waiting for the time to pass.
I believe in days ahead,
Don't spend another night alone, cross and wishing you were dead.

[underwhelmist]

Yeah, everybody's got a thing
But some don't know how to handle it
Always reaching out in vain
Just taking the things not worth having but

Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing. A Certain Ratio’s version is my favourite.

[dandarez]

Gargamel said:

Convert said:

Tweeter and the Monkey Man were hard up for cash
They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash
To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan
For reasons unexplained she loved the Monkey Man.

Goodness, I haven't heard that for ages... Travelling Wilburys wasn't it ? Back when supergroups were a thing.

Slightly less catchy than Handle me with care...

Rumour (or more than rumour) has it that Bob wrote it with Petty, tossing lines at each other. Petty said Bob (they were both good friends right up to the end) would say something and Petty would throw in a line. He (Bob) would go 'Tweeter and the monkey man were hard up for cash' and Tom would be like 'They stayed up all night sellin' cocaine and hash' then Bob would have a go at the next. It's also said that the other members each had a go at a line or more.
What's the record about? Again rumour, or more than rumour, has it that it's about Springsteen. Don Smith (Wilbury's engineer) said when the album was released Springsteen rang Tom Petty and said 'Why did you do that to me?'

TP&TH started playing the song themselves in later years - they'd regularly have played 'Handle With Care' and 'End of the Line' until one gig - 'are we going to do a Wilbury's song tonight said one? Tom said 'Let's do Tweeter and the Monkey Man'. He played the chorus to Mike Campbell to remember how it went. It all came back to Mike and the band started playing it at gigs.
Here's them doing it 'live' in 2013, if you have nearly 9 mins to spare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luQRTc-1dRM


edit to add
IF you are lucky enough to have the 2009 Genesis Publications collector issue of 'The Traveling Wilbury's signed by Jeff Lynne (only 350 produced) last year's asking prices were well into 4 figures!

Edited by dandarez on Sunday 17th February 22:07

[biggbn]

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime,
Didn't you?

[thismonkeyhere]

I went home with a waitress,
the way I always do.
How was I to know,
she was with the Russians too?