Feb 21, 2021 – willowdot21

Hello everyone it’s Sunday and our gallant host for Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams, has given us the prompt Long/Short/Small/Tall . So let’s start with The Long journey home, written by Elvis Costello and Paddy Moloney. The version I have chosen is from the The Archmere Project performed at Joe Biden’s old school.

Long Journey Home (Anthem)
Written by Elvis Costello & Paddy Moloney
Performed by The Chieftains with The Irish Film Orchestra, Anúna & Elvis Costello
Produced by Paddy Moloney
Orchestra arranged & conducted by Fiachra Trench
Chorus arranged by Michael McGlynn
Musicians Elvis Costello – vocals
Paddy Moloney – tin whistle, uilleann pipes
Kevin Conneff – bodhrán
Derek Bell – harp
Matt Molloy – flute
Martin Fay – fiddle
Fiachra Trench – piano
Arty McGlynn – guitar
James Blennerhassett – double bass
Paddy Glackin – fiddle
Robbie Casserly – drums
The Irish Film Orchestra
Anúna – choir
Recorded 1997, Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin
Released January 13, 1998
Singles Long Journey Home, 1998 (full-length version & radio edit)
Collections The Chieftains: The Wide World Over: A 40 Year Celebration, 2002 (radio edit) –
The Chieftains: The Essential Chieftains, 2006 (full-length version)
Soundtracks Long Journey Home, 1998 (full-length version)
Various Artists collections Long Journey Home (sampler), 1998
Length 4:18 (full-length version)
3:20 (radio edit)

First known performance:
June 5, 1999, San Francisco,

lyrics

If on every ocean the ship is a throne
And for each mast cut down another sapling is grown
Then I could believe that I’m bound to find
A better life than I left behind But as you ascend the ladder
Look out below where you tread
For the colors bled as they overflowed
Red, white and blue
Green, white and gold So I had to leave from my country of birth
As for each child grown tall
Another lies in the earth
And for every rail we laid in the loam
There’s a thousand miles of the long journey home But as you ascend the ladder
Look out below where you tread
For the colors bled as they overflowed
Red, white and blue
Green, white and gold

Source: Musixmatch.

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Then came Short. I chose Life is too from the Scorpions . Scorpions are a German heavy metal band formed in 1965 in Hanover by Rudolf Schenker. Since the band’s inception, its musical style has ranged from hard rock to heavy metal. The lineup from 1979 to 1992 was the most successful incarnation of the group, and included Klaus Meine (vocals), Rudolf Schenker (rhythm guitar), Matthias Jabs (lead guitar), Francis Buchholz (bass), and Herman Rarebell (drums). The band’s only continuous member has been Schenker, although Meine has appeared on all of Scorpions’ studio albums, while Jabs has been a consistent member since 1979, and bassist Paweł Mąciwoda and drummer Mikkey Dee have been in the band since 2003 and 2016 respectively.

Life’s too Short is from their album Acoustica which was recorded during three concerts held in February 2001 at the Convento do Beato in Lisbon, Portugal. It was a most unusual set for the band, as Klaus Meine comments on the DVD. The group was supported by female backing vocalists, a percussionist, an extra guitarist, and Christian Kolonovits on keyboards. Kolonovits also collaborated on rearranging the songs for the acoustic set. He had previously worked with the band as a conductor and arranger on the Moment of Glory album.

Scorpions performed four new songs: “Life Is Too Short”, “Back to You”, “I Wanted to Cry” and “When Love Kills Love”, the last of which was released as a single. All the new songs were featured on the VHS, while “Back to You” and five others previously recorder songs were omitted from the CD.

Acoustica also contains cover versions of The Cars‘ “Drive”, Kansas‘ “Dust in the Wind”, and the Queen hit “Love of My Life”.

In 2003, an official ‘Platinum Edition’ was released by Warner Music Thailand, which coupled the original CD with a VCD. The VCD features behind-the-scenes and rehearsal footage as well as a band interview, conducted in English by a Thai television crew.

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Next up is Small and I chose Just a small town girl by journey.

Journey is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1973. At that time it was composed of former members of Santana, namely guitarist Neal Schon, who has remained with the band since its inception, and keyboardist Gregg Rolie, who served as primary lead vocalist for the band’s first three albums, and Frumious Bandersnatch, most notably bassist Ross Valory, who was with the band until 1985 and since 1995. In 1978, Steve Perry joined to serve as lead vocalist, and in 1980 Jonathan Cain replaced Rolie as keyboardist, and has remained a constant member since. The band’s strongest commercial success occurred between 1978 and 1987 at which time Perry departed.

The words “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” have served Jonathan Cain well in his lifetime. First, they were the words of encouragement he heard from his father, when the younger Cain wasn’t sure he’d make it as a musician in Hollywood.

Later, when he joined the ranks of Journey, it became the title and refrain of “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Released in 1981, it wasn’t the band’s biggest hit at first, but it’s gone on to become its signature, and one of the most popular rock songs of all time. Read more here.

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Next up and finally I am going for “Empire State Human” is a song by the British synthpop group The Human League. The song was written by Philip Oakey, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh. It was co-produced by The Human League and Colin Thurston, and recorded at Monumental Studios in Sheffield.^[2]

The Human League are an English synth-pop^[1] band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album Dare in 1981. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US number one hit “Don’t You Want Me.” The band received the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 1982. Further hits followed throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, including “Mirror Man,” “(Keep Feeling) Fascination,” “The Lebanon,” “Human” (a US No. 1) and “Tell Me When“.