You've got to hide your love away

Words and music by
JOHN LENNON AND PAUL McCARTNEY
Performed by THE BEATLES (1965)

John Lennon wrote this for the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein after he showed up bruised, having been beaten up by gay-bashers in London over the weekend. Perhaps it was also an apology for his having reduced Epstein to tears by calling him a "gay Jewboy".

Here I stand head in hand
Turn my face to the wall
If she's gone I can't go on
Feeling two foot small
Everywhere people stare
each and every day
I can see them laugh at me
And I hear them say

Hey you've got to hide your love away
Hey you've got to hide your love away

How can I even try?
I can never win
Hearing them, seeing them
In the state I'm in
How could she say to me
"Love will find a way?"
Gather round all you clowns
Let me hear you say

Hey you've got to hide your love away
Hey you've got to hide your love away

i treni di tozeur

WORDS and music by FRANCO BATTIATO,
ROSARIO COSENTINO and GIUSTO PIO
Performed by ALICE E BATTIATO

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This was the Italian entry for the 1984 Eurovision Song contest and, in my opinion, is one of the finest pop songs ever written. The lyrics are redolent of another time and another place - Tozeur is an oasis in the Tunisian Sahara. Lyrics from Mozart's The Magic Flute also turn up. Italian lyrics are below, English underneath.

Nei villaggi di frontiera guardano passar' i treni
le strade deserte di Tozeur
da una casa lontana tua madre mi vede
si ricorda di me delle mie abitudini.

E per un istante ritorna la voglia di vivere
a un'altra velocità
passano ancora lenti i treni per Tozeur.

Nelle chiese abbandonate si preparano rifugi
e nuove astronavi per viaggi interstellari
in una vecchia miniera distese di sale
si ricordo di me come un incantesimo

E per un istante ritorna la voglia di vivere
a un'altra velocità
passano ancora lenti i treni per Tozeur.


Nei villaggi di frontiera guardano passar'
i treni per Tozeur.



Translation:



In the villages on the border they watch
trains pass the deserted streets of Tozeur.
From a faraway house your mother watches me,
or so I remember, as I'm prone to doing

And for a moment the wish
to live at another speed returns -
he trains still pass slowly through Tozeur.

In abandoned churches,
There hideaways, and spacecraft for interstellar journeys
In an old mine bloated with salt
Or so I remember, as if I was under a spell.

And for a moment the wish
to live at another speed returns -
the trains still pass slowly through Tozeur.

In the villages on the border
They watch the trains for Tozeur.

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When a child is born

Words by Fred Jay
Music by Ciro Dammico
Released as a Johnny Mathis single in 1976
and by various other artists

Back to Tales from a Draughty Old Fen

A ray of hope flickers in the sky
A tiny star lights up way up high
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

A silent wish sails the seven seas
The winds of change whisper in the trees
And the walls of doubt crumble, tossed and torn
This comes to pass when a child is born

A rosy hue settles all around
You've got the feel you're on solid ground
For a spell or two, no-one seems forlorn
This comes to pass when a child is born

And all of this happens because the world is waiting
Waiting for one child
Black, white, yellow, no-one knows
But a child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter
Hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone's neighbour
And misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten, forever

It's all a dream, an illusion now
It must come true, sometime soon somehow
All across the land, dawns a brand new morn
This comes to pass when a child is born

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I believe in Father Christmas

Words by Greg Lake
Music by Peter Sinfield
Released as a single in 1974
and various times afterwards

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They said therell be snow at christmas
They said therell be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin's birth
I remember one christmas morning
A winters light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire

They sold me a dream of christmas
They sold me a silent night
And they told me a fairy story
till I believed in the israelite
And I believed in father christmas
And I looked at the sky with excited eyes
till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

I wish you a hopeful christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said therell be snow at christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
Hallelujah noel be it heaven or hell
The christmas we get we deserve

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Christmas song

Words and Music by Gilbert O' Sullivan
From the Album GReatest Hits (1976)
Also released as a single in 1974 and 1978

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I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas
I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas
All I'm dreaming of the whole day long
Is a peaceful world

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year
To those of you who live in fear
And let us hope that very soon
The peace you seek will then resume

I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas
I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas
All I'm dreaming of the whole day long
Is a peaceful peaceful world

(I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas
I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas
All I'm dreaming of the whole day long
Is a peaceful world)

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year
To those of you who live in fear
And let us hope that very soon
The peace you seek will then resume

I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas
I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas
All I'm dreaming of the whole day long
Is a peaceful peaceful world

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The hungry years

Words by HOWARD GREENFIELD
Music by NEIL SEDAKA
From the album THE HUNGRY YEARS (1975)

I don't think anybody's enjoying the recession, but headmistress and chainrman of the Girls' Schools' Association says it may help us rediscover the value of more traditional values that sectors of society have lost sight of. Certainly this song always meant a lot to my mother, when thinking of days that were poorer in terms of money only.

Girl we made it to the top
We went so high we couldn't stop
We climbed the ladder leading us nowhere
Two of us together
building castles in the air
We spun so fast we couldn't tell
the gold ring from the carousel
How could we know the right would turnout bad
Everything we wanted,
was everything we had

I miss the Hungry Years
The once upon a time
The lovely long ago
We didn't have a dime
Those days of me and you,
We lost along the way
How could I be so blind,
not to see the door
closing on the World
I now hunger for
Looking through my tears,
I miss the Hungry years

We shared our day dreams one by one
Making plans was so much fun
We set our goals and reached the highest star
Things that we were after
were much better from afar
Here we stand just me and you
with everything and nothing too
It wasn't worth the price we had to pay
Honey take me home
Let's go back to yesterday

I miss the Hungry Years
The once upon a time
The lovely long ago
We didn't have a dime
Those days of me and you,
We lost along the way
How could I be so blind,
not to see the door,
closing on the World
I now hunger for
Looking through my tears,
I miss the Hungry years
I miss the Hungry Years
I miss the Hungry Years

Different worlds

Words and music by TONY CLARKIN
From the MAGNUM album
WINGS OF HEAVEN (1988)

When the Wings of Heaven album was released, I read an interview with the group's songwriter, Tony Clarkin. He spoke about the inspiration for this song - he was on holiday in France, sitting outside a rather posh café, and across the road prostitutes were awaiting their clientèle. I was living in Glasgow, Scotland, at the time; a city that had ostensibly went through a wonderful transformation but at dark (I knew as an addictions worker) went back to the bad old ways of cities worldwide.

On narrow streets
Old men lie
In the doorway sleeping
While working girls
Comb their hair
See the young men peeping

Different worlds
Only a walk across the street
Different worlds
You never know what you might meet

No satin sheets on your bed tonight
How you feeling
While running feet always disappear
From sirens screaming

Different worlds
Only a walk across the street
Different worlds
You never know what you might meet

Some of us take what we want
Some of us take what we need
Some of us break
Some of us bleed

Where velvet gloves and your diamond rings
Lose their meanings
For those who we love if they realy care
Keep on dreaming
Dream on

Different worlds
Only a walk across the street
Different worlds
You never know what you might meet

Some of us take what we want
Some of us take what we need
Some of us break
Some of us bleed