Almanac Music: ‘To Her Door’ – Songs Involving Doors
Blick aus dem Entrée einer herrschaftlichen Villa in den Garten, by Henrik Nordenburg, oil on canvas, c.1900. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: ‘To Her Door’ – Songs Involving Doors
Hi, Almanackers! This piece in my long-running series about key popular song themes concerns songs involving doors. By this, I mean songs involving words like door, doors, portal and closely related words which mean basically the same thing. Whatever the case, the notion of a door has to be clearly present.
So, dear readers, please put your relevant ‘doors’ songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get the ball rolling.
‘Keep A-Knockin’’, written by Richard Penniman, performed by Little Richard (1957)
‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’, written by Bob Dylan, performed by Linda Ronstadt (1969)
‘Close your eyes, close the door’
‘The Long and Winding Road’, credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney – actually written solely by McCartney, performed by the Beatles (1970)
‘The long and winding road / that leads to your door’
‘Lola’, written by Ray Davies, performed by the Kinks (1970)
‘I pushed her away / I walked to the door’
‘Hot Legs’, written by Rod Stewart and Gary Grainger, performed by Rod Stewart (1977)
‘Who’s that knocking on my door?’
‘Green Door’, written by Bob Davie and Marvin Moore , performed by Shakin’ Stevens (1981)
‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’, written by Neil Finn, performed by Crowded House (1986)
‘and I’m counting the steps to the door of your heart’
‘To Her Door’, written by Paul Kelly, performed by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls (1987)
…………………………………………………………………
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) involving doors, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a solid general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
‘Paint It Black’ – Rolling Stones comes immediately to mind
Thanks, Col, for opening the batting in terms of this ‘doors’ theme. You picked a fine song to get things going.
Here’s a few from me KD
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Dylan
Space Oddity – Bowie
Out That Door – Hoodoo Gurus
You Should Never Have Opened That Door – Ramones
Knock Knock Who’s There – Liv Maessen
Close To Me – The Cure
Don’t Open The Door to Strangers – Church
No Reply – Beatles
When I’m Sixty Four – Beatles
Let ‘Em In – McCartney
I Hear You Knockin’ – Smiley Lewis
Eleanor Rigby – Beatles
Driving In My Car – Madness
Embarrassment – Madness
No Reply – Buzzcocks
If There Is Something – Roxy Music
Welcome back KD
I’ll kick off my offerings with:
CCR – (Do Do Dooo) Looking Out My Back Door
Thanks, Swish, for being one of the openers – with a fine bunch of songs. To select just one (perhaps an unexpected one) for comment: ‘Knock Knock Who’s There?’ by Liv Marsden. Her throaty contralto rendition of this number was part of the soundtrack of my childhood – the song was released on the Fable label, from memory.
This terrific song by Archie Roach, ‘Walking into Doors’ (1993) https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=bumping+into+doors+song&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:3975c2be,vid:YicAAbx757U,st:0
Thank you, Karl, for the ‘Welcome Back’, and for kicking off with CCR’s door theme classic.
Thanks, Julian, for Archie’s powerful ‘Walking into Doors ‘.
Screen door slams, Mary dress sways or waves, Bruce, from Thunder Road
Neil Young – Needle & The Damage Done
‘I caught you knockin’ at my cellar door
I love you, baby, can I have some more?
Ooh, ooh, the damage done’
Oh yeah, Liv Maessen’s ‘Knock Knock Who’s There’ was also a favourite of mine, back in the day! It was the first song to come to mind when I read the ‘door’ theme, only to find that Swish had beat me to ‘the punch’.
I also liked his entry of ‘Let ‘Em In’ – which was a decent ‘ear worm’ in ’76.
Josh Pyke’s poetic call to arms, The Lighthouse Song.
So we are moving to a lighthouse, you and I
While seas drown sailors, we’ll be locked up safe and dry
And though our doors may knock and rattle in the wind
I’ll just hold you tight and we’ll not let those fuckers in.
I’m especially curious as to how many references there’ll be to screen doors!
Thanks, Rick, for kicking off with some Bruce – almost invariably a fine thing.
Thank you, Karl, for ‘The Needle & The Damage Done’.
And I never thought I’d read references to Maessen and McCartney so close together – i.e. within a few sentences!
Screen doors MR, what about the back door!
Back Door Man, Howlin Wolf
El Paso, Marty Robbins
Whole Lotta Love, LZ
La Porte En Arrière (The Back Door), D.L. Menard, the Cajun Hank Williams
Thanks, Mickey, for your highly fitting inclusion of Pyke’s ‘The Lighthouse Song’, which I recall you’ve mentioned in connection to one of our past music themes in this series.
When I think of songs containing references to screen doors specifically, I always think of Joni’s ‘Big Yellow Taxi’.
Thank you, Rick, for your latest four songs. Coincidentally, I was just looking at the (French, of course) lyrics of ‘La Porte En Arrière’, a song I know via the fine version by Kate and Anna McGarrigle on their 1998 album The McGarrigle Hour.
Interesting theme, Kevin. And a great painting to illustrate it. Here are a few more tunes:
Dog Door – Tom Waits
“She got you coming through the dog door”
And ‘What’s He Building,’ also Tom Waits:
“Now what’s that sound from underneath the door?/He’s pounding nails into a hardwood floor”
After Hours – Velvet Underground
“If you close the door / The night could last forever / Leave the sunshine out / And say hello to never”
Round the Bend – Graham Brazier (NZ)
“It’s Saturday again/And where are you my friend/You come walking through my door/About this time each weekend”
Vermilion – Hello Sailor (NZ)
“Wolf is at the door/Before we leave there’ll be a dozen more”
Aches in Whisper – Verlaines (NZ)
“Don’t open the door, don’t open the door to your heart/She won’t let him go no matter how far gone you are”
Jail Guitar Doors – The Clash
“Clang, clang go the jail guitar doors”
Guns of Brixton – The Clash
“When they kick at your front door/How you gonna come?/With your hands on your head/Or on the trigger of your gun”
Keys to Your Heart – The 101ers
“When the doors come apart part/We’ll never be the same same, alright”
Back Door Love – Graham Parker
“It’s just a back door love/Back door loving let nobody shut it out”
Banging on the Door – Simple Minds
“Banging on the door again/Banging on the door that’s locked forever”
Suffer – Waterboys
“I’m gonna write you out of my life/And shut the door”
Saturday Night Stay at Home – Suburban Reptiles (NZ)
“Crept out of the window/‘Cause you couldn’t use the door/Got no expectations/‘Cause I just adore her/Dressed up for the occasion/‘Cept for the clothes she wore/More like a Betty Grable/Than the girl next door”
I Shoulda – Celibate Rifles
“I shoulda been a contender/I shoulda followed the rules/I shoulda married the girl next door/I shoulda not been a fool”
And of course there’s a whole album by Nick Cave’s early band Boys Next Door called ‘Door, Door.’ Includes ‘The Voice:
“I feel a spy he’s in my house/I see his prints upon my door.”
Finally, Lou Reed uses the door as a major symbol in his ‘Magic & Loss” A Summation’:
“When the past makes you laugh and you can savour the magic
That let you survive your own war
You find that that fire is passion
And there’s a door up ahead, not a wall
“As you pass through fire, as you pass through fire
Trying to remember its name
When you pass through fire licking at your lips
You cannot remain the same
“And if the building’s burning, move towards that door
But don’t put the flames out
There’s a bit of magic in everything
And then some loss to even things out”
The Door – Cold Chisel
Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye) – Cold Chisel
“Open up the door Astrid, cause I’m comin’ down the stairs”
Gimme Three Steps – Lynyrd Skynyrd
“Oh, won’t you Gimme three steps, gimme three steps, mister
Gimme three steps towards the door?
Gimme three steps, gimme three steps, mister
And you’ll never see me no more”
Since I’ve Been Loving You – Led Zeppelin
“I open my front door, I hear my back door slam”
So pleased you find this theme an interesting one, Peter. And wow, what an impressive array of material you’ve put forward (including your usual healthy number of NZ songs) to back that up.
Another thing: I was really chuffed that you indicated how much you liked the painting that accompanied this theme – one of my favourite parts of doing these music theme pieces is choosing an appropriate and aesthetically pleasing image.
Thanks, Greg, for your fine quartet of selections. To select a couple for particular comment, I especially loved the Cold Chisel rockers.
Alone With You – Sunnyboys
Let You Go – Sunnyboys
Just three song for the moment. More tomorrow.
Knock on the Door – Phil Ochs
“In many a time, in many a land
With many a gun in many a hand
They came by the night, they came by the day
Came with their guns to take us away
With a knock on the door, knock on the door
Here they come to take one more, one more”
Don’t You Love Her Madly – The Doors
“… Don’t ya love her madly?
Don’t ya need her badly?
Don’t ya love her ways?
Tell me what you say
… Don’t ya love her madly?
Wanna be her daddy?
Don’t ya love her face?
Don’t ya love her as she’s walkin’ out the door?
Like she did one thousand times before
… Don’t ya love her ways?
Tell me what you say?
Don’t ya love her as she’s walkin’ out the door?”
(The Doors – singing a song which mentions a door)
Lonely Girls – Ian and Sylvia
“Light there is golden in the evenin’
Blue shadows forty feet and more
When night comes rushin’ fast ‘cross the flatland you’ll see
Lonely girls linger by the door
Lonely girls linger by the door”
Thanks for the two Sunnyboys numbers, Swish. If you could look up the term ‘Oz Pub Rock circa 1980’, Sunnyboys would certainly be on the list of examples in the definition.
Thank you for your initial three, Dave. I particularly enjoyed the song involving a door by The Doors!
Well done Peter C, you beat me with the Clash tracks., so what about?
“But here I am a knockin’ on her door, My cars out front and it’s all mine, Just a forty-one ford, not a fifty nine”.
Eddie Cochran’s Something Else.
A few decades later Brian Setzer sang ” Throw your clothes into a duffel bag Shouting and slam the door At home it’s a drag” in Stray Cats first single Runaway Boys.
Now where does the classic When You Walk In The Room sit here? True there’s no specific mention of doors but what you else to enter through When You Walk In The Room? Just saying.
Glen!.
” I changed the lock on my front door,
so you can’t see me anymore”.
Lucinda Williams 1988 tune, Changed The Locks.
Glen!
How about a little bit of Eddie Hodges (1961) – I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door
And a whole lot of The Proclaimers – 500 Miles
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door!
Bob’s coming………very soon!
Some Merle Haggard. The first two songs in this list of five are in Merle’s best songs. The third is a lesser known Merle song but have a listen and it’ll knock yer socks off. Merle left school at 12 or 13, was behind bars by the time he was 20 and somehow, by the age of 25 to 30, he had inveigled his way into the country music business, formed a friendship with Buck Owens and was writing and recording songs with such philosophical heft Dylan was paying attention. The fourth song is a bit of whacky fun, with a bit of a sting and the last song sees Merle in a post modern reflective mood.
Swinging Doors (And I’ve got swinging doors, a jukebox, and a barstool/And my new home has a flashing neon sign/Stop by and see me anytime you want to/’Cause I’m always here at home till closing time)
Running Kind (I was born the running kind/With leaving always on my mind/Home was never home to me at any time/Every front door found me hoping/I would find the back door open/There just had to be an exit for the running kind)
Somewhere Between (I love you so much I can’t let you go/And sometimes I believe you love me/But somewhere between your heart and mine/There’s a door without any key)
Rainbow Stew (You don’t have to get high to be happy/Just think about what’s in store/When people start doing what they oughta to be doing/They won’t be booing no more/When a president goes through the white house doors/And does what he says he’ll do)
Someone Told My Story (The writer must have seen the way you done me/For he told it all and never missed a line/He told of swinging doors and the jukebox/And he even knew I almost lost my mind)
Thanks, Glen, for your input. In particular, I have fond memories of ‘Runaway Boys’ around the time of its release.
I think ‘When You Walk In The Room’ is stretching things a bit.
Thank you for the Hodges and The Proclaimers numbers, Karl – two excellent songs.
And I think I see a smallish young man with an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder just coming around the corner…
Great to get a good dose of ol’ Merle, Rick. Thanks so much for the songs, quotations, biographical facts and the personal opinions.
Go on, go, walk out the door
Turn around now
You’re not welcome anymore
I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor
On the thirty-first floor a gold plated door
Won’t keep out the Lord’s burning rain
Sin City, Flying Burrito Brothers
Easy on your own: Australian Crawl
Oh no not you again: Australian Crawl
Grinning bellhops: Australian Crawl
Newlyweds in the morning: Australian Crawl
Help: Beatles
Out of my mind: Buffalo Springfield
Broken arrow: Buffalo Springfield
Go and say goodbye: Buffalo Springfield
Everybody’s been burned: The Byrds
I come and stand at every door: The Byrds
You are alive: Crosby Stills and Nash
Leave a light on: Belinda Carlisle
Live your life be free: Belinda Carlisle
Where love hides: Belinda Carlisle
You’re nothing without me: Belinda Carlisle
Feels like I’ve known you forever: Belinda Carlisle
Into temptation: Crowded House
Thinking: Roger Daltrey
The diary of Horace Wimp: Electric Light Orchestra
Poker: Electric Light Orchestra
Shangri-La: Electric Light Orchestra
Hanging on a notion: Fleming and John
Someone knocking: Idle Race
Going home: Idle Race
Please no more sad songs: Idle Race
Days of the broken arrows: Idle Race
Lucky man: Idle Race
An innocent man: Billy Joel
You’ve got a friend: Carole King (also James Taylor)
Tin legs and tin mines: Midnight Oil
State of the heart: Mondo Rock
Our time: Mondo Rock
Question: Moody Blues
The land of make believe: Moody Blues
Open up said the world at the door: The Move
Cars: Gary Numan
Are ‘friends’ electric?: Gary Numan
Love needs no disguise: Gary Numan
Listening: Pseudo Echo
I want to break free: Queen
Black and blue world: James Reyne
Slave: James Reyne
Design for living: James Reyne
Stood up: James Reyne
Another door: Carly Simon
Walking down a road: Split Enz
My old school: Steely Dan
Wild wild life: Talking Heads
I don’t even know myself: The Who
Welcome: The Who
I wish it could be Christmas every day: Wizzard
Wake up: Roy Wood
The rain came down on everything: Roy Wood
Yes, Peter C, good The Clash calls, including Joe’s old band The 101s, noice. But cheer up Glen, there’s plenty more The Clash calls, like these (psst, first song up is close to my fave Clash song, besides White Man in HP, Bankrobber and London Calling. Here they are:
The Card Cheat (He only wanted more time/Away from the darkest door/But his luck it gave in/As the dawn light crept in/And he lay on the floor)
Koka Kola (Comin’ through the door is a snub nose forty four/The barrel can’t snort, it can spatter on the floor/Your eyeballs feel like pinballs/And your tongue feels like a fish/You’re leapin’ from the windows sayin’/”Don’t give me none of this!”)
The Magnificent Seven (So get back to work and sweat some more/The sun will sink and we’ll get out the door/It’s no good for man to work in cages/Hits the town, he drinks his wages)
Lightening Strikes (Not Once but Twice) (Harlem slum to penthouse block/On every door I already knocked/There wasn’t anybody that I didn’t leave alone/Somebody lying under every stone/Everything that a man could need/Is in a bag down by my knee/That looks good, this ain’t got seeds/Cheaper than booze down in the Bowery!)
Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad (And then there came the night of the greatest ever raid/They arrested every drug that had ever been made/They took eighty-two laws through eighty-two doors/And they didn’t halt the pull till the cells were all full/’Cause Julie’s been working for the drug squad/’Cause Julie’s been working for the drug squad/Come On!)
Ladies & gentlemen – please welcome CBS recording artist & Nobel Laureate, Mr Bob Dylan….(applause!!!)
It Ain’t Me Babe
‘Someone to open each and every door’
Maggie’s Farm
‘He asks you with a grin if you’re havin’ a good time
Then he fines you every time you slam the door’
Desolation Row
Yes, I received your letter yesterday
(About the time the door knob broke)
If Not For You
‘If not for you
Babe, I couldn’t find the door’
I hope you enjoyed the entree……
Thanks, Matt, for your pair of ‘door songs’. I think of ‘I Will Survive’ as a key example.
What wonderfully long lists of songs involving doors, Liam! Thanks so much for your excellent efforts.
Thank you for working to a large degree through The Clash oeuvre, Rick. Brilliant work and telling quotes from the lyrics.
Well, Karl, the great man has arrived, with a wry smile on his face, if I’m not mistaken…
I did, certainly, enjoy your opening four Bob choices.
Here’s a few more:
Goodbye Elenore: Toto
Don’t chain my heart: Toto
The living years: Mike and the Mechanics
Good Saturday morning KD
I am certainly feeling oldish when songs like:
Charlie Rich – Behind Closed Doors
start echoing in my brain as I ponder ‘door’ themed songs.
There’s a 1997 Dylan song that’s on theme:
Tryin To Get To Heaven
‘I’ve been walking through the middle of nowhere
Tryin’ to get to heaven before they close the door’
I meant to include this song as one of my intro songs in relation to this door theme. It’s one of George Harrison’s most beautiful numbers (and that’s saying something), the sublime, strongly Indian-influenced ‘The Inner Light’, which originally appeared as the B-side to The Beatles’ ‘Lady Madonna’ single in 1968.
The lyrics of ‘The Inner Light’ are worth quoting in full:
Without going out of my door
I can know all things on Earth
Without looking out of my window
I could know the ways of Heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows
Without going out of your door
You can know all things on Earth
Without looking out of your window
You could know the ways of Heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows
Arrive without travelling
See all without looking
Do all without doing
Good Saturday morning to you, too, Karl. Yes, songs can certainly ‘date’ us.
Thank you for your latest couple of choices. And I do like the fact that Bob is starting to make his presence felt.
Love Charlie Rich!
Here’s a Saturday morning throwaway:
Coward of the County, good old Kenny Rogers
oh, also by Kenny, Ruby, don’t take your love to town.
Cheers
Thanks for the couple of Kenny songs, Rick.
I’m partial to Charlie Rich, too.
Oh, and thanks for your latest three choices (two Totos, one Mike and the Mechanics), Liam – they arrived at my end a bit later than normal; hence, my response is a bit out of sequence.
Nice one, Kevin. Doors in songs is a great theme, takes you all sorts of directions. Anyways, I got to thinking about trapdoors. Like many sorts of doors, they’re openings to the unknown and portents of doom, just blatantly so without need for symbolism.
Trapdoors naturally led me to murder ballads, songs full of dastardly characters coming to deserved ends, often by falling through trapdoors.
There are countless murder ballads of course, most of them concerned with retribution and doom, but not necessarily doors, not directly anyways. Doc Watson’s version of The Banks of the Ohio, recorded by many artists, meets Kevin’s brief and has a direct reference to a door.
The very next morn? about half past four
Sheriff came and knocked on my door
He said, “Young man come now and go, to the banks of the Ohio”
Thanks, Matt, for your very interesting comments and your selected, highly apt song.
Glad you find the doors theme a thought-provoking one. I thought it would be, and the responses indicate already that this is the case. In the blink of an eye, we’ve reached our half-century of comments. Well done to all who have participated (so far).
Ta Rick Kane, for those Clash tunes.
I’ll revert back to Lucinda Williams, ‘Car Wheels On A Gravel Road’.
There goes the screen door slamming shut
You better do what you’re told.
Glen!
Here’s a nod to David Bowie
Sweet Thing – from his 1974 Diamond Dogs album
‘It’s safe in the city
To love in a doorway
To wrangle some screams from the dawn’
….and further on…..
‘Well, on the street where you live I could not hold up my head
For I put all I have in another bed
On another floor, in the back of a car
In the cellar of a church with the door ajar’
Silhouettes – The Diamonds
“Lost control and
“Rang your bell (I was sore)
Let me in or else
I’ll beat (down your door)
When two strangers who had
Been two silhouettes on the shade
Said to my shock
You’re on the wrong block”
Delilah – Tom Jones
“At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting
I cross the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more
My, my, my Delilah
Why, why, why Delilah
So before they come to break down the door
Forgive me Delilah I just couldn’t take any more”
(Anti Domestic Violence campaigners hate this song, but it is no more repulsive than Kenny Rogers’ self-pitying piece of misogyny “Ruby Don’t take your love to town,”)
And now for some songs I actually like…..
Society’s Child Janis Ian
“Come to my door, baby
Face is clean and shining black as night
My mama went to answer
You know that you looked so fine
Now I could understand the tears and the shame
She called you “Boy”, instead of your name
When she wouldn’t let you inside
When she turned and said
“But honey, he’s not our kind”
Salvation Jane – Broderick Smith
“The Penguins at the door
Pretend the nightclub’s worth more
Much more than this
And the wind blows cold up old Goulburn Street
Salvation Jane
How was I to react
When I saw the way she’d changed?
Salvation Jane.”
He Thinks He’ll Keep Her – Mary Chapin Carpenter
“Everything runs right on time
Years of practice and design
Spit and polish ’til it shines
He thinks he’ll keep her
Everything is so benign
Safest place you’ll ever find
God forbid you change your mind
He thinks he’ll keep her
She packs his suitcase, she sits and waits
With no expression upon her face
When she was thirty-six she met him at their door
She said, “I’m sorry, I don’t love you anymore”
Other People’s Houses – Paul Kelly
“They had to catch two buses to reach their destination and the trip seemed to take forever unless he fell asleep along the way. When they got off at their stop they were in a bigger, brighter neighbourhood. The houses were a long way back from the street and some of them were hidden from view by big hedges. Looking down the street was like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. His mother guided him through this country. She knew exactly where to go. She carried in her bag a big, heavy ring full of keys-all keys to other people’s houses.
She would turn one of the keys in the lock. Some of the doors needed two keys. Then presto they were in. The houses had so many things in them yet still so much space. He liked to rub his feet quickly on the thick pile then touch a door knob with one finger and give himself a small electric shock. In the first house they always went straight to the refrigerator. There were things in there he couldn’t imagine anyone ever eating-strange looking pastes in jars and horrible concoctions in plastic. His mother would sit him down with a jam sandwich and a glass of milk, then set to work cleaning other people’s houses.”
“
It was early springtime when the strike was on,
They drove us miners out of doors: Ludlow Massacre, Woody Guthrie.
I recall a door, a big long room,
I’ll not tell which room: Walt Whitman’s Niece, Woody Guthrie.
I got a woman at home with her door left open for me;
I got a woman at home with her gate wide open for me: Woman at home, Woody Guthrie
Glen!
A few 80s indie(ish) heavy hitters:
Some Candy Talking, The Jesus and Mary Chain (And I talk to the filth, and I walk through the door/I’m knee deep in myself, but I want to get more/Of that stuff, of that stuff/Some candy talking, some candy talking/Talk)
Love My Way, The Psychedelic Furs (There’s an army on the dance floor/It’s a fashion with a gun, my love/In a room without a door/A kiss is not enough)
Goodbye Little Boy, The Triffids (Said you didn’t need me/Said you had to leave me/So I helped you pack your bags/And I showed you to the door/Thought I heard a cab door/Just before I hit the cold floor/But I woke up in the morning/And I drank a little more/You said I cramped your style/I didn’t make you smile/And all my sweet nothings/Came to nothing in the end
/Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye little boy)
Christmas – a cover of The Who song from Tommy, by The Smithereens (Did you ever see the faces of the children/They get so excited/Waking up on Christmas morning/Hours before the winter sun’s ignited/They believe in dreams and all they mean/Including heaven’s generosity/Peeping ’round the door/To see what parcels are for free in curiosity)
Shelter, Lone Justice (Well alright, you gave it all up for a dream/Fate proved unkind, to lock the door and leave no key/You’re unsure, well baby I’m scared too/When the world crushes you
/Let me be your shelter, shelter/From a storm outside/Let me be your shelter, shelter/From the endless night)
Here’s a few more classic Dylan.
The Times They Are A-Changin’
‘Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall’
Chimes Of Freedom
‘Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing’
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
‘The lover who has just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor’
+
‘The vagabond who’s rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore’
Thanks for your fine input in the form of the Williams and Guthrie songs, Glen.
Thanks, Karl, for the Bowie and Bob material.
Incidentally, ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ is somewhere up there when it comes to my favourite Dylan numbers.
Thank you, Dave, for your latest big contribution. What a broad ‘sweep’ this contribution possesses – The Diamonds, Tom Jones, Janis Ian, Brod Smith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Paul Kelly. To select just one for comment: I do think the Chapin Carpenter song is an excellent one, and is perhaps not as well known as the most of others you included.
Thanks for your 80s indie material, Rick – full of interest, and telling quotes from the selected songs, as usual.
I thought I’d take stock of nominated songs so far, and a few that stick out for me. There are a whole lot more I don’t mention that I loved or continue to love but these ones have another level of meaning and connection. But to all contributors, thank you, I love what gets put up! Anyway, here are a few that take me back:
The Long and Winding Road, because that image leading to the door that will never disappear, has been so powerful a motivator for me.
Archie Roach, ‘Walking into Doors’ – such a sad sad song and even though I’ve heard Archie play this many times, I tear up every time
What’s He Building in There, Tom Waits, the album is filled with top shelf Tom including this strange little curio that leans heavily into suburban paranoia topped off with Tom’s beautifully weird way of saying Indonesia
Sin City, Gram and the Burritos, Gram at his finest, man imagine if he didn’t pass so young!
Are Friends Electric, Tubeway Army, that’s a blast from my late teenage years and a great song
Other People’s Houses, Paul Kelly, talk about songs you can remember the first time you heard them. This is one powerful observation song, that sadly still resonates 35 years later.
The End – The Doors
The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door
And he looked inside
“Father?”
“Yes, son?”
“I want to kill you”
“Mother, I want to…”
Stay With Me – The Faces
In the mornin’ don’t say you love me
‘Cause I’ll only kick you out of the door
I know your name is Rita ’cause your perfume’s smellin’ sweeter
Since when I saw you down on the floor
I love your thoughtful and highly interesting comments on songs nominated so far, Rick. This kind of response adds a dimension to what is already an excellent discussion thread.
Regarding ‘The Long and Winding Road’, McCartney has said the basic image of the song was inspired by the landscape of and around his farm in Scotland. He also added, with his typical flippancy when describing the genesis of some of his greatest work, that writing this kind of song saved him the expense of seeing a shrink!
Thanks, Greg, for you latest song choices. Typically interesting stuff.
Oops, typo immediately above… It should, of course, read ‘your latest song choices’.
Star Sign – Teenage Fanclub
“Hey there’s a horseshoe on my door; big deal.
And say there’s a black cat on the floor, big deal”
Abominable Snowman In The Market – Jonathan Richman
“There’s an abominable snowman in the market
And the housewives never seen something like that before.
Housewives treat him like a stranger,
They want him away from the supermark’t door”
They Showed Me The Door To Bohemia – Jonathan Richman
Shave Your Legs – The Pursuit Of Happiness
“If they’re soft and smooth I’ll be faithful and true
I’ll forget all my friends that take time from you
I know you’re not attracted to me any more
But we can keep that hidden behind our locked door”
Here’s a couple of non Bob songs – just to mix it up a bit……
Bad Company – Cant Get Enough
‘Well it’s late and I want love
Love that’s gonna break me in two
Gonna hang me up in your doorway
Gonna you hang me up like you do’
Eagles – Hotel California
‘There she stood in the doorway, I heard the mission bell
And I was thinkin’ to myself, “This could be heaven or this could be hell”‘
Dire Straits – Love Over Gold
‘And you go dancing through doorways
Just to see what you will find
Leaving nothing to interfere
With the crazy balance of your mind’
Will return to normal Bob transmission soon…….plenty to come……
Thanks for your latest quartet of choices, Swish.
Jonathan Richman – now there’s an interesting, highly individual talent.
Thank you for the non-Bob trio, Karl.
‘Love Shack’ – B-52’s (1989)
‘Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
Knock a little louder baby
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
I can’t hear you
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
Knock a little louder, sugar
Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby
I can’t hear you…’
Hey KD
What a great inclusion – LOVE SHACK – bang bang bang on the door baby!
I thought it should have been the first entry in your intro – it is perfect!
Here’s a few more from Bob, but nowhere near the ‘class’ of bang bang bang on the door baby!
Idiot Wind
‘There’s a lone soldier on the cross
Smoke pourin’ out of a boxcar door’
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
‘They’ll stone you when you’re walkin’ on the floor
They’ll stone you when you’re walkin’ to the door’
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
‘Well I, see you got a new boyfriend
You know, I never seen him before
Well, I saw you makin’ love with him
He forgot to close the garage door’
The Man In Me
‘Storm clouds are raging all around my door
I think to myself I might not take it any more
Take a woman like your kind
To find the man in me’
Springsteen has just released a boxset called, Tracks 2: The Lost Albums, comprising 83 songs from seven (count them) seven albums Bruce has recorded through his career (this boxset stretches from 1983, around the time of Nebraska and BitUSA, to 2018). These are albums he recorded but decided not to release. Holy batman. Having played the whole thing through 5 or 6 times songs are settling in. There are some prize jewels in there, along with a big bunch of great songs and a smattering of so-whaters. There are also songs that include doors in their lyrics like the 5 below. They are not necessarily the jewels (well, High Sierra is) but each of these five songs are in the better than most category. Oh, and I need to say this again, Bruce had seven ready to release albums in his frickin vault. One is a country album, another a film score, another in the vein of Burt Bacharach, there is one, hot on the heels of his song, Streets of Philadelphia, that likewise employs synthesizer and drum loops and there is a Spanish orientated album including a bit of mariachi. Yes, wow indeed.
Shut Out the Light – LA Garage Sessions ‘83 (Now every evening/Well, just after supper time/He’d go into the back bedroom/And he’d lock the door behind/He’d like awake ’til the morning light/Stretched out across the chair/Just him and a few bad habits/He’d brought back from over there)
Fugitive’s Dream – ballad (Then one day a man came to town/A man with nothing and nowhere to go/He came to my door and mentioned something/I’d done a long time ago)
El Jardinero – Upon the Death of Ramona (From the northern mountains/The water comes and the city blooms/The Santa Ana’s breath? so dry and dusty/Through the villa rooms/Bougainvillea blossom/Red and whit? ’round the entry door/And the roses rise so perfectly on the desert floor)
High Sierra (I was down on my luck/So down on my luck/Packed my bags and left/The big city and the trouble I’d seen/Took the highway north/Tryin’ to find some place where the air felt clean/I came upon that little café in the early spring/Where as you came through the door/Above a little bell would ring)
I’m Not Sleeping (Feed the rich, eat the poor/Stack their bodies outside my door/’Caus? I’m not sleeping (I’m not sleeping)/I’m only resting my eyes)
Come A Long Way – Michelle Shocked
“Kicked in his door at 5 A.M.
“I’ve come for my bike” I told the repo man
My 920’s gonna take me far today
You can travel for miles and never leave L.A.
I’ve come a long way
I’ve come a long way
I’ve gone five hundred miles today
I’ve come a long way
I’ve come along way
And never even left L.A”.
The Cops of The World – Phil Ochs
(written in the late 60s when the US was “intervening” throughout the Third World)
These are the last three verses.
‘We’ll smash down your doors, we don’t bother to knock
We’ve done it before, so why all the shock?
We’re the biggest and toughest kids on the block
And we’re the cops of the world, boys
We’re the cops of the world
And when we butchered your son, boys
When we butchered your son
Have a stick of our gum, boys
Have a stick of our bubble-gum
We own half the world, oh, say can you see
The name for our profits is democracy
So, like it or not, you will have to be free
‘Cause we’re the cops of the world, boys
We’re the cops of the world ‘
Oakey Strike Evictions – Tommy Armstrong
(A song written in 1885 by Miner/folk singer Tommy Armstrong of Tyneside about workers being evicted during a strike. I have transcribed the first verse and chorus in the original “Geordie dialect”)
“It wes in Novimber an’ aw nivor will fergit,
The polis an’ the candymen at Oakey’s hooses met.
Johnny the bellmin he wes theor, squintin roond aboot,
An’ he pleaced three min at iv’ry door te torn the pitmin oot.
What wid aw de, if aw’d the poower mesel’?
Aw’d hang the twinty candymen an’ Johnny that carries the bell!”
“The Door”, one of the best tracks on the second silverchair album ‘Freak Show’ from 1997.
Glad you enjoyed my inclusion of ‘Love Shack’, Karl.
I also enjoyed your ‘return to normal transmission’ with your ‘Bob four’. Cheers.
Great Springsteen material in your latest comments, Rick, and I mean in general terms the fine research and synthesis involved – for most of us, the listening to the actual songs mentioned is to come.
Impressive stuff!
Thanks, Dave, for your latest input. Loved the lengthy, fitting quotations from the three songs involved and the ‘reach’ of your musical knowledge behind the inclusion of them, especially ‘Oakey Strike Evictions’.
Thanks, Luke, for ‘The Door’. I’ve always been partial to some Silverchair.
Happy Tuesday KD
I am not sure if you are familiar with Dylan’s epic 1963 poem – Last Thoughts On Woody Guthrie. Dylan recited the poem once only – at his NY Town Hall concert on 12 April 1963. Fortunately, the entire concert was taped and the poem was later released on the 1991 The Bootleg Series Vol 1-3. After 180 lines of verse, the concluding lines are:
You can touch and twist
And turn two kinds of doorknobs
You can either go to the church of your choice
Or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital
You’ll find God in the church of your choice
You’ll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital
And though it’s only my opinion
I may be right or wrong
You’ll find them both
In the Grand Canyon
At sundown
I call my baby ‘hinges’ cos she’s something to adore ( a door) ? Steve and the Board? Also Ken Mo had an album out called ‘The Door’
Happy Tuesday in return, Karl.
I have some knowledge of the Dylan poem, but can’t say I know it in detail. It was well worth including here, especially as it is included in The Bootleg Series material. Thank you.
Thanks, Tony, for your input. The first of your inclusions reminds me of the parody song which begins ‘Butcher arms around me honey, hold me tight…’
Hey KD, I don’t think I’ll submit a better call than this one, which so happens to be one of my top 5 Johnny Cash songs:
I Still Miss Someone (At my door the leaves are falling/A cold wild wind will come/Sweethearts walk by together/And I still miss someone)
may as well throw in a couple more by Mr Cash:
Ballad of a Teenage Queen (There’s a story in our town/Of the prettiest girl around/Golden hair and eyes of blue/How those eyes could flash at you (How those eyes could flash at you)/Boys hung ’round her by the score/But she loved the boy next door who worked at the candy store)
Dark as a Dungeon (And a pray when I’m dead and my ages shall roll/That my body would blacken and turn into coal/Then I’ll look from the door of my heavenly home/And pity the miner digging my bones)
Here Comes that Rainbow Again, Johnny covers another Kris K song, and while Sunday Morning and Bobby McGee might be better known Kris compositions, check out Johnny singing Rainbow, it is beautiful (The scene was a small roadside cafe/The waitress was sweepin’ the floor/Two truck-drivers drinkin’ their coffee/And two Okie-kids by the door)
Thanks for the Cash quartet, Rick. Always a fine thing to include songs performed (and often also written) by the great man.
I love Cash’s work in general (of course), but have a distinct fancy for his Sun records early period – ‘Hey Porter’ is an example of my favourite stuff from this time.
And yes indeedy, I’ve just realised that ‘Hey, Porter!’ (correct punctuation of title) is an on theme ‘door song’, too: ‘Hey Porter / please open up the door…’
Black Sabbath – Under The Sun
Closes their Vol. 4 album.
Topical.
“Well, I don’t want no Jesus freak to tell me what it’s all about
No black magician telling me to cast my soul out
Don’t believe in violence, I don’t even believe in peace
I’ve opened the door, now my mind’s been released”
Thanks, Greg, for this Sabbath selection.
As is so often the case, the theme selected is eliciting a highly interesting range of song choices.
One from Bob
Open The Door, Homer
‘Open the door, Homer
I’ve heard it said before
But I ain’t gonna hear it said no more’
One from Mark
Down To The Waterline
‘Near misses on the dog leap stairways
French kisses in the darkened doorways
A foghorn blowing out wild and cold
A policeman shines a light upon my shoulder’
One from Bruce
She’s The One
‘With her soft French cream
Standing in that doorway like a dream
I wish she’d just leave me alone’
Veronica, Little Elvis, a cowrite with Sir Paul McCartney if you don’t mind (Did the days drag by, did the favors wane/Did he roam down the town all the time/Will you wake from your dream, with a wolf at the door,/Reaching out for Veronica)
Party, Party, another by LE, I think was for a film, if my memory serves (The doors and the window frames are by Pablo Picasso/The party decorations owned by Michelangelo/The fine music that you hear is by Stravinsky/With overall design by Leonardo daVinci)
Indoor Fireworks, a ripper EC toon
Good Year for the Roses, EC does a good job of this country song until you hear George Jones, he the master
Shabby Doll, Declan McManus again, this song from Imperial Bedroom, back when LE was red hot (Giving you more of what for/Always worked for me before/Now I’m a shabby doll/What’s going on behind the green elevator door/With just a shabby doll/There’s a hit man facing/A compromising situation/With just a shabby doll/And a very neat line in character assassination/She’s just a shabby doll)
Four more songs covering very different styles. They have two things in common, they all mention doors and they are all songs I really like.
Midnight Bus – Betty McQuade written by John D Loudermilk
(one of the classics of early Australian pop)
“Me and my baby, we left on the midnight bus
Pulled out of Durham and left in a cloud of dust
Headed for the border of the North and the South Caroline
This time tomorrow he’ll be mine
After we had travelled for a while on the midnight bus
We fell out and had an awful fuss
Said goodbye, and I pulled the buzzer chord
I got off and the driver slammed the door”
What It Is – Mark Knopfler
“The drinking dens are spilling out
There’s staggering in the square
There’s lads and lasses falling about
And a crackling in the air
Down around the dungeon doors
The shelters and the queues
Everybody’s looking for
Somebody’s arms to fall into
It’s what it is
That’s what it is now”
Come In from the Rain – Carole Bayer Sager (co-written with Melissa Manchester who also recorded it)
“Well, hello there
Good old friend of mine
You’ve been reaching for yourself
For such a long time
There’s so much to say
No need to explain
Just an open door for you
To come in from the rain”
Hello In There – John Prine
“We had an apartment in the city
And me and Loretta liked living there
Well, it’s been years since the kids had grown
A life of their own
And left us alone
John and Linda live in Omaha
And Joe is somewhere on the road
We lost Davy in the Korean War
And I still don’t know what for
Don’t matter anymore
You know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder every day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say
“Hello in there, hello”
Me and Loretta, we don’t talk much more
She sits and stares through the back door screen
And all the news just repeats itself
Like some forgotten dream
That we’ve both seen”
Thanks for the Bob, Mark and Bruce trio, Karl – a fine trio indeed!
Fine bunch of EC songs, thanks Rick. Two standouts for me in this quintet were ‘Veronica’ and ‘Indoor Fireworks’.
Thank you, Dave, for your latest song selections – as interesting as ever. In purely lyric terms, I found the Prine words especially affecting.
Hi KD.
Today we will be looking through the rectangle door….what will we find?…..there’s Bob!….what has he been up to lately?….let’s go & see….
Went To See The Gypsy
‘I went back to see the gypsy
It was nearly early dawn
The gypsy’s door was open wide
But the gypsy was gone’
Sign On The Window
‘Sign on the window says “lonely, ”
Sign on the door said “no company allowed, ”
Sign on the street says “why’ don’t own me”
Sign on the porch says “three’s a crowd”‘
Standing In The Doorway
‘The ghost of our old love has not gone away
Don’t look it like it will anytime soon
You left me standin’ in the doorway cryin’
Under the midnight moon’
Thanks, Karl, for your latest choices from the songlist of His Bobness – a fine thing to know he is close by as we make our way towards another century of comments. In Bob We Trust.
Did anyone say Taylor Swift? She is one of the greats!
All Too Well, this is TS best song and it is a corker, it grabs you by the heart, yet even while you are following her down into her great sadness, you keep getting stopped by Cohenesque philosophical lines and ideas (You who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes/Sippin’ coffee like you’re on a late-night show/But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willin’ you to come/And he said, “It’s supposed to be fun turning twenty-one”)
Our Song, from her first album, released when she was 17!, with banjo and fiddle providing riff and hook and a coda that is nothing short of a knowing postmodern wink (Our song is the slamming screen door/Sneakin’ out late, tapping on your window/When we’re on the phone, and you talk real slow/’Cause it’s late, and your mama don’t know/Our song is the way you laugh/The first date, “Man, I didn’t kiss her and I should have”)
August, a tale of young love , a summer fling (Salt air, and the rust on your door/I never needed anything more/Whispers of “Are you?sure?”/”Never?have I ever?before”)
champagne problems, rather than me explain the gist of this song, I’ll hand it over to TayTay: he song depicts “longtime college sweethearts [who] had very different plans for the same night, one to end it and one who brought a ring.” (Your Midas touch on the Chevy door/November flush and your flannel cure/”This dorm was once a madhouse”/I made a joke, “Well, it’s made for me”)
The Bolter, even though this song wouldn’t feature in a top 30 TS songs, it is still as good an example as any TS song of her lyricism, her grasp of literature and history as reference points for a songwriter and her capability with language and meaning, this is (and it aint the first) a short story as song, up there with Prine and Springsteen (Started with a kiss,/”Oh, we must stop meeting like this”/But it always ends up with a town car speeding/Out the drive one evening/Ended with the slam of a door,/Then he’ll call her a ‘whore’/Wish he wouldn’t be sore/But as she was leaving/It felt like breathing/All her fuckin lives/Flashed before her eyes/It feels like the time/She fell through the ice …/Then came out alive)
The Last Time, from Red, 2012, same album that All Too Well is on and one of her many great albums. Here is how TS talks about this song: My visual for this song is, there’s a guy on his knees sitting on the ground outside of a door. And on the other side of the door is his girlfriend, who he keeps on leaving — and he keeps coming back to her, but then he leaves again. He’s saying, ‘This is the last time I’m going to do this to you.’ And she’s saying, ‘This is the last time I’m asking you this: Don’t do this again.’ And she’s wondering whether to let him in (You find yourself at my door/And just like all those times before/You wear your best apology/But I was there to watch you leave/And all the times I let you in/Just for you to go again/Disappear when you come back/Everything is better)
Thanks, Rick, for the excellent material (i.e. songs and commentary) concerning Swifty. (And to think she’s still only in her mid-thirties.)
Morning KD – here is entry 99!…and Bob continues to give, give, give……
Political World – from 1989’s Oh Mercy
‘We live in a political world
Where peace is not welcome at all
It’s turned away from the door
To wonder some more
Or put up against the wall’
(A solid reflection of the state of various parts of the world today)
Foot Of Pride – Outtake from Infidels 1983
‘You gonna arrange to see a man tonight
Who’ll tell you some secret things
You think may open some doors
How to enter in the bloody gates of Paradise? No
How to go crazy from a carrying a burden
It’s never meant to be yours’
Sweetheart Like You – from Infidels 1983
You know, news of you has come down the line
Even before ya came in the door
They say in your father’s house, there’s many mansions
Each one of them got a fireproof floor
Unless someone beats us to the next entry, then let me be the first to congratuate you an ANOTHER exception century KD. Your leadership of the team is guaranteed for many theme topis to come.
Did someone say Chuck is in the house?
No Money Down, where Chuck buys a new car and this is what he wants, and psst, demands get bigger still in the next verse! (Well, Mister I want a yellow convertible/Four door de Ville/With a continental spare/And a wide chrome wheel/I want power steering/And power brakes/I want a powerful motor/With a jet off take)
Sweet Little Rock N Roller, nobody has written better songs in praise of rocknroll, no one (Ten thousand eyes were watching them leave the floor/Five thousand tongues were screaming “More! More!”/About 1500 waitin’ outside the door/Sweet little rock and roller)
I Got to Find My Baby, and Chuck does a cover, that The Beatles will also cover (I’m gonna search this town/From door to door/The love I crave/I can’t find no more/I got to find my baby/I declare, I wouldn’t lie/I ain’t had no real good loving/Since that girl said goodbye)
Bye Bye Johnny, a companion song to Johnny B. Goode, and incidentally, Bruce borrowed lines from this song to devastating effect, on a song he wrote commiserating the death of Elvis (She finally got the letter she was dreaming of/Johnny wrote and told ‘er he had fell in love/As soon as he was married he would bring her back/And build a mansion for ’em by the railroad track/So every time they heard the locomotive roar/They’d be a’ standin’, a’ wavin’ in the kitchen door)
Around and Around, another example of Chuck’s love of rocknroll and count how many rockers including The Stones covered it (Twelve o’clock/Well, the place was packed/Front doors was locked/Well, the place was packed/When the police knocked/Both doors flew back)
Morning, Karl.Thank you for more choices from Bob’s magnificent body of work.
And yes, we’ve reached another century of comments.- as I always say on such occasions, congratulations to all concerned.
Great Chuck material, Rick.
Question: what can you tell me about the Beatles’ cover of ‘I Got to Find My Baby’?
I’ve quickly discovered the basic answer to my question, Rick. The Berry song is one of the Beatles’ the BBC recordings. (Thought so.)
Oops, typo – immediately above should read ‘one of the Beatles’ BBC recordings’.
One week on and Bob is still going strong – bless his beating heart……
Every Grain Of Sand
‘I gaze into the doorway of temptation’s angry flame
And every time I pass that way I’ll always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand’
Lily, Rosemary & The Jack Of Hearts
‘Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town
She slipped in through the side door lookin’ like a queen without a crown’
Tough Mama – from 1974 ‘Planet Waves’ album
‘I’m crestfallen—the world of illusion is at my door’
Bob, as usual, keeps on giving. Thanks so much, Karl.
Catching up with mates last night and 95% of the conversation was about music. We squeezed in 2% on family. One band that got a lot of love was Little Feat. So I got to thinking about them for this theme and here’s a few songs from Lowell George’s great 70s band.
Crack in your Door, from their first album, which also features their best song, Willin’ (There’s no need to follow/Look into the eyes of this wandering stranger/I won’t rob or steal your money/So don’t let the wind through the crack in your door)
Spanish Moon, covered incidentally by Robert Palmer (Well I stepped inside and I stood by the door/While dark-eyed girls sang and played the guitar/Hookers and hustlers filled up the room/This was the place they called the Spanish Moon)
Voices on the Wind (Searching for safe passage as you knock on every door/You still can hear the howling of the mongrel dogs of war/You call our for some comfort seeking shelter from the night/A raging rain’s upon you feeling tired of the fight/And though you are surrounded, feeling quite alone/There’s a light to guide you home)
Perfect Imperfection (There’s a girl standin’ on a corner/Watchin’ love walk right out her door/She thought that love was like a shiny diamond/Blinded by the light, she did not see the flaw)
Strawberry Flats, from 1971 but the lyrics could well be a reflection of our times (Knocked on my friend’s door in moody Texas/And asked if he had a place for me/His hair was cut off and he was wearing a suit/And he said not in my house, not in my house/You look like you’re part of a conspiracy)
Marvellously encyclopedic entry in relation to our theme, Rick. Little Feat are a band I know about in a vague kind of way. I feel like I should know their body of work better.
By the way, what was the remaining 3% of your conversation last night about, or is that confidential?
Sunday stuff
On the Wire, Kev Carmody and Tiddas – so this was on Rage last night (Had?a needle in?a vein, that?profited the sane/Had a friend with no name who was a liar/Saw the white walls of freedom, never found the black door/Saw the Devil sing with the Angels in a choir)
Peed in the Pool, Fanny Lumsden – and so was Fanny, who is for the uninitiated, one of Australia’s best country artists, mind you this wasn’t the song played on Rage (And I’m learning to be graceful/And I’m always chasing calm/I keep running into door frames/Instead of into your arms)
Oneida, Tyler Childers – his latest single and yes, it’s a ripper (Pleading my case with the bro at the door/Buddy, I know we’ve been through this before/You can’t let me go in, but if I wait outside/Will you give her a message for me?)
Ode to Billie Joe, Bobby Gentry – and I remembered this song, if it hasn’t already been put forward (Was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day/I was out choppin’ cotton, and my brother was balin’ hay/And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat/And Mama hollered out the back door, “Y’all, remember to wipe your feet!”/And then she said, “I got some news this mornin’ from Choctaw Ridge/Today, Billie Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge”)
Which reminded me of Clothes Line Saga, the Dylan and The Band song from The Basement Tapes, which parioed Ode to BJ: (Just as Papa yelled outside, “Mama wants you to/Come back in the house and bring them clothes”/(Woo-hoo) I just do what I’m told/So, I did it, of course/I went back in the house and Mama met me/And then I shut all the doors)
Sunday stuff equals excellent stuff – thanks so much, Rick.
It feels like a George Jones kinda night:
He Stopped Loving Her Today, there is sad, and then there is sadder and then there is a George Jones song, and this is one of his saddest (He stopped loving her today/They placed a wreath upon his door/And soon they’ll carry him away/He stopped loving her today)
The Door, (And of earthquakes, storms and guns and war/Lord, nothin’ has ever hurt me more/Than that lonely sound/The closing of the door)
There’s the Door (It seemed so much unlike her to be so much at ease/She took a sip of coffee and softly said to me/”There’s the mantle where we keep our wedding picture/There’s the bedroom where we make both love and war/And there’s the ring that keeps on slipping off your finger/There’s no reason we should go on anymore and there’s the door)
From Here to the Door (Well, it’s only my love you are taking./And it’s only my heart you are breaking./To you it will be only footsteps you’re takin’,/But it’s my lifetime from here to the door.)
Feeling Single, Seeing Double (Well, when I opened the door this mornin’/Like me the sun was high/I started walkin’ the long way home/Just to think of an alibi./Well, I couldn’t think of a doggon thing/That I hadn’t already said/Guess I better play it by ear/For I’m already dead)
Thanks for the George Jones material, Rick. These ‘door theme’ song choices are especially resonant, I feel.
Country Blues, Dock Boggs
Heartaches by the Number, Guy Mitchell
Thin Line Between Love and Hate, The Persuaders
Thank you for your latest three choices, Rick – and for keeping the flag flying in relation to this door theme.
‘Heartaches by the Number’ – now there’s a song I haven’t heard for a considerable time (and it’s a good ‘un).
Another one just came to me.
Cool It Down – The Velvet Underground (later covered by The Cruel Sea)
Somebody took the papers and somebody’s got the key
And somebody’s nailed the door shut
That says, “Hey, what you think that you see?”
But me, I’m down around the corner
You know, I’m looking for Miss Linda Lee
Because she’s got the power to love me by the hour
Gives me double you L O V E
Thanks for this latest one, Greg. Cheers.
Gotta have some Guy Clark in here:
LA Freeway (And you put the pink card in the mailbox/Leave the key in the front door lock/They’ll find it likely as not/I’m sure there’s something we have forgot)
Let Him Roll (When they went through his personal effects/In among the stubs from the welfare checks/Was a crumbling picture of a girl in a door/An address in Dallas and nothing more)
Better Days (I’ll see the wings unfolding that weren’t there just before/And on a ray of sunshine, she dances out the door/Out into the morning light where the sky is all ablaze/And this looks like the first of better days)
Funny Bone (He don’t laugh much anymore/Since she locked her trailer door/Tears and grease paint will not mix/And old dogs will not learn new tricks/He’s got that smile painted on/Nobody knows something’s wrong/She broke his funny bone/Broke his funny bone)
Maybe I Can Paint Over That (I’ve tracked blood in on the floor/I put my first through the wall/I’ve dragged trouble through the door/And I’ve spilled wine on it all)
Thanks for your ‘Guy Clark quintet’ of choices, Rick. Thank you, also, for your wonderful overall contribution to this door theme – you’ve provided Almanac readers with so many songs to visit or revisit.
‘Get Out of My House’ by Kate Bush, from her 1982 album, The Dreaming, contains a number of references to doors. It begins:
‘When you left, the door was
Slamming
You paused in the doorway
Slamming…’
Is the, ah, door still ajar re this theme on building portals? If so, I got some more.
I was listening to The National’s 2010 album Trouble Will Find Me and lo and behold it has 3 songs referencing doors, then I found a couple more from earlier albums. When they’re good The National are v good.
90 Mile Water Wall ((I’m waiting for a 90-mile water wall/To take me out of your view/I’m looking for a trapdoor trigger/To drop me out of your view)
Val Jester (You should’ve looked after her better/You should’ve looked after her more/You should’ve locked the door/Fill her coat with weapons and help her get it on/’Cuz one day when she goes, she’s gone)
Demons (Can I stay here? I can sleep on the floor/Paint the blood and hang the palms on the door/I do not think I’m going places anymore/I wanna see the sun come up above New York)
Don’t Swallow the Cap (Is it time to leave? Is it time to think about/What I wanna say to the girls at the door/I need somewhere to be/But I can’t get around the river in front of me)
Fireproof (You’re a needle in the hay/You’re the water at the door/You’re a million miles away/It doesn’t matter anymore)
Hi Rick. The door is certainly still ajar in relation to this theme. On the basis of the lyrics alone, The Nationals’ songs you’ve just put forward sound well worth listening to.
NEW THEME WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW, FRIDAY JULY 25.
Here’s one which I don’t think was included: I’m free (The Who).
Thanks, Liam – as I think I’ve noted before, one of the fine things about these themed songlists is that they can be ‘topped up’ with relevant songs at any time.