Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

Well I tested the waters in a different thread when it occurred to me that in a multitude of Gordon's songs, either a great part of the subject matter is children, or mention is made in any event in others.

In so far as testing the waters, I smiled realizing that over a dozen tunes came to mind right away, and posted a reply to another thread with the addendum - "hey what do you think of a thread [about this subject of children]" - a few said go for it, so I hope you find it entertaining. I suspect many of the parents out there will readily think of many, but so will any Gord fan...

To make it fun - see if you can avoid the key word search method in lyrics archives....that'd sorta be cheatin' where I come from... Moral of this story I think - I do believe Gord likes kids.. :clap: :) -oh - and I think paraphrasing ought to be fine, 'cause we are going by memory here I hope..

Bonus Gord's Gold Coins - songs written FOR kids, or are completely about kids.. they need not mention the word(s) kid(s) or child(ren) in that case..
To kick it off, (and I am in no way citing the majority don't worry lol):

*Ring Them Bells "for the child who cries" ( OK Dylan wrote it...)
*Circle of Steel "a child is born to a welfare case"
*Don Quixote "See the children of the earth who wake to find the table
bare"
*Too Late for Prayin' "for every child with eyes that smile, there will be ten
more crying...Lord abide let us stem the tide...
*A Lesson in Love "...a monkey and a kid"

---Go for it (Stallone imitation) lol
* ( ? )
~geo steve

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

what if children had wings? :-)


sorry, i didnt read the thread title properly!

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

I won't over-solicitously comment on every posting, but joveski's reference to "If Children Had Wings" made me smile, because that is not only one of my favourite songs, but also one of my favourite StoneWall/tj157 vistories .

I would estimate conservatively easily over 50 GL songs include the terms - [expanded list] child/children/kid(s)/boy(s)/girl(s)(baby(ies)/son(s)/daughter(s), etc. In turn, I'd say easily perhaps 4 -6 (?) were written for/or about a specific child, or/for children in general; ( like one of Gordon's kids)[hint]. Loose example about children in general - Brave Mountaineers - a song I believe to be entirely about children playing in barns and haylofts if memory serves. Hmm I seem to smell cotton candy... ;) .

Thank you for tossing the puck in joveski, nice choice. :~)
.
~geo steve

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

So.....with the expanded parameters, I assume "Baby Step Back" would qualify.

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

LOL RM - OK ok fair anough - I'll let the thread go wherever you guys want it to go, howsomever.... hehe - my actual INTENT was ABOUT children, or references to children, or written FOR a child in specific or FOR children in general. The "baby" parameter was with the thought of, say, a mother holding a baby, that surely qualifies as a child.

I'm afraid the ubiquitous "baby" in the context of "oh baby baby' in songs would open a box out of context with the thread LOL - but you got me there. Far be it for me to dictate rules of the thread - but if you wish to abide by the intent in fun (for run) - no, that would not qualify. Kind of like the letter of the law versus the intent.... heck I dunno.LOL good one RM. I'd steer the forum members towrds the children concept. Another example in keeping: -oh - shall we show the songname - and the lyrics that qualify both ? Any way - the example in keeping:
song: * Mother of a Miner's Child - verse parapharased - "and he is just a miner's boy, I hope that he will learn a better way" .

I just want people to enjoy the thread bottom line, not dictate criteria.... but its been my experience "serious" (that term always cracked me up - stoic looking scholars in monks robes....LOL) fans of Gord's get a kick out of challenging their memory on a lyrical theme , or theme of any kind....almost as accurately as guys memorizing sports stats !
Have fun as you want with it, in any event. I think the general idea is clear enough.....
:) ~geo steve

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

Yes, my post was entirely in fun and I'm glad you deciphered the intended humor (not everyone does).

Seriously....."Fine As Fine Can Be".

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

...and same for A Minor Ballad? ;)

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

lol jj - good build on RM's humour ; )

RM - nailed it on the (for children, or A child) - "Fine as Fine Can Be" picked up on the pretty well-known fact that Gord wrote that for and about his daughter, who he sang it to while playing the piano, as I recall, on stage.

Worth pointing out - I love my daughter Mamie very much, who is 26 now. I have come to appreciate Gord's fondness for children or their plight as the case may be in his music. The references are rife....

i'll add another...
* Now and Then "we were just playing like two children who had stayed away
from school"

help me out here parents - or lyrics afficianados :)
~geo steve

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

seriously...the Lost Children
I don't see it listed yet but full of war and children references

children and war don't go together well
...such ashame the two Afghan toddlers lives were innocently taken

"your little beds are empty now..."

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

The Pony Man
Mother of a Miner's Child
Fine as Fine Can Be (written for Ingrid?)
If Children Had Wings
The Lost Children
Too Late for Prayin'
Uncle Toad Said

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

Same Old Loverman....it must qualify, according to the Songbook liner notes:

"guy comes back to visit the wife, have a quick liaison while the kids are at school"

...so in this particular case, absense (of children) makes the heart grow fonder

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

Ok....I confess.....I cheated.

Seriously..... I was surprised by the number of references to a boy in "Cherokee Bend".

It was never one of my favorites, and until I cheated I had never focused on such lines as :

"Daddy didn't like what the white man said
Bout the dirty little kid at his side "

I believe that Indian kid was Miguel's step-brother.

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

How about Lazy Mornin' ?

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

How about Lazy Morning?

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

Children are all that the earth has to show
Children are all that the earth wants to know

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

How about Second Cup Of Coffee...thinkin' 'bout a son and daughter that got lost along the way....
I think I remembered that right....lol. :)

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

"And the child she bore him, came on that fateful morning....." From Miguel.
Beautiful words that capture the beauty of a child being the result of love between a man and woman.

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

Yes ! all excellent examples ! thank you.....this one is fun now


RM - Your observation in Cherokee Bend is interesting (subliminal man says " you cheatin' sidewinder...ptttt-ding into the brass spitoon sound in the saloon) LOL . That song had occurred to me when I posted the thread, but I did not realize the frequency of the boy being mentioned...now that I think about it, the boy IS the protagonist of the "story" song,I'd say.

RM - as long as you've cheated lol (others - please do not COPY his supreme baddness LOL) - I'd challenge you to something interesting. As long as you've opened Pandora's box in searching.... why not do a tally of the sum total aggregate of songs found containing any of the fair words outlined in an advanced search multiple tags- and I'll betcha, it will be almost as frequent as Gord's usage of the word "sea" or ocean". I'll bet you return........mmm..say ....'bout 90 or so, just a "S.W.A.G.". - 90 on the children and etc. - except that might miss the rare case - (is there one?) of a song written FOR a child, or children, that does not contain any of the key words. As it has been cited - Fine AS Fine Can Be I believe does NOT have the key words at all.

Pony Man - I am sure it does - good example of written FOR Children as I understand it. Did you guys know a lady in Boulder, Colorado "Susan Polis Schultz" (sp?) wrote a childrens BOOK from the song - called "The Pony Man" ? If I remember right, it was done with Gordon's assistance. She has done poem-based "mood" booklets for Blue Mountain Arts in Gunbarrel, Colo. as I recall for years. Many cards, booklets of poems, and posters containing many of Gord's songs, lyrics in little bits and pieces commonly, some converted to poem by minor editing when necessary.

I'm surprised these have not been collectables for Gord fans.... I have not really thought about it. I wonder if any other Gordon song has been written concurrently as a poem with modified or extended lyrics (by Gord) other than the two that come to mind - Don Quixote LP, on the back - cover art, there is a modified version of the song in prose, with inclusion of the author of the book in the prose: Don Miguel de Cervantes (DQ - professor - correct me in my Spanish there if I am wrong please) by memory, and the other I can think of is the extended prose of "Summertime Dream" similarly on the back of the LP, where he takes considerable departure from the song lyrics notably by adding a bunch of job names.i.e. Dairy Truck Drivers, Linemen, Loggers, mechanics, etc. in a prayer of sorts for Canadians in springtime longing for the last of the drifts of snow to be cut down to size.... where summer glances should not be cast lightly before the long winter - something like that, fills the LP back. OK I am totally off thread. And I started it. What the heck. LOLOL

Scott Mac - very thoughtfully put.

NightinGale & Patti - yep yep good ones

814scenic - Lazy Morning - mmmmm yes yer right ! "I'll think about Monday when Monday comes,,,,my SON..." - coffee's in the kitchen , woman on (the run ??)

Auburn - wow yes many

jj - both - yes - and strong food for thought on war and children not mixing yes.....


I HAVE AN "OBSCURE" ONE - "Patriot's Dream" how could she tell those children, that their father was shot down..... so she took them both aside that day, and she told them one by one...." paraphrasing wow..... strong stuff.. - I remember one of RM'S threads of Rolling Stone reviews - that of DQ - mentioned one thing about Patriot's Dream - it was "ambitious" I think he [R.S. AUTHOR] said.

PS KEEP EM COMING - ALL COOL EXAMPLES GIVEN. RM - i'd really be curious what the total of an advanced query with all the tag words word turn up in qty......

~geo steve you guys are real good therapy - send me your bill !

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

quick thought - RM - I know what I forgot to mention about Cherokee Bend.. Gord said in concert once that the song was loosely based on the book "The Light in the Forest" - I think the author was Hal Boorland. (of Deliverance notoriety too i think)..

In any event it was in fact about a Native American boy who grew up in traditional "primitive" wiki-up setting, then wound up homeless and taken in by a man I recall being named Red (versus "Jim" in the song), a rodeo cowboy... And the boy learns to ride rodeo, and in the end...runs back in the woods as a young grown man, disenchanted, sheds his white mans clothing, and returns to his arboreal home.... I was assigned to read it about 8th or 9th grade.... good book. Any age. moderately close parallels to the song.
- geo steve

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

This might be a longshot, but I thought of "Sit Down Young Stranger" since the stranger is the son, talking to his parents.
Just a thought.

Melissa

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

"Mother of a Minor's Child" is an excellent example. It is about the plight of a father working hard at a job he may not like in order to provide for his family. I have heard Gordon say that he has kept working to provide for his family. I don't think he sees his role as a singer/songwriter any different than if he were working in a mine himself. He is a humble man who really understands the protestant work ethic.

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

And another:
"......even though your mother was your maker, from her apron strings you pass....."

Race Among the Ruins


Melissa

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

I think there were "two kids from Cabbagetown", and they might not have been the same "two crazy kids" Gord refers to in an unreleased song.

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

What a great thread and this one hits home to me, not only for lyrics but for real-life encounters.

My children (age 14 and 12) love Gord's music. The attached photo was taken after hanging around at "the backstage door" for over an hour. But seeing Gord's face light up when he meets kids, and providing my own kids a memory for a lifetime, it makes an hour or so of waiting well worth it.

Does Gord like kids? Yeah, I'd say so.

Re: Gord's lyrics that mention (or for) children
 

Thank you Mellisa , Scott, Sir John, and Tim.

And thank you for the compliment Tim - on the thread. I had thought this to be the case with Gordon - hence the provocation for the thread. Gratified to see and hear this is the case of his love for children - his and others- I wouldn't trust a father that didn't - or a mother :) . Gord DOES look happy in the photo. :biggrin::)

Perhaps he is able to further bolster his renewed vigor in family life and appreciation of his family as he has expressed ,as a priority for him now...by seeing other kind and happy-looking children like your two in your photo - proud father indeed you ought to be Tim.:)

proud parent - geo steve