Songs That Make You Think

[rocklobster]

What are some songs that have always made you think? One song in particular that comes to mind is the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For the Devil". I think it's a great song that describes just how evil the devil is. It's not really meant to revel in his evil deeds throughout history, just warn you about his nature. Here are the lyrics:
Please allow me to introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
Ive been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith
And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made **** sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
cause Im in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, whats my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, whats my name
I tell you one time, youre to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Whats me name
Tell me, baby, whats my name
Tell me, sweetie, whats my name
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah

[GhostontheNet]

Here's one that comes to mind:

Morpheus Laughing by Skinny Puppy

an extreme solution no fossil fuel mimicking
exhaust rattles troublesome a madmans vast
direct iron grooved world primary state average
distance closer to the sun draws a comet nearer
to a complex distruction a spectre so violent
in its views lies impervious altitude has a tendancy
under pressure to reveal its identity
gaping hole bright star penetration blindfold
reliance wrinkles in the cloth of time unity among
such a poor existance in this third world
resistance should be used civil disobedience
central pivot revolving heated combustion back
to the origin of it all all of it no unwarranted
fear courage shown the white line on the ball
we live on deserted streets hallucinated the
bursted species abnormal conditions deep sentiment
for repulsive power nations knows immense populace
ingenuity and progress never progressed out of the sun
all experiments prove not need the established
greed and pain inflicted on the animal model still nothing
no cure the ravaged instinct silent waking to a
chemical perversion wartime underground
imperfect plotting grows the seeds of time

[LadyRushia]

Many Thrice songs, many Anberlin songs, a few Showbread songs, and all mewithoutYou songs.

Oh, I forgot to mention Pink Floyd and sometimes Queen.

[Tommy]

"You Never Know" by Immortal Technique.

[Radical Dreamer]

Most of Thrice's songs; namely, "Lost Continent (a song about how we often act as ostriches with our heads in the sand, and the dangers of acting in such a way)," "Stare at the Sun (about searching for truth in this world)," "Cold Cash and Colder Hearts (about the cold shoulder we tend to give to the people who need us the most, like the poor, the unbelieving, etc.)," etc. A few of Brand New's songs, too, mostly from "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me."

Also, mewithoutYou's "A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains," in addition to over half of the rest of the songs they've written. XD

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Herr Drosselmeyer's Doll by Abney Park really got me thinking...

The ending of it kinda had my jaw drop.

[chibiphonebooth]

anything from mewithoutyou, thrice, and my epic. <3

a mewithoutyou song that really gets me thinking:
1. Torches Together

Why burn poor and lonely under a bowl or under a lampshade
Or on the shelf beside the bed
Where at night you lay turning like a door on its hinges?...
First on your left side, then on your right side... then your left side again.
Why burn poor and lonely?
Tell all the stones we're gonna make a building...
We'll be cut into shape and set into place
Or if you'd rather be a window, I'll gladly be the frame,
Reflecting any kind words, we'll let in all their blame...
And ruin our reputation all the same.
So never mind our plan making, we'll start living...
Anyway, aren't you unbearably sad?
Then why burn so poor and lonely?

We'll be like torches!
We'll be like torches!
We'll be like torches... OH!!
We'll be torches together... TORCHES TOGETHER!!
We'll be like torches!
We'll be like torches... with whatever respect our tattered dignity demands,
Torches together... hand in hand.

Why pluck one string... what good is just one note?
Oh, one string sounds fine, I guess... but we were once 'one notes',
We were lonely wheat quietly ground into grain...
What light and momentary pain!
So why the safe distance, this curious look?
Why tear out single pages when you can throw away the book?
Why pluck one string when you can strum the guitar?

Strum the guitar!
Strum the guitar!
Strum the guitar... with no beginning, with no end.
Take down the guitar and strum the guitar!
Strum the guitar if you're afraid.
And I'm afraid and everyone's afraid and everyone knows it,
But we don't have to be afraid anymore.

You played the flute, but no one was dancing,
You sang a sad song... but none of us cried.
You played the flute, but no one was dancing,
And you sang a sad song, and none of us cried.
You played the flute, but no one was dancing,
You sang a sad song... but none of us cried.
You played the flute, but no one was dancing,
And you sang a sad song... you sang such a sad song.


and a My epic song that is amazing:
3.Lest We Die

My neighbor is a better man than I, and from your hands do all good things derive. So if my heart should swell, and of itself think well, then humble me till I am fully thine. There's war within my fragile skin, a violent revolt for mastery over my soul. Control is the strong man's hoax-skill and wealth are my only hope - a selfish grasping for worthless thrones, and it tells me I am greatest. So I gave it not one inch. Still it spread throughout my limbs, for my solace in the victory was the proof of my defeat. Who is worth anything apart from you? Who could own anything? I've been turning wine to water and crippling my healthy brothers. I'm walking on the ocean floor and stirring up the fiercest storms. no, I did not pour out these tides or tell these planets to allign. My breath could never give new life, so why am I so full of pride?

[Azier the Swordsman]

Some background for this song; it was written by a man who suffered from a severe stuttering condition all his life who went on to become one of the most popular musicians of his time. He went through all the normal depression one would have being caused by one with such a condition and a severe drinking problem, before overcoming his adversity and using his life and music to impact others.

The following song, his most famous one, directly addresses his adversities and is a call to the rest of us, that no matter what we face, no matter how severely our shortcomings can seem to mar our dreams, everything is possible and not to kill our dreams before we even give them a chance to even try and birth them.

Naturally, I first heard this song during a time I was going through some minor depression among certain goal setbacks, and for some reason found myself reading the Wiki on the artist, and through it all, I could just feel the Holy Spirit speaking to me through the biography and the music and giving me encouragement.

(Scatting by Scatman John)
I'm the Scatman
(Scatting by Scatman John)
I'm the Scatman
(Scatting by Scatman John)
Everybody stutters one way or the other
So check out my message to you.
As a matter of fact don't let nothin' hold you back.
If the Scatman can do it so can you.
Everybody's sayin' that the Scatman stutters
But doesn't ever stutter when he sings.
But what you don't know I'm gonna tell you right now
That the stutter and the scat is the same thing.
Yo I'm the Scatman.
Where's the Scatman ? I'm the Scatman.
Why should we be pleasin' all the politician heathens
Who would try to change the seasons if they could?
The state of the condition insults my intuitions
And it only makes me crazy and my heart like wood.
Everybody stutters one way or the other
So check out my message to you.
As a matter of fact don't let nothin' hold you back.
If the Scatman can do it brother so can you.
I'm the Scatman.
(Scatting by Scatman John)
Everybody stutters one way or the other
So check out my message to you.
As a matter of fact don't let nothin' hold you back.
If the Scatman can do it brother so can you.
I'm the Scatman.
I hear you all ask 'bout the meaning of scat.
Well I'm the professor and all I can tell you is
While you're still sleepin' the saints are still weepin' cause
Things you call dead haven't yet had the chance to be born.
I'm the Scatman.
(Scatting by Scatman John)
I'm the Scatman....repeat after me
It's a scoobie oobie doobie scoobie doobie melody
I'm the Scatman....repeat after me
It's a scoobie oobie doobie scoobie doobie melody
(Scatting by Scatman John)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpHLEm9-0bg

[GeneD]

"Good Monsters" by Jars of Clay, specifically this part:

Not all monsters are bad
But the ones who are good
Never do what they could, never do what they could

All the good monsters rattle their chains
And dance around the open flames
They make a lot of empty noise

While all of the bright eyes turn away
As if there wasn't anything to say
About the justice and the mystery

Do you know what you are?
Do you know what you are?
We are bored of all the things that we know
And we are forms of everything we love, we love..

If good won't show its ugly face,
Evil won't you take your place?
Nothing ever changes, nothing ever changes
By itself

And "Oh My God" also by Jars of Clay:

Sometimes I cannot forgive
And these days, mercy cuts so deep
If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep
While I lay, I dream we're better,
Scales were gone and faces light
When we wake, we hate our brother
We still move to hurt each other
Sometimes I can close my eyes,
And all the fear that keeps me silent falls below my heavy breathing,
What makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder
We all feel the need for wonder
We still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the thunder

Sometimes when I lose my grip, I wonder what to make of heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give
Babies underneath their beds
Hospitals that cannot treat all the wounds that money causes,
All the comforts of cathedrals
All the cries of thirsty children - this is our inheritance
All the rage of watching mothers - this is our greatest offense

[ich1990]

"Admission: Regret" by As Cities Burn

so I hear there's a whole world out there
but I've grown to love this bed too much to leave it
if love really drives out fear
then I pray it's her voice I've been hearing outside my door

one more time, love, won't you come remind me
I'm someone believed in
I'm someone still within your reach
'cause all I've got is sleep
against my fear of being swept away
by the wind, the undertow, and thought

regret

so I hear there's a whole world out there
but I've grown to love this bed too much to leave it
I keep hearing about this world out there
come untie me from this bed
come untie me from the wicked things I love

awake! awake in the company of men given something to say
give me a servant's heart and a tongue to obey
awake! come wind
awake! come thought
tired head, take up your mat,
take your mat and walk

[Fish and Chips]

Why Does the Sun Shine - They Might Be Giants

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

The sun is hot, the sun is not
A place where we could live
But here on Earth there'd be no life
Without the light it gives

We need its light
We need its heat
We need its energy
Without the sun, without a doubt
There'd be no you and me

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

The sun is hot
It is so hot that everything on it is a gas:
iron, copper, aluminum, and many others.

The sun is large
If the sun were hollow, a million Earths could fit inside.
And yet, the sun is only a middle-sized star.

The sun is far away
About 93 million miles away, and that's why it looks so small.

And even when it's out of sight
The sun shines night and day

The sun gives heat
The sun gives light
The sunlight that we see
The sunlight comes from our own sun's
Atomic energy

Scientists have found that the sun is a huge atom-smashing machine. The heat and light of the sun come from the nuclear reactions of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and helium.

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

[mechana2015]

A good portion of Anberlin's songs cause me to think a lot, especially their Cities album, but also their song 'A day late', since it reminds me of one of my best friends.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Well, the one that's really getting me recently is called "Falling Into Place" by The Afters. I'll bold the lines that are especially making me think.

It was raining on the sun
The ground beneath my feet was crumbling
Day and night had come undone
It was the season of my wandering

Somehow, somewhere
You found me there
It was the moment that it all became clear

I was on the edge
Of a distant world
A shattered life
With nowhere left to turn
Till I saw you there
And everything I thought had gone to waste
Was falling into place
Falling into place

It's finally quiet in my head
As I lay the pieces at your feet
It's finally starting to make sense
I guess I found the missing part of me

I was on the edge
Of a distant world
A shattered life
With nowhere left to turn
Till I saw you there
And everything I thought had gone to waste
Was falling into place
Falling into place
Falling into

Oceans that I almost drowned in
I had to lose it all
Just so I could find out you were there
To break my fall

In the season of my wandering

I was on the edge
Of a distant world
A shattered life
With nowhere left to turn
Till I saw you there
And everything I thought had gone to waste
Was falling, falling
On the edge
Of a distant world
A shattered life
With nowhere left to turn
Till I saw you there
And everything I thought had gone to waste
Was falling into place