Roger Waters - 4:30 AM (Apparently They Were Travelling Abroad) & 4:33 AM (Running Shoes) (1984)

Born in Surrey, England in 1943, this rock legend was a founding member of the band Pink Floyd, in which he primarily played bass and shared the lead vocals with bandmate David Gilmour (who had joined the band later). Although the band had initially been under the psychedelic leadership of Syd Barrett, 1968 saw the departure of Barrett from the band due to mental illness and the rise of this man as the band’s leader and primary lyricist. Waters went on to write the lyrics and lead the band musically on albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, The Wall, and The Final Cut, with each of them reaching the number one spot in multiple countries around the world. In the mid-1980s, spawning from creative differences and a power struggle with David Gilmour over direction, Waters left Pink Floyd and sued to keep them from using the "Pink Floyd" name. An out-of-court settlement was finally achieved in 1987, but Waters didn’t play with the band again for another eighteen years. In September 2010, Waters began to take The Wall album on the road and backed it with a sixty-million dollar stage act to feature on tour. Currently, although the tour has periodic breaks, it is scheduled to continue throughout 2013.

In 1977, Waters came up with two ideas for concept albums. The first idea was titled Bricks in the Wall and the second was called The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking. Waters recorded some demos and played them for the other members of Pink Floyd, telling them that they could choose which one they could record as a band. He also informed them that whichever one they didn’t choose, he would release as a solo album. The band’s manager at the time, Steve O’Rourke, thought that Pros and Cons was a better concept; David Gilmour thought that Pros and Cons was better musically-speaking, too; but the band eventually decided that they would record Bricks in the Wall, eventually having it renamed to The Wall and released it in 1979.

Finally, in 1983, after Waters’ departure from Pink Floyd, he had the time to record his other visualized concept album, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking. Featuring the conductor Michael Kamen on piano and legendary guitarist Eric Clapton, the album was stylistically reminiscent of The Wall, but failed to achieve the same commercial success. The titles of the tracks on the album are noted for being named after a particular time of day, with two songs heard below, "4:30 AM" and "4:33 AM," being the opening tracks. If you were to start the album at exactly 4:30 AM, real-time, the titles of each passing song would correspond with the actual time of day. There were even a few extra seconds added after the last song of the first side, so to allow the listener time to flip the record (or cassette) over.

If you enjoy The Wall and these two opening tracks of Pros and Cons, I highly recommend you purchase the album so that you can hear the album in its entirety.



Roger Waters - 4:30 AM (Apparently They Were Travelling Abroad) & 4:33 AM (Running Shoes) (1984)

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"4:30 AM" Lyrics:

Apparently they were travelling abroad and they picked up some hitchhikers.

Drill.

Jade: "Oh God!"
Wife: "Wake up, you're dreaming."
Jade: "What?"
Wife: "You're dreaming."
Jade: "We were moving away from the border."
Wife: "Huh, what border?"

Jade: "Have a nice day."
Wife: "Huh?"
Jade: "Have a nice day."

We were moving away from the border
Looking for somewhere to sleep
The two of us sharing the driving
Two hitchhikers slumped in the back seat

Woman: "Hello."

I sneaked a quick look in the mirror
She gave me a smile
I said, “Is anyone hungry?”
“Should we stop for a while?”

So we pulled off into a layby
Her dress blew up over her head
I said, “Would you like to come with me?”
She said something foreign under her breath
And the sun shone down on her lovely young limbs
I thought to myself, “She's much too good for you”
I lay down beside her with tears in my eyes
She said

"4:33 AM" Lyrics:

So I stood by the roadside
The soles of my running shoes gripping
The tarmac like gunmetal magnets

Fixed on the front of her Fassbinder face
Was the kind of a smile
That only a rather dull child could have drawn

While attempting a graveyard in the moonlight
But she was impressed
You could see that she thought I looked fine

And when she turned sweeter
The reason, between you and me, was
She'd just seen my green Lamborghini

I think it was the Lamborghini

So we went for a spin in the country
To feel the wind in our hair
To feel the power of my engine
To feel the thrill of desire

And then in the trees, I heard a twig snap
Warning lights flashed on my map
I opened my eyes and to my surprise
There were Arabs with knives at the front of the bed
Right at the front of the bed

Oh, my God, how did they get in here?
I thought we were safe, home in England
She said, “Come on now, kid, it was wrong what ya did”
“You've got to admit it was wrong what ya did”
“You've got to admit it was wrong”

Jade: "Oh god! Jesus..."

The Traveling Wilburys - Handle with Care (1988)

Looking to create a B-side for his upcoming solo release, “This Is Love,” George Harrison got together with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty to work on some ideas. Needing a place to record, they went to the home of Bob Dylan, who had a home recording studio nearby where they all happened to be. That session resulted in such a good track (heard below), that Harrison suggested they form a supergroup and release an entire album. All of them agreed and what resulted was the greatest commercial supergroup of the decade.

The title of this song came about when Harrison saw a box that had been lying around in Dylan’s garage. It was used as the first track on their first album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, and was the most success Dylan, Lynne, and Orbison had seen in years. Sadly, it was also the last release in Orbison’s lifetime, as it came out less than two months prior to his passing.



The Traveling Wilburys - Handle with Care (1988)

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Lyrics:

Been beat up and battered around
Been sent up and I've been shot down
You're the best thing that I've ever found
Handle me with care

Reputations changeable
Situations tolerable
But baby, you're adorable
Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?

Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine and dream on

I've been fobbed off and I've been fooled
I've been robbed and ridiculed
In daycare centers and night schools
Handle me with care

Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized
Overexposed, commercialized
Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?

Everybody got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine and dream on

I've been uptight and made a mess
But I'll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh, the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care

John Lennon - Watching the Wheels [Demo] (1980)

This is the man that started The Beatles, whose writing partnership with Paul McCartney resulted in the greatest and most successful songs of the 20^th century, and who, as a solo artist, wrote iconic rallying songs such as “Give Peace a Chance” and “Imagine,” in hopes of creating a better world. Like all of The Beatles and other top artists of the ‘60s and ‘70s, there isn’t enough space on this page to give him the credit and respect that he earned.

From 1975 until 1980, Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, put their musical careers on hold to raise their newborn son, Sean. This song is the acoustic demo of what was meant to be a response to those who questioned Lennon’s brief retirement to become a “househusband”. The finalized recording would later appear on his album, Double Fantasy, in 1980, and again as a posthumous single in 1981.



John Lennon - Watching the Wheels [Demo] (1980)

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Lyrics:

People say I'm crazy doin’ what I'm doin’
They give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin
And when I say that I'm okay, well, they look at me kind of strange
“Surely, you're not happy now; you no longer play the game”

Ah, people say I'm lazy dreamin’ my life away
Well, they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me
I tell ‘em that I'm doin’ fine watchin’ shadows on the wall
“Well, don't you miss the big time, boy? You're no longer on the ball”

I'm just sittin’ here makin’ the wheels go ‘round and ‘round
I love to watch them roll
No longer ridin’ on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

People asking questions, lost in confusion
Well, I tell them there's no problem, only solutions
Well, they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry, I'm just sittin’ here doin’ time

I'm just sittin’ here watching the wheels go ‘round and ‘round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

I just had to let it go