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Thursday, March 10, 2011

After last night's interview, I've had a lot of people asking for the lyrics to the songs I played. Rather than responding to every email individually I'll post them here. As I've also had several requests to explain the movie references in Last Plane to Lisbon, a brief breakdown is posted below as well. Enjoy

*all songs are copyrighted 2008-2011 Jordan Eastman Music*

The Devil Wears a Smile
                               

I promised to love you and I did
I swore that I would give you, girl, everything I had to give                                       
And you gave your word that you'd always be mine
For always and forever right until the end of time...but how you lied

I swore that I’d honor and protect
I’d give you all my love and kindness, passion and respect
And you gave your word that you'd stand at my side
Through sickness and in health, riches and when I can’t provide
                   
Now you're gone and I’ve lost everything that I held close
They say the Devil wears a smile and pointed horns…but I can see…
That the Devil is a woman and that woman’s got a hold of me

On bended knee I begged you to be mine
You took my ring and said that you'd forever be my bride
But forever doesn’t mean always to one as cold as you
You walked away as quickly as you swore to say I do
…I see through you…

Still you burn, burn like a fire that erases each beautiful memory
Breaking hearts and stealing desires you consume 'till you've broken each part of me
Still I pray that the fire will have no desire to hold you too...the way I once held you


The Boxer
                         

You were an angel sent to the ground by the Lord in the skies up above
Wrapped in arms with a boxer whose beatings surround but you took the bruises in the name of your love
You were silent and graceful and faced every blow with a prayer- hoping he’d someday change things
You’d bandage your wounds after all you could bare
You took count of your scars with a true soldier’s pride as you cleaned off the blood in the mirror
When he’d finally collapse you would pray to someday be free

You’d say nothing on earth lasts forever - soon I’ll be released from this pain
You’d cling to your bible that lay by your bed saying someday this is all gonna change
You’d cover your scars as you walked through the streets
To the old wooden church where the choir would meet
Where you’d beg to learn to forgive the cause of your bleeding

You were clinging to the edge of a prayer - saying someday all this hurting will change 
He’s still the man he used to be - he’s just lost himself along the way
When he finds his way back home I'll bid my hurting and my sorrow goodbye
Black eyes couldn’t blind your faith and the bleeding couldn’t make hope die
You carried everything, with grace. You could withstand anything…

You were a lamb with the strength of a lion full of grace not a beating could tear
You stood while he broke you down and in response all you whispered were prayers
You thought of the days when you were young and you wondered what happened
When you fell in love with a man who swore that he never would leave
But those days now are gone and he constantly swears that he’s changing
But the bottle’s a gun and it slaughters the man of your dreams
Now nothing he says you believe anymore...
(chorus)

You carried everything with grace. You’d withstood everything. 
He came home one night to greet your goodbye and the vision of an old suitcase 
You’d carried everything but he couldn’t change

The phone rang hard in that hotel room saying Daddy’s driving all over town
His prizefighting days are over he claims that he’s never gonna ever let you down ever again
It’s over - you win - let’s wipe clear the past and start over again
Though your arms both were broken you had carried him high in your prayers
As you whispered goodbye I watched tears leave your eyes as you were freed from the burdens you’d felt
He fell to his knees watching you finally leave every beating and bruise that he'd dealt
He was the boxer, momma, but in the end you won the belt


Silhouette the Sky
                                  

Alone tonight beneath these devil painted skies
Once for love I was protected now for the same at dawn I’ll lose my life
I'm torn back to the memories that I hide
Soon to be erased by gallows where the hangman’s noose is tied

I close my eyes as my regrets play in black and white
Just like a film noir of my life - the devil sleeps with me tonight

As my door swings open wide so soon I’ll silhouette the sky 
Through a deafening sound like thunder above the crowd I can hear my mother cry
My chains sing an eerie chorus in the wind 
To the rhythm of a healthy, beating heart that’s soon to end
They’re singing: 
Step by step, beat by beat, soon this dust will be replaced with air beneath my feet
            
I can feel the sun’s embrace falling softly on my neck so soon to be replaced…

I feel a burn on my neck moments before my last breath
May God have mercy on my soul as I am ferried to death
The judges deafening cry to let this murderer die
I should have hung up my guns before I hung up my life



Last Plane to Lisbon
        
I’ve kissed you half a million times in the backseat of my dreams
And in my head you’re hand in hand with me
I must have watched a million times my scripted movie scenes
Where we fall in love and it winds up perfectly
But a girl don’t need a boy whose name is in lights
When there is someone else out there for her who can come home every night
A girl should never have to miss her man
So settle down with a loving boy and put a diamond on your hand

I wish that I was selfish enough to beg you please
 take my hand and destroy your life with me
But just like Bogey’s classic lines on Casablanca’s screen;
 I love you, girl, enough to let you leave
Still I die a bit inside when I think about your smile
 but I smile, baby, dying just for you
I wonder when you’re lonely do you think of me awhile
 if you’re wondering the same, well girl, I do - think of you

I can be your Woody Allen if you’ll be my sweet Diane 
We can kiss beneath Manhattan stars if you say that I’m your man
I’ll be the bravest lion, girl, if you’ll walk my yellow road
I hear there’s one more plane for Lisbon - let’s go
I’d love to beg you, Princess, to come and be my bride
But we’d collapse like Rhett and Scarlett running like Bonnie and Clyde
So I’ll drink the poison water so you think that I have died
And I won’t drag you through this wandering world of mine

I wish that I was selfish enough to beg you please
 take my hand and destroy your life with me
But just like Bogey’s classic lines on Casablanca’s screen;
 I love you, girl, enough to let you leave
So I dress you up in Tiffany’s in my streetcar of desire
Where you’re the Audrey Hepburn starlet in my mind
But when I awake I paint my face and end it all in fire;
Only to dream again that night that you were mine
There’s one more plane for Lisbon and you’re boarding it with him
Here’s one more last goodbye I guess this is how it ends
Here’s the last plane to Lisbon so I’ll fake a smile as you climb aboard with him
And kiss you softly in my mind  - here’s lookin’ at you kid…

Okay...
As a general rule, the entire song takes the final scene in Casablanca where Humphrey Bogart makes it possible for Ingrid Bergman to leave on the last plane to Lisbon, despite their being in love, as it's better for her and draws a parallel with a real life attraction that is hindered by career paths, circumstances, etc.
Verse II is full of movie references with similar or comparable themes:

'Bogey's classic lines on Casablanca's screen...' - the entire story of Casablanca is about loving someone and letting them go because it's best for them. Humphrey Bogart lets Ingrid Bergman leave with another despite his being in love with her.

Woody Allen and Diane Keaton/"kiss beneath Manhattan stars" -  Diane Keaton stared in several comedies with her costar/director/boyfriend Woody Allen including a dark/romantic comedy called Manhattan.

"Be the bravest lion if you walk my yellow road" - The cowardly lion, brainless scarecrow and heartless tin-man walk the yellow brick road with Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz

"One more plane for Lisbon..." - The plot of Casablanca revolves around attempting to catch the last plane to Lisbon

"Beg you, Princess, to come and be my bride" - play on the title of 1987 film The Princess Bride

"Rhett and Scarlett" - Tragic love affair from Gone with the Wind between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'hara

"Bonnie and Clyde" - 1967 film staring Warren Beatty and Fay Dunaway based off the life and death of a 1930's era gang of outlaw lovers.

"Drink the poison water so you think that I have died..." Juliet drinks serum that makes her appear dead in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

"dress you up in Tiffany's" - Tiffany's is a jewelry store featured in the 1967 Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany's

"in my streetcar of desire" - A Streetcar Named Desire: 1951 Elia Kazan film staring Marlon Brando/Vivien Leigh based of Tennessee Williams play by the same name

"When I awake I paint my face and end it all in fire..." - in Jean-Luc Godard's 1967 film Pierrot Le Fou, Jean-Paul Belmondo's character (Pierrot) paints his face with blue paint prior to blowing himself up over the loss of his girlfriend.

"Here's one more last goodbye" - Line whispered by Bogart before bidding goodbye to Bergman in Casablanca's final scene

"Here's lookin' at you kid..." - line used throughout Bogart and Bergman's love affair in Casablanca


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