Turned On The Lights, The TV, And The Radio

There was one song that immediately sprang to mind when I saw Jim’s theme for Song Lyric Sunday included “TV”.

I featured a Duran Duran track a few weeks ago on Song Lyric Sunday, which caused me to listen to some of our Duran Duran albums. This group experienced the fickle music industry, enjoying success and then a commercial slump. But their track “Ordinary World” with a very popular guitar solo rescued them from being written off I suppose.

I have always loved this song and I read it is was written from a place of grief. The lyrics are about losing a dear friend in death. The writer said that once he had penned the lyrics, he felt a sense of liberation. I think that sometimes those effected by painful grief desperately need to find a way to express it, and those who can express it in creative form tend to strike a chord with all of us.

Credits: John Nigel Taylor, Warren Cuccurullo, John Taylor, and Nick Rhodes

Came in from a rainy Thursday
On the avenue
Thought I heard you talking softly

I turned on the lights, the TV
And the radio
Still I can't escape the ghost of you

What has happened to it all?
Crazy, some'd say
Where is the life that I recognize?
Gone away

But I won't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Passion or coincidence
Once prompted you to say
"Pride will tear us both apart"
Well now pride's gone out the window
Cross the rooftops
Run away
Left me in the vacuum of my heart

What is happening to me?
Crazy, some'd say
Where is my friend when I need you most?
Gone away

But I won't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Papers in the roadside
Tell of suffering and greed
Here today, forgot tomorrow
Ooh, here besides the news
Of holy war and holy need
Ours is just a little sorrowed talk

And I don't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Every one
Is my world, I will learn to survive
Any one
Is my world, I will learn to survive
Any one
Is my world
Every one
Is my world

• The Topic On The Table