Hey child, things are looking down.
That’s okay, you don’t need to win anyways.

I initially thought Patrick Watson’s “The Great Escape” was a song about suicide, but it clearly isn’t once you read the lyrics. It is about escaping from your chaotic life and getting away (perhaps to nature) and taking a deep breath and letting it all out. You feel a release. Realize that not everything has to be perfect in life and that these moments of escape are something to treasure.

This song shares a similar theme with Christopher Cross’ Sailing: Escape, it’s good for the soul. In “The Great Escape” the narrator goes for a drive, Cross goes sailing. Later, Bruce Springsteen will go for a ride on his motorcycle.

This song is exceptional due to the minimalism of the piano and voice recording. It sounds almost as if it was recorded live on an upright piano extemporaneously.  Just piano with just his delicate voice is a perfect mixture for a song like this were Watson is trying to talk about one emotion using not that many words. The piano playing is functional and fits the melody well. Production did well by leaving the song alone.

The Great Escape Lyrics

Bad day, looking for a way home,
Looking for the great escape.
Gets in his car and drives away,
Far from all the things that we are.
Puts on a smile and breathes it in
And breathes it out, he says,
Bye bye bye to all of the noise.

Oh, he says, bye bye bye to all of the noise.
Doo doo doo doo doo noo noo
Doo doo doo doo doo noo noo noo noo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo noo noo noo

Hey child, things are looking down.
That’s okay, you don’t need to win anyways.
Don’t be afraid, just eat up all the gray
And it will fade all away.
Don’t let yourself fall down.

Doo doo doo doo doo noo noo
Doo doo doo doo doo noo noo noo noo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo noo noo noo

Bad day, looking for the great escape.
He says, bad day, looking for the great escape.
On a bad day, looking for the great escape,
The great escape.

Songwriters: Watson Patrick

In this world I lock out all my worries and my fears/
In my room, in my room.

The Beach Boy’s “In My Room” was the song that marked the beginning of the glory days of their band. No longer were they a surfer and car band- now they were a rival to The Beatles and Stones. These are interesting lyrics from Brian Wilson—who would later become agoraphobic, essentially holing himself up in his room for years. Why? It made him feel safe.

The harmonies in “In My Room” are amazing—like all Beach Boys songs. They are unmatched in rock. The instrumentation is actually very minimal, even though it sounds like a wall of sound. The most distinctive instruments are the arpeggiated guitar throughout along with the harp at the very beginning. There appears to be an organ mixed very low. The only percussion appears to be a light high-hat or tambourine every four or so measures that is barely perceptible.

In My Room Lyrics

There’s a world where I can go and tell my secrets to
In my room, in my room
In this world I lock out all my worries and my fears
In my room, in my room

Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me/
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Bob Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man”-the original, and The Byrds’ “Mr Tambourine Man”-the folk rock version, are both equally deserving of mention. Dylan provides a couple extra verses and the lyrics are great- and tell a more complete picture of who this Mr Tambourine Man is.

Though he is not specifically clear, Dylan seems to describe Mr. Tambourine Man as a kind of muse. When he gets tired and is unable to sleep, Mr. Tambourine Man comes along and sings Dylan a song, and Dylan dances and sings along with him in Mr Tambourine Man’s shadow…seemingly creating music.

The Byrds version is great in that it tightens the song up to become a bigger radio hit. It is much more accessible. It also adds a few unique elements that are key to The Byrds sound: the twelve-string electric guitars and the harmonies in the chorus. There are many live Dylan versions that are good. I recommend his 1966 version at Live Free Trade Hall. He was on fire that night. Many of his best version of your favorites come from that night.

Mr. Tambourine Man Lyrics

Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you

Though I know that evening’s empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping
My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming

Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirling ship
My senses have been stripped
My hands can’t feel to grip
My toes too numb to step
Wait only for my boot heels to be wandering
I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade
Into my own parade
Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it

Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you

Though you might hear laughing, spinning, swinging madly across the sun
It’s not aimed at anyone
It’s just escaping on the run
And but for the sky there are no fences facing
And if you hear vague traces of skipping reels of rhyme
To your tambourine in time
It’s just a ragged clown behind
I wouldn’t pay it any mind
It’s just a shadow you’re seeing that he’s chasing

Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you
And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time
Far past the frozen leaves
The haunted frightened trees
Out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky
With one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate
Driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow

Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to
Hey! Mr. Tambourine man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come following you

written by Bob Dylan