Can You Help The Ones You Really Love

[Bjorn Ciggaar <ciggaar@warande.net>]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in analysing this song... It
has been fascinating me for a while now... Since I heard it life at
Sadler's Wells, and especially since the B&N chat:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/community/archive/transcript.asp?userid=2U0YEK
4PNB&eventId=2201

Where I asked this:
Bjorn Ciggaar from The Netherlands: Pete, what's the story behind your
latest song, "Can You Help
The Ones You Really Love"? I loved hearing it live at Sadler's Wells. I
reckon you played that song on
a Fylde at Sadler's Wells? 

PT: Fylde it was. The story behind the song is this -- if you had found
your Lifehouse (a place you felt
your journey might end in joy and fulfillment), would you be able to
persuade your parents to join you?

Now I have written Pete a lot about my parents being not into The Who and
think it's a waste of money to "run off to the USA and see some old
geezers" (while they didn't even know the ticket prices!!!). So that
answered freaked me out quite a bit...

And at Tweeter Center in Boston I was crying out for Daltrey's song:
"Crossroads Now!" Daltrey looked at me, faced Pete and pointed at me
saying: "Pete, what does he want? Does he want to sell you something?" and
Pete looked at me, smiled and said: "He wants me to play Can You Help The
Ones You Really Love, but... No. I'm not doing it.". (I NEED AN AUDIO OF
THAT!!! Can anyone with a boot from this show tell me what the exact words
where???)
I didn't get it untill we headed home; he fucking knows me. :-)

Anyway; I was listening to the songs again and I was wondering if anyone
wants to help me in writing the lyrics down. So far I got this. The section
between "[]" is my analysation:

---
You can be cool with anyone
You can be cool with any kind of fool
You can be a fool with someone you met on the subway
You can be cool it ain't no... (?)
You can be cool, it can be easy to be nice to those you don't even know

[this is where Pete talkes about finding your own Lifehouse]

But can you
Can you help the one you love

[but can you persuade your parents?]

It's easy to put money in a beggars hat
It's easy to try to be chicken and that is that (?)
It's easy to walk by or even shed a tear

[it's easy to do those things that are either seen as "hard" to do or
good/social to do, it's "easy" to be emotionally involved in society]

But can you help
The one, the one you really love
Can you help the one you really love

[but is it also easy in your family?]

It's easy to be brave it's easy to be angry
It's easier to fail when there's no-one in your harm

[again, this social and emotional involvement is "easy", compared to
persuade or explain Lifehouse to your parents]

When you get up you feel good
You take your vitamine pills
You eat your shredded weat
And you read about the kills

And you wash your hands of the world
Think about some girl
And you wonder as you always have
Can you help
Can you help
Can you help the one you really love

[in a world where you just try to survive yourself; you just mind your own
bussiness, keep a lot of things to yourself... you can feel sympathy... but
still wonder how to get your parents to see the Lifehouse]

It's easy to be kind
It's easy to be right when no-one knows the details of your life
It's easy to be upright when no-one knows the truth that lies behind the pages

[from the outside you look like a social and nice person and you get
treated like one; while actually that is just the outside that people see.
I think this part is not about the cliche "I'm not a nice guy at all" but
about that people don't really know other people; they just heard stories
and saw what was going on and based their opinion upon that]

And what you write in your newspaper when you condemn when you judge when
you sneer when you call
When you call out for a revolution
Or you call out for a bloodbath or a witch hunt

[you can scream, you can fight, you can sing "WGFA"]

But I ask you this now
Can you help the one you really love?
Can you help the one, can you help the one, can you help the one you really
love?
---

Ideas anyone? Or improvements?

Cheers, 

Bjorn Ciggaar
http://www.warande.net/~ciggaar
ICQ: 42485471
IM: Roughboy905
FAX: +31 208732850