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Our narrator is trying to assure us that the bruises on them is from walking into a door “again.” Excuses are common from victims of domestic or child abuse, but the fact that they end with the word “again” leads to making us believe that this child is clumsy to hide the fact that they are being abused.

Abusing a child is a considered a crime in many developed countries in the world. To keep from being prosecuted many abusive parents will condition their children to keep quiet about their wounds and use excuses to protect themselves from further abuse or death.

“It’s not your business anyway” could mean two things: Either Luka doesn’t want to burden the other person or more likely he wants the other person not to interfere in Luka’s problems because nobody should know, Luka doesn’t think that could help or is afraid, his parents will get angrier when they find out, Luka made the other person privy to it.

In 2013, Spanish marketing group Grey Spain produced a brilliant advert that took advantage of the height difference between children and adults to advertise an anonymous helpline for abused children.

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The last song and the third cover on Billy Joel’s 1997 compilation, Greatest Hits, Volume III, was written by Leonard Cohen. The cover was originally recorded for a Leonard Cohen tribute album, Tower of Song, released in 1995.

It was never released as a single.

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She stands before you naked
You can see it, you can taste it
And she comes to you light as the breeze
Now you can drink it or you can nurse it
It don't matter how you worship
As long as you're
Down on your knees

So I knelt there at the delta
At the alpha and the omega
At the cradle of the river and the seas
And like a blessing come from heaven
For something like a second
I was healed and my heart
Was at ease

O baby I waited
So long for your kiss
For something to happen
Oh something like this

And you're weak and you're harmless
And you're sleeping in your harness
And the wind going wild
In the trees
And it ain't exactly prison
But you'll never be forgiven
For whatever you've done
With the keys

O baby I waited ...

It's dark now and it's snowing
O my love I must be going
The river has started to freeze
And I'm sick of pretending
I'm broken from bending
I've lived too long on my knees

Then she dances so graceful
And your heart's hard and hateful
And she's naked
But that's just a tease
And you turn in disgust
From your hatred and from your love
And comes to you
Light as the breeze

O baby I waited ...

There's blood on every bracelet
You can see it, you can taste it
And it's Please baby
Please baby please
She says, Drink deeply, pilgrim
Don't forget there's still a woman
Beneath this resplendent chemise

So I knelt there at the delta
At the alpha and the omega
I knelt there like one who believes
And the blessings came from heaven
For something like a second
I was cured and my heart was at ease
Billy Joel – Light as the Breeze

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Track sixteen of 1997’s Greatest Hits, Volume III is the second cover on the album. This time, the Freddie Scott classic gets a Billy Joel spin that closely resembles the soulful feel that was first embedded by songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1963.

Joel chose to record it when he and his wife Christie Brinkley split and were moving out:

I had split up with Christie and my daughter was going to live far away, and I was very sad. When I was singing that song, that’s who I was singing to, my little girl."

The song peaked at #13 on Billboard’s Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart in 1997.

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The first of three cover songs on the third volume of Billy Joel’s greatest hits compilations, track fifteen on 1997’s Greatest Hits, Volume III was originally written by Bob Dylan. The song remained unreleased until this version, and it hit #50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the Top Adult Contemporary charts.

Bob Dylan would later release it the same year on his own album, Time Out of Mind which would win the 1998 Grammy for Album of the Year.

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“Hey Girl” is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and first recorded by Freddie Scott in 1963. It has been a chart-topper for many artists over time:

  • Freddie Scott’s version peaked at #10 on both Billboard Pop Singles and R&B charts.

  • The Righteous Brothers recorded a version in 1966.

  • Donny Osmond recorded a version in 1972 that hit #9, one place higher than Scott’s, on the Billboard Hot 100.

  • Carole King, one of the original songwriters, recorded it for her album Pearls in 1980.

  • Billy Joel would later cover it for Greatest Hits, Volume III.

  • Ray Charles recorded a version with Michael MacDonald and was included in the posthumous album Genius Loves Company, which won the Grammy for Best Album of the Year in 2005.

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In the German legend Faust, the main character is a famous scholar with an everlasting thirst for knowledge. He calls upon the devil to quench the thirst, and makes a deal with his representative, Mephistopheles.

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The key to understanding the “pain” in the lyrics is to personify the objects being subjected to their torture.

The black hat stuck in a tree is almost literally “pinned” to the tree, and the sharp limbs can rip the hat open.

Same goes for the flag pole rag. Imagine an everlasting wind keeping you extended from the pole, the force causing you to flail in many directions at once. Neither of these examples are pleasant when personified.

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