From "Saturday" by Built to Spill.

"And I hope you're not like us. And by 'us', I mean everyone in the world who isn't you."

There are great lines all over the new Thermals album. I'll restrain myself to just four.

"God told his son 'It's time to come home
I promise you won't have to die all alone
I need you to pay for the sins I create'
Son said 'I will but Dad, I'm afraid.'"
-Here's Your Future

"Good luck getting God on the phone
Good luck getting even a tone."
-An Ear For Baby

"I forgot I needed God like a Big Brother."
-Returning To The Fold (this one is especially great in the context of the album's Orwellian concept).

"Our power doesn't run on nothing
It runs on blood
And blood is easy to obtain
When you have no shame."
-Our Power Doesn't Run On Nothing.

Also, The Long Winters "Hindsight" is a candidate for song of the year, at least from a lyrical standpoint. Practically every line is stunning. Some selections:

"Are you still training for the big race
by hoping the runners will die?"

"And if I hold you now will I be holding a snowball
when the season changes and I'm craving the sun?"

"You never told me your secrets
so I guess they stay safe with me"

"If you're my anchor then I'm throwing you over the side
before I have the time to say
I never wanted anyone this way."

The Levee's Gonna Break by Bob Dylan


If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
Everybody saying this is a day only the Lord could make

Well, I worked on the levee, Mama, both night and day
I worked on the levee, Mama, both night and day
I got to the river and I threw my clothes away

I paid my time and now I'm good as new,
I paid my time and now I'm as good as new.
They can't take me back unless I want 'em to

If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
Some of these people gonna strip you of all they can take

I can't stop here I ain't ready to unload
I can't stop here I ain't ready to unload
Riches and salvation can be waiting behind the next bend in the road

I picked you up from the gutter and this is the thanks I get
I picked you up from the gutter and this is the thanks I get
You say you want me to quit ya, I told ya, 'No, not just yet.'

Well, I look in your eyes, I see nobody other than me
I look in your eyes, I see nobody other than me
I see all that I am and all I hope to be

If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
Some of these people don't know which road to take

When I'm with you, I forget I was ever blue
When I'm with you, I forget I was ever blue
Without you there's no meaning in anything I do

Some people on the road carryin' everything that they own
Some people on the road carryin' everything they own
Some people got barely enough skin to cover their bones

Put on your cat clothes, mama, put on your evening dress
Put on your cat clothes, mama, put on your evening dress
Few more years of hard work, then there'll be a 1,000 years of happiness

If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
I tried to get you to love me, but I won't repeat that mistake

If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
Plenty of cheap stuff out there and still around that you take

I woke up this morning, butter and eggs in my bed
I woke up this morning, butter and eggs in my bed
I ain't got enough room to even raise my head.

Come back, baby, say we never more will part
Come back, baby, say we never more will part
Don't be a stranger with no brain or heart

If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break
Some people still sleepin', some people are wide awake


"Ain't Talkin'" by Bob Dylan


As I walked out tonight in the mystic garden
The wounded flowers were dangling from the vine
I was passing by yon cool crystal fountain
Someone hit me from behind

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
Through this weary world of woe
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
No one on earth would ever know

They say prayer has the power to heal
So pray from the mother
In the human heart an evil spirit can dwell
I am a-tryin' to love my neighbor and do good unto others
But oh, mother, things ain't going well

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
I'll burn that bridge before you can cross
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
There'll be no mercy for you once you've lost

Now I'm all worn down by weeping
My eyes are filled with tears, my lips are dry
If I catch my opponents ever sleeping
I'll just slaughter 'em where they lie

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
Through the world mysterious and vague
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Walkin' through the cities of the plague.

Well, the whole world is filled with speculation
The whole wide world which people say is round
They will tear your mind away from contemplation
They will jump on your misfortune when you're down

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
Eatin' hog eyed grease in a hog eyed town.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Some day you'll be glad to have me around.

They will crush you with wealth and power
Every waking moment you could crack
I'll make the most of one last extra hour
I'll revenge my father's death then I'll step back

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
Hand me down my walkin' cane.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Got to get you out of my miserable brain.

All my loyal and my much-loved companions
They approve of me and share my code
I practice a faith that's been long abandoned
Ain't no altars on this long and lonesome road

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
My mule is sick, my horse is blind.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Thinkin' 'bout that gal I left behind.

Well, it's bright in the heavens and the wheels are flyin'
Fame and honor never seem to fade
The fire gone out but the light is never dyin'
Who says I can't get heavenly aid?

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
Carryin' a dead man's shield
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Walkin' with a toothache in my heel

The sufferin' is unending
Every nook and cranny has its tears
I'm not playing, I'm not pretending
I'm not nursin' any superfluous fears

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
Walkin' ever since the other night.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
Walkin' 'til I'm clean out of sight.

As I walked out in the mystic garden
On a hot summer day, a hot summer lawn
Excuse me, ma'am, I beg your pardon
There's no one here, the gardener is gone

Ain't talkin', just walkin'
Up the road, around the bend.
Heart burnin', still yearnin'
In the last outback at the world's end.

From Destroyer's Rubies:

quote:

When I'm at war I insist on a slaughter and getting it on with
the hangman's daughter.
She needs release.
She needs to feel at peace with her father, the fucking maniac...

Surprised no one here has mentioned Art Brut, which is just loaded with Silly Lyrical Gems. I Laugh out Loud everytime I here lines like...

"We're going to be the band that writes the song, that make Isreal and the Palestinians get along."

"And I saw her naked...Twice!"

"I'm so sick of the sound of the Velvet Underground, It was enough the first time around" Followed by blatantly reverent Heroin-Styled electric Viola Solo.

But as far as most slyly subversive lyrical twist, I have to go with Ghostfaces "Kilo" which presents a discussion on Cocaine trafficing as so basic to the Black-American experience that it deserves it's own Grammar School Rock commerical (which the song completely apes structurally).

"...and sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live/when you were young"

From "When You Were Young" by the Killers.

It's not the most clever or witty or insightful lyric, but it corresponds to real life. I've been having these weird memories about being younger, and old houses, old friends, old dreams lost. That lyric is dead-on what I feel: strange flickers of nostalgia.

From "Let The Devil In" by TV On The Radio:
"Is it a waste of time, please tell me if you mind
Me dipping into useless sentimentality
A rant on how things used to be when this s**t was free
I answered my own question, I can hear the crickets yawning."



I laughed the first time I heard that, and it's still funny.

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:
"...and sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live/when you were young"

From "When You Were Young" by the Killers.

It's not the most clever or witty or insightful lyric, but it corresponds to real life. I've been having these weird memories about being younger, and old houses, old friends, old dreams lost. That lyric is dead-on what I feel: strange flickers of nostalgia.

Is that their new single? "When you were young" are the first four words from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea...

Well, I had to pick one of my favorite lines from Ys. This is from "Sawdust and Diamonds":

And the moment I slept I was swept up in a terrible tremor
Though no longer bereft, how I shook and I couldn't remember
Then the furthermost shake drove a murdering stake in
And cleft me right down through my center
And I shouldn't say so, but I know that it was then... or never......

I could pick a million from Boys and Girls In America, but I'll settle for these, from "Stuck Between Stations":

"she said 'you're pretty good with words but words won't save your life'
and they didn't, so he died...

he was drunk and exhausted but he was critically acclaimed and respected..."

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:
"she said 'you're pretty good with words but words won't save your life'
and they didn't, so he died...

I like that right before that, Finn sings, "There was that night that we thought that John Berryman could fly, but he didn’t, so he died."

It references the Jim Carroll Band's "People Who Died", where Carroll sings, "'Hey,' Herbie said, 'Tony, can you fly?' But Tony couldn't fly, Tony died."

I absolutely love Craig Finn's storytelling on "Chillout Tent". My favorite line is the "climax" of the story, so to speak:

"They started kissing when the nurses took off their IVs/It was kinda sexy, but it was kinda creepy/Their mouths were fizzy with the cherry cola/They had the privacy of bedsheets and all the other kids were mostly in comas."

And this line from "Wolf Like Me" by TV On The Radio:

"Charge me your day rate/I'll turn you out in kind/When the moon is round and full/Gonna teach you tricks that'll blow your mongrel mind/Baby doll, I recognize/You're a hideous thing inside/If ever there were a lucky kind it's you, you, you, you."

Those are the two that stick out in my mind right now.

"Stuck Between Stations" from The Hold Steady's Boys & Girls in America. The second verse is awesome:

"The Devil and John Berryman, they took a walk together
And they ended up on Washington, talking to the river
He said, 'I surrounded myself with doctors and deep thinkers,
But big heads and soft bodies make for lousy lovers.'

There was that night that we thought that John Berryman could fly
But he didn't so he died
She said, 'You're pretty good with words but words won't change your life.'
And they didn't so he died

And he was drunk and exhausted but he was critically acclaimed and respected
He loved the golden gophers but he hated all the drawn out winters
He likes the warm feeling but he's tired of all the dehydration
Most nights are kind of fuzzy but that last night he had total retention

These Twin Cities kisses
They sound like clicks and hisses
We all fell down and drowned in the Mississippi River"

quote:

Originally posted by less_success:
"Stuck Between Stations" from The Hold Steady's Boys & Girls in America. The second verse is awesome:

He loved the golden gophers but he hated all the drawn out winters

Golden Gophers: a reference, to those who don't know, to the mascot for the University of Minnesota. A great line, a great song, a brilliant record.

There's that other line from that album: I've had kisses that make Judas seem sincere. Hah, pretty clever.

TV on the Radio's "I Was A Lover" has a few gems:

"I was a lover before this war, held up in a luxury suite behind a well barricaded door"

"We're just busy tempting, like fate's on the nod, running on empty, bourbon and God.
It's been a while since we knew the way and it's been even longer since our plastic priest class had a Goddamned thing to say"

"we had a three volume tome of contemporary slang to keep a handle on all this jive"

quote:

Originally posted by paxsoprano:
There's that other line from that album: I've had kisses that make Judas seem sincere. Hah, pretty clever.

lots of people are calling the hook from chips ahoy! a generation defining slogan of sorts:

"how am i supposed to know if your high if you don't let me touch you?"

not my favorite line from the record ("it started in the vestibule and ended in the hospital" is a scream) but i think its interesting that this slice is getting so much recognition

I would just like to give another "amen" to the people who listed that line from "Stuck Between Stations"..."'you're pretty good with words but words won't save your life,' and they didn't so he died." Looks like that's the consensus for best line of the year, hah.

Reading these quotes from TV on the Radio is pretty amazing, it seems like I can't ever tell what he's saying and I had no idea there were such brilliant lines in there.

Now for some of my other favorites...this could take a while:

Belle and Sebastian "Another Sunny Day" - "So what went wrong? It was a lie, it crumbled apart/Ghost figures of past, present, future haunting the heart"

Peter Bjorn and John "Objects of My Affection" - "of course some days I just lie around and hardly exist/I can't tell apart what I'm eating from my hand or my wrist"

Peter Bjorn and John (again) "Paris 2004" - "you don't have to tell cause I know so well what we are all after/likewise if uncertainty puts a spell on me I have to swim in your laughter"...at least I think he's saying "swim"...that accent is messing with me, does anyone have the lyrics?

The Islands "Humans" - "not really alive (never learned how to survive)/we were humans being useless" - taking the words "human beings" and instead saying "humans being" seems like such a simple thing, but it still blows my mind.
Another good/short one from them - "You mined what you died for: diamonds"

Here's some great lyrics from Todd Snider "The Devil You Know." Indulge me here as I do the whole song, but it's one of the best I've heard in years.

The devil you know - Todd Snider

Helecopters over the house again
Got the projects two or three blocks from here
They pull the kids over "driving while African"
And the ones with the warrants always run in fear

So I sit here waiting for the coast to clear
Wishin' once again I had a gun 'round here
Turned on the news and what did I hear
Some kid shot the bank up on Gallitin Road
Ran away from the cops while he's tryin' to reload.

He beat them up to Eastland Street on feet
Now he's probably reloaded and runnin' down my street
Better turn the alarm on and lock myself in
Helecopters over the house again

Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sneak below
Somewhere, in between believin' in heaven
And facing the devil you know

The poor kid probably never had a chance to give a F@$#
Wouldn't know good luck from a debutante
He's got to find a way to be Steve McNair or Young Buck
Or he's tough out lookin' for some prison to haunt

You can f@#$ gettin' any kind of job you want
Unless you really want to work in a fast food restaraunt
And who wants to do that? Do you want to do that?
I wouldn't trade that for my crooked hat
Or my gang, or my gun, or my waist full of pagers
For a job deep fryin' s#@$ for richer teen agers

If that's where it's at, and no one's gonna help
How you gonna blame a man for helpin' himself
There's a war goin' on that the poor can't win
Helecopters over the house again

Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sneak below
Somewhere, in between believin' in heaven
And facing the devil you know

Black and white cop shinin' lights in the bushes
Can't see how this kid is gonna get very far
Unless he finds a way to make it back over to Barry Street
And he can't do that unless he steals a car

Now the way things are, it just aint right
All the white people talkin' 'bout the hope and the light
There aint no hope in Sam Levy just guns and drugs
We aint building bridges, we just trainin' thugs

Then I hear a terrifyin' kick at my back door
In comes this kid, I say I've seen this kid before
I see him all the time at that bar on Woodland Street
Now he's bleadin' in my kitchen, tracking mud on his feet

And he's lookin' at me like I need to help him or die
'Til he sees in my eyes that I'm on his side
I hand him my keys, say you better move fast
There's a J in the ashtray, you're gonna need gas

He tossed me the cash and says "I'll be back for this"
I say "Well don't be surprised if there's a little of it missin'"
His gold teeth flashed with a big ole grin
He says "we'll talk 'bout that when I see you again"

He shook my hand, I shook it back
Felt like I was 'bout to have a heart attack
Until he finaly drove a way and I thought "God Damn!"
Helecopters over the house again

Sometimes, you rise above it
Sometimes, you sneak below
Somewhere, in between believin' in heaven
And facing, the devil you know

For me the best lines of 2006 are either the already-mentioned-in-numbers "she said 'you're pretty good with words, but words won't save your life' and they didn't so he died" or "darling, we will be fine, but what was yours and mine/ appears to be a sandcastle that the gibbering wave takes/ but if it's all just the same, then will you say my name:/ say my name in the morning, so I know when the wave breaks?"