John Lennon "Strawberry Fields": "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see."
Bob Dylan "Blowin in the Wind": "How many deaths will it take till he knows, that too many people have died?"
Springsteen "My Hometown": "These jobs are leaving boys and they ain't coming back."
Don Henley "End of the Innocence": "lawyers clean up all details while daddy has to lie."
White Stripes "Truth Doesn't Make a Noise:" "Truth doesn't make a noise."
U2 "The Refugee ": "War, war, she's a refugee; her mama say one day she's gonna live in America"
Smashing Pumpkins "Blue Skies Bring Tears": "I am a stranger to you as you are to yourself."
Pearl Jam "Deep": "On the edge of a windowsill, ponders his maker, ponders his will. To the street below, he just ain't nothin' But he's got a great view, and he sinks the needle deep."

Add to the list. Great lyrics and quotes create great reflection and alter perception.

Wilco "Shot in the Arm" The ashtray says you were up all night.

Saturday Looks Good to Me "When You Got to New York" Now, you're out of breath from your cheap cigarettes on the wrong side of seven a.m.

Mike Viola "Clusterfuck" I'm the same old book, you're the very next page

Now Playing: Adam Curry's Daily Source Code

"Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came. Father McKenzie. Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved."
"Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles

"Fool on the Hill" by the Beatles - Whole song. The Beatles list could go on forever.

"And as the windshield melts, and my tears evaporate: Leaving only charcoal to defend. Finally I understand the feelings of the few. Ashes and diamonds; foe and friend; we were all equal in the end."
"Two Suns in the Sunset" by Pink Floyd

A truly haunting post-apocalyptic masterpiece like only Roger Waters could write.

Radiohead from "Street Spirit":
"Rows of houses all bearing down on me
I can feel their blue hands touching me
Hold these things into position
All these things will want this world

And fade out again and fade out

This machine will, will not communicate
These thoughts and the strain I am under
Be a world child form a circle
Before we all go under"

Pere Ubu from "Dark":
"Oh, my friends don't understand me
and my wife begins to fear
that I've lost some sense of balance
and I've lost the will to live"

Bruce Springsteen from "Stolen Car":
"She asked if I remembered the letters I wrote
When our love was young and bold
She said last night she read those letters
And they made her feel one hundred years old

And I'm driving a stolen car
On a pitch black night
And I'm telling myself I'm gonna be alright
But I ride by night and I travel in fear
That in this darkness I will disappear"

From the musical Hair, "Easy To Be Hard":
"How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no

And especially people
Who care about strangers
Who care about evil
And social injustice
Do you only
Care about the bleeding crowd?
How about a needing friend?
I need a friend"

Radiohead - Sit down, stand up: we can wipe you out anytime. The raindrops...

Wilco - less than you think: your spine starts to shine, you shiver at your soul

Wilco - Comment: what is a man without a friend?

AFI - ...but home is nowhere: I'll show a smile but I'm too weak

Modest Mouse - Bukowski: Take what you want from me, you deserve it all...

And so many more....

[QUOTE]Originally posted by P-Bo:
"Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came. Father McKenzie. Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved."
"Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles


As a clergyman I can relate to this one! Thanks for reminding me of this revealing lyric.

From the musical Hair, "Easy To Be Hard":
"How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no

And especially people
Who care about strangers
Who care about evil
And social injustice
Do you only
Care about the bleeding crowd?
How about a needing friend?
I need a friend"

Thanks for reminding me of a great song with a great lyric, done powerfully by Three Dog Night. This lyric is ageless.

The Go-Betweens: Dive for Your Memory

If the cliffs were any closer,
If the water wasn't so bad.
I'd dive for your memory
on the rocks and the sand.

I'd dive for you
Like a bird I'd descend
Deep down I'm lonely
And I miss my friend.

So when I hear you saying,
That we stood no chance,
I'll dive for your memory
We stood that chance.

We stood side by side,
Strong and true.
just wish you'd remember,
Bad times don't get you through.

So when I hear you saying,
That we stood no chance,
I'll dive for your memory
We stood that chance.

The Go-Betweens: Part Company

Come and have a look, beside me
A fine line of tears, part company.
That's her handwriting, that's the way she writes
>From the first letter I got to this her Bill of Rights, part company.

And what will I miss? Her cruelty, her unfaithfulness
Her fun, her love, her kiss, part company.

That's her handwriting, that's the way she writes
Like mud in the September rain it comes, back to me.

Part, part, I said part
Part company, made he men disappear
Cut my swathe and spread my fear.

Before we'd met, I hadn't wiped my feet
Seen myself naked or, part company.

And I said it before, do I have to say it again
A fine line of tears, part company.

That's her handwriting, that's the way she writes
>From her first words to this, our last night.

Part, part, she said part
Part company, made her men disappear
Cut my swathe and spread my fear.


Billy Bragg: A New England

I was twentyone years when I wrote this song
I'm twentytwo now, but I won't be for long
People ask me when will you grow up to be a man
But all the girls I loved at school are already pushing prams

I loved you then as I love you still
'Tho I put you on a pedastal, they put you on the pill
I don't feel bad about letting you go
I just feel bad about letting you know

I don't want to change the world
I'm not looking for a new England
I'm just looking for another girl

I loved the words you wrote to me
But that was bloody yesterday
I can't survive on what you send
Everytime you need a friend

I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them but that were only satellites
Is it wrong to wish on space hardare?
I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care


The Replacements: Here Comes a Regular

Well a person can work up a mean mean thirst
After a hard day of nothin' much at all
The summer's past, it's too late to cut the grass
There ain't much to rake anyway in the fall

And sometimes I just ain't in the mood
I take my place in back with the loudmouths
You're like a picture on the fridge, that's never stocked with food
I used to live at home, now I stay at the house

Everybody wants to be special here
They call your name out loud and clear

Here comes a regular. Call out your name
Here comes a regular. Am I the only one here today?

"The world woke up one day to proclaim "Thou shalt not take part in or make bad art..." -Destroyer, The Bad Arts

"I don't like this air, but that doesn't mean I'll stop breathing it. Who doesn't think they're a center of the universe?" -Built to Spill, Center of the Universe

"Get out your measuring cups and we'll play a new game. Come to the front of the class and we'll measure your brain. We'll give you a complex and we'll give it a name." -Andrew Bird, Measuring Cups

"I'm dying to put a little bit of sunshine in your life." -Badly Drawn Boy, The Shining

"Honey i'm a prize and you're a catch and we're a perfect match. Like two bitter strangers..." -Pavement, Spit on a Stranger

"And you told me you wanted to eat up my sadness. Well jump on, enjoy, you can gorge away." -Bloc Party, This Modern Love

"Rapture... waiting to capture that moment. Postponment...suspension of rational movement. So and on the hour of twelve, to the forest clearing we'll delve, with guns to our heads for we know that heaven awaits us. Dreaming of that perfect home by the sun...run, Christian, run." -Super Furry Animals, Run, Christian, Run!

----and last but not least----

"Gimme that Z-O-L-O-F-T. Give me a grip, make me love me. Suckin' em down, i'm happy man. Can feel it inside, makin me smile. (Realize that the sky is not made of gold. Don't disguise the nature of your soul.) Gimme that Z-O-L-O-F-T. No longer pissed, you don't bother me. I'm making it through, I'm giving my all. When base are loaded, I'm whacking the ball. (Don't crowd the mind, don't drain the source.
The path of life's not so easy to coarse, buddy.) Give me that Z-O-L-O-F-T (I can't explain how i'm feelin inside), gimme a grip,
make me love me. Suckin' 'em down, I'm happy man. Can feel it inside, makin' me smile." -Ween, Zoloft

I've posted this before, but American Music Club's Patriot's Heart is an unbelievably ambitious song...laying out every gritty, sad detail of a gay stripper's work day, then linking it step-by-step to how it perfectly epitomizes the American and CHRISTIAN capitalist system at work.

Best song of last two years.

Originally posted by VeganInFurs:
"The world woke up one day to proclaim "Thou shalt not take part in or make bad art..." -Destroyer, The Bad Arts


[I like every quote on this thread, but I especially like this one!]

Selections from Songs: Ohia's Didn't It Rain, probably my favorite album ever lyrically (anyone who's ever struggled with depression knows what this guy is talking about):

from "Didn't It Rain":

"no matter how dark the storm gets overhead
they say someone's watching from the calm at the edge
what about us when we're down here in it
we gotta watch our own backs...
if i see you struggle and givin all that you got
i see you work all night burning your light to the last of its dim watts
i'm gonna help you how i can, if you see me struggle all night
and give me a hand cause i'm in need i'll call you friend indeed
but i'm going to watch my own back
didn't it rain"

from "Ring the Bell":

"help does not just walk up to you i could have told you that
i'm not an idiot...
why wouldn't i be trying to figure it out
everyone tells you that
everyone tells you not to quit
i can't even see it to fight it
if it looks like i'm not trying i don't care what it looks like
cause i stood at the alter and everything turned white
all I heard was the sound... of the world coming down around me (x2)
why wouldn't i be trying
why wouldn't i try(x2)...
if there's a way out it will be step by step through the black"

from "Blue Factory Flame":

"i fly the cross of the blue factory flame
stitched with heavy sulpher thread/threat
they ain't proud colors but they're true colors of my home
where i am paralyzed by the emptiness(x4)"

from "Blue Chicago Moon:"

"gotten so good at hiding it
even he does not admit it
that glittering flash in his eyes
makes it look like he might be alright
if the blues are you hunter
then you will come face to face
with that darkness and desolation
and the endless depression
but you are not helpless
and you are not helpless
try to beat it (x2)
and live through space's loneliness (x2)
you are not helpless (x2)
I'll help you to try to beat it"

Jason Molina is my favorite lyricist, hands down.

quote:

Originally posted by VeganInFurs:
Ween, Zoloft

I love that song. That entire album, in fact. I heard a while back though, that one of them is dealing with a substance abuse problem and that they're on indefinite hiatus. Bummer.

quote:

from "Blue Chicago Moon:"

"gotten so good at hiding it
even he does not admit it
that glittering flash in his eyes
makes it look like he might be alright
if the blues are you hunter
then you will come face to face
with that darkness and desolation
and the endless depression
but you are not helpless
and you are not helpless
try to beat it (x2)
and live through space's loneliness (x2)
you are not helpless (x2)
I'll help you to try to beat it"

I like that.

Yeah, I love Ween and also Quebec. The Mollusk is probably my favorite.

I think they are off their hiatus now and doing ok. I'm pretty sure I saw a few pictures of them playing a suprise street show and Gene had a buzz cut and everything.

Sucks that I didn't get to see them in Chicago last time they came by.

I woudn't take her to an execution
I wouldn't take her to a live sex show
I wouldn't shit or piss on her window
For I love her so
-David Thomas Broughton

Above is an example from Broughton's latest album. Not sure if it's a STATEMENT of some sort, but it is a littly funny

I think as a sociological testament, Radiohead's Everything in its right place fits the bill.

If my interpretation of the song is correct, this song deals with man's inability to deal with change, on any level. I think the song deals with how we are only comfortable in our own habitual ways of feeling, acting, and thinking.

With Lyrics such as: I see two colors in my head (in my interpretation, those two colors being black and white), the song's character is avoiding dealing with a certain change that left a bad taste in his mouth (or a lemon in this case).

And when forced to deal with the fact that are preceptions may be wrong, we go great lengths to avoid dealing with it. And this may lead to a mental breakdown. That's what I feel is occuring with the song's character when he repeatedly tries to convince himself that "everything in it's right place", to the point where his voice trails off into jarbled noise.

Again, that's just my take, and I'm probably wrong.

One of my favorite lyrics, from "Distant Sun" by Crowded House:

It's easy to forget what you learned
Waiting for the thrill to return
Feeling your desire burn
And drawn to the flame

When your seven worlds collide
Whenever I'm by your side
Dust from a distant sun
Will shower over everyone
Dust from a distant sun
Will shower over everyone

and I'm lyin' on the table
Washed out in a flood
Like a Christian fearing vengeance from above
I don't pretend to know what you want
But I offer love

(enter great guitar solo)

--

Really describes the desperate ambivalence of relationships in a poetic way, with great imagery. An average Neil Finn song is pretty good..but his best stand toe-to-toe with the greatest.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Commontone,

Here's one of my favorites off the top of my head:

"Everything that keeps me together is falling apart/I've got this thing that I consider my only art/Of fuckin' people over"

-Modest Mouse, "3rd Planet"

And a couple more:

"But I learned fast how to keep my head up/Cause I know I got this side of me that/Wants to grab the yoke from the pilot and just/Fly the whole mess into the sea"

-The Shins, "Young Pilgrims"

"And when we break/we'll wait for our miracle/God is a place you will wait for the rest of your life"

-Neutral Milk Hotel, "Two Headed Boy Pt. 2"

"You can never be strong/You can only be free/And I'd never ask for the truth/But you shouldn't lie to me"

-Guided By Voices, "Game of Pricks"

quote:

"But I learned fast how to keep my head up/Cause I know I got this side of me that/Wants to grab the yoke from the pilot and just/Fly the whole mess into the sea"

-The Shins, "Young Pilgrims"

Hmm. I've never payed any attention to the Shins' lyrics, but I really like that one.

I've never understood most of the Shins' lyrics. Like "New Slang"? Great melody, but what the hell is it about? I read some article where the Shins leading guy (Mercer I think) said that he just pasted random words onto most of his songs and didn't put much thought into them at all.