Nothing makes a great song like a nice turn of phrase. What are your favorite lyrics, from a phrase to a line to a whole verse or chorus?

A few of mine:

"All my daydreams, disasters,
She's the one I think I love,
Rivers burn and run backwards,
For her, that's enough..."

"... roll me under New Madrid,
Shake my baby and please bring her back,
Cuz death won't even be still, caroms over the landfill
Buries us all in its broken back..."


From "New Madrid" by Uncle Tupelo. I love the mixture of disaster metaphor and romance that goes through this song.

Historical note: When the New Madrid fault line had the last major earthquake at the turn of the century, the Mississippi allegedly caught fire and flowed north. The "Mr. Browning" referenced in the song was Iben Browning, who predicted a major earthquake on the faultline in the late 80's, early 90's. Schools did earthquakee drills because of him.

"You look so good when you're depressed,
Better even in your current state of undress...
Coolest thing I ever saw,
You sitting there smoking my cigarette, you were naked on the bare stone floor,
You looked at me to say 'don't guess'
I was only watching, yes I love you more undressed..."

From "Undressed" by Lloyd Cole

Funny, sort of sweet, brutally honest, a great lyric from a great lyricist. I also love, from the same song:

"I'm not even drinking, I feel fine...it's scary"

Finally, this one:

"A white moon appears
Like a hole in the sky
The mangroves go quiet.
In la Brisa de la Palma
A teenage Rasputin
Takes the sting from a gin.
'When a woman learns to walk
She's not dependent anymore'
A line from her letter: May 24
And out on the bay
The current is strong
A boat can go lost"

From "Bye Bye Pride" by the Go-Betweens

Oddly evocative, although I'm not exactly sure what's going on.

And don't forget...

"Beat on the brat,
Beat on the brat,
Beat on the brat with a BASEBALL BAT...OH YEAH!"

quote:

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The "Mr. Browning" referenced in the song was Iben Browning, who predicted a major earthquake on the faultline in the late 80's, early 90's. Schools did earthquakee drills because of him.

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1990. Worse than drills, schools actually closed as did some businesses. Browning was a meteorologist by training, so there was positively nothing to afford him any kind of credibility, yet the near hysteria that led up to that day was something to behold.

Shame on me for the hijack. Let's see...how about another of Jeff Tweedy's nods to The Gateway City?

"I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands,
I used to go see on The Landing in the summer.
She fell in love with the drummer,
She fell in love with the drummer,
She fell in love.

Shiny, shiny pants and bleach-blond hair,
A double kick drum by the river in the summer.
She fell in love with the drummer,
Another and another,
She fell in love.

I miss the innocence I've known,
Playing KISS covers, beautiful and stoned."

"Heavy Metal Drummer" Wilco

I love the evocation of a perceived simpler time. The songwriter's thread was good for me because it really made me think about who I currently like as a songwriter and why and Tweedy is way up on that list.

Now Playing: "Della" Wax Poetic _Nublu Sessions_ (Ultra) <-- Yes, a recommendation from this site, thank you very much.

"And they all pretend they're orphans and their memory's like a train
You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away
And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget
That history puts a saint in every dream."
- Tom Waits "Time"

"Ramona, come closer,
Shut softly your watery eyes.
The pangs of your sadness
Shall pass as your senses will rise.
The flowers of the city
Though breathlike, get deathlike at times.
And there's no use in tryin'
T' deal with the dyin',
Though I cannot explain that in lines."
- Bob Dylan "To Ramona"

In my opinion, these are probably the two most poetic stanzas from the two most poetic songs in all of rock and roll. Some of my favorite one-liners include:

"Everything that keeps me together is falling apart." - Modest Mouse "Third Planet"

"Got a broken heart and your name on my cast."
- Elliott Smith "No Name #5"

"Red wine and sleeping pills
Help me get back to your arms
Cheap sex and sad films
Help me get where I belong."
- Radiohead "Motion Picture Soundtrack"

"Driving home the sky accelerates,
And the clouds all form a geometric shape,
And it goes fast,
You think of the past,
Suddenly everything has changed."
- Flaming Lips "Suddenly Everything has Changed."

1990. Worse than drills, schools actually closed as did some businesses. Browning was a meteorologist by training, so there was positively nothing to afford him any kind of credibility, yet the near hysteria that led up to that day was something to behold.

Shame on me for the hijack. Let's see...how about another of Jeff Tweedy's nods to The Gateway City?

"I sincerely miss those heavy metal bands,
I used to go see on The Landing in the summer.
She fell in love with the drummer,
She fell in love with the drummer,
She fell in love.

Shiny, shiny pants and bleach-blond hair,
A double kick drum by the river in the summer.
She fell in love with the drummer,
Another and another,
She fell in love.

I miss the innocence I've known,
Playing KISS covers, beautiful and stoned."

"Heavy Metal Drummer" Wilco

I love the evocation of a perceived simpler time. The songwriter's thread was good for me because it really made me think about who I currently like as a songwriter and why and Tweedy is way up on that list.


Nice pickup on my Browning story. i can't remember years anymore. I LOVE the reference to the Landing in "Heavy Metal Drummer." Since most of the St Louis references in pop music come from Nelly, Chingy, and J-Kwon, its nice to hear other nods to the Lou...is "Casino Queen" (from Wilco's AM) named after the casino on the East Side?

I think Tweedy's songs are, on the whole, mostly brilliant. I could quote from any of them and be happy with my pick...

quote:

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...is "Casino Queen" (from Wilco's AM) named after the casino on the East Side?

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Yeah. Hard as it is for me to believe, the Casino Queen of song is the one over on the East Side. I cannot believe it has been there that long.

I have a great deal of affection for the song "Passenger Side" from A.M., but I think my favorite Tweedy lyric is the song "She's A Jar" in its entirety.

Now Playing: Just the rain outside the window.

Some of my favorite lines

"Is she still pissing in the river now?" - Space Dog, Tori Amos

"...Because me and Charles Manson like the same ice cream." - Tear in Your Hand, Tori Amos

"A train of pearls cabin by cabin is shot precisely across an ocean." - Cocoon, Bjork

"Piazza New York Catcher are you straight or are you gay?" - Piazza New York Catcher, Belle and Sebastian

quote:

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...but I think my favorite Tweedy lyric is the song "She's A Jar" in its entirety.

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I agree completely! "She's a Jar" is probably my favorite Wilco song. I also really like this verse from "A Shot in the Arm":

"The ashtray says
You were up all night
When you went to bed
With your darkest mind
Your pillow wept
And covered your eyes
You finally slept
While the sun caught fire"

Of course that entire album is genius....

Oh, mercy, Pete. It's obviously been too long since I've listened to _Summerteeth_ because you're right. "A Shot In The Arm" is one of my favorite opening verses.

Now Playing: "(She's A) Full-Blooded Sicilian" Zumpano _Look What The Rookie Did_ (Sub Pop)

fugazi's the argument:

when they start falling executions will commence
sides will not matter now matter makes no sense
how did a difference become a disease?
i'm sure you have reasons a rational defense
weapons and motives bloody fingerprints
but i can't help thinking it's still all disease
here comes the argument
folderol it's all about strikes now
so here's what's striking me
that some punk could argue some moral abc's
when people are catching what bombers release
i'm on a mission to never agree here comes the argument
here comes the argument here comes the argument here it comes

Ok Computer has fantastic poetry all through it, but I feel these lyrics speak for today's generation of dreamers trapped in our Brave New World:

"I wish they'd swoop down
in a coutry lane,
late at night when I'm driving.
Take me aboard their beautiful ship,
Show me the world
As I'd love to see it..."

"I'd tell all my friends
but they'd never believe me
they'd think that I'd finally
lost it completely
I'd show them the stars
and the meaning of life...
They'd shut me away, but I'd be alright..."

Of course that entire album is genius....[/QUOTE]

I'll second that! Summer Teeth = fantastic song writing! I have to give props to the song "How to Fight Loneliness" Just another great song from that collection.

Ashurra, I totally agree with you, but the most awesome thing to me about Radiohead is how the lyrics to the songs which are almost incomprehensible seem to be the best just because of their feeling. Am I the only blithering idiot who believes this? For example, Kid A, Pyramid Song and You and Whose Army? "seem" to have some of the greatest lyrics of all time. Do I know this for a fact? I don't think so, but am I correct? Hell, yes!

From: To The 5 Boroughs: Beastie Boys
"So don't ask me to wine & dine ya; I'm from Brooklyn you're from Regina"

hahahahah Classic!

While I saw sitting in the dentist's chair today, waiting to get drilled and filled, I heard this oldie on "lite rock" radio. This is a pretty good line, from REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Lovin' You":

"You played dead,
But you never bled
Instead you laid still in the grass
All coiled up and hissing..."

I think that's how it goes. It's a nice line in a schlocky song. A schlocky song I quite willingly sing at kareoke bowling...

Junior Senior - C'mon

"Let's go to the beach in the Batmobile!"

WTF! Junior Senior apparently have a Batmobile.

Elliot Smith's lyrics really strike a chord with me.

"Im in love
with the world.
Through the yes
of a girl.
Who's still around
the morning
after."

"I see you standing there, you think you're so cool, why don't you just...FUCK OFF!"
Guns N'Roses-It's So Easy

"Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine!"
Patti Smith-Gloria

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

F*** a dog by Blink 182, no problem!!!!

A few of my favorites:

"Yeah, when you call my name,
I salivate like a Pavlov dog."
Bitch - The Rolling Stones

"Some are mathematicians,
Some are carpenter's wives,
Don't know how it all got started
I don't know what they're doing with their lives"
Tangled Up in Blue - Bob Dylan

"I was made to go with my girl
Like a saxophone was made to go with the night."
Expresso Love - Dire Straits

And because the Beach Boys couldn't find a final rhyme for "Drive-In", they did this:

"If you say you saw the movie
You're a couple of liars
And remember only you
Can prevent forest fires"
Drive-In - The Beach Boys

More Wilco, off the new album

"Theologians,
they don't know nothin',
about my soul"

Oh, what the h3ll, yet more Wilco, off Summerteeth again guys (we may as well quote the whole album, lol), from "In a Future Age"

"High above
A sea of cars
And barking dogs
In fenced in yards"

And a couple of oldies:

Simon & Garfunkel, from Punkey's Dilemna on their Bookends album (their best by a country mile):

Wish I was an English muffin
'Bout to make the most out of a toaster
I'd ease myself down
Coming up brown

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Enough already?



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