FAVORITE LYRICS

[Mary]

Wow, I absolutely can't believe we've gone this long without a lyrics thread here. Seems essential. So this is the place to talk about lyrics - post your favorite lines, make lists, discuss the meaning of songs in great depth, post entire songs, ask people if they understand what the fuck so-and-so is mumbling in the middle of such-and-such song, argue about who the best lyricists in rock are... it's all good, so long as it has to do with lyrics!

---

To get things started, and to be utterly, completely, 100% predictable and redundant, here are three of my favorite passages from any songs ever:

i'm not looking for another as i wander in my time,
walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me,
it's just the way it changes, like the shorelne and the sea,
but let's not talk of love or chains
and things we can't untie
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

(leonard cohen - hey that's no way to say goodbye)

you'll never know the hurt i suffer
nor the pain i rise above
and i'll never know the same about you
your holiness, or your kind of love
and it makes me so sorry

(bob dylan - idiot wind)

the last time i saw richard was detroit in '68,
and he told me all romantics meet the same fate someday
cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe
"you laugh," he said, "you think you're immune,
Go look at your eyes, they're full of moon
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you
all those pretty lies, pretty lies
When you gonna realize they're only pretty lies
only pretty lies, just pretty lies."

(joni mitchell - the last time i saw richard)

and then there are these two inscrutable verses, back to back, which mean nothing but somehow kill me every time i hear them:

now that you pulled the school underwater
and drowned the prom
which man will you save for this friday
you can put him in a fish pond
and watch him swim around
then have a catholic dinner

if it isn't men it's death
it's the same old testament
at the cross her station keeping
stood the mournful mother weeping
where my man extended hung
driven with nails to wood

(X - under the big black sun)

Cheers,
M

[Dr. Drum]

"Your Ex-Lover is Dead" from the best album made on planet Earth in the last five years (there, I said it, etc. etc.), Stars Set Yourself On Fire.

Incidentally, another band with the same kind of tradeoff going between a male and a female lead vocalist that X had, albeit in a very different type of musical setting.


_{When there is nothing left to burn}
^{You have to set yourself on fire}[/b][/sup]

God that was strange to see you again
Introduced by a friend of a friend
Smiled and said "yes, I think we've met before"
In that instant it started to pour

Captured a taxi despite all the rain
We drove in silence across Pont Champlain
And all of that time you thought I was sad
I was trying to remember your name

This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin
You tried to reach deep but you couldn't get in
And now you're outside me you see all the beauty
Repent all your sin

It's nothing but time and a face that you'll lose
I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose
I'll write you a postcard, I'll send you the news
From the house down the road, from real love

Live through this and you won't look back
Live through this and you won't look back
Live through this and you won't look back

There's one thing I have to say so I'll be brave
You were what I wanted, I gave what I gave
I'm not sorry I met you
I'm not sorry it's over
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save

[phil]

Leonard Cohen is easily my favorite lyricist ...

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows


(Everybody Knows)

[phil]

You know how you meet a girl and you associate a song to that relationship and everytime you hear that song, even 30 years later, all the memories come rushing back and you retreat deep inside your mind, your heart, your guts ... ?

This is THE song ...


She Was Waiting For Her Mother At The Station In Torino And
You Know I Love You Baby But It's Getting Too Heavy To Laugh
(Woman)

The glow
Around your face
When you see
The lightning race
I know
I'm very near
And I can hear
The thunder
A woman
Of perplexity
A woman
For eternity
A woman
Of the land
A woman
For a man
I'm down
On my knees
And I'm saying
Please believe me
It's hard
To fall out
Of love
Completely
It's harder
To find a way
To come back
Discreetly
To speak
Of things anew
To weep
In quiet blue
Brocade
Upon your bed
Memories should fade
At least of you
A sceptre
Of ice and fire
A spectre
Of my desire
A girl-child
Of such loveliness
The woman
Of my emptiness
A woman
Of famed renown
A woman
Who kicks the clown
A woman
Of the land
A woman
For a man


Shawn Phillips ~ Second Contribution (1970)

[Thorngrub]

"The phone's off the hook . . . but you're not"

[Thorngrub]

" I'm waiting for you, I must go slow, I must not think bad thoughts, what is this world coming too? Both sides are right, but both sides murder, I give up, why cant they-? I must not think bad thoughts..."

[Thorngrub]

"I'm coming over . . . I'm coming over . . . I'm coming over, so move over!"

[Kensterberg]

How does it feel to have your own bottle of beer?
Behind the bar, how does it feel?

[Thorngrub]

"We'll crawl through your back yard, and whack your yappin' dog"

[Thorngrub]

"Dawn comes soon enough for the working class...it keeps getting sooner or later"

[Thorngrub]

hey ken!

[Kensterberg]

"We're desperate -- get used to it!"

Those six words just might be the definitive punk rock imperitive.

I love X ...

Hi Thorny, erm, Onion Head Monster, whatever. ;D

[rockysigman]

"Presley sucked on doggy dick"


Okay, maybe that wasn't their most poetic moment

[Thorngrub]

Last night in a nightspot
Where things aren't so hot
My friend said, "I met a boy and I'm in love"
I said, "Oh really... What's this one's name?"
She said, "His first name is Homeboy"
I said "Could his last name be Trouble?"

[Thorngrub]

See how we are.