Yer Favorite Line(s) From Songs

[troutman]

Then I got Mary pregnant
and man that was all she wrote
And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat
We went down to the courthouse
and the judge put it all to rest
No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle
No flowers no wedding dress
- Bruce Springsteen "The River"

Was there ever a stronger verse about wasted youth?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by polak

Not ones that sound like they're rhymed by kindergarten kids.

clearly their career suffered for it

[bigtmac19]

From Rise Against, Swing Life Away

I've been here so long, I think that it's time to move
The winter's so cold, summer's over too soon
Let's pack our bags and settle down where palm trees grow

every time I hear this verse, I wish I could do exactly that.

[octothorp]

So many of my favorite lyrics are from Joe Henry songs; incredibly underrated songwriter.

Just before the crash
I was watching you
Thinking how time hasn't changed
Even half what it promised to
You laughed and you turned
To what I almost didn't see
When I felt him hit the bridge
At first I thought it was me

Ohio Air Show Plane Crash


Lovers laugh and cross this way
Weaving out into the street,
It seems we never were so young
Or it was never quite so sweet.
But the world is always beautiful
When it's seen in full retreat,
The worst of life looks beautiful
As it slips away in full retreat.

God Only Knows


Just behind that wall, I think,
She pulls her stockings on:
The creaking floor speaks through the door
Of one foot then the other—
The curtains wave a flag to say
This afternoon is done
And giving in to evening who has
Beat him like a brother,
Giving in to evening who has
Beat him like a brother

Room at Arles

[polak]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

clearly their career suffered for it

Like I said I love Pink Floyd. Just that snippet bugged me.

[Bobblehead]

Speaking of Pink Floyd...
One Slip

A restless eye across a weary room
A glazed look and I was on the road to ruin
The music played and played as we whirled without end
No hint, no word her honour to defend

I will, I will she sighed to my request
And then she tossed her mane while my resolve was put to the test
Then drowned in desire, our souls on fire
I lead the way to the funeral pyre
And without a thought of the consequence
I gave in to my decadence

One slip, and down the hole we fall
It seems to take no time at all
A momentary lapse of reason
That binds a life for life
A small regret, you won't forget,
There'll be no sleep in here tonight

Was it love, or was it the idea of being in love?
Or was it the hand of fate, that seemed to fit just like a glove?
The moment slipped by and soon the seeds were sown
The year grew late and neither one wanted to remain alone

[8sPOT]

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

Imagine -- John Lennon
Always loved this song, and this verse in particular. I liken it to an exhale after feeling a tremendous amount of stress.




I can feel your fear and weakness
I see my own in the mirrors of your eyes
Carved into a corner hopeless
There's death ahead and doom behind
There's a bad storm blowing in
And most of us won't make it
The wreckage of your past
Means nothing now, forsake it
It only fell apart 'cause you let it
Bled of all you had to lose
Pick up the pieces with your broken
Hands

Broken Hands -- Lamb of God
While not for everyone, I love the way Randy Blythe and Mark Morton write. To me this is about realizing we are all scared and worried, but if you don't man up and be accountable for what you do in life then you're already doomed.




I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me

Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I cannot see
That there is not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now

One -- Metallica
I only pasted two verses but the whole song for me really captures the idea of a soldier being left with literally nothing after the war. And the way they compose the song just adds to that tormented reality.

[bigtmac19]

Detroit 67 from Sam Roberts. So much of Detroit history and music and radio connected with my growing up years, this song just stands out for me.

So many years, so many lives
These are the streets where they collide
From Jimmy Hoffa to Cadillac
Some look ahead, I'm going back
'Cause I'm just looking for some sounds
To ease the vice that squeezes us every day

This was Motown, this was New France
Where the Chippewa did the firedance
That was long ago, this is here and now
But the memory still remains somehow

[8sPOT]

And I wonder when I sing along with you, if everything could ever feel this real forever, if anything could ever be this
good again. The only thing I'll ever ask of you,
you've got to promise not to stop when I say when. She sang.

Everlong -- Foo Fighters
Reminds me of the times when myself and the wife will spontaneaously start singing along together, the kids are in bed, outside near the fire or in the hot tub, and a certain song will come on. That moment is pure bliss, and this lyric captures that.

[undercoverbrother]

"Til I Am Myself Again"

I want to know where
my confidence went
one day it all disappeared
and I'm lying in a hotel room
miles away
voices next door in my ear

Daytime's a drag
nighttime's worse
hope that I can get home soon
but the half-finished bottles of inspiration
lie like ghosts in my room

I wanna go
I know I can't stay
but I don't want to run
feeling this way
til I am myself
til I am myself
til I am myself again
There's a seat on the corner
I keep every night
wait til the evening begins
I feel like a stranger
from another world
but at least I'm living again

There are nights
full of anger
words that are thrown
tempers that are shattered and thin
but the moments of magic
are just too short
they're over before they begin

I know it's time
one big step
I can't go
I'm not ready yet
til I am myself
til I am myself
til I am myself again
I had a dream
that my house was on fire
people laughed while it burned
I tried to run but my legs were numb
I had to wait til the feeling returned

I don't need a doctor
to figure it out
I know what's passing me by
when I look in the mirror
sometimes I see
traces of some other guy

I wanna go
I know I can't stay
but I don't want to run
feeling this way
til I am myself
til I am myself
til I am myself again

They have a number of good lyrics.

[Puppet Guy]

"F*** you, I won't do what you tell me"

- Killing in the Name Of, Rage Against the Machine

[Magnum PEI]

Could be renamed the Morrissey thread.

The pain was enough to make a shy bald Buddhist reflect
And plan a mass murder

"I know you and you cannot sing."
I said "That's nothing, you should hear me play piano"

But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled
Making Christmas cards with the mentally ill

Frankly Mr. Shankly since you ask
You are a flatulent pain in the ass

She wants it now
And she will not wait
But she's too rough
And I'm too delicate

"I'm starved of mirth, let's go and trip a dwarf"

If your god bestows protection upon you
And if the USA doesn't bomb you
I will see you in far off places

The note I wrote as she read, she said
"Has the Perrier gone straight to my head"

From the ice-age to the dole-age
There is but one concern
I have just discovered
Some girls are bigger than others

I left the South
I travelled north
I got confused, I killed a horse
I can't help the way I feel

It was dark as I drove the point home
(triple entendre, not uncommon in hip-hop)

[Magnum PEI]

Originally Posted by polak

I like Pink Floyd and this song but these rhymes make me cringe.

I find Eminem to be one of the worst offenders when it comes to Dr. Seuss rhymes.

And I am, whatever you say I am
If I wasn't, then why would I say I am?
In the paper, the news everyday I am
Radio won't even play my jam
'Cause I am, whatever you say I am
If I wasn't, then why would I say I am?
In the paper, the news everyday I am
I don't know, it's just the way I am

[peter12]

Honey, take care of the children, make them do as they're told
I got a meeting in the morning down at the end of the Goode's Field Road
Nothing much for a man in my position
A man like me don't last too long in prison
And all those friends down at Police Department
Will act like they never had anything to do with me

Started out down at the junk yard taking orders from a moron
And a man my size don't like taking orders from anyone
Bought myself an old beat up wrecker, built an empire with my labor brains and sweat
But it's hard to make an honest living and a man takes any help he gets

Nothing much for a man in my position, a second mortgage and three
College kids tuition and all them friends that I helped along the way
Will act like they never had anything to do with me

But you and me,
We had us some good times and I've always been a family man deep down.
Ain't much a believer of hiring work from "out of state"
But they'll be asking questions when I'm found.
They'll be asking questions when I'm found

Honey, take care of the children, pay the house off when the salvage yard gets sold
And you don't know nothing when the insurance man asks questions
Bout what went down at the Goode's Field Road

Goode's Field Road - Drive-by Truckers

[To Be Quite Honest]

Amish Paradise

Hitchin' up the buggy, churnin' lots of butter
Raised a barn on Monday, soon I'll raise another
Think you're really righteous? Think you're pure in heart?
Well, I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art
I'm the pious guy the little Amlettes wanna be like
On my knees day and night scorin' points for the afterlife
So don't be vain and don't be whiny
Or else, my brother, I might have to get medieval on your heinie

White and Nerdy


First in my class here at M.I.T.
Got skills, I'm a Champion of D&D
MC Escher that's my favorite MC
Keep your 40
I'll just have an Earl Grey tea
My rims never spin to the contrary
You'll find that they're quite stationary
All of my action figures are cherry
Stephen Hawking's in my library
My MySpace page is all totally pimped out
Got people begging for my top 8 spaces
Yo I know Pi to a thousand places
Ain't got no grills but I still wear braces
I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise
I'm a whiz at minesweeper I can play for days
Once you see my sweet moves you're gonna stay amazed,
my fingers movin' so fast I'll set the place ablaze
There's no killer app I haven't run
At Pascal, well, I'm number 1
Do vector calculus just for fun
I ain't got a gat but I got a soldering gun
"Happy Days" is my favourite theme song
I can sure kick your butt in a game of ping pong
I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on
I'm fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon
Here's the part I sing on

[2Stonedbirds]

The God machine is hungry
For individualism and ripe brains
The skull farmers do their rain dance
And pray the machine falls to sleep
She holds me close
And whispers wet
"there are cannibals among us."
Mad in love with dry dead boys
In the backs of
Abandoned cars
Smoking the bones of children
Plotting the murder of love

[Aeneas]

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

...

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

Billy Bragg "New England".

I always smile at these two verses.

[TomLeeMC]

Ya Mama - Pharcyde

Ya mom is so fat (how fat is she?)
Ya mama is so big and fat that she can get busy
with twenty-two burritos, but times are rough
I seen her in the back of Taco Bell with handcuffs
The sad fact (what?) ya mama smokes crack (what?)
She got a burning yearning and there's no turning back
Her knuckles drag down to the ground when she walk
Spit comes out that bitch mouth when she talk

Naked on a mountain top, tootin on a flizoot
Ridin on a horse drinking whisky out a bizoot
She's got the wings and teeth of an african bat
Her middle name is Mudbone and on top of all that


Ya mama look like she's been in the dryer with some rocks
With the big bust nose sucking dirt out of socks
Held up the ice cream truck with a slingshot
She grabbed a bag of Cheese Corn and a soda pop
Ya mama root'n'toot and stole my loot and my suit
She may have the muscles, but no, she's not cute
She's not pretty, oh what a pity, got the glass titty
Filled up with Kool-aid, just for the kiddies

Awwwwwwww, ya mom is so fat (how fat is she?)
We rode up on her back to get some burgers from Wendy's
and her skates went flat; I got stuck in her butt crack
They thought I was lost but I was caught by the G-strap
Heaven forbid a giant fart would give way
Cause that would blow me round the world in a day
We drove into the drive-in and she didn't have to pay
because we dressed her up to look just like a Chevrolet

Ya mama's got an afro, with a chin strap
Ya mama, ya mama, ya mama

[Street Pharmacist]

I could hide it under there
I just made you say underwear


Favourite dad humour line in a song

[trumpethead]

Everybody told me you can't get far
On thirty-seven dollars and a Jap guitar


Guitar Town - Steve Earle