Favourite song lyrics

Do you have any favourite song lyrics? The odd line, verse or chorus that's funny, profound, absurd, inspired? This is the place for them.

I'm asking because a line from 'The Boy with the Thorn in his Side' by the Smiths came into my head this morning:

'When you want to live, how do you start? Where do you go? Who do you need to know?'

Good idea for a thread.

My suggestion comes from one of the greatest lyricists of the 80's.

"Was that love in your eye I saw, or the reflection of mine?"

Great lyric

Don McLean - Vincent
U2 - Acrobat/A Sort of Homecoming/Stuck In A Moment/Bad....they've done loads of good lyrics (and a few shocking ones)
Duran Duran - Save A Prayer
Guns n Roses - It's So Easy
Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life/Yes...there's loads by them actually.

One from Bob Dylan (from 'Tombstone Blues'):

'The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.'

The Artic Monkeys - "Fake tales of San Francisco"

A song about a band who act like pretentious Americans because they think it’s cool, even though they’re from England.
Some cracking lyrics in there

“his bird thinks it’s amazing though so all that’s left, is the truth that love’s not only blind but deaf”
“he talks of San Francisco, he’s from Hunters Bar, I don’t quite know the distance but I’m sure it’s far”
“And yeah, I'd love to tell you all of my problem, You're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham
So get off the bandwagon, and put down the handbook”

Oddly, though I tend to prefer the early Manic Street Preachers lyrics, written by Ritchie. The lyric "Golden Platitudes" from their most recent album seems to have an overwhelming emotional impact on me every time I listen to it. I think it's one of Nicky Wire's most beautiful, yet simple, lyrics, that resonates with a labour-supporting valley-boy like myself, and reflects the utter disillusion felt at where this country finds itself right now.

"The platitudes they all dissolved
They got too deep, got too involved
The platitudes just interludes
To break the trust with me and you

Oh what a shangri-la
Oh what a shower we are
Oh what a mess we've made
What happened to those days
When everything seemed possible
With no-one to tell you no

Where did the feeling go?
Where did it all go wrong?
Born to be a communist
But then the marriage failed
As did the partnership

The platitudes they all dissolved
They got too deep, got too involved
The platitudes just interludes
To break the trust with me and you

I fell back in love with love
I know that it might sound odd
The liberal left destroyed
Every bit of our youth
Left with the barest of bones
Leaving us all with holes

Where did it all go wrong?
Where did the feeling go?
Why colonise the moon
When every different kind
Of desperation exists?

In every single home
Where did the feeling go?
Where did the feeling go?
Where did it all go wrong?"

Demon - have you read/heard "Guerrilla Tapestry" by Nicky's brother Patrick? Most awesome piece of poetry I've ever come across (and I'm normally a bit crap with poetry). It was performed at the opening of the Welsh Assempbly if I remember correctly too because James DB put music to it.

I can't find a decent link unfortunately...

I have heard about it, but never heard it. I've never heard or read any of the stuff Patrick has done (though the video pieces he occasionally does for the band's live tours are always stunning). Like you, I'm a bit crap with poetry and often just look at the page in a state of confusion when my wife (an English teacher) passes me a "stunning piece of verse". But if a normal, forum-dwelling person is reccomending it, I'll check it out.

Cheers

I object to the implication that people who like poetry aren't normal!

Demon - as a you're Welshman (?) I think you should read it, and it's not fairy scary poetry. I can quote some Larkin, but that's about as deep as I can get with poetry. I've seen Patrick's plays and read his stuff though, which is a bit more...understandable to me. I always found a lot of poetry went waaaay over my head.

I'll definitely check it out Cari. Yeah, I'm a Welshman - living in enemy territory.

A few of my other favourite lyrics;

John Frusciante - "Every Person"

You take me by the hand
A hand's all I feel right now
It's all I am
It's all that I am
You think that I'm a man
I beg to differ
For I am her as much as I'm me
You know this moment in time
Is all my life
Every day is each day that's past
Every person alive is everyone who's died

Morrissey - "How can any possibly know how I feel?"

Even I, as sick as I am, I would never be you
Even I, as sick as I am, I would never be you
Even I, sick and depraved, a traveller to the grave
I would never be you
I would never be you.

Morrisey - Dear God, Please help me.

I am walking through Rome
With my heart on a string
Dear God, please help me

And I am so very tired
Of doing the right thing
Dear God, please help me

There are explosive kegs
Between my legs
Dear God, please help me

Will you follow and know
Know me more than you do
Track me down
And try to win me?

Then he motions to me
With his hand on my knee
Dear God, did this kind of thing happen to you?

Now I'm spreading your legs
With mine in-between
Dear God, if I could I would help you

And now I am walking through Rome
And there is no room to move
But the heart feels free

The heart feels free
The heart feels free
But the heart... feels free

The heart feels free

Cari wrote:Demon - as a you're Welshman (?) I think you should read it, and it's not fairy scary poetry. I can quote some Larkin, but that's about as deep as I can get with poetry. I've seen Patrick's plays and read his stuff though, which is a bit more...understandable to me. I always found a lot of poetry went waaaay over my head.

BTW Cari,

Don't know if autobiographies interest you at all, but there are strong rumours that Nicky Wire is doing one next year called "This is my truth", which if it's true should be an absolute must-read. He's signed a two-book deal with a publisher, the first being a photo-book released in November, but the second is a "secret" to be announced. I've had my fingers crossed for about 10 years.

Also, Beer - Morrissey has written one, and is in the editing process, which again should be a must-read. I'm sure he'll kick off a few battles in that one.

And just to keep on topic, another lyric I love;

She's Electric - Oasis

Awesome! I will definitely be buying that.

I do like biographies Demon. Simon Price's book Everything was a very good read I thought, so something by Nicky would be interesting and worth a read.

Good call on She's Electric. I also like the lyrics to Round Our Way by Oasis as well

I've just remembered as well. The Jam's That's Entertainment. Probably Weller's best:

A police car and a screaming siren
Pneumatic drill and ripped up concrete
A baby wailing, a stray dog howling
The screech of brakes and lamplights blinking

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

A smash of glass and the rumble of boots
An electric train and a ripped up phone booth
Paint splattered walls and the cry of a tom cat
Lights going out and a kick in the balls

I say that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Days of speed and slow time Mondays
Pis sing down with rain on a boring Wednesday
Watching the news and not eating your tea
A freezing cold flat and damp on the walls

I say that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Waking up at 6 a.m. on a cool warm morning
Opening the windows and breathing in petrol
An amateur band rehearse in a nearby yard
Watching the telly and thinking 'bout your holidays

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettes
Cuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfume
A hot summers day and sticky black tarmac
Feeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

That’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

Two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnight
Two lovers missing the tranquillity of solitude
Getting a cab and travelling on buses
Reading the graffiti about slashed seat affairs

I say that’s entertainment, that’s entertainment

That's one of my favourite Jam songs, Cari.

Eminem's line in D12's 'Fight Music'....

If I could capture the rage of today's youth and bottle it
Crush the glass from my bare hands and swallow it
Then spit it back in the faces of you racists
and hypocrites who think the same sh*t but don't say sh*t
You Liberace's, Versace's, and you nazis
Watch me, cause you thinking you got me in this hot seat
You motherf**kers wanna JUDGE me cause you're NOT me
You'll never STOP me, I'm TOP speed as you POP me
I came to save these new generations of babies
from parents who failed to raise 'em cause they're lazy
to grow to praise me I'm makin 'em go crazy
That's how I got this whole nation to embrace me
And you fugazi if you think I'ma admit wrong
I cripple any hypocritic critic I'm sic'd on
And this song is for any kid who gets picked on
A sick song to retaliate to, and it's called..

Surely the best rap lyrics are from Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill Gang:

Have you ever went over a friends house to eat, and the food just aint no good?
I mean the macaroni's soggy the peas are mushed, and the chicken tastes like wood.
So you try to play it off like you think you can, by sayin' that you're full.
And then your friend says momma he's just being polite, he aint finished - uh uh that's bull.
So your heart starts pumpin' and you think of a lie and you say that you already ate.
And your friend says man there's plenty of food so you pile some more on your plate.
While the stinky foods steamin' your mind starts to dreamin' of the moment that it's time to leave.
And then you look at your plate and your chicken's slowly rottin' into something that looks like cheese.
Oh so you say that's it I got to leave this place, I dont care what these people think.
I'm just sittin' here makin' myself nauseous with this ugly food that stinks.
So you bust out the door while its still closed, still sick from the food you ate.
And then you run to the store for quick relief from a bottle of Kaopectate
And then you call your friend two weeks later to see how he has been
And he says I understand about the food baby bubbah, but we're still friends.
With a hip hop the hippie to the hippie, the hip hip a hop a ya don't stop the rockin to the bang bang boogie, say up jump the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie the beat...

That exact thing happened to me the other week

Thank the lord for Kaopectate

It makes me sound like I'm about to top myself but I've always loved this verse:

There's a club, if you'd like to go
You could meet someone who really loves you
So you go, and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home
And you cry
And you want to die

I always liked The Smiths lyrics...some of them were quite amusing despite their depressive quality.

From 'Misty Mountain Hop' by Led Zepellin:

'They asked us to stay for tea and have some fun.'

2 songs I love lyrically are Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow and Buddahead - Holding Me Back

I've been trying to walk out of my past.
Left behind I'm always the last.
I think it's time to let go of this fear
And try to find a way out of here.

I've got to clear out my head from this mess.
It brings me down and leaves me in stress.
I think that with you I made a mistake.
Now I'm motionless in empty space.

Were you scared to be closer to me?
What did you fear?
I let you near but you brought me down here.

Don't you see how everything's holding me back.
Don't you see now everything's holding me back.
I've been hurt, I've been burnt, you could be helping me out.
Don't you see now you're the one holding me back.

You were the one who gave me reasons to try.
The one who left me with anger inside.
I heard your need for me had been replaced
From someone else when you lied to my face.

Were you scared to be closer to me?
What did you fear?
I let you near but you brought me down here.

Don't you see how everything's holding me back.
Don't you see now everything's holding me back.
I've been hurt, I've been burnt, you could be helping me out.
Don't you see now you're the one holding me back.

I just wish it all away.
You just take a piece of me and keep running further.
Will you ever go away?
You don't really wanna stay even though you come closer to me.

I Tear my heart open,
i sow myself shut,
my weakness is that i care to much,

And my scars remind me that the past is real,
i tear my heart open,
just to feel.

Scars - Papa Roach

i don't want to be,
anything other than what i've been trying to be lately,
All i have to do,
is think of me to get and my piece of mind,

I'm tired of looking round,
wondering what i've got to do,
or who i'm supposed to be,
I don't want to be anything other than me.

I don't want to be - Gavin Degraw

There have been some stunning lyrics I have heard. Here are a few.

'And you give yourself away' With or Without You - U2. I just think it is the saddest lyric I have heard. It is sung in such painful interpretation. I think this lyric completes the song perfectly.

'You say you not sure of if it makes good sense for you to live together' Do You Remember The First Time - Pulp. I think this is genius. I know a lot of people view Mr Brightside as a great song surrounding chasing loves dream, but this lyric shows such understanding of the situational side of love gone dry and love that is wanted.

'I guess you think it's funny now, funny now. It's such a shame' Just A Day - Feeder. I think the irony in this lyric is brilliant. I love the song and I love the lyrics before this one, but I think this sums up the tone of the song. A crazy randomness of friendship and isolation and youth. Fantastic.

'And spaceships they won't understand' Last Nite - The Strokes. This song is great and lyrically is great and musically fits all well together. This lyric is by far the most obscure in this song and that's why I like. Go through family members and loved ones and then a spaceship? Crazy! I like it.

'The world could show nothing to me, so what good would living do me' God only knows - The Beach Boys. Love this song and especially this lyric. Such a painfully beautiful way to describe desparation.

There are so many I could go on for hours.

Some great lyrics there, legendkillar. 'You Still Believe in Me' off Pet Sounds is my favourite Beach Boys lyric:

I know perfectly well I'm not where I should be.
I've been very aware you've been patient with me.
Everytime we break up you bring back your love to me,
And after all I've done to you, how can it be? You still believe in me.

I try hard to be more what you want me to be
But I can't help how I act when you're not here with me.
I try hard to be strong, but sometimes I fail myself,
And after all I've promised you so faithfully, you still believe in me.
I wanna cry.

Two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnight
Two lovers missing the tranquillity of solitude

Thats one of my favourite lines in a song.

I was delayed, I was way-laid
An emergency stop
I smelt the last ten seconds of life
I carshed down on the crossbar
And the pain was enough to make
A shy, bald buddhist reflect
And plan a mass-murder

Another Smiths classic.

Don't get me wrong though, there's boys in bands
And kids who like to scrap with pool cues in their hands
And just cause he's had a couple o' cans
He thinks it's alright to act like a dickhead

Arctic Monkeys- A certain romance

"I like my sugar with coffee and cream"

Beastie Boys - Intergalatic

'He goes to sleep by falling down on his face'

'Johnny Ryall' - Beastie Boys.

Kick it!

You wake up late for school - man you don't wanna go
You ask you mom, "Please?" - but she still says, "No!"
You missed two classes - and no homework
But your teacher preaches class like you're some kind of jerk

(chorus) You gotta fight for your right to party

Your pop caught you smoking - and he said, "No way!"
That hypocrite - smokes two packs a day
Man, living at home is such a drag
Now your mom threw away your best porno mag (Bust it!)


(repeat chorus)

Fight For Your Right (To Party) - Beastie Boys



Can't stand it, I know you planned it,
I'm gonna set it straight, this watergate.
I can't stand rockin' when I'm in here,
Cause your crystal ball ain't so crystal clear.
So, while you sit back and wonder why,
I got this f****n' thorn in my side.
Oh my God, it's a mirage!
I'm tellin' y'all it's sabotage!

So listen up 'cause you can't say nothin'
You'll shut me down with a push of your button.
But I'm out, and I'm gone,
I'll tell you now I keep it on and on.

'Cause what you see you might not get,
And we can't bet, so don't you get souped yet.
You're scheming on a thing that's a mirage,
I'm trying to tell you now it's sabotage!

Why! Our backs are now against the wall.
Listen all of y'all, it's a sabotage,
Listen all of y'all, it's a sabotage,
Listen all of y'all, it's a sabotage,
Listen all of y'all, it's a sabotage!

I can't stand it, I know you planned it,
I'm gonna set it straight this watergate.
But I can't stand rockin' when I'm in this place,
Because I feel disgrace because you're all in my face!
But make no mistakes and switch up my channel,
I'm buddy rich when I fly off the handle.
What could it be? It's a mirage,
You're scheming on a thing that's sabotage

Sabotage - Beastie Boys

Not my favorite but one that always amused me was the opening lines of Kinky Afro by Black Grape / Happy Mondays

Son I'm 30, I only went with your 'cause she's dirty.......

First few bars of Eminem - 'spacebound'... incredible internal rhyming.
"We touch I feel a rush
We clutch it isn't much
But it's enough to make me wonder whats in store for us
It's lust, it's torturous 
You must be a sorceress 'cause you just
Did the impossible
Gained my trust don't play games it'll be dangerous
If you Flip me over
'Cause if I get burnt imma show you what it's like to hurt
'Cause I been treated like dirt before ya
And love is "evil/evol"
Spell it backwards I'll show ya"


Also Jay-Z's 2nd verse on 'most kingz'

"With the same sword they knight you they gon' good night you with
S*it, thats' only half if they like you
That aint even the half what they might do
Don't believe me, ask Michael

See Martin, see Malcolm
See Biggy, see Pac
See success and its outcome
See Jesus, see Judas
See Caesar, see Brutus
See success is like suicide"

I'm still alive but i'm barely breathing,
Just prayed to a god that i don't believe in,
Cos i got time while she got freedom,
Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even,

Her best days will be some of my worst,
She finally met a man thats gonna put her first,
While i'm wide awake she's no trouble sleeping,
cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even, even no

What am i supposed to do when the best part of me was always you,
What am i supposed to say when i'm all choked up and your okay,
I'm falling to pieces, i'm falling to pieces,

They say bad things happen for a reason,
but no wise words gonna stop the bleeding,
Cos she's moved on while i'm still grieving,
And when a heart breaks it don't break even, even no.

The Script - Breakeven

B91212 wrote:Not my favorite but one that always amused me was the opening lines of Kinky Afro by Black Grape / Happy Mondays

Son I'm 30, I only went with your 'cause she's dirty.......

Shaun Ryder was / is a great lyricist. I'll put more examples here when I think of them!

Being as U2's Achtung Baby is twenty this month ( ) - here's one of my fave lyrics from the song Acrobat on that album:

And you can swallow
Or you can spit
You can throw it up
Or choke on it
And you can dream
So dream out loud
You know that your time is coming 'round
So don't let the b*stards grind you down

No, nothing makes sense
Nothing seems to fit
I know you'd hit out
If you only knew who to hit
And I'd join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah I'd break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in
'Cause I need it now

And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And you can find
Your own way out
And you can build
And I can will
And you can call
I can't wait until
You can stash
And you can seize
In dreams begin
Responsibilities
And I can love
And I can love
And I know that the tide is turning 'round
So don't let the b*stards grind you down

Not a big U2 fan but the Achtung baby album is superb. Their best imo..

Breadvan wrote:Not a big U2 fan but the Achtung baby album is superb. Their best imo..

If only they stop remaking it every time ...

I know The Smiths and Morrissey have already been mentioned, but they did write some class lyrics.

From Everyday Is Like Sunday:

"Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen...
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down"

'You've been telling me you were a genius since you were seventeen;
In all the time I've known you I still don't know what you mean.'

- Steely Dan, 'Reelin' in the Years.'

Some great lyrics in Digsy's Dinner by Oasis. Also There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths.

Also some of the best has to be Apeman by The Kinks.

Ray Davies is a great lyricist.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:Ray Davies is a great lyricist.

Couldn't agree more. He is a top class lyricist, I love The Kinks. One of the the best.

No doubt about it!

"we're so pretty, oh so pretty...vacant"

I am smelling like a rose that somebody gave me on my birthday deathbed
I am smelling like a rose that somebody gave me cause I'm dead and bloated

ha ha

"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life. I know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky, but why can't it be mine?"

Oasis have done some funny lyrics over the years:

Digsy's Dinner (being as someone mentioned it earlier):
What a life it would be
If you would come to mine for tea
I'll pick you up at half past three
And we'll have lasagne
I'll treat you like a Queen
I'll give you strawberries and cream
And then your friends will all go green
For my lasagne

Round Our Way:
The paper boy is working before he goes
Lying to the teacher he knows he knows
He didn't and he should've
Brought his lines in yesterday
Ernie bangs the sound and the day begins
The letterbox is open and your cash falls in
I'll meet you at the office
Just before the staff clock in
The game is kicking off in around the park
It's twenty-five-a-side and before it's dark
There's gonna be a loser
And you know the next goal wins
Cab it to the front as it's called a draw
Everybody's knockin' at yours once more
Ernie bangs the sound
And no one's spoken since half past four
Round our way the birds are minging...

Shinedown have done a few corkers:

The Sound of Madness
Yeah, I get it, you're an outcast,
Always under attack,
Always coming in last,
Bringing up the past,
No-one owes you anything

I think you need a shotgun blast,
A kick in the ass,
So paranoid...watch your back!

Oh my, here we go,

Another loose cannon, gone bipolar,
Slipped down, couldn't get much lower,
Quicksand's got no sense of humour,
I'm still laughing like hell.

You think, that by crying to me,
Looking so sorry, that I'm gonna believe,
You've been infected by a social disease,
Well then, take your medicine

I created the sound of madness,
Wrote the book on pain,
Somehow I'm still here to explain,
That the darkest hour never comes in the night,
You can sleep with a gun,
When you gonna wake up and fight...for yourself

I'm so sick of this tombstone mentality,
If there's an afterlife then it'll set you free,
But I'm not gonna part the seas,
You're a self-fulfilling prophecy

You think, that by crying to me,
Looking so sorry, that I'm gonna believe,
You've been infected by a social disease,
Well then, take your medicine

I created the sound of madness,
Wrote the book on pain,
Somehow I'm still here to explain,
That the darkest hour never comes in the night,
You can sleep with a gun,
When you gonna wake up and fight...for yourself



What A Shame
Two packs of cigarettes a day,
The strongest whiskey Kentucky can make,
Thats a recipe
To drive a vagabond to his hands and knees

Watched it all up close,
Knew him more than most,
Saw a side of him he never showed,
Full of sympathy,
For a world that wouldn't let him be

What a shame, what a shame,
To judge a life that you can't change,
The choir sings, teh church bells ring,
So won't you give this man his wings,
What a shame, to have to beg you to see,
We're not all the same...what a shame

Theres a hard life for every silver spoon,
Theres a touch of grey in every shade of blue,
Thats the way that I see life,
If there was nothing wrong then there'd be nothing right,

And for this working man, they say could barely stand,
Theres got to be a better place to land,
Some kind of remedy,
For a world that wouldn't let him be,

Thats the man he was,
Have you heard enough?

CHORUS

God forgive the hands that lay you down,
Never knew how much a broken heart could make a sound,
And change the season,
Now the leaves are falling faster, happily ever after,
You gave me hope through your endeavours,
Now you will live for ever

CHORUS

Cry For Help
You've been hiding out for quite a while now,
Living off of people you know,
Trying to raise a little money,
To pay off all the monkeys,
That you met inside the rabbit hole

You're taking candy from the White Witch
You're smoking tea with Mama Kin,
Well, there's a wolf outside,
A brick house screaming;
"This time I'm gonna blow it in!"

[Pre-chorus:]
Because the mind is a weapon, see
And it's got you on
Your hands and knees
Pull the trigger if you're gonna
We all know that you wanna
Count of 1, 2, 1, 2, 3!

[Chorus:]
You better pray that theres
Another way out
You better pray that
Someones listening now
(And doesn't wanna watch you drown)
'Cause when you lie like
The devil himself
No angels gonna hear your
Cry for help!

I know you must really think
It's funny, you had everybody
Fooled in the end
But it's a little unassuming
Considered how you knew me
I'm the only one that called
You a friend

[Pre-chorus]

[Chorus]

Count of 1, 2, 1, 2, 3!!!

[Chorus]


Breaking Inside
I caught a chill
and it's still frozen on my skin
I think about why
I'm alone, by myself
No one else to explain
how far do I go?
No one knows
If the end is so much better, why don't we just live forever?
Don't tell me I'm the last one in line
Don't tell me I'm too late this time

[Chorus]
I don't want to live
To waste another day
Underneath the shadow of mistakes I made
Cause I feel like I'm breaking inside
I don't want to fall and say I lost it all
'Cause baby there's a part of me to hit the wall
Leaving pieces of me behind
And I feel like I'm breaking inside

Out here, nothings clear
Except the moment I decided to move on and I ignited
Disappear into the fear
You know there ain't no comin' back
When you're still carrying the past
You can't erase, separate
Cigarette in my hand,
Hope you all understand

I won't be the last one in line
I finally figured out what's mine

[Chorus]
I don't want to live
To waste another day
Underneath the shadow of mistakes I made
'Cause I feel like I'm breaking inside
I don't want to fall and say I lost it all
'Cause baby there's a part of me to hit the wall
Leaving pieces of me behind
Leaving pieces of me behind
And I feel like I'm breaking inside

I won't be the last one in line,
I finally figured out what's mine

[Chorus]
I don't want to live
To waste another day
Underneath the shadow of mistakes I made
'Cause I feel like I'm breaking inside
I don't want to fall and say I lost it all
'Cause baby there's a part of me to hit the wall
Leaving pieces of me behind
Leaving pieces of me behind
And I feel like I'm breaking inside
And I feel like I'm breaking,
I feel like i'm breaking inside