Favorite lyrics

[Warhawk]

Just wondering what some of your favorite lyrics are from songs you listen to. No vulgarity or lyrics that would otherwise run afoul of the posting rules, please!

A couple of mine:

From Dido:

Life for Rent
But if my life is for rent
and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

See You When You're 40
You think that you are complicated, deep mystery to all
Well it's taken me a while to see, you're not so special
All energy no meaning, with a lot of words
So paper thin that one real feeling, could knock you down

 

[Widowmaker2k]

Excellent topic! I'm a musician and songwriter by hobby, and I have a very diverse set of song lyrics that I really like, and have influenced me. Here's one of the first songs that come to mind:

Jackson Browne, The Pretender:

I'm going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we'll fill in the missing colors
In each other's paint-by-number dreams
And then we'll put out dark glasses on
And we'll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We'll get up and do it again
Get it up again

I'm going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Thought true love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender

What I get out of it: It's about an idealistic young man who has visions of rising above our materialistic money-worshiping society, only to be drawn down into it in search of love, the most idealistic and abstract concept of them all. For many of us young folks, I think it's tempting to try and live as some kind of sage and exist in the world with a speculative and detached neutrality; to not partake in the 'rat-race' so to speak. Most people end up there eventually anyway, and I think this song speaks to that mature realization. I too wish to be a happy idiot, and I'm sure there are some folks on this board who think I'm at least half way there already.

 

[63royals]

Neil Young --

You are like a hurricane,
there's calm in your eye

 

[kingsnation]

Wow, there's a bunch...but off the top of my head..

Hootie and the Blowfish, "Let Her Cry"

Last night I tried to leave
Cried so much I could not believe
She was the same girl
I fell in love with long ago

...

Let her cry...if the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing...if it eases all her pain
Let her go...let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow
Let her be...let her be.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

One of my favorite lyrics involves nuns and isn't fit to print here so I'll go with this one from the same band:
The Clash - "Lost in the Supermarket"

I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in her for that special offer
A guaranteed personality

I post lyrics for my status all the time on my Facebook so I'm sure I'll revisit this thread often enough.

 

[AleksandarN]

Two shots of happy, one shot of sad U2

Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
You think I'm no good, well I know I've been bad
Took you to a place, now you can't get back
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad


Walked together down a dead end street
We were mixing the bitter with the sweet
Don't try to figure out what we might of had
Just two shots of happy, one shot of sad


I'm just a singer, some say a sinner
Rolling the dice, not always a winner
You say I've been lucky, well hell I've made my own
Not part of the crowd, but not feeling alone


Under pressure, but not bent out of shape
Surrounded, we always found an escape
Drove me to drink, but hey that's not all bad
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad


Guess I've been greedy, all of my life
Greedy with my children, my lovers, my wife
Greedy for the good things as well as the bad
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad


Maybe it's just talk, saloon singing
The chairs are all stacked, the swinging's stopped swinging
You say I hurt you, you put the finger on yourself
Then after you did it, you came crying for my help


Two shots of happy, one shot of sad
I'm not complaining, baby I'm glad
You call it a compromise, well what's that
Two shots of happy, one shot of sad


Two shots of happy, one shot of sad

 

[jalfa]

One of my favourites for a long time:

Modest Mouse - The World at Large

Ice-age heat wave, can't complain
If the world's at large, why should I remain?
Walked away to another plan
Going to find another place, maybe one I can stand
I move on to another day
To a whole new town with a whole new way
Went to the porch to have a thought
Got to the door and again, I couldn't stop
You don't know where and you don't know when
But you still got your words and you got your friends
Walk along to another day
Work a little harder, work another way

Well, uh-uh, baby, I ain't got no plan
We'll float on maybe would you understand?
Going to float on maybe would you understand?
Well, float on maybe would you understand?

The days get shorter and the nights get cold
I like the autumn but this place is getting old
I pack up my belongings and I head for the coast
It might not be a lot but I feel like I'm making the most
The days get longer and the nights smell green
I guess it's not surprising but it's spring and I should leave

I like songs about drifters, books about the same
They both seem to make me feel a little less insane
Walked on off to another spot
I still haven't gotten anywhere that I want
Did I want love, did I need to know?
Why does it always feel like I'm caught in an undertow?

The moths beat themselves to death against the lights
Adding their breeze to the summer nights
Outside, water like air was great
I didn't know what I had that day
Walk a little farther to another plan
You said that you did, but you didn't understand

I know that starting over is not what life's about
But my thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth
My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth
My thoughts were so loud

 

[Warhawk]

I wasn't originally thinking in terms of entire songs, just snippets or refrains that stick with you, hence my original post (I should have expressly stated that). There are some songs that when you look at the whole thing are favorites, but others that also have a short verse that you also like as a stand-alone. That is what I was targeting here.

 

[GoGoGadget]

Hate to run to the Fiona Apple well again, but I just love her writing.

"O Sailor"
Everything good I deem too good to be true
Everything else is just a bore
Everything I have to look forward to
Has a pretty painful and very imposing before

"Better Version of Me"
I am likely to miss the main event
If I stop to cry or complain again
So I will keep a deliberate pace
Let the damned breeze dry my face

And on a completely different note (sorry, have to go with a whole song, here):

"Spam," Save Ferris
(chorus):
Spam
It's pink and it's oval
Spam
I buy it at the Mobil
Spam
It's made in Chernobyl
Spam!

Now when I was a child
My family was so poor
They didn't have the finer things in life to eat
So we had a plan
In a big blue can
The government substitute for meat

(repeat chorus)

To get me to eat it at dinner
They said I'd grow up like Bruce Jenner
He was a winner that never knew defeat
And when he got hungry
When he got hungry
He cracked open that special treat
It was

(repeat chorus)

S-P-A-M
Don't you know it's my best friend
S-P-A-M
Again and again and again

S-P-A-M
Don't you know it's my best friend
S-P-A-M
Again and again and again and again

So go and forget your O-S-C-A-R
There's one meat by-product that's best by far
It's

(repeat chorus)

 

[Warhawk]

And on a completely different note (sorry, have to go with a whole song, here):

No problem, I think both have their place here.

 

[Prophetess]

First one to come to mind..

Meredith Brooks:

"Im a little bit of everything
All rolled into one

Im a bi***
Im a lover
Im a child
Im a mother
Im a sinner
Im a saint
I do not feel ashamed
Im your hell
Im you dream
Im nothing in between
You know you wouldnt want it any other way"


Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever

"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out.
It doesn't matter much to me."

and recently, have to go with whole song on this one:

Reba - Angel's Lullaby

"Midnight moonlight shining through the curtain lace
Paints a perfect picture on your perfect face
One sweet angel sleeping in my arms
You are the promise I knew God would keep
You are the gift that makes my world complete

And you'll never know how much I love you
But I'll keep on telling you my whole life through
Now I believe in miracles, and you're the reason why
So dream on while I sing you my angel's lullaby"

 

[Emma]

Losing love is like a window in your heart.
Everybody sees you're blown apart,
Everybody sees the wind blow.

Paul Simon, Graceland. Made 6 million times better by Erin Bode. If you haven't heard the interpretation by Erin Bode, do so immediately. Just buy it on Itunes right now. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.

 

[Prophetess]

RUSH -- Freewill

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose freewill

 

[kingsnation]

Tim McGraw - She's My Kind of Rain

...She's the sun set shadows
She's like Rembrandt's light
She's the history that's made at night
She's my lost companion
She's my dreaming tree
Together in this brief eternity
Summer days, winter snows
She's all things to behold...