I like lyrics that are, as I describe them, elliptical. Some say songs' lyrics are intended to be more immediately accessible (and maybe they're right) given their audience, but I prefer the ones that are less so. I like ones that mystify me momentarily without being nonsense. For example: There is another I particularly like, which I will quote below. The first line is what sells it for me:His sister was like the heat coming off the back of an old TV.
from "Sleeping is the Only Love" by Silver Jews. There's no single obvious, literal meaning for the line, but I think we all get the sense of it.There must be a spanish word for this feeling
the rush I get when I am stealing
from the Dust Congress
whose dollars and dimes
say "in dust we trust"