Keep it pretty short for maximum emphasis.
One for the money, two for the better green
3-4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine -MF DOOM All Outta Ale
Two days and no Dylan? Okay, I'll be that guy: Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to warn
That he not busy being born is busy dying (It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding) Incidentally, I came across a potential source for the opening image the other day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Englands_Dark_Day And for fun, here's my favourite of my own lyrics: I feel this way, though it's no fun
For you don't give a flying fee-fie-foe-fum
So I won't act like I've got the facts wholly
Some monopoly on melancholy
Coz love is heedless, not convenient
It's only for the needlessly extravagant
Yeah, and he's got some nerve still writing and touring on into the 21st too. I derive immense satisfaction evry time I glean some nugget that might shed a light on the genesis of one of his lines. Even though he probably just strung it together out of thin air because it fit a rhyme scheme.
From Jerome Kern's All The Things You Are:
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew Cake is pretty awesome too. From The Distance:
You are the breathless hush of evening
That trembles on the brink of a lovely song.
And from Colors of the Wind (I couldn't pick a specific stanza, I love them both):
You think you own whatever land you land on
The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim
But I know every rock and tree and creature
Has a life, has a spirit, has a name
No trophy, no flowers, no flashbulbs, no wine,
He's haunted by something he cannot define.
Bowel-shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse,
Assail him, impale him with monster-truck force.
I Am the Captain of My Pain -Nick Cave Papa Won't Leave You Henry
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"
I love to see a rainbow from a garden hose
lit up like the blood of a centerfold
I love the city and the city rain
suburban kids with biblical names. -love it!!!
One of my favorites: Do You Realize - Flaming Lips I'm a big fan of lyrics and look forward to what this thread brings forth. Good call! Oh, I've got a soft spot for the Silver Jews -that link will take you to a post I made a long while back and has a list if some if my favorite lyricists. If we are just talking favorite lyric as in one line: All my lies are always wishes, I know I would die if I could come back new. Edit: have to add looking through the bent back tulips to see how the other half lives
I had just posted another comment about Silver Jews when I noticed yours. If you appreciate his lyrics, the vocalist (David Berman) has a collection of poems called Actual Air. I find a way to teach it in creative writing courses every chance I get.
I own it! I'm definitely a fan of his work :) Thanks for the suggestion though, I appreciate it.
Great choice with Do You Realize, that's definitely one of the best songs in terms of lyrics. It's so sad but Coyne delivers it in such a way that I, well, wouldn't realize it without focusing on the lyrics.
I disagree about it being "sad". I think it's actually a "call to arms", a directive to go out there and tell the people you care about that you "realize" how wonderful they are. That they "have the most beautiful face" Edit: who am I kidding... It's hard not to get a bit sad when you hear the lyric do you realize that everyone you know someday will die Hell, I said it was to be the song at my funeral, when I play DJ for the last time -a great old music post by briandmyers, check it out
No, you have a very good point. That's something that I had never thought about before, and it puts the song in a bit of a different light. I would still argue it's a sad song at the same time though.
It's a toss up between the following songs. I don't wanna stay at your party
I don't wanna talk with your friends
I don't wanna vote for your president
I just wanna be your tugboat captain This song is about Sterling Morrison, the guitarist of Van Morrison. He decided to drop his music career to go out and be a tugboat captain. In typical Dean Wareham style the vocal delivery is so crushingly somber. I can't use just one line from that section, nor do I feel it has a proper impact without the context of the song. It's such an elegant and sad way of telling people to go be who they want to be, and to do what they want to do.
Or Changed my mind so much I can't even trust it
My mind changed me so much I can't even trust myself What's a lyric thread without Modest Mouse? Isaac Brock is (usually) a lyrical genius, and it shows on Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset. I think this part in particular rings true for most people, or at least for me.
"If you give into them every time they cry,
They will become little tyrants but they won't remember why.
Then, when they are thwarted by people in later life,
they will become psychotic and they won't make an ideal husband or wife." - Robyn Hitchcock, Uncorrected Personality Traits
So drunk in the august sun
And you're the kind of girl I like
Because you're empty and I'm empty
And you can never quarantine the past
-- Pavement, Gold Soundz i am a scientist - i seek to understand me
all of my impurities and evils yet unknown
-- Guided by Voices, I Am a Scientist
Atmosphere - Puppets: such a simple line but it comes in at the part of the song when the base drops. It's starts off a whole great verse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ02VUlAIO4 Also, Flagamuffin, your line is a great one and from my all-time favorite album. Graceland is a work of pure auditory perfection.I think it's great how you used to be great.
Yeah, one of my favorites from them. Atmosphere is great. Hands down my favorite hip-hop group of all time. If you enjoy them youtube some of their stuff, or I can provide plenty more recommendations and places to start if you're not familiar with them. I never refuse an opportunity to turn more people on to Atmosphere. They're big in the indy hip hop world, but not as well known as they deserve to be.
Edit: Whoops, I guess I missed the 'keep it short' part...The actor in the centre of the stage
looks sadly at a teacup,
reads a poem off of the teacup,
then covers his face with a page from the poem
on the teacup.
From 'Little Viola Hidden in the Orchestra', by of Montreal.I got big balls
Big ole balls
Big as grapefruits
Big as pumpkins
Yes sir, yes sir
And on my really good days
They swell to the size of small dogs
My balls are as big as small dogs
From 'Tiger Woods' by Dan Bern.Even Cathy Berberian knows
There's one roulade she can't sing
From 'Your Gold Teeth' by Steely Dan (but then, most of their lyrics are great).Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing,
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing,
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.
From 'Nothing' by Mujuice.
The Cathy Berberian line! Oh emm gee I love that line! I had to learn who she was and what a roulade is, which made the line a near koan. Edit: I also finally learned how to format links in hubski. I need to post more...
Two simple songs about longing: Swearing at Motorists, "Flying Pizza" The Mekons, "Where Were You?" And some simple words on death: The Handsome Family, "Drunk by Noon"On the way down town I saw you
looking real good, looking the other way
and I was hoping that you would not see me
I had nothing to say
It's been a long time but not too long
and not long enough I'm thinking to myself
how's your mom
and are you working in the same place
your hair got long and on and on
When I was waiting in a bar, where were you?
When I was buying you a drink, where were you?
When I was crying at home in bed, where were you?
When I watched you from a distance did you see me?
You were standing in a queue did you see me?
You had yellow hair, did you see me?
I want to talk to you all night, do you like me?
I want to find out about your life, do you like me?
Could you ever be my wife, do you love me?
...
Sometimes I can't wait to come down with cancer
At least then I'll get to watch tv all day
And on my deathbed I'll get all the answers even if all my questions are taken away
...
Best lyricist to me is David Bazan. He's the man behind Pedro the Lion and the Headphones. So many great lyrics to choose from. The Devil is beating his Wife a.k.a. Cold Beer and Cigarettes comes to mind:So he takes another drink
cause watching the scenery bleed
into each similar scene
it isn't as sweet
as it had been in his dreams.
I haven't heard that song in a long time. I never noticed till now how amazing those lyrics are. Good call.
This song hits me hard, too :
When the world is sick
Can't no one be well?
But I dreamt we was all beautiful and strong Especially how the lyrics are performed in an evolving round. I cued it up a few seconds before it starts.